The root of the word divination is "divine," meaning "resembling God or a god in qualities such as power, beauty, or benevolence." I have encountered readers who are convinced that their every utterance is a direct communication from a Higher Power via their private psychic channel. My suspicion is that many of these people are converts … Continue reading But Is It Divine?
Tarot
The “Break On Through” Rite-of-Passage Spread
The inspiration for this spread came from a couple of sources. I was watching a TV show in which a choir was singing that old "Do-Re-Mi" song from The Sound of Music film (not the rap song of the same name). ("Doe, a deer, a female deer," etc. Don't ask.) I got thinking about the … Continue reading The “Break On Through” Rite-of-Passage Spread
Stone Soup
I think it's time I start getting serious about bringing cartomantic (that is, playing-card) meanings into my approach to the numbered - or "pip" - cards when reading. The RWS minor cards with their built-in narrative vignettes are like "canned soup," the semi-scenic small cards of the Thoth deck are closer to "home-made soup" that you start with store-bought … Continue reading Stone Soup
2019 Super Bowl: Rams vs. Patriots
UPDATE #1: The Rams won the toss, so even though they deferred possession until the start of the second half, I'll stick with my model and predict a win for Los Angeles. UPDATE #2: The anemic scoring envisioned for the first half proved to be prophetic, and the half-time score was even lower than predicted. … Continue reading 2019 Super Bowl: Rams vs. Patriots
Context Is King
Although this has been a recurring minor theme in many of my previous posts, I thought I would expand on it a bit. In a lengthy thread on the Cartomancy Forum titled "Is There Such a Thing as Bad Cards?" author Andy Boroveshengra (of Lenormand fame but equally accomplished in tarot and traditional astrology) made … Continue reading Context Is King
Paper Tiger
Those of us who post regularly (critics might say interminably) in online blogs run the risk of self-parody, becoming mere "cardboard cut-outs" of our formerly ferocious literary personae. Conventional wisdom asserts that a blogger must publish frequently to maintain an interested and engaged following, but this can sometimes mean unintentionally plowing (or, if you're British, … Continue reading Paper Tiger
Where There’s Smoke . . .
One objection that some tarot readers have to so-called "positional" spreads - those that typically bear a fixed positive or negative meaning for each card position in the layout - is that they can create an uncomfortable setting where a nominally good" card must be interpreted in a "bad" way according to its position and vice versa. The Celtic Cross is a perfect … Continue reading Where There’s Smoke . . .
“Two-Out-of-Three” Spread Tutorial Layouts
A Facebook conversation led to the recognition that it would be a good idea to post some example pictures of how the various card chains would play out. I posed a hypothetical question: "How will this business initiative work out?" and selected the 3 of Wands from the Albano-Waite deck (Deck #1) as my Significator. Since … Continue reading “Two-Out-of-Three” Spread Tutorial Layouts
Craft, Career or Calling?
I sometimes wonder how many people actually make a living wage in the field of divination, much less a handsome income. There are notable exceptions, of course, mostly respected authors, teachers, lecturers, artists, publishers and the occasional shop owner (although those are rapidly disappearing or diversifying in the face of crushing online sales). But I would venture to … Continue reading Craft, Career or Calling?
The “Two Out of Three” Decision-Making Spread
I've always found the typical three-card draw to be rather uninspiring. My long-held opinion is that the reader has to inject entirely too much intuitive guesswork into the gaps between the cards to make a compelling narrative out of the sequence. A five-position spread is the minimum I prefer to work with in order to "just read … Continue reading The “Two Out of Three” Decision-Making Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 