There are good reasons why unraveling the gnarly strands of human interaction is such a long-running drama in the repertoire of divination. In the vision of an ideal world, we almost always see the best-case relationship as two individuals revolving around a common goal in perfectly concentric orbits, moving at the same speed in the … Continue reading The Tick-Tock Effect
Tarot
A Tarot de Marseille Process Analysis
As I gain experience with it, I find that divination with the Tarot de Marseille (TdM) is best suited for providing a literal perspective (as with the Lenormand cards) rather than for the more symbolic, impressionistic approach used with most modern tarot decks. This is due primarily to their spare presentation that doesn't encourage much … Continue reading A Tarot de Marseille Process Analysis
A Process-Management “Playbook” Spread
This post is more academic than most in that it takes a detailed look at principles that are usually more aligned with business objectives than personal goals. The ideal querent for this approach would be a hands-on administrator in any commercial or institutional venture that is process-intensive. This spread proposes that successfully managing the development … Continue reading A Process-Management “Playbook” Spread
Open for Business
I found out yesterday that my WordPress PayPal button does in fact work, and I've begun doing on-line tarot readings. The client in the most recent case shuffled and pulled her own cards, effectively putting her personal stamp on the reading, and e-mailed me the list to reconstruct the layout and read it at my … Continue reading Open for Business
Intuition or Guided Suggestion?
A recent Facebook post on the Tarot History page by tarot author and deck creator Robert Place about the earliest known forms of divination got me thinking about the nature of intuition (specifically as championed by those cartomancers who only use free-association from the card images, downplaying or dismissing the value of knowledge-based analysis). In … Continue reading Intuition or Guided Suggestion?
The “Fountain of Truth” Alternate Trending Option
Even those of us who have spent decades reading the cards are sometimes compelled to come up with creative stopgap measures to "skin the proverbial cat" when our usual approach falters. Here I'm tackling what I perceive to be an inherent weakness in the traditional Celtic Cross spread: the interpretation of the "crowning" card as … Continue reading The “Fountain of Truth” Alternate Trending Option
Dissecting the Celtic Cross
I've used the venerable Celtic Cross spread during most of my long involvement with the tarot, having first encountered it in Eden Gray's book The Tarot Revealed in 1972. At the time I didn't realize that Gray had taken a few liberties with A.E. Waite's original, and I found her version to be remarkably effective. … Continue reading Dissecting the Celtic Cross
An Astro-Tarot Meditation Aid
Aleister Crowley said that the ideal way to become intimately acquainted with the Major Arcana of the tarot as "living beings" is meditation (although divination is the most practical way for the uninitiated). In his book The Druidry Handbook, John Michael Greer observed that the noisy Western mental machinery is not amenable to the Eastern … Continue reading An Astro-Tarot Meditation Aid
A “Build-It-As-You-Go” Example Reading: Hurricane Dorian
UPDATE: Hurricane Dorian did in fact spare southeastern North Carolina any significant damage, and made landfall on the Outer Banks in line with my alternate prediction. There was some serious damage on Okacroke Island. Interestingly, as the hurricane approached Wilmington, NC, I was asked to do another reading about the likelihood of a tornado in … Continue reading A “Build-It-As-You-Go” Example Reading: Hurricane Dorian
The Repurposed Significator: A Comprehensive Overview
In previous posts I've mentioned the idea of reinstating the Significator card in my Celtic Cross readings (something I did away with as unnecessary a while ago) for the sole purpose of identifying through its facing whether the querent is consciously focused (or unconsciously fixated) on the past, the present or the future of the … Continue reading The Repurposed Significator: A Comprehensive Overview
