It's interesting how life teaches you lessons through the tarot. The flaw in my first attempt to predict the outcome of the final World Series game was in using a coin-flip to decide which team to place in the top row of the spread, rather than following the traditional practice of putting the visiting team … Continue reading World Series Game 7 Postmortem
Tarot
The Star Tarot Deck Interview
Let's get the unpleasant stuff out of the way first. While Cathy McClelland's artwork is a wonder to behold, the manufacturing quality of the deck is rather poor. I had to order the Star Tarot from Amazon twice and both times some cards had damaged backs. Many had rolled sections or shallow nicks on the … Continue reading The Star Tarot Deck Interview
A 2017 World Series Postscript
I thought I would try an experiment to see if I could come up with a layout that would emulate a baseball box-score for the final game of the World Series. I used a Tarot de Marseille deck (the Hadar) because the non-scenic pips are easier to read as pure numbers. Since not many Major … Continue reading A 2017 World Series Postscript
A 2017 World Series Prediction
UPDATE: I neglected to report back on the outcome. I got the score right (5-1) but the winning team wrong; the Houston Astros won Game Seven and the World Series, four games to three. Using the coin flip may not be a reliable way to assign the teams to the rows since there is a … Continue reading A 2017 World Series Prediction
Number Theory in Action
Occult number theory - whether Pythagorean or qabalistic - is one of my favorite ways to extract additional information from the cards in a spread. The geometric axioms of Pythagoras evolve from the Monad (the Point, or Number One) to the Decad (the Decahedron, or Number Ten), while the qabalistic approach follows the descending flow … Continue reading Number Theory in Action
What’s the Story?
I often field questions from anxious novice readers who have yet to acquire the knack of imaginative story-telling with the cards. Anything beyond the simplest layout puts them into the panicked "Lego-block" mode of interpretation, in which they try to stack up keywords in a way that approximates a smooth narrative but instead resembles a … Continue reading What’s the Story?
“Coin-Flip” Divination
Back when I was employed and had to rise before dawn to get ready for work without waking my wife, I used to judge the promise of the coming day by whether or not I slid my slippers on the right feet on the first try in total darkness. If I got it wrong, I … Continue reading “Coin-Flip” Divination
“Cheap Shots” #22: Tough Talk
I've written on the topic of tarot professionalism before (see Volume 3 - Issue 2 of The Cartomancer), but recent forum exchanges bring me back to the subject. What might be termed the "journeyman class" of tarot readers- those who have been reading for family and friends for some time - is strongly tempted to … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #22: Tough Talk
The Tarot of Dreams Deck Interview
I just received Ciro Marchetti's Tarot of Dreams (the 2015 reissue) today and decided to run it thorough my "personality profile" deck interview spread. This is Ciro's second tarot project, following on the heels of his Gilded Tarot. I consider it a step up in excellence. All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT … Continue reading The Tarot of Dreams Deck Interview
“One Star in Sight”
In his masterful poem One Star in Sight, Aleister Crowley tossed out a few hints about the true meaning of the Star. Here is a non-contiguous fragment: "One star can summon them to wake To self; star-souls serene that gleam On life's calm lake. Behold within and not above, One star in sight!" The traditional … Continue reading “One Star in Sight”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 