I was thinking today about the ways that the Major Arcana cards tie together numerologically. Except for the Fool, all of them have what Phillip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm call "numerological counterparts:" trump cards whose numbers when subject to mathematical reduction result in a lower-numbered card with which the original card can be seen as having … Continue reading Numerological Fun with the Trumps
Tarot
The Full Monty: Comparing Tarot Deck Styles
For those of you aren't British, this is the source of my title: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_full_monty_(phrase) A question was recently raised on one of the tarot forums as to whether there is a comprehensive table providing a side-by-side comparison of card meanings across all the major deck styles: Tarot de Marseille (TdM), Etteilla, Wirth, Golden Dawn, RWS … Continue reading The Full Monty: Comparing Tarot Deck Styles
How to Read the OotK Pairs
Another question that the Book of Thoth leaves completely unanswered is how one goes about actually reading the paired cards on either side of the Significator at the end of the First Operation of the "Opening of the Key" (OotK) method. "Make a story of these cards." OK, Al, but are they to be read as … Continue reading How to Read the OotK Pairs
Adherence of the RWS Pips to Their Golden Dawn Roots
As a follow-up to my previous post on the relationship between the RWS and Thoth decks and their common source in the Golden Dawn's esoteric system, I conducted a small exploratory analysis of the relative adherence of the RWS pip cards to their Golden Dawn roots. I took the descriptions in Liber T and compared … Continue reading Adherence of the RWS Pips to Their Golden Dawn Roots
Cheap Shots #21: Thoth vs RWS, Head-to-Head
Let it be said right up front: I'm not a huge fan of the Waite-Smith (aka Rider-Waite-Smith or "RWS") deck. I think that, in many cases, the narrative vignettes embedded in Pamela Colman Smith's scenic "pip" cards - the minors with their ready-made stories - hijack the deeper esoteric meaning that lies at its core, … Continue reading Cheap Shots #21: Thoth vs RWS, Head-to-Head
Thoth Pip Cards as Emotions
A couple of years ago one of my Aeclectic Tarot forum mates conducted an exercise to explore how the Minor Arcana, or "pip" cards, of the Thoth deck might be categorized as a range of emotional expressions: Joy, Anger, Love, Grief, Surprise, Fear, Trust and Anxiety. Because the Thoth pips have titles on them as … Continue reading Thoth Pip Cards as Emotions
The Aces: “First Whirlings”
I often hear novice tarot readers say, upon encountering an Ace in a reading, "You're going to be starting something new!" I think to myself "Well, no . . . at least not yet." The Aces represent the impulse to act that sparks (or should spark) the focus and concentration essential to mounting any well-planned … Continue reading The Aces: “First Whirlings”
A Finger-of-Fate Test Reading
As usual, I ran a test reading with the new spread I just posted to see how well it works. I have a moderately challenging home repair task underway. The first half went well, and I'm finishing the rest of it today. I chose that project as my target, pre-selecting the Thoth "Work" card (3 … Continue reading A Finger-of-Fate Test Reading
The “Fickle Finger of Fate” Needs-Fulfillment Spread
Sometimes all we really want to know is "How will my day go?" but the single-card pull and even the 3-card "past/present/future" line seem just a little short on substance (which for me is most of the time). Here's a slightly more involved way to get a deeper look at the situation that brings in … Continue reading The “Fickle Finger of Fate” Needs-Fulfillment Spread
A Crowded House, or Where Do I Put All Those Planets
For those old-timers like me who may wander in here, the title of this post should bring back fond memories of William Conrad's narrated taglines to the animated Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes, which invariably went "Be here next time, when . . . " followed by a tongue-in-cheek pair of amusing but not always obviously … Continue reading A Crowded House, or Where Do I Put All Those Planets
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 