Cartomancy is fundamentally a story-tellers art, in which each card in a spread forms a scene in a narrative that logically advances the story from the preceding card and segues neatly into the next. The true test of the raconteur's skill occurs when facing what at first appears to be a hopeless jumble of mismatched … Continue reading The Art of Reading
Tarot
A Celtic Cross Reading Example
Here is an example of a Celtic Cross interpretation I posted on one of the tarot forums I frequent, using my personal spread design and positional meanings. It's a bare-bones version of the CC reading I'm offering here. All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Inc, Stamford, CT Card #1: 6 of Pentacles - Most of … Continue reading A Celtic Cross Reading Example
Swaggin’ It
At one time, tarot was used primarily as a tool for divination; its forte was getting under the skin of outward appearances in order to examine the roots of causality found within a querent's subconscious grasp of his or her personal reality. This was usually expressed in terms of the chance for occurrence of some … Continue reading Swaggin’ It
Should We Empower or Should We Enable?
One thing I have always appreciated about tarot is its ability to speak the plain truth in difficult circumstances. Its advice is often bluntly constructive rather than comforting, and the reader must walk a fine line when imparting its wisdom to assure impartiality. It's a truism that "bad things" do still happen to "good people," … Continue reading Should We Empower or Should We Enable?
Culling the Herd
In agriculture, threshing a wheat harvest means separating the kernels from the chaff, after which winnowing removes the hulls, leaving behind only the edible part of the grain. Facing the bounty of new, old and restored tarot decks on the market today, I feel like a lucky farmer confronting a bumper crop. The phrase “So … Continue reading Culling the Herd
“Cheap Shots” #14 – Tough Love
I generally prefer decks that hand out unvarnished truth rather than affirmative pleasantries (which excludes many oracle decks, and especially "angel cards"). The Thoth is the granddaddy of them all in that regard, and each of its various clones is no slouch either. For example, unlike the ambivalent 8 of Cups in the Waite-Smith deck, … Continue reading “Cheap Shots” #14 – Tough Love
Expanding Your Reach
A brief article in the latest issue of The Cartomancer quarterly posed the question of whether anyone should feel inadequate for being a "one-trick pony" in the divinatory arts, only focusing on a single branch of the tree when the public seems to expect a well-rounded "gypsy fortune-teller" repertoire. This has me thinking about my … Continue reading Expanding Your Reach
The “Sword and Shield” Decision-Making Spread
This is an earlier and more complex 15-card version of the "active-or-passive" decision-making spread I previously posted as the Balance of Forces spread. It is a study in its own right, in that it uses a qabalistic Tree of Life format with my own take on Adam Kadmon, the "Heavenly Man," standing within the Tree … Continue reading The “Sword and Shield” Decision-Making Spread
The “Fool in the Middle” Spread
This is a slightly cheeky poke at workplace dynamics (and by extension, politics). The "boss" (Fool) is at the center of the corporate universe, and there are up to twenty options to represent co-workers, either as second-level supervisors (Aces) or peers (court cards). The idea is that you only need to populate as many of … Continue reading The “Fool in the Middle” Spread
The “Second Opinion” Moving Line Spread
This is a "Majors-Only" spread in which only four of the cards are drawn from the 22-card deck; the rest are derived from the card first drawn in each row. It adopts the concept that all of the Major Arcana cards except the Fool as "0" have one or more "numerological counterparts" based on the … Continue reading The “Second Opinion” Moving Line Spread
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 