Here is an intricate "once-a-year" spread that is similar to the pagan Wheel of the Year layout, except that it follows a zodiacal sequence and uses a pair of six-sided dice to augment the monthly interpretations. This would be one to take a photo of and revisit at the beginning of each month. You might … Continue reading The Spirit of the Year: A Mandala of Growth and Opportunity
Tarot
Yes, No and Maybe Cards
A widely-held conviction among modern tarot readers is that there are no categorically "good" or "bad" cards in the deck, therefore no single card can give a "yes" or "no" answer via a one-card pull. I often quote James Wanless, who said "There are no negative cards, only opportunities." As a working hypothesis, this seems … Continue reading Yes, No and Maybe Cards
Local vs. Remote Reading – A Rant
As an old-school face-to-face tarot reader, I'm quite leery of the validity of conducting readings over the internet. I finally worked my way around to something I can live with, which is having my remote clients pull their own cards and tell me the order of the draw so I can perform the reading. I … Continue reading Local vs. Remote Reading – A Rant
The Case for a Traveling Significator
I stopped using a Significator card to represent the querent in my Celtic Cross spreads a long time ago. It seemed redundant to the "live" Significator sitting across the table from me - and that one talks! It wasn't adding anything of value to the narrative, so I retired the idea. But I started considering … Continue reading The Case for a Traveling Significator
The Fool’s Debut: A Pregnancy and Childbirth Diorama
Astrology has its "prenatal epoch" that explores the period between conception and birth. I decided to create my own tarot version of the same idea. Fool's Debut Diorama
The “Personal Archetypes” Individual Profile Spread
The next time you decide to ask the cards "How does X think/feel about me?" why not ask instead "Who is X, really?" This spread is intended to explore the "building blocks" of the individuality in four modes: Instinctual, Habitual, Rational and Spiritual. Use it on anyone you want to know "stuff" about (even yourself). Testimonial: … Continue reading The “Personal Archetypes” Individual Profile Spread
An Astro-Tarot Mandala
The imperfect and occasionally unconvincing merger of tarot and astrology is something that has always fascinated me. There is a sentiment among less-esoteric practitioners that they are entirely unrelated systems, and "never the twain shall meet." As a syncretic thinker on all aspects of divination (thank you, Mr. Crowley!), I find that correspondences between the … Continue reading An Astro-Tarot Mandala
“By the Numbers” Crisis Management Spread
This is a spread that mimics the old Cracker Jacks slogan: it has "a surprise inside." The first card is dealt face-down, under the Significator, so you won't know until the end of the reading whether that surprise is pleasant or unpleasant. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you, and the "good … Continue reading “By the Numbers” Crisis Management Spread
The Quintessence, Sub-quintessence and Grand Quintessence
The idea of summing and then numerologically reducing the values of the cards in a spread to arrive at a single Major Arcanum card as a high-level summary of the individual details serves as a kind of "capstone" on the narrative. This practice seems to have entered the modern tarot world via the books of … Continue reading The Quintessence, Sub-quintessence and Grand Quintessence
The Salmon of Doubt Uncertain Future Spread
Sometimes tarot spread creation can be just plain fun! Satirical writer Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) had a very British way with words that (along with Monty Python) has inspired many of my quirkier spread titles. Before he passed, he was working on a new novel called The Salmon of Doubt, which … Continue reading The Salmon of Doubt Uncertain Future Spread
