AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I create unique tarot spreads, I do so with an eye toward establishing an environment for the topic of interest that a sitter can then populate via "subconscious induction" as a result of shuffling and cutting the cards for the pull. The goal is to open a door into the collective unconscious … Continue reading Advanced Querent Engagement: Populating the Personal Spread
Tarot
The Diviner’s Art as “Pondering the Manner of Things in the Dark”
"Do you ponder the manner of things in the dark?"-from Glitter and Gold by Barns Courtney AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've occasionally summoned the Biblical phrase "through a glass darkly" when describing the tarot reader's quest for insight as one of murky supposition. Its a useful metaphor to ponder when a reading wanders too far from illumination … Continue reading The Diviner’s Art as “Pondering the Manner of Things in the Dark”
Common-Sense Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Tonight I’m coming to you from the Viking Sky Mediterranean cruise ship in Barcelona, on which we’re traveling to Italy for a destination wedding. (I managed to connect on my iPad.) There is an intriguing notion in Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot that a tarot reading should not be obliged to portray future developments … Continue reading Common-Sense Tarot Reading
The “Medium” is Not Always the “Message”
". . . the media, not the content that they carry, should be the focus of study."- from a Wikipedia analysis of Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media The Extensions of Man AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been having an energetic but mostly unproductive online conversation about whether the cards in a tarot spread should be approached as a … Continue reading The “Medium” is Not Always the “Message”
Inviting Intuition into the House: The Vampire on the Threshold
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll be in transit for the next week and I wanted to get this slab of absurdity out the door this afternoon even though it's breaking my rule of one post per day. File this one under "rhetorical raving" if you like; it's a bit over-the-top. Every time I encounter someone reading the … Continue reading Inviting Intuition into the House: The Vampire on the Threshold
Who Am I Today (and Do I Really Want to Know)?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my essay on self-reading I mentioned that I had already spent 40 years "doing the psycho-spiritual thing with both astrology and tarot." That pursuit was mainly philosophical navel-gazing aimed at uncovering my theoretical "true nature" apart from my observable attitudes and behaviors. After all that time, when I returned to professional tarot … Continue reading Who Am I Today (and Do I Really Want to Know)?
Self-Reading with the Tarot: Dual-Channel Divination
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Anxiety over the intrusion of emotional bias that might sabotage the accuracy of self-reading with the tarot is epidemic in the online community, to the point that some novices avoid it completely. This risk appears most often in romantic forecasts and similar scenarios where wishful thinking looms large. Such avoidance is unfortunate because … Continue reading Self-Reading with the Tarot: Dual-Channel Divination
Conquering Inertia: The Prosaic Truth Behind “Empowerment”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's not uncommon that seekers who resort to a professional diviner have reached a dead-end in their personal affairs. Either they have come up against the proverbial "brick wall" and feel like they can go no further without help, or they have not yet found their way to that barrier and are floundering … Continue reading Conquering Inertia: The Prosaic Truth Behind “Empowerment”
Blended Trends: Card-Wrangling with Dice
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been getting a bit bombastic lately, so here is a "palate-cleanser." I often employ both tarot cards and dice in what I call mixed-media readings. While I use the odd-and-even faces of the dice mainly as binary "pointers" in multi-path spreads to indicate which of two or more series of cards should … Continue reading Blended Trends: Card-Wrangling with Dice
Prediction, Projection or Presumption: Crossing the Line into “Hornswoggling”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It may seem that I'm constantly bashing intuitive guesswork when it is applied indiscriminately to interpretation of the tarot cards, but it's not just a grumpy traditonalist's private crusade. There is enough concern in the community over preferential bias in the form of subjective projection and speculative presumption to make it a worthwhile … Continue reading Prediction, Projection or Presumption: Crossing the Line into “Hornswoggling”
