AUTHOR'S NOTE: To demonstrate the "Meaning of Life" spread I posted yesterday, here is a fictional reading based on real-life circumstances. A 47-year-old New Hampshire man was living in his mother's basement. She bought him a Playstation 5 for his birthday, but he jacked up the volume so high while playing that it annoyed her. … Continue reading A “Meaning of Life” Example Reading
Tarot
Purpose, Potential and Performance: A “Meaning of Life” Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: At the risk of impersonating a "self-help guru," I've created a spread for those who feel that life is bereft of meaning, and who want to stop drifting and "jump-start" their private reality. Craving a path to a better place through divination, they want to tap into subliminal glimpses of what the immediate … Continue reading Purpose, Potential and Performance: A “Meaning of Life” Spread
“Shapes of Things” – A Developmental Insight Spread*
* "Shapes of Things" is a 1966 "psychedelic" rock song by the Yardbirds (one of the very first) written by Jim McCarty, Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith, with Jeff Beck contributing guitar and inspiration. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is a spread that can go in multiple directions depending on the nature of the cards pulled. Highly-influential … Continue reading “Shapes of Things” – A Developmental Insight Spread*
Lord of the Rings Tarot (2022 Version): A Deck Profile
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a lifelong fan of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and an equally enthusiastic devotee of tarot divination, I'm always interested in new tarot decks based on the LotR universe. Although there have been playing-card packs and card games in that genre, as far as I know - until recently - we … Continue reading Lord of the Rings Tarot (2022 Version): A Deck Profile
“Feigning Clarity”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: One again, I'm indebted to Benebell Wen's I Ching the Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes for giving me a pithy phrase than can be applied to tarot reading. I've covered this ground before so my skeptical attitude is well-known, but I've acquired some fresh inspiration. In her analysis of … Continue reading “Feigning Clarity”
“Weaponizing” the Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Every day on local highways I encounter risk-taking "alpha" types (usually adult males) who have clearly "weaponized" their automobiles. They drive aggressively at high speed, weaving in and out of bumper-to-bumper traffic and squeezing into tight spots at 80 miles an hour; they're always quick to lean on the horn and brandish the … Continue reading “Weaponizing” the Tarot
A Tarot “Poke in the Eye:” Self-Serving Objectives and Loss of Focus
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It goes without saying that most people who seek a tarot reading are angling for a sign from the Universe that something they want to happen will come to pass. I doubt there are many who are looking for assurance that their vision isn't going to materialize as projected (unless their presentiment involves … Continue reading A Tarot “Poke in the Eye:” Self-Serving Objectives and Loss of Focus
“A Spiritual Death”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: One of the most difficult challenges in professional tarot reading is grappling with the presence of the Death card in a spread when an anxious client is waiting expectantly for a constructive explanation. There is an inevitable fixation on its gloomy portent and our own mortality even when nothing of the sort is … Continue reading “A Spiritual Death”
“Auspicious to Proceed”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The predictive text supporting the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching is full of brief advice that occurs with regular frequency. Two of these insights are "Auspicious to proceed" and its counterpart "Ominous to proceed." There is nothing quite that formulaic in tarot divination, whose practitioners often pride themselves on avoiding such prescriptive … Continue reading “Auspicious to Proceed”
“No Future Without A Past”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The commentary on the third (yang) line of the I Ching hexagram Tai (Harmony) reads in part: "No future is without a past." Among experienced tarot readers there seems to be a growing reluctance to use (waste?) a spread position for studying past circumstances or events that underlie a present and future situation. … Continue reading “No Future Without A Past”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 