The third array of trump-card counterparts involves Strength and Temperance on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Eight, Fourteen and Five. I decided to insert the Fool in all of these tableaux, even without an obvious numerological derivation. because the Fool represents the "jumping-off place" for all of … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Strength and Temperance
Tarot
Recombinant Trumps: Hermit and Death
The second array of trump-card counterparts involves the Hermit and Death on opposite sides of Justice, and the relevant numbers for the accompanying cards are Nine and Four. The interplay of numbers across this one is fascinating, and it will be interesting to see if it repeats with the remaining eight tableaux. The Hermit, numbered … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Hermit and Death
Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
This post brings together a few ideas I've floated in past essays: "playing both ends against the middle" when approaching the trump-card sequence; the concept of "numerological counterparts" among the trumps; the trumps as "archetypal expressions" of the "pip" cards; and the linking of certain trumps through means other than immediate proximity. I've recently been … Continue reading Recombinant Trumps: Rescuing Chaos from Conformity
The “Keys to the Kingdom”
Somewhere in the dim and distant past I encountered the idea that astrology represents the "gold key" to unlocking visions of the future through divination, in that it is objective and rational (that is, based on visible phenomena), while the more subjective and intuitive tarot provides the "silver key." I can no longer find the … Continue reading The “Keys to the Kingdom”
Numerological and Archetypal Counterparts: A Visual Tableau
I decided to turn my previous post on trump-card counterparts into a graphic display. In addition to visually aligning the cards according to their numerical and archetypal values (both natural and derived), this tableau allows for drawing more imaginative correlations between cards that answer to the same number. In the case of the court and … Continue reading Numerological and Archetypal Counterparts: A Visual Tableau
A “Round It Goes” Example Reading
It took a while, but I finally got the game-board spinner necessary to try out this unusual spread. https://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/the-round-it-goes-decision-making-spread/ I found it useful to select a deck that matched the height of the spinner pad fairly closely so I could lay out the cards in a uniform way that eliminated the possibility of "pointer overlap" … Continue reading A “Round It Goes” Example Reading
Who Hit Julia? – A Hit-and-Run Reading
This layout is a spin-off from my "Rogue's Gallery" unsolved homicide spread, in which I'm using the Tower as the central "focus" card to signify a traumatic accident rather than Death, which symbolized a homicide in the original spread. I'm also using the 10 of Swords as the pointer or "finger" card because in many … Continue reading Who Hit Julia? – A Hit-and-Run Reading
Daily-Draw Tones and Overtones: Variations On a Theme
I've found over many years of working with them that single-card daily draws are more useful for showing the background "tone" of the upcoming day than for trying to pinpoint specific activities or events. They are too limited in scope to effectively convey all of the ramifying "overtones" that can accompany the main theme, which … Continue reading Daily-Draw Tones and Overtones: Variations On a Theme
Health & Happiness: A Knee-Injury Reading
For the last six weeks I've been suffering from a moderately debilitating knee injury. As near as I can tell from my research, it seems to be patellar tendonitis, perhaps bordering on tendonopathy. I've struggled with it from time to time while skiing and jogging over the last fifteen years, occasionally experiencing sharp pain right … Continue reading Health & Happiness: A Knee-Injury Reading
Why Do It?
In his book The Horary Textbook, John Frawley makes the point that divination shouldn't be attempted unless the querent (who is often oneself) has a legitimate need to know the answer. Anything other than that is just idle curiosity about circumstances that don't directly concern us, and therefore a misuse of the method. I've been … Continue reading Why Do It?