There are good reasons why unraveling the gnarly strands of human interaction is such a long-running drama in the repertoire of divination. In the vision of an ideal world, we almost always see the best-case relationship as two individuals revolving around a common goal in perfectly concentric orbits, moving at the same speed in the … Continue reading The Tick-Tock Effect
Tarot Resources
Dissecting the Celtic Cross
I've used the venerable Celtic Cross spread during most of my long involvement with the tarot, having first encountered it in Eden Gray's book The Tarot Revealed in 1972. At the time I didn't realize that Gray had taken a few liberties with A.E. Waite's original, and I found her version to be remarkably effective. … Continue reading Dissecting the Celtic Cross
An Astro-Tarot Meditation Aid
Aleister Crowley said that the ideal way to become intimately acquainted with the Major Arcana of the tarot as "living beings" is meditation (although divination is the most practical way for the uninitiated). In his book The Druidry Handbook, John Michael Greer observed that the noisy Western mental machinery is not amenable to the Eastern … Continue reading An Astro-Tarot Meditation Aid
Virtue Is As Virtue Does
. . . or something like that. The uncertainty over which tarot trump card represents which of the four cardinal and three "theological" virtues is a continuing source of on-line debate. As a non-religious person I don't bother much (or at all) with the Christian virtues in a tarot reading, but I am intrigued by … Continue reading Virtue Is As Virtue Does
A “House” System for Tarot
Some time ago I created a numerical table that lays out all 78 tarot cards in an array that begins with the 22 trump cards and then follows through with the 56 minor cards, Ace through King and Wands through Pentacles. I devised this table as a way to find the "mid-point" between cards for … Continue reading A “House” System for Tarot
Odd Couples
I'm still plowing my way through Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Way of Tarot and have reached the section where he proposes a few obvious (and more than a few off-beat) "duets" between the cards of the tarot. Anyone with a shred of card sense can clearly see the logical ties between the Emperor and Empress, the … Continue reading Odd Couples
Symbolic Triptych: A Past/Present/Future Life-Reading Snapshot
This spread is an oddity for me in that it only has three cards. But I wanted to play around with geometric symbolism and someone asked me for a small-spread recommendation. The square represents stability in past circumstances (even if only in the sense that they aren't going to change) and perfectly symbolizes the "Foundation" … Continue reading Symbolic Triptych: A Past/Present/Future Life-Reading Snapshot
Rare, Medium or Well-Done: A Timing-Card Experiment
Having made a stab at identifying specific "yes, no or maybe" cards, I decided to try my hand at assigning "fast, slow or moderate" speediness to all of the tarot cards for use in answering timing questions. Although practical success with it has proven spotty, the general consensus is that Fire cards are the most … Continue reading Rare, Medium or Well-Done: A Timing-Card Experiment
The Three “R’s”
I was never much good at mathematics, being more of a literary and artistic type in my youth and on into maturity. For me, 'rithmetic never really made it into the classical mix, although I did have to pass college math to get my degree. My personal "three R's" included readin', (w)ritin' and a rotating … Continue reading The Three “R’s”
A Road Less Traveled
I've written on this topic before, but have since gained a number of fresh insights and decided that it's time for an update. My impression of modern English-speaking tarot culture is that casually curious beginners pick up one of the "easy tarot" kits (a deck and companion book such as those by Rosalind Simmons or … Continue reading A Road Less Traveled
