. . . but not the kind you're thinking. The more popular Facebook tarot pages are constantly awash in the sentiment - prevalent among the overwhelming majority of neophytes - that spiritual energy ("good" or "bad") can cling to the cards in some unexplained fashion, encouraging the practices of mystically infusing them with the former … Continue reading Of Smoke and Mirrors
Culture
COVID-19 Recovery: End of June Outlook
I haven't done much with Lenormand lately, so I thought I'd throw a 3x3 square to ask where we will be (in the United States) with the coronavirus recovery by the end of June, 2020. My intent was a disease increase/decrease forecast, but that's not exactly what I wound up with. This is Edmund Zebrowski's … Continue reading COVID-19 Recovery: End of June Outlook
“Lucky You!” – A Tarot Board Game
UPDATE: I just tweaked some of the rules for the trump cards. Also, I've been playing around with this and found that, since I skewed the population of cards to the lower end, it's very difficult to get a +5 card in order to get out of jail (especially factoring in reversals); so I changed … Continue reading “Lucky You!” – A Tarot Board Game
Tormentor of Fish: A 2020 Season Forecast
Although I'm now well into my "senior" years, sit more than I should and have to be careful how much I push my limits, I still consider myself an "outdoorsman." (I like to say that I'm the only whisky-drinkin', pickup-drivin', ballcap-wearin', fly-fishin', alpine-skiin', kayak-paddlin', hill-climbin', rock & rollin', theater-goin', poetry-lovin', horoscope-castin', tarot-card-readin', grey-bearded, half-Canadian geomancer … Continue reading Tormentor of Fish: A 2020 Season Forecast
Time Bites: The Value of a Minute
Upon entering the ranks of the professional diviner, we inevitably encounter the question "How much is enough?" Time, that is, or effort expended for value received.I was once advised that, in rural New England where I lived at the time, the going rate for a face-to-face tarot reading was a dollar a minute. This was … Continue reading Time Bites: The Value of a Minute
“Tarot-Free” Tarot Decks (or “Damn the Symbolism, Full Speed Ahead!”)
I have a problem with self-proclaimed tarot decks that strip the usual symbolism from the cards and replace it with something radically different and wholly unlikely, whether it's animals or flowers or landscapes or similar charming but overly literal artwork that conveys something other than the customary narrative cues while often being utterly devoid of … Continue reading “Tarot-Free” Tarot Decks (or “Damn the Symbolism, Full Speed Ahead!”)
“The Cups of Love” – A Re-post
Since it's Valentine's Day in the US and elsewhere (even if it is now more a "Hallmark holiday" than a religious celebration, the romantic sentiments are usually genuine), I thought I would bump my 2018 post on the subject of "love cards." https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2018/02/06/got-love-if-you-want-it-or-love-in-its-cups/
Call Them “TINOs”
I was just reading a fascinating wiki article about Canadian cultural philosopher Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase "the medium is the message" while analyzing the impact of media sources like television on society, and who concluded that the delivery system is more revealing of modern collective values than the contents. In commenting on his … Continue reading Call Them “TINOs”
Jodo’s New-Age “Art” Films
Before he became a tarot star (of sorts), Alejandro Jodorowsky was a maker of exquisitely (or excruciatingly) surrealistic experimental films. I was 24 in 1972 when I first saw El Topo at a midnight drive-in theater screening in Connecticut, and it left a lasting impression (or stain?) on me. A couple of years ago, I … Continue reading Jodo’s New-Age “Art” Films
Enlightened Folly?
More musings on "how tarot works," with a new twist or two (but I will spare you a few of my overused personal aphorisms and axiomatic bromides). I've long believed that the Age of Enlightenment (aka the Age of Reason) that arose out of Renaissance "humanism" between the 17th and early 19th Centuries did more … Continue reading Enlightened Folly?
