That First Deck

There is no shortage of sage advice for neophyte tarot readers seeking their very first deck. Some of it has been debunked; for example, the old caveat that you can't legitimately buy your first deck, it must be gifted to you. But other notions linger, like the opinion that you should latch onto the first …

Tarot Therapy

Some diviners present themselves as counselors, therapists or "life coaches" offering advice via the tarot for dealing with life's problems. Some are very good at it. But the fact remains that by doing so without the requisite technical training, they often risk straying into the territory of the licensed mental health professional. I have talked …

Opening Moves

The term gambit typically means an opening move in chess by which the player sacrifices something of minor importance in order to gain a positional advantage later in the game. But its more general usage describes a remark that is intended to start a conversation. Professional tarot readers (at least those who meet face-to-face with …

“Adam Cardman”

There is a qabalastic tradition that places an image of the male human body within the structure of the Tree of Life, such that the ten spheres (or sephiroth) of the Tree relate to different parts of the anatomy. This image is known as "Adam Kadmon," or the Primordial Man. The most common version of …

Devil Inside

One of the most well-known tunes by Australian rock band INXS is the breathy "Devil Inside," with singer Michael Hutchence doing his best Lou-Reed-meets-Billy-Idol impersonation. I heard it a few days ago and it got me thinking about the tarot Devil and its somewhat disjointed jumble of meanings. A widespread belief is that the card …

A Life-Factors Reading: Who Is Brett Kavanaugh?

I decided to test my Temperament and Character spread on Judge (now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh to see what kind of person it shows him to be. I used the Thoth deck, with reversals, and selected the senior member of the Swords suit (the Thoth Knight) as Significator. My camera is packed away for our move, …

The Life-Factors Spread: A Human Temperament and Character Mash-up

Some time ago I was reading about the difference between temperament and character as aspects of the human personality. These terms are frequently confused in conversation, but they aren't interchangeable. Temperament is viewed as fundamental "human nature," embodying innate qualities that are present at birth, while character is understood to be the product of environmental …

Building the Perfect Deck

Although I'm a trained graphic artist with the skills to do so, I don't have the inclination or enthusiasm to tackle the monumental task of creating 78 individual works of art to populate my own tarot deck. But that doesn't prevent me from having opinions as to how I might go about it. It is …