Tarot and Talking Heads

This will be a controversial topic and I may offend a few of the more experienced purveyors of wisdom in the online divination community, but they aren't my target here. My goal is to encourage improvements for everyone in the overall effectiveness of  knowledge transfer and not just to criticize its shortcomings. For the less …

Bridging the Gap Between Magic and Meaning

You will often hear me say that, at least in my own work, divination is a subliminal process rooted in the unconscious (or, if you like, "Higher Self") that relies heavily on imagination, inspiration and ingenuity to tease practical messages from evocative symbolism that is typically shrouded in rather obscure "magical" imagery. In the best …

Coronavirus Pandemic: A Horary Perspective

I cast a horary astrology chart to ask the same question I posed to the tarot yesterday: What are the chances for a global pandemic of the COVID-19 coronavirus? In keeping with John Frawley's recommendation, I used the Regiomontanus house system. A quick disclaimer: there is no reason to believe that my work is any …

Virus Alert!

With the 2019-nCoV ("COVID-19") coronavirus spreading relentlessly worldwide, I decided to do a reading to examine what the chances are for a global pandemic of epic proportions to occur over the next few months. I had not yet had the opportunity to test my apocalyptic forecast (the "Armchair Cynic's Guide to the End of the …

A “Root-to-Fruit” Psychological Profile Reading

Since I have no suitable client readings in the queue, I decided to test this spread on myself, asking the question "Who am I at this point in my life?" I used the Waite-Smith Centennial Pocket Edition with reversals, and drew the court-card Significator randomly. All images copyright U.S. Games Systems, Stamford, CT The King …

The “Root-to-Fruit” Psychological Profile Spread

Most of you know that I'm skeptical of using tarot for psychological profiling purposes, especially the "mind-reading" variety  aimed at furnishing answers to "thinks-and-feels" questions that are driven by either wishful thinking or idle curiosity. Querent: "What does 'X' think/feel about me?" (i.e. "Does 'X' like me?"). Me (looking at cards): "Hmm, maybe 'X' isn't …

Bern or Heartburn? A Democratic Dilemma

UPDATE: It's interesting that the more moderate "also-rans" (Buttigieg and Klobuchar) are apparently being pushed by the Democratic Party machine into toeing the line by backing out of the race and throwing their weight toward Biden as a way to stymie Sanders and avoid a bloody fight on the Convention floor. Original Post: On the …

Other Worlds

I have to admit that  I'm not much of an astral traveler or "scryer." Of course, I do have an intellectual understanding of parallel-universe theories, bilocation and the "illusion of time," as well as more than a little experience with Astral Plane phenomena, but trying to approach the latter from a disciplined rather than totally …

The “Tip of the Iceberg” Mixed-Media Problem-Solving Spread

I've been meaning for some time to try my hand at creating spreads that use both cards and dominoes in developing the reading layout. Here is my first attempt focused on problem-solving scenarios. It is essentially a doubled five-card path from an opening "current situation" perspective to a closing  "future consequences" projection that has a …

The “AC/DC” Dual-Current Conflict Resolution Spread

Here is some more fun with dice and cards. It assumes that odd numbers are "active" and resolute in their function while even numbers are "passive" and vulnerable to lapsing into discord due to insufficient momentum or mixed feelings about the outcome. One path shows uneventful progress toward a clearly-marked destination while the other presents …