The “Mandala of the Moment”

In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky envisions arranging all 78 cards of the Tarot de Marseille in a single emblematic pattern, a geometric "mandala" that can be visually absorbed at a glance, instantly embraced by the mind and easily understood in its entirely once the cards' basic meanings have been internalized. While pondering this …

Convergence (or Not) – A Relationship Spread

I almost stopped reading The Grand Etteilla when I reached the minutiae of tables, spreads and examples at the end. I'm glad I didn't because the "Inverted Pyramid" relationship spread gave me the inspiration (although I tweaked it drastically) for one of the more practical and useful partnership affinity forecasts I've come up with so …

“Riddle Me This” – An Astral Exploration Spread

I've seen more than a few online requests for advice and spread suggestions about communication with disembodied entities (spirit guides, ancestors, angelic powers, etc). My personal belief is that our access to such beings is channeled through the Astral Plane, with the inherent risk of self-deception and the psychological peril that traveling the Lunar path …

“Dreams and Mystification”

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not a huge fan of this book but it does have its moments of lucidity. (Some may recall that Jodorowsky was a fiercely iconoclastic and surrealistic film-maker in the '70s [El Topo, The Holy Mountain, etc], which may explain his singular and often peculiar notions about the tarot.) As I begin re-reading …

The “Keynote Series” Developmental Insight Spread

Here is a concept that uses three brief "mini-readings" (Past/Present/Future) to derive a fourth "keynote" spread showing a condensed developmental path for the situation. It applies Elemental Dignities to the "Present" line, which is read from the outside-in according to standard ED practice. (The center, or "principal," card is the focus; the others feed into …

The “Parsifal’s Draw” Negotiated Situational Development Spread

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have a number of new spreads stacked up that have taken a back seat to other projects. For the next few days I will posting them exclusively unless something else intervenes. In his book, Etteilla or the Only Way to Draw the Cards, Jean-Baptiste Alliette described what he called the "Etteilla Draw," …

“Blondness” as Perfection?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's a lightweight bit of fluff with a serious undertone. While many statements in The Grand Etteilla compilation that I recently finished reading are outdated to the point of being irrelevant to the modern practice of divination (if not actually laughable), this one stands out as particularly ludicrous. It definitely falls into "Gimme …

The Chameleon

"See chameleonLying there in the sunAll things to everyoneRun, run away"- Slade, Run, Run Away Once in a while the question comes up online about how the Magician should be interpreted when it appears as the "person of interest" in a reading about a possible romantic connection. The sense I get is that the inquirer …

The Three-Card Draw

Although they may prefer to deliver insights that offer a deeper psychological or metaphysical perspective, tarot readers who perform very brief readings at venues like psychic fairs must often resort to exceptionally small spreads to keep the queue moving along. I've done a few such events and quickly discovered that my favorite layout, the Celtic …

“AI” Graphics: Art for Art’s Sake?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Warning!!! Curmudgeon alert! Computer-generated "AI" artwork is a thing right now that has caused considerable buzz in the online tarot community. We might well ask (along with Barry Mann back in 1961) "Who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp?" I would argue that the creative "bomp" is being hijacked …