“Inner Navigation” with the Thoth Tarot

The purpose of this essay is to inquire "At what point does (or should) a serious tarot scholar become a diviner?" The best answer to that comes from Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth, at the beginning of Appendix A, "The Behaviour of the Tarot: Its Use in the Art of Divination," which I will quote …

Sneaking Up on the Book of Thoth

In response to those tarot journeymen who are struggling mightily (and often unsuccessfully) with Aleister Crowley's daunting Book of Thoth (BoT) and complaining almost as fiercely, I'll stick my oar in the water here. As always, I do this at the risk of repeating myself, not for the first time nor the last. (I could, …

The Thoth Minor Arcana: “Back Door” to Cartomancy?

I've long wanted to practice playing-card cartomancy, and have studied it just a little. But learning a new system and figuring out how to effectively work with it is a time-consuming proposition, so I haven't made much headway beyond buying a few decks of playing cards and a book or two. However, during online discussions …

A Twist on Elemental Dignities

As a continuation of my work in blending the influence of the astrological modalities into the sign-and-planet meanings of the 36 minor, or "decan" cards of the tarot, I thought it would be interesting and possibly revealing to bring this idea into the use of Elemental Dignities (EDs). Melding the various elements and modalities of …

Tarot 101 “Whys and Wherefores”

I've noticed a considerable increase in traffic on this blog lately, much of it coming from those new to tarot who are seeking beginner material. They are immediately confronted with a puzzle: why do I call my newbie stuff "Tarot 101, My Way" when what I've done is round up and judiciously condense the keywords …

2022 and the Nature of “Six-ness” – “Pleasure with Pain for Leaven”

Author's Note: Here is a meditation on the nature of "Six-ness" as it applies to the year ahead. (Please forgive the cynic in me, it's irrepressible.) This is the time of year when everyone and their psychic brother (or, more plausibly, sister, daughter, mother, aunt or grandmother) will be doing an annual forecast for 2022. …

Deck Review: The Remarkable (But Questionably Legal) “Retro Thoth” Mini

I've been in the market for a "mini" version of the Thoth deck for quite some time, but I've been put off by several negative reviews of the three currently-available "pocket-size" editions from 1998, 2002 and 2005, in which the weak color palette and the out-of-focus, too-small-to-see details were roundly criticized. I already had four …

Thoth Love

I haven't visited this topic in quite a while, but after 1,255 posts over the last 4+ years I've reached a bit of a lull in my more philosophical (not to mention more acerbic) ramblings around the tarotscape, and thought I would spend some time with an old friend: the venerable and magnificent Thoth Tarot. …

Temperance/Art and the Sagittarius Decans

Continuing with my exploration of the "meditation patterns" for the Minor Arcana from Jim Eshelman's Liber Theta, here are the patterns for the Sagittarius trump card, Temperance (Art in the Thoth deck), and the three decans of Sagittarius; I call this sequence "Art for Art's Sake." The Minor Arcana for Sagittarius are the 8 of …

Meditation Patterns: Strength/Lust and the Leo Decans

Continuing my exploration of the "meditation patterns" for the Minor Arcana from Jim Eshelman's Liber Theta, here are the patterns for the Leo trump card, Strength (Lust in the Thoth Deck), and the three decans of Leo; I call this sequence "The Three Trials of Lust." The Minor Arcana for the Leo decans are 5 …