The Virtue of Simplicity

As time goes on I find myself drawn more and more to working with only the 56 Minor Arcana cards in divination. Granted, the 22 Major Arcana are where most of the philosophical "meat" lies in the tarot, but very few of my readings rise to that level of metaphysical complexity and intensity. Most of …

TURN OFF THE CAPS! (Majors-Only Tarot Reading)

It seems to be popular in Europe to read with only the 22 trump cards and leave the pip and court cards aside. This is surely a pre-20th-Century form of cartomancy that antedates the lofty assumptions of Jungian thought and its psychological archetypes. I'm not familiar enough with Joseph Campbell to say so conclusively, but …

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 …

Meditation Patterns: The Emperor and the Aries Decans

A Facebook friend of mine just reminded me that Liber Theta, the College of Thelema's Thoth-based rewrite of the Golden Dawn's Liber T, includes what author Jim Eshelman calls "meditation patterns" for each pair of Major Arcana that are considered "astrological counterparts" to the Minor Arcanum for the associated decan of the Chaldean zodiac. There …

Trumps As Situational “Wallpaper”

This is a follow-up to my observation that, rather than foretelling inevitable events of a life-altering nature, the trump cards most often serve as profound "background themes" or big-picture "stage-setters" for the minor-card actors, much like a theater backdrop. They invoke a climate that is ripe for certain occurrences, but the querent must still command …

More Thoughts on the Trump Cards

Not long ago I posted a detailed essay on how I think the Major Arcana (aka "trump" cards) operate in divination. https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2020/03/21/much-ado-about-nothing-the-problem-with-trump-cards-in-prediction/ Since that time I've had occasion to further consider their significance in readings that explore situational developments where external factors are likely to play a part. As before, I seldom see them as …

Much Ado About Nothing? – The Problem with Trump Cards in Prediction

Although I've been working up to it for a while, I recently decided to take a more measured stance regarding the significance of trump cards in my personal readings (but not in those for other people since I won't presume to tinker with their destiny; that's for them to decide upon seeing the cards). I've …

“Pin the Handle on the Perp ” – A Suspect-Identification Spread

This method first appeared in a "whodunit" reading for a murdered New Hampshire woman that I posted in October of last year, but I can never find it when I want it so I broke it out into its own post. The court-card representing the suspect will typically have come up in an earlier spread …

The “Two-Trump Tango” Example Reading: A Study in Determination

In this example pull for my new life-reading spread, I used the Spanish Tarot TdM deck without reversals. The question I asked was "Where will my guitar-playing initiative take me in the next six months?" Last week, completely out of the blue, I decided to resume the guitar-playing ambitions that I dropped shortly after buying …