There is a tradition in tarot reading that visually scanning from the left to the right in a linear spread presents a past-to-future panorama of circumstances signifying an urge to move forward, while looking from right to left suggests a need to first deal with past events in the situation that may still be unresolved … Continue reading Left or Right? A Matter of Orientation
A Glut of Garbage?
I've written in the past that there seems to be a veritable tsunami of mediocre tarot and oracle decks entering the market, most likely due to the ease of self-publishing and the impression that "anyone can be an artist" (aka "It's so simple a caveman could do it"). Now I notice on the Tarot Marketplace … Continue reading A Glut of Garbage?
A “Psychometric” Yes-or-No Reading Approach
The dilemma of how to handle "yes-or-no" questions (or whether to even attempt answering them) is one that all tarot readers must confront sooner or later. I've tried numerous ways, both simple and complicated, to solve the problem and a few years ago I created a table of what I dubbed "Yes-Leaning," "No-Leaning" and "Maybe" … Continue reading A “Psychometric” Yes-or-No Reading Approach
The Court Cards: A Paradigm Shift
There is a premise in Liber T, the tarot canon of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, that relates the court cards to the exercise of worldly "power" in its various forms. The Kings represent "Potential Power;" the Queens convey "Brooding Power;" the Knights (or Princes) wield "Power in Action;" and the Pages (or … Continue reading The Court Cards: A Paradigm Shift
The Teaching Way
Back in the mid-70s my brother and I had an esoteric teaching gig in Connecticut. He was an accomplished astrologer and I was an up-and-coming tarot reader with the Thoth deck. We had several lively study groups going on simultaneously and were busy with them a large part of every week. Unfortunately, it didn't last … Continue reading The Teaching Way
The “Nature of the Evidence” Situational Challenges Spread
This spread uses the rank (minor, court or trump) of a majority of the cards pulled to show the projected urgency or intensity of any challenges present or anticipated in a developing situation. Because it is likely that "ties" will occur (such as a "2-2-1" distribution), one or two "tie-breaker" cards should be pulled and … Continue reading The “Nature of the Evidence” Situational Challenges Spread
A Developmental “Reality-Check” Model
I consider the ten suit cards from Ace to Ten to show the developmental ideal for advancement of any conceivable situation. In order to do this we have to put a "good face" (or as good a face as possible) on all of them. This is easier to do with pip decks than with scenic … Continue reading A Developmental “Reality-Check” Model
The “Blottomancer”
A couple of different themes come together in this essay: "ordinary" divination and "augmented" divination. If you've ever gone googling for every instance of the suffix "-mancy" you were probably amazed by how many different forms of divination have been practiced throughout recorded history, more than a few of which are quite odd and also … Continue reading The “Blottomancer”
The Power of Leaves
Another idea that I picked up from Paul Marteau's Tarot de Marseille book is that the leaves forming part of the decorative ornamentation on the TdM pip cards represent storehouses, repositories or reservoirs of force in its potential form (much like the way foliage works in nature); depending on their color, these "energy wells" are … Continue reading The Power of Leaves
“White On This Side”
Being an "action-and-event-oriented" tarot reader reminds me of the "Fair Witnesses" in Robert Heinlein's novel, Stranger in a Strange Land: they were absolutely incorruptible observers who could be called on to help assess the truth or falsehood of any situation. If you pointed to a white house and asked "What color is that house?" they … Continue reading “White On This Side”