AUTHOR'S NOTE: Those who have been following this blog for the past nine years know that I take a dim view of overly impressionistic tarot reading because it banks on unalloyed intuition and poses the risk of subjective bias that can overshadow more objective interpretation, derailing the literal point-of-view and leaving it without a voice. … Continue reading Insight and/or Instinct: Finding the Middle Way
The De-energizer: Reversal as Diminished Potency
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the approximately fifty percent of my followers who read reversed cards, this is for you. The rest can take it however they choose. Over the years I've come up with over 200 discrete interpretations for the phenomenon of tarot-card reversal sorted into 15 broad categories, independent of the nature of the cards … Continue reading The De-energizer: Reversal as Diminished Potency
Tarot Reading As Ritual (Not Only As Its Focus)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The topic of ritual preparation for a tarot reading comes up frequently in the online community, and there is a wide range of practices from which to choose. It's fair to say that my own opinion diverges substantially from the mystical assumptions of the average diviner. (For the more rational cartomancer, this essay … Continue reading Tarot Reading As Ritual (Not Only As Its Focus)
The Tarot Fives as “Difficult People”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I first want to mention that in some systems of numerological thought Five is the number of humanity (five senses, five extremities, five fingers, five toes, etc). For this reason I'm relating it to "people" for the purpose of this essay. The difficult disposition of the title can appear in these individuals as … Continue reading The Tarot Fives as “Difficult People”
Advanced Querent Engagement: Populating the Personal Spread
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I create unique tarot spreads, I do so with an eye toward establishing an environment for the topic of interest that a sitter can then populate via "subconscious induction" as a result of shuffling and cutting the cards for the pull. The goal is to open a door into the collective unconscious … Continue reading Advanced Querent Engagement: Populating the Personal Spread
The Diviner’s Art as “Pondering the Manner of Things in the Dark”
"Do you ponder the manner of things in the dark?"-from Glitter and Gold by Barns Courtney AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've occasionally summoned the Biblical phrase "through a glass darkly" when describing the tarot reader's quest for insight as one of murky supposition. Its a useful metaphor to ponder when a reading wanders too far from illumination … Continue reading The Diviner’s Art as “Pondering the Manner of Things in the Dark”
Common-Sense Tarot Reading
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Tonight I’m coming to you from the Viking Sky Mediterranean cruise ship in Barcelona, on which we’re traveling to Italy for a destination wedding. (I managed to connect on my iPad.) There is an intriguing notion in Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot that a tarot reading should not be obliged to portray future developments … Continue reading Common-Sense Tarot Reading
The “Medium” is Not Always the “Message”
". . . the media, not the content that they carry, should be the focus of study."- from a Wikipedia analysis of Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media The Extensions of Man AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been having an energetic but mostly unproductive online conversation about whether the cards in a tarot spread should be approached as a … Continue reading The “Medium” is Not Always the “Message”
Inviting Intuition into the House: The Vampire on the Threshold
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll be in transit for the next week and I wanted to get this slab of absurdity out the door this afternoon even though it's breaking my rule of one post per day. File this one under "rhetorical raving" if you like; it's a bit over-the-top. Every time I encounter someone reading the … Continue reading Inviting Intuition into the House: The Vampire on the Threshold
Who Am I Today (and Do I Really Want to Know)?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my essay on self-reading I mentioned that I had already spent 40 years "doing the psycho-spiritual thing with both astrology and tarot." That pursuit was mainly philosophical navel-gazing aimed at uncovering my theoretical "true nature" apart from my observable attitudes and behaviors. After all that time, when I returned to professional tarot … Continue reading Who Am I Today (and Do I Really Want to Know)?
