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Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

"Attitudes and Behaviors:" A Themed Tarot Profile in Four Arcs

I do very little psychological profiling with the tarot (that's what natal astrology is for) and no mind-reading if I know that's what the querent is after, but here is a new spread that shows promise in that regard.   AUTHOR'S NOTE: This spread adopts my current view that the Major Arcana in a reading seldom show significant events in their own right, but rather overarching themes and environmental backdrops for the mundane conditions reflected in the court and pip cards. (During more th
Barleywine
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Chains of Conjecture: A Multi-Path Decision-Making Spread

Back to business. Here is another new spread, this time for "multiple-choice" decision-making scenarios. AUTHOR'S NOTE: A single run of cards can be silent, inconclusive or even contradictory in its testimony when the querent is facing a "multiple-choice" dilemma within a decision-making scenario. This is where having two or more chains of cards to analyze as a group comes into its own. Each option offers a separate narrative regarding the likelihood of success, effectively creating a
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If You Ask Me----

Huh??? vs Well....Duh!

The added "clarifier" cards on top of a "piddled puddle" from a deck that's only been riffled a few times causes "gobbledygook".  Plunk that mess down in front of a reader who hasn't ever really learned card meanings and combinations  who wings it intuitively and you've got a "Huh????" reading.  But leave off the "clarifiers", make the spread from a truly randomized deck, go intuitive only after thoroughly knowing basic card and card combination meanings and you'll have a "Well--duh!" reading th
Grizabella
  • Grizabella in Tarot
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Confessions of a Spread-Fiend: An Unfashionable Opinion

On to a related subject: positional tarot spreads. I suspect many will part ways with me here. AUTHOR'S NOTE: There, I've said it again: I'm hooked on creating and using positional tarot spreads. Of course, those who believe tarot reading should be entirely open-ended and unstructured will never agree with me. Intuitive interpretation won't tolerate many strictures, but in my opinion it also doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the dependability of its vision. It's entirely too subj
Barleywine
Natural Mystic Guide

Tarot Netivot Star of the Week Reading Sunday September 28 - Shabbat October 4, 2025

Feedback -- Questions and comments are welcome.   This reading gives us insight into energies that we can focus on during specific days of the upcoming week as well as throughout the entire week as a whole   Today's reading will use the Tarot of the Four Elements by Isha Lerner and Amy Erickson.   Here are focal points for our meditation:   Sunday:                How Can I Express Generosity?                                        Mother of Wands         
Natural Mystic Guide
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

"He's Gone to Plaid!" - The Danger of Over-analyzing

“They’ve gone to plaid!” — Barf (John Candy) to Lone Star (Bill Pullman) as Spaceballs One overshoots their interstellar Winnebago in Mel Brook’s Star Wars parody, Spaceballs.   AUTHOR’S NOTE: An author I’m presently re-reading holds the opinion that sticking with one or two definitions for a tarot card is “lazy” when a wide range of meanings is possible in any situation, and it can result in what he describes as “under-interpretation” that can fail to identify important issues. Having
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Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Syncretic Card Selection: An Alternative to the "Straight Deal"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: In The Book of Thoth, Aleister Crowley discussed metaphysical syncretism as it applied to spiritual beliefs and practices across a wide range of ancient cultures, drawing parallels between them when it struck him as significant. At a more humble level, I employ syncretism ("the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions") in the development of tarot spreads that use more than one divinatory method to arrive at an answer: cards and dice; cards and dominoes; c
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Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

A Tarot Conversation with Myself

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This one is just for fun! (Well, maybe there’s an uncomfortable truth or two and a little sarcasm mixed in with the merriment . . . ) Me the Inquisitor: “Why do you read the tarot cards?” Me the Mad Scientist: “I want to get under the skin of objective reality and see what makes the Universe tick.” Me the Hedge-Mystic: “Because they’re there?”   Me the Inquisitor: “How does tarot work?” Me the Mad Scientist: “It’s a function of the subconscious mind that taps
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Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

"Grounding the Archetypes" - A Three-Card Daily Draw Spread

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just encountered the idea that whenever we receive a Major Arcana (aka "trump") card in a reading, we should immediately pull another card to describe its practical (as opposed to its universal or spiritual) significance for the querent's future. I'm no fan of using clarifying cards in my work, but I can see how this premise might be adapted for a "daily-draw" inquiry (or other simple, short-range prediction) that uses the full deck.   My current approach to the trump
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If You Ask Me----

Why Couldn't I Find the Right Spread?

When I was new to Tarot and for years beyond, I couldn't find  "just the right" spread so I'd just look up a Celtic Cross or use three cards or seven cards or others I'd find here and there.  I couldn't seem to find just the right one that would cover all the questions I had about whatever it was that I wanted to consult the cards for.  Then, FINALLY it dawned on me that I could make my own spreads. I know...I know....I can hear you all now.  "DUH!" Well I've always been oblivious to the obvious
Grizabella
  • Grizabella in Tarot
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Reading Reversals: "Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun"

On a par with my dim view of the social-media take-over of tarot reading, reversal has been one of my favorite topics over my last eight years of blogging. Here it is again, and I know many here have opinions on the subject. AUTHOR'S NOTE: "You're missing half the fun" is one of my favorite rebuttals for those who avoid reading reversals because they find the practice unnecessary, inconvenient or confusing. (My title alludes to the old Doublemint gum commercial.) But, unless we delibe
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Natural Mystic Guide

Rosh Chodesh Reading Tishrei 5786

Feedback, Comments and Questions are welcome.   The Past Month, card No. 1 provides an opportunity to look back over the entire previous month with an eye to what theme(s) played out and what lessons were learned.  Cards 2 through 5 look at the energy for each of the four upcoming lunar weeks.  It's snapshot look at what to expect and what to look out for.  Developing an awareness of the phases of the moon is a great spiritual practice.  This is the Tarot of the Divine by Yoshi Yo****a
Natural Mystic Guide
Natural Mystic Guide

Tarot Netivot Star of the Week Reading Sunday September 20 - Shabbat September 26, 2025

Feedback -- questions and comments are welcome.   This reading gives us insight into specific energies that we can focus on during specific days of the upcoming week as well as throughout the entire week as a whole.   Today’s reading will use The Whispers of Tao De Jing:  A Tarot Deck by Ric Neo.   Here are focal points for our meditation:   Sunday:             How Can I Express Generosity?                                            Seven of Cups         
Natural Mystic Guide
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Zones of Vulnerability: A General Well-Being Spread

Here is one that has received a lot of favorable "buzz" in the other places I've posted it. AUTHOR'S NOTE: It is common wisdom that tarot readers should stay well away from anything related to medical diagnostics and prescriptive health recommendations. But that doesn't mean the subject can't be broached in terms of general well-being, as in "What does my overall health forecast look like?" The following is entirely experimental and should be viewed accordingly.   Here is a spread
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If You Ask Me----

The Mystic Palette by Ciro Marchetti

Of all Ciro's decks, this one is my absolute favorite.  Normally I don't care for oversized decks that my smaller arthritic hands can't comfortably riffle but this one, althoughst  oversized, isn't impossible to riffle so I'm telling myself that, with a lot of use, it will be just fine. If I never succeed in comfortably riffle-ing it, I'll just do something else, but this is MY deck, I love everything about it.     The art work is just exquisite on every card as well as in the book.  T
Grizabella
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

"Judgment Call" - A Decision-Making Spread

I decided to put this here rather than in spreads since it has quite a bit of explanatory text to it. Also. not everyone is familiar with (or uses) the "quintessence" or "numerical essence" calculation, AUTHOR'S NOTE: This spread tackles the premise that many decisions in life present a three-fold situational tableau: the transcendent level of higher wisdom at which the conscience operates; the conscious realm of thought where we try to apply logic (and often rationalization) to the m
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Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Spiritual Housekeeping: "Releasing" and "Banishing"

Here is something completely different.   AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was conversing with someone online who is apparently dealing with an "earthbound spirit" in the house, one that is feeling a bit annoyed about being "stuck" although to date there have been no outward signs of this, just a general atmosphere of psychic malaise. My suggestion was that perhaps some kind of "releasing" (or even "banishing") ritual is in order. I fully expect to be asked for recommendations, so I thought I would organ
Barleywine
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Death As . . . Well, "Death"

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I find it immensely revealing that, in historical tarot decks like the Tarot de Marseille, the Thirteenth Arcanum (“Death” in our less-superstitious age) was typically left untitled, embracing the principle of sympathetic magic that if we don’t name something, we can pretend that it has no power over us.   Modern interpretation has added layer-upon-layer of deflection to that “avoidance” tactic with the same goal in mind (suppressing or obfuscating the obvious): “Oh, it
Barleywine
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

"The Compleat Solarian" - A Lesson Learned

AUTHOR’S NOTE: File under “Every card has both positive and negative meanings.”   It is generally assumed that the Sun is an entirely favorable card that bodes no evil; even when reversed it suggests a “passing cloud” rather than a gloomy long-range forecast. But there is another way to look at it.   I recently performed a professional reading for a client who was facing a bureaucratic gauntlet of reviews and approvals and wanted to know how it would fare. The upright Sun was
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Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Repurposing the Chaldean Decans for Tarot Reading

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I see quite a bit of interest here in the Chaldean decans. I've worked with them in ways that go well beyond the usual approach but didn't find a good fit for this material in the existing Forum topics.. The Golden Dawn’s alignment of the tarot cards with the astrological (aka “Chaldean”) decanates (36 ten-degree segments of the zodiac beginning on the Vernal Equinox) has intrigued me since I first picked up the tarot in 1972 to complement my practice of astrology, but I have
Barleywine
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

The Devil: A Vortex of Temptation, Seduction and Addiction

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Recent years have seen a trend in the tarot community to devalue or even neuter the negative implications found in traditionally difficult cards under the premise that “there are no bad cards.” Mary K. Greer once observed in an online conversation that this sanitizing isn’t entirely justified, and I agree.   The Devil is a perfect example. Many modern readers interpret it as offering abundant sensual stimulation at best (for example, an exciting and liberating week-end f
Barleywine
Barley's Take on Tarot . . . etc.

Court-Card Competence

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Conventional wisdom regarding the level of competence exhibited by the members of the tarot court is that the Kings have mastered their element while the Pages are utterly inexperienced, with the Knights and Queens falling somewhere in the middle.   The progression is assumed to be linear, but I just came across the idea that the Pages are blissfully ignorant and may not appreciate the risks, the Knights are worse off because they know just enough to be dangerous to them
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