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About this blog

A blog for all things related to divination, but mainly for my tarot, Lenormand and horary astrology writing and personal spreads culled from my external blog listed in the Links Directory.

 

Entries in this blog

Divinatory Methods

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

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

19
Professional Readings

Digging Deeper: Creative Consulting vs. Counseling

Here is another essay on the subject of professional tarot reading.   AUTHOR’S NOTE: While all tarot reading for other people is advisory in nature, some professional diviners possess the qualifications and credentials to counsel their clients in a therapeutic way, while those who don’t should be careful to remain within the bounds of informal “consulting.” I may bring decades of life experience, philosophical study and tarot practice to the table, but I lack the official certification to
Barleywine

Barleywine in Professional Readings

15
Tarot Symbolism

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

Barleywine in Tarot Symbolism

14
Tarot Symbolism

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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot Symbolism

10
Divinatory Methods

"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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

9
Professional Readings

"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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Professional Readings

6
Spirituality & Magic

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

Barleywine in Spirituality & Magic

6
Tarot de Marseille

"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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot de Marseille

6
Divinatory Methods

Sensible Divination: Oh, My Stars and Cards!

This one goes a little farther afield. It's mostly for the astrologers here.   Those of a certain age will remember Bullwinkle Moose exclaiming “Oh, my stars and garters!” whenever something surprised him, and I certainly resemble that remark (chronologically if not semantically since a certain rude three-letter acronym now replaces such quaint language).   AUTHOR’S NOTE: When I began my esoteric journey as an astrologer in 1970, I was trained to see the birth chart as a stat
Barleywine

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

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Tarot Symbolism

The Colors of Compromise

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Along with pictorial iconography and suit-and-number theory, color symbolism plays a major role in our interpretation of the Tarot de Marseille cards, and some TdM authors have gone on at length about the significance of the different pigments used by 17th Century printers. I decided to stick my oar in the water.   The metaphysical implications of the primary colors Red (desire), Blue (emotion) and Yellow (intellect) are well-known to most students and practitioner
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot Symbolism

2
Tarot Symbolism

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

Barleywine in Tarot Symbolism

2
Tarot Symbolism

The Star As "Organic Nurturing"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: File under "Fanciful and Farfetched Philosophical Finagling." Forgive me for having a little fun with this one, but I just came across a remark in Paul Fenton-Smith's Tarot Master-Class about the Star bringing "nurturing" that sent me down this path.   A great deal has been written about the fact that the woman in the Star is pouring water concurrently into a pool and onto the adjacent bank, the metaphysical implication being that the scenario is one of two minds, the Un
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot Symbolism

1
Health-Related Spreads

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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Health-Related Spreads

1
Tarot Humor

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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot Humor

1
Divinatory Methods

"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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

1
Divinatory Methods

"Was It the Right Question?" - Incompatible Cards in a Reading

Here is a companion piece to my previous essay. AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’m indebted once again to Paul Fenton-Smith for bringing another intriguing topic to my attention in his comprehensive book, Tarot Master-Class.   It happens more often than seems reasonable, especially if we assume that our attempts at divination are guided toward the truth: the cards in a spread will fail to come together in any kind of coherent narrative and instead present what a boss of mine once called a "mish-m
Barleywine

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

1
Professional Readings

The "Pattern-Reader" Prevails!

Here is an admittedly biased discussion of professional reading style.   AUTHOR’S NOTE: As I approach the end of my re-reading of Paul Fenton-Smith’s Tarot Master-Class, I came across his view of the four types of professional tarot reader: the Mystic who endeavors to channel guidance from a spiritual source; the Nurturer who “just wants to help” and the Pattern-Reader who adopts a more deductive style when examining the cards in a spread, presuming that there is a message hidden in their
Barleywine

Barleywine in Professional Readings

1
Tarot Symbolism

"Prediction Bias" in Tarot Reading

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Lately, online pundits who are pushing a psycho-sociological agenda have been all over the topic of “bias” in human relations: confirmation bias, cognitive bias, affinity bias, attribution bias, conformity bias, gender bias, etc. It has me thinking that maybe tarot needs another label: “prediction bias.”   There is already a framework for it in two assumptions: the idea that there are cards that typically say “yes” or “no,” and others that are noncommittal, amended by th
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot Symbolism

0
Tarot Symbolism

"Split-Level Tarot" - A Layered Approach to Reading

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve touched on this subject in written form on several occasions in the past, but this time I’m illustrating it with an annotated image for a specific example, and also applying it to an unconventional analysis of the Tower card. (All cards shown are from the Thoth Tarot, copyright of US Games Systems Inc, Stamford, CT.)   Split-level architecture – exemplified by the “raised ranch” – was a popular North American house design in 1950s suburbia: “rec-room” in the finishe
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot Symbolism

0
Esoteric Tarot

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

Barleywine in Esoteric Tarot

0
Reversed Cards

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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Reversed Cards

0
Tarot Syncretism

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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Tarot Syncretism

0
Divinatory Methods

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
Barleywine

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

0
Divinatory Methods

"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

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

0
Divinatory Methods

Cresting the Wave: A Case for Odd-Numbered Lines

Here is another, much simpler, spread for your consideration and use.   AUTHOR’S NOTE: When it comes to designing line spreads for tarot reading, I typically employ an even number of cards only in situations that require a choice between two options, or when invoking the four classical elements represented by the suits. One thing I learned from Lenormand reading is that an odd-numbered line will always have a “hinge card” or turning-point in the middle that serves as a catalyst pointing t
Barleywine

Barleywine in Divinatory Methods

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