Tarot Spreads
Ursa Major and the Fool
Any group of seven in occult work automatically connects to the seven planets, but apart from the Green Man, there are no astrological attributions to work with. Some clues are found in Madame Blavatsky's books, but a clearer explanation of the origins is in Darcy...
De-constructing the Tarot
For years I have been hard at work de-constructing my knowledge of the Tarot, a process that will continue for a lot longer, I suspect – probably it will never end. In case you wondered, yes, there is more than enough to call for spending that length of time. In fact,...
Staying in the question
Reading the Tarot is about giving answers, isn’t it? People come with questions, spoken or unsaid, and once the deck is shuffled, cut and spread, all the answers come tumbling out. Very few readers would argue with that view of the Tarot, but it is no longer a stance...
Tarot and strategy
Tarot and strategy? Games of chance to decide the next move nevertheless require strategy to win. Remember playing Ludo as a child? Depending on the roll of a dice, which counter your move is critical to winning or losing. Monopoly is another classic example. I found...
Understanding Court Cards
Understanding Court cards is perceived to be difficult by tarot students. Generally court cards represent one of these three aspects: A personAspects of a personalityAspects of a situation All of these can be either yourself or somebody else, just to make things a bit...
How Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris created the Book of Thoth
The Book of Thoth is a unique partnership in wartime conditions with all the restrictions on travel, materials and other disruptions by Frieda Harris. She was an artist who was the wife of the Leader of the Liberal Party, and a member of Churchill's War Cabinet. She...
Buddhism, Tarot & Opening the Key
Having spent some time with The Opening Of The Keys Spread as taught by Paul Hughes-Barlow, I believe that the true secrets to the Tarot have truly been opened. In my early work with Tarot, I had spent some time relating to the Tree of Life and then trying to remember...
Magickal Systems and the Tarot
The Western Magical preoccupation with the Tree of Life has blinded us to the possibilities of other magickal systems. The Space around the Tree is vast, unknown, unexplored, a great loss to magick. However, all is not lost, since the Vedic and Tantric traditions...
The Atbash Cipher: Re-ordering the Major Arcana
Encoded within the Atbash cipher is an elegant solution to the transpositions of Major Arcana carried out by both the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley. The Golden Dawn transposition of Justice and Strength is accepted almost without comment, and why there is...
Atbash cipher conceals a powerful system of Magick
The Atbash code highlights the transpositions of the Major arcana first by the Golden Dawn, and then by Aleister Crowley. The Atbash code is a magical system in its own right. The Golden Dawn system of Magic is based upon the Kabbalah, in particular the Hebrew...