In the Tarot de Marseille, two of the trump cards are missing something that the others have. One card, the Madman, has a name but no number; it exists outside of the numbered sequence of the trumps. Meanwhile, there’s another card that has a number but no name. This is the thirteenth card in the […]
Read more "Death and the Madman"Today, we’re returning to my project of getting to know the Tarot de Marseille on its own terms, independently of any preconceived notions or previous teachings about Tarot. This time around, we’re going to look at the significance of the Threes in the deck. Per the numerological system I’ve established, the meaning of the Threes […]
Read more "A Year of Tarot de Marseille: The Threes"There are plenty of ways to draw connections between the cards of the Major Arcana. You can do it through numerology, through astrology, through the septenaries or visual cues in their symbolism. One of the simplest ways to find the connections between the cards, though, is simply to fold the sequence of the Major Arcana […]
Read more "Pairing the Major Arcana, Forward and Backward"I’m coming at you with another YouTube video! In this video, I talk about the thematic relationship between Death, Temperance, and the Devil as they’re placed on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. I spend some time thinking about the Qabalistic theme that unites them, and then the individual way in which each card manifests that […]
Read more "Video: Death, Temperance, and the Devil on the Tree of Life"Welcome to Part 2 of my James Bond Tarot series, where I match up one James Bond movie to each of the cards of the Major Arcana in the Tarot. If you missed Part 1, which ran from Casino Royale as the Fool to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service as the Lovers, feel free to go check it […]
Read more "The James Bond Tarot (Part 2)"There are a few major themes that recur frequently in Tarot. Perhaps the greatest of these themes is capital-C Change. The entire Tarot deck is threaded with motifs of cyclicality and perpetual change. Off the top of my head, I can think of ways that at least one third of the Major Arcana could be […]
Read more "Death, Judgment, and Change in Tarot"Growing up, I had a friend who was one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever had the privilege to meet. She was brilliant, and wicked, and frankly beyond my power as a poet to describe. She’s like what that one creepy boy in that one episode of Doctor Who once said about the eponymous […]
Read more "Thoughts on the Death Card"Whew. I’ve been away for a while. My apologies for that; a blog that isn’t being updated on a regular basis always looks necrotic to me, but sometimes life rears its ugly head and the real world has to take precedence over things like Tarot and the internet. I haven’t done a reading in weeks, […]
Read more "What Comes After the Eight of Cups?"I have a complicated relationship with the Hierophant. Truth be told, I think most Tarot readers do. The Hierophant is dogma. He represents tradition, the kind of authority that expects us to submit ourselves without question. He is a fear of innovation and a desire for permanence and stability in the world–the powerful need to […]
Read more "Tradition and Innovation"
Jack Chanek 