Tarot of the Magicians by Oswald Wirth, with an introduction by Mary K. Greer, published by Red Wheel/Weiser LLC, California, soft cover, 228 pages plus 8 pages containing a full-color pull-out reproduction of Wirth’s 1889 tarot deck Tarot of the Magicians was written by Oswald Wirth and originally published in 1927 in Paris, when it was called “Tarot of the Medieval Image-Makers.” The first English translation was published in 1985. The book is divided into four sections, each rich with information about the cards, their history and their use in divination. It says a lot to me that the descriptions by Wirth of the 22 Major Arcana cards (Wirth’s deck…

This month, we will move back to the Major Arcana, and talk about the Justice card.  Since we haven’t talked about a Major Arcana card in a while, before we begin breaking down Justice, let’s define and describe some terms.  There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, issues that are archetypes which are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives.   An archetype (pronounced “ark eh type”) is a generic, idealized model of a person, a personality, a behavior, an object,…

The Golden Tarot is a recreation of the Visconti-Sforza Deck, one of the oldest complete Tarot decks still being used today.  This version of the Visconti-Sforza Deck presented by Race Point Publishing comes in a lovely display box made of sturdy cardboard, a perfect repository for the deck when not being used.  Inside the box are a purple satin reading cloth to be used as a base for card spreads, a hardcover, beautifully illustrated companion book (much-evolved from the standard paper LWB) written by Mary Packard, and a separate box holding the cards of the Golden Tarot.   This is a beautiful deck, and if you like history, tradition, art,…

The Complete Book of Tarot Spreads by Evelin Burger and Johannes Fiebig Published by Sterling Ethos, New York Soft cover, 160 pages.   I was never a reader who was drawn to spread books; right from when I picked up my first Tarot and attempted to tackle a Celtic Cross Spread, I found spread books to be limiting and confining. I prefer to create my own spreads, tailor-made for each of my seekers, and for me the construction of a spread works best if I begin from scratch rather than modifying an existing spread created by someone else.  I was pleasantly intrigued, however, by the Complete Book of Tarot Spreads.…

Last but by far not the least of the Six cards of the Tarot Minor Arcana is the Six of Wands.  As we’ve come to discover, in the Tarot Minor Arcana, the Six cards are kind of unique.  This is in part because of the properties of the number 6, and in part because of the properties of the Sephira corresponding to the Tarot Sixes on the Tree of Life.  Before we talk about the Six of Wands, if you haven’t read October’s essay on the Six of Pentacles, and in particular the information regarding the number 6, please do so now.   The Six cards of the Tarot offer…

Let’s talk about another Six card this month, the Six of Swords.  In the Tarot Minor Arcana, the Six cards are kind of unique, in part because of the properties of the number 6, and in part because of the properties of the Sephira corresponding to the Tarot Sixes on the Tree of Life.  Before we talk about the Six of Swords, if you haven’t read October’s essay on the Six of Pentacles, and in particular the information regarding the number 6, please do so now.   The Six cards of the Tarot offer the concept of forward momentum achieved through victory over the obstacles presented by Four (in the…

As promised, this month we will talk about another Six card, the Six of Cups.  In the Tarot Minor Arcana, the Six cards are kind of unique, in part because of the properties of the number 6, and in part because of the properties of the Sephira corresponding to the Tarot Sixes on the Tree of Life, Tiphareth.  Before we talk about the Six of Cups specifically, there is an in-depth discussion of the number Six in last month’s essay on the Six of Pentacles.  If you haven’t read that essay yet, please do so now.   The number 6 offers the concept of forward momentum achieved through victory over…

Time to touch on the suit of Pentacles, and where better to start than the Six of Pentacles, the card of resources?  In the Tarot Minor Arcana, the Six cards are kind of unique, in part because of the properties of the number 6, and in part because of the properties of the Sephira corresponding to the Tarot Sixes on the Tree of Life.  Before we talk about the Six of Pentacles in particular, let’s talk a bit about these two properties in general.   The number Six offers the concept of forward momentum achieved through victory over the obstacles presented by Four (security that tends to become stagnation) and…

This month, we will move into the Major Arcana, and talk about The Fool.  So far, we’ve been talking about Minor Arcana cards, and since this is the first Major we are looking at, before we begin breaking down The Fool, let’s define and describe some terms.   There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, archetypes that are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives.   An archetype (pronounced “ark eh type”) is a generic, idealized model of a person, an…

Let’s continue the theme of uncomfortable Swords cards.  Last month, we talked about the Five of Swords, the card of victory achieved without mercy or consideration of others. If you haven’t read it yet, take a few moments now to do so.   If you remember, I stated that in my opinion the Five of Swords and Seven of Swords are sometimes not easy to tell apart.  You know by now my method for dealing with this issue: break the cards down to their most basic ingredients.  Once we understand a bit more about the Seven of Swords, we can compare these two cards, see what is similar about them,…