Dan Pelletier’s “The Process” Audio Book

Dan Pelletier consulted the tarot before heading from his home in Seattle to New York to train for a new job. The cards told him he would come home a changed man. On the second morning of training he got an overwhelming urge to go out for a cigarette. The training was on the 61st floor of Twin Tower 2 and it was 9/11. Dan watched others die while he inexplicably escaped the falling debris, beginning an odyssey that, soon after, led to his leaving the financial industry to follow his heart and do what makes him feel whole. Dan is now co-owner with Jeannette Roth of Tarot Garden, Inc., a shop and information site dedicated to helping you find the tarot decks that interest you. He’s been reading tarot for over thirty years and credits some kind of other-worldly sense with guiding and saving his life more than once. As Umbrae, he frequently posts on Aeclectic’s tarotforum.

Name that Deck #1

What deck, created two years ago by the versatile Filipino artist, Lynyrd Narciso, predicted the ascendancy of a certain unknown to national prominence? Name not only the deck and the person, but tell us what symbols in the card gave it away. Anyone use this deck? If so, what do you think of it? [Thanks to Lynn Araujo.]

Enough of you have figured it out, so I’ll let everyone know. This is the Vanessa Tarot by Lynyrd Narciso (2006, U.S. Games Systems, Inc.). The people (mostly female) have big heads and doe’s eyes like the BRATZ dolls that swept the international market a couple of years ago. Illustrations feature plenty of visual references to pop culture and fairy tales and have the same mix of adult themes and pre-teen dreams that you’ll find on TV and in the movies, including a multi-cultural cast of women scientists, warriors, judges, princesses and bartenders, and a few guys. This “cute” deck offers far more than you might think on first look. Here’s a review by Dan Pelletier.

Three-Card Spreads: The Essentials (and more)

The three-card spread is one of the most basic formats for quick-and-easy tarot readings. Yet, it can be surprisingly deep and insightful. It is perfect for a daily journal or when friends or people at parties want you to demonstrate what you do. Furthermore, the three-card spread is amazingly flexible as I hope to demonstrate. Most of these spreads are laid out in a row, left to right, although any pattern is fine.
Updated!! Check out some new spreads at the end.

Probably everyone is familiar with the basic timeline spread:

• PAST
• PRESENT
• FUTURE

Most of you will have used the following inner trinity for a quick diagnostic as it shows what’s going on at  three levels of experience:

• BODY
• MIND
• SPIRIT

An interesting variation on this is:

• HEAD – What does my Head want?
• HEART – What does my Heart want?
• SOUL – What does my Soul want?

Three-card readings are also great for evaluating potential actions. To compare options lay out a three-card spread for each possibility: The Pro-or-Con Spread:

• The PRO or BENEFIT of a particular choice or action.
• The CON or LIABILITY in that choice or action.
• SOMETHING ELSE you need to take into account.

This can also help you deal with problems via the dialectic imperative: The Thesis Spread:

• THESIS, idea or issue
• ANTITHESIS, obstacle or problem
• SYNTHESIS, integration or solution

Zoe Matoff came up with a more prescriptive version of this that is brilliant when you want to cut through all the nuances and get a (relatively) straight answer with “Zoe’s Do/Don’t Do Spread” (a favorite of both Rachel Pollack and myself):

• Card 2: DON’T DO THIS
• Card 1: The ISSUE or SITUATION
• Card 3: DO DO THIS

Zoe wrote me this explanation of her spread: “Often cards two and three will describe such disparate courses of action as to make it very clear what course of action needs to be taken or what decision is to be made. And, of course, card #1 can turn out to be a total surprise, delineating the situation as it really is, or in a light in which the questioner has not yet seen it, or a totally different situation that requires attention but has been overlooked. Last, but not least, all the cards need to be seen together to make clear the urgency or nature of the issue.”

Three-card readings form the basis of all the more complicated relationship readings: The Relationship Spread:

• PERSON A  (is, wants, needs, gives, receives, etc.)
  
• THEIR RELATIONSHIP  (as if it were it’s own entity)
• PERSON B  (is, wants, needs, gives, receives, etc.)
  

And, as I was reminded by James Ricklef in the Comments, they are the core of choice spreads: The Choice Spread:

• CHOICE A
• OTHER considerations
  
• CHOICE B

Three-card spreads are also great for simple Yes/No questions: The Yes/No Spread:

Upright cards are yes.
Reversed cards are no. 
The center card counts twice.
Thus, there can be a tie, which indicates that the answer is not yet determined, or it’s better not to know, or __?__.  You can interpret the individual cards or not. (Any odd number of cards can be used.)

Inspired by John Gilbert, James Ricklef used this smart variation on the Yes/No Spread in his excellent book Tarot Reading Explained (originally Tarot Tells the Tale). (By the way, this is one of the best books available for learning how to read the cards. The “Yes, If” Spread features practical advice and entertaining examples that demonstrate the techniques.)

• YES, IF . . .
• NO, IF . . .
• MAYBE, IF . . .

James adds: “The cards indicate the conditions under which the answer would be Yes, No, or Maybe. Thus the “Maybe” card can indicate a deciding factor or a decision or action that the querent has to make in order to arrive at the outcome s/he wants.”

You can find many more examples of three-card spreads in James Ricklef’s book and in my own Tarot for Your Self, where the three-card spread is recommended for daily readings and developing a tarot journal.

Added: The Subject-Verb-Object Spread is good practice for integrating three cards into one statement: Jacob (subject) goes (verb) to the store (object). Alison loves Max.  Day turns into night.  Note: Your sentence may be much longer and more complex.

• SUBJECT: person, place or thing
• VERB: action or state of being, try an active verb here
• OBJECT or PREDICATE: goal, what’s affected or changed, recipient

Also, brought up from the comments: The Bridge Spread offered by Kyle McKenzie:

• Where I am
• Where I want to be
• How I can get there (placed horizontally between the first two cards)

Feeling overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough time? Thanks to Beth Maiden of Little Red Tarot for permission to share her handy Do One Thing Well Spread (click on the link for an example reading), which was new to me. 

• Do this!
• Ditch this!
• Yeah, okay, but not until tomorrow

What’s your favorite Three-Card Spread? You’ll find several more Three-Card Spreads contributed by readers in the Comments section. Be sure to check these out, too, and add your own. Please remember to give credit where credit is due if you pass on any of these.

Glenn Close Gets a Tarot Reading

Glenn Close’s character, Dr. Keener, in the movie Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, gets a tarot reading from a young woman played by Calista Flockhart. The film is by Rodrigo Garcia, son of the magical-realism author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and features an impressive cast of women. You can buy the DVD of this independent film at a very low price. [Thanks Lila – see her comment in the TV & Movie Watch List]

TV & Movie Tarot Watch List

I no longer update this post, but you’ll find a lot of old information about Tarot in movies and Tarot on TV. Please post in the comments when you see one so we can keep a running list in the comments. The more info the better.

See especially Richard Kaczynski’s wonderful list of Thoth Sightings in film and TV.

TV

Blog Subject Poll

I’d like to know which areas of Tarot you’re most interested in reading about on my blog—not that I promise to write about them. I first promised myself I can blog about anything I want. However, I’d really appreciate your input. Feel free to tell me more in the Comments, and let me know your favorite post.

Mountain Dream Tarot

Just found this video in which Bea Nettles explains how she came to create, between 1970 to 1975, the first photographic and photo-collaged Tarot deck. A friend knew Bea Nettles and told me about the deck, so I was able to get a copy when it originally came out. It’s great to finally see the creator of this landmark deck. Follow the link to buy the updated version of the Mountain Dream Tarot.

Simplified “Game of Tarot”

This game is known as Le Tarot, Jeux de Tarot, Tarocchi, Trumps, Tarock, etc. These are the most basic rules; hundreds of variations exist. It’s easy and a lot of fun. Hands move quickly. Skill derives from play that maximizes points.

The Game: Tarot is a trick-taking game that can be played with two to six players (usually 3 or 4). The cards otherwise known as the Major Arcana or Trumps are a permanent Trump suit.

Young and the Restless Tarot Reading

The original video I had here is no longer available on YouTube, but I found a second Tarot episode from the same soap. The deck that appears in this episode (see first 2:30 minutes) is the Sacred Circle Tarot by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason (Llewellyn). Kevin, the disgruntled querent, says to the reader: “Maybe you should try to predict more cheerful futures . . .”

The video I posted earlier featured the Enchanted Tarot from Amy Zerner and Monte Farber.

Tarot Mechanic

Using the Mythic Tarot to diagnose those pesky car problems: “There’s no way I’d think of touching a car without consulting the cards.” Those Welsh really understand what’s important on this and the other planes. Thanks to Val on Readers Studio NING.