This Week's Issue

WT Divination — First Results From the Syndicated Tarot Study 

WT Magick — Just How Magick Are Tarot Decks?

WT Special Feature — Can't We All Just Get Along?

WT Book Review — The Last Troubadour, Tarot-Themed Fiction

WT How-To — Almost Certainly the Coolest Way to Read Cards 

WT Deck Review — The Buddha Tarot 

WT Card Profile of the Week — The Magician 

Did You Learn by "the Book"?

First Results From the Syndicated Tarot Study.

• 49% learned the "cards" by "Intuition"
• 87.7% from "Books"

"...we glean (divine) some interesting data from the early results, with 3044 respondents, including some information on my theme of the week...."

Full story from Geoff Ritter here...

Tarot Decks and Magick.   

Are the Cards Magick? Can They Be Used in Magick? 

 There is certainly something quite magical about Tarot Decks. More insights gleaned from the syndicated Tarot study:

• 23.1% of respondents use Tarot for divination only

• 7.7% don't use decks at all

• 69.3% who use Tarot as either a mini temple, magickal tool or visualizing aid in magickal practice!
  

Feature — Are Tarot Decks the Path to Universality?

How Tarot Decks Universal Archetypes Unite Various Paths.

"Can a Buddhist connect to seemingly Judeo-Christian inspired Waite-Smith Tarot Cards? Can a pagan or Wiccan visualize with just any Tarot deck? What about the atheist, agnostic, revivalist, magickal practitioner, Kabalist, shaman? Do each need special decks just to build a relationship with the Superconcious, godform or even unconscious?"

 Read more on this intriguing concept from Karen Moyers...

 "Magnificent. Bawdy. Funny. Exciting."

A Book Review of The Last Troubdour, a tarot-themed novel 

"Yes, it's definitely entertaining, as a novel should be. In fact, it's magnificent. Bawdy. Funny. Exciting. But that wouldn't earn a review in Wise Tarot Magazine.... Not only is this an entertaining and crafty way to convey Tarot archetypes, we delve deeper than a basic non-fiction book could have. This is equally a book for the tarot student. Instead of pictures, we have pictures in words, conveyed with actions. Wonderful..."

 Read the full review by Karen Moyers of Derek Armstrong's unique tarot-themed novel...

Tarot How-To — The Coolest Way to Read Cards?

A Professional Describes the Taro Method as Elegant and Accurate

"Years and years of Celtic Cross readings. Who knew? I recently started using Banzhaf and Hemmerlein's innovative TARO reading method, and I've been just Wowed by the results. Four simple cards, mapping out the key things that I generally want to know, and so astonishingly "accurate" when combined with their interpretations..."

 Read the Full Story by Jennifer Cahill here...

Tarot Deck Review This Week — The Buddha Tarot

Robert Place scores a "World" Rating for his "magnificent deck"

"Buddha Tarot by Robert Place is at once spiritually insightful, tantrically powerful and imbued with the very essence of both Buddhism and Tarot. Well-known Tarot historian and scholar Robert Place, best known for his superb book, The Tarot, History, Symbolism and Divination, not only demonstrates a masters touch as an illustrator, he has created the first "Buddhist" Tarot deck that makes any sense..."

Read the full review of Robert Place's extraordinary Buddha Tarot... 

 Tarot Card of the Week — The Magician

 Creativity • Transforming Energy • Impulse

"The Magician evolved from the "trickster" in Renaissance decks to the loftier idealistic Magus of today. The transformation generally occured around the advent of the Golden Dawn. The Magician has become synonymous with wisdom, creative energy, activity, strength of will, vitality..."

Read More About The Magician... 

Madonna brings Colman-Smith's Tarot to 3-D Life!

Superstar Madonna's stage animation for her performance (click above frame to play) stunningly brings the Coleman-Smith Tarot majors to life. We are sure Pixie would approve of this brilliant blend of 3D images that exemplies in a clever way the "united" world of the major trumps and the "Fools" journey. Madonna's marvelous music makes this a keeper! 

Feature

Can Tarot Tell Fortunes?

How Can Randomized Cards Tell Futures? If they could, why aren't all tarot practitioners millionaires? If they can't, why are so many of us devotees who practice daily? How exactly can Tarot cards possibly work? First, a distinction. Tarot divination is NOT fortune-telling. Learn more about the three theories of "predicting the future with tarot cards" here.

Card Profile

Meet The Fool

The Fool more than any other card contains a vast vocabulary of "meanings" that also vary from deck to deck. In most traditions, the major arcana in total is the "Fool's journey" and every other of the 21 "trumps" relate directly to the Fool. This is why he is often assigned a zero or no number at all. (Illustration: Carol Herzer's magnificent hand-painted Fool.) Read the entire feature, complete with:

• Archetypes • Astrology • Numerology • Tree of Life Attribution • I Ching Attribution • Element • Divinatory Interpretations • A Unique Description of this Special Card 

Personality

Pamela Colman Smith

We may love her today as the mother of the modern-day tarot, and she was well-loved in some ways by her close circle of friends — among them Bram Stoker (author of Dracula) and John Butler Yeats — yet she passed away in relative obscurity and poverty in 1951, her few belongings sold off to pay for her anonymous grave. Read the entire feature here, complete with a poem by Pamela.

Book Review

Thoth Tarot

Lon Milo DuQuette again takes the complex and mystical and gives access to all seekers in his Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot. Both the intermediate "beginner" and the advanced Thoth Tarot enthusiast will benefit from this precise, easy-to-use yet informative tool, arguably the best book yet written on the Thoth Tarot.

Review Rating: The Magician.

Read the full review and what our rating means here. 

Deck Review

Waite Smith

Unfairly, in this reviewer's opinion, Pamela Colman Smith (Pixie) was variously described as simple, cartoony or unemotional. In fact, her artwork was none of these things. Even her style was metaphorical. Deceptively simple, yet she cleverly created the "actors against a backdrop" style so often copied since. Her skills as a stage designer clearly influenced her here. You can almost see the edge of the stage, where the main character is standing and the "drop down" backdrop. It's a clever, lovely, and original style that makes this deck utterly charming.

Review Rating: Ace of Wands.

Read the full review and what are rating means here. 

Issue 88     •     7318 Subscribers

Feature

Can Tarot Tell Fortunes?

How Can Randomized Cards Tell Futures? If they could, why aren't all tarot practitioners millionaires? If they can't, why are so many of us devotees who practice daily? How exactly can Tarot cards possibly work? First, a distinction. Tarot divination is NOT fortune-telling. Learn more about the three theories of "predicting the future with tarot cards" here.

Card Profile

Meet The Fool

The Fool more than any other card contains a vast vocabulary of "meanings" that also vary from deck to deck. In most traditions, the major arcana in total is the "Fool's journey" and every other of the 21 "trumps" relate directly to the Fool. This is why he is often assigned a zero or no number at all. (Illustration: Carol Herzer's magnificent hand-painted Fool.) Read the entire feature, complete with:

• Archetypes • Astrology • Numerology • Tree of Life Attribution • I Ching Attribution • Element • Divinatory Interpretations • A Unique Description of this Special Card 

Personality

Pamela Colman Smith

We may love her today as the mother of the modern-day tarot, and she was well-loved in some ways by her close circle of friends — among them Bram Stoker (author of Dracula) and John Butler Yeats — yet she passed away in relative obscurity and poverty in 1951, her few belongings sold off to pay for her anonymous grave. Read the entire feature here, complete with a poem by Pamela.

Book Review

Thoth Tarot

Lon Milo DuQuette again takes the complex and mystical and gives access to all seekers in his Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot. Both the intermediate "beginner" and the advanced Thoth Tarot enthusiast will benefit from this precise, easy-to-use yet informative tool, arguably the best book yet written on the Thoth Tarot.

Review Rating: The Magician.

Read the full review and what our rating means here. 

Deck Review

Waite Smith

Unfairly, in this reviewer's opinion, Pamela Colman Smith (Pixie) was variously described as simple, cartoony or unemotional. In fact, her artwork was none of these things. Even her style was metaphorical. Deceptively simple, yet she cleverly created the "actors against a backdrop" style so often copied since. Her skills as a stage designer clearly influenced her here. You can almost see the edge of the stage, where the main character is standing and the "drop down" backdrop. It's a clever, lovely, and original style that makes this deck utterly charming.

Review Rating: Ace of Wands.

Read the full review and what are rating means here.