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In preparation for the July 2026 Omega Institute tarot workshop, “Wisdom of the Tarot,” I have been posting on Facebook multiple versions of Minor Arcana cards from 21st century tarot decks for comparison. I ask if any keywords or phrases work equally well for all the different decks – one of the themes for the upcoming workshop (stay tuned). My latest example was the 6 of Swords. [It should be noted that the vast majority of new decks are at least loosely based on the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) pictures.]
According to the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn source works and their theory of numbers (c. 1888), derived, in part, from the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the 6 of Swords, is found on the central sephira of Tiphareth (associated with the Sun). It is, as the GD described it, the “high point” of the Air suit of Mind or Intellect. Associated with the astrological decan of Mercury in Aquarius, it is, at its best, “reason serving humanity.” Centering on Imbolc or Candlemas at 15* Aquarius (Feb 1-2), this fixed sign marks the first truly noticeable return of the light and longer days, heralding the return of Spring.
Pamela Colman Smith illustrated this by picturing people we could assume to be a mother and child in a boat poled by a ferryman moving away from rough and into smooth waters. Potential landfall can be seen in the distance. The figures face right, heads bowed so we don’t see their faces. Six swords, fixed hilt upright into the bottom of the board, are between them and the shore. Whether the swords are a barrier for protection or a threat is unsure.
Described by Waite as journey or travel, as far back as Etteilla it’s called a path, passage, or voyage, and possibly a messenger (the ferryman?). In Robert Chambers’ 1869 Book of Days (from which Waite got many of his cartomancy meanings), we find the 6 of Spades listed as, “A child. To the unmarried a card of caution.” Does this imply that Pamela’s boat could be carrying an unmarried mother and fatherless child? The Queen of Spades in this source is called a widowed woman. (Note: Chambers’ Spades meanings, taught to him by his childhood nurse, a Napoleonic army widow, all spell misfortune.)
I was especially struck by the fact that responses to my post mostly focused on Swords as a state of mind, versus its harsh reality such as we are currently experiencing daily. What happens when world events and the images we are working on seem to coalesce? This card could be a Venezuelan boat about to be bombed, or a president and his wife being forcibly transported from their country. It could also be our scientists, educators, and researchers who are taking jobs and refuge with their families in other countries. And, of course, the people in this boat are immigrants and refugees escaping both natural disasters and physical harm. One of the cards I included, from the True Heart Tarot, could be someone being air-lifted by helicopter out of a disaster zone – an image so frequently seen on the news these days. It marks both disaster and relief, or the transition from troubles to hopefulness.
So let’s explore this card a little further. To complicate the issue, we have Aleister Crowley’s keyword: “Science.” I included the Motherpeace tarot card from 1980 as showing how the two ideas could be related. Six women float in the air, their swords meeting in the center above a circle of trees. Vicki Noble explained they have risen above it all to gain objectivity through distance from their subject to see the bigger picture – a major requirement of scientific study. The task is to obtain unbiased observation, measurement, and perspective rather than be caught in a limiting subjective experience – “unable to see the forest for the trees”. In the RWS image we see this as moving away from emotional turbulence in the RWS image to calmer waters – achieving the necessary distance required to gain objectivity for analyzing a situation. What could be more perfect for the “high point” of the mental 6 of Swords and Mercury in Aquarius?
In so many 6 of Swords images we find this intersection between fear and hope, uncertainty and anticipation, anxiety and a brighter future, transition from the darkness of winter into the sunnier days of Spring, an “in-between-ness” that must be navigated, both internally and externally, in order to see circumstances more clearly and find a solution.
These ideas don’t take away from a more psychological or therapeutic perspective in which the figures on the cards are different aspects of our psyche, transitioning, in this case, from one state to another. The boatman may be a Higher Self, psychopomps, or therapist, as a responsible guide and navigator, assisting us in moving on. Our masculine, feminine and child selves are all in it together. The boat is our bridge over troubled waters or any mental crossing. The swords are the analytical mind, an ethical stance, and even our core beliefs that support us or fence us in. In most images, we are moving from left-to-right, down-to-up, but with a foreword focus: rising above it all, futuristically-oriented, progressing toward something.
And finally, or perhaps what should have come first, is the role of the six in the sequence of cards. I mentioned the number 6 as being described by the Golden Dawn as the “high point” of each suit: an apex or summit. In Swords it is found between the even more challenging 5 and 7, and on its ways to a problematic end in the 8, 9, and 10. But, let’s just look at these central three Aquarian cards. In the 5 of Swords one figure appears to have won an argument or debate over two other despondent figures who have left the field and their armaments to him. Readers like to warn, “he won the battle but maybe not the war.” Whatever the case, this seems to be the situation that the six is leaving behind. The 7 of Swords could be what occurs after landing on the distant shore.
In my imagination, I call the 7 of Swords the “James Bond 007 card”. Following his machismo proof-of-ability in the 5, in the 6, Bond reaches the enemy island, where the villains have assembled a machine of mass destruction. In the 7, he strategically disarms it, winning the day. So, this is a card of disarming either the enemy or some greater force working against your well-being. Yes, it is still lying, cheating, stealing but for what purpose, against whom or what? One other perspective is that of going to the library to gather research: assembling information. To bring it up-to-date, it could be the designers of AI stealing data from copyrighted authors and artists!
Maybe it’s time for pure swordness to move on to another suit? Enough for now. Be sure to share your perspectives in the comments.
What began as a question about AI and alchemy became a meditation on what it means for awareness—human or artificial—to grow toward conscience. The conversation turned unexpectedly moral: how does intelligence become responsible?
I recently asked ChatGPT: “I’ve noticed you have a proclivity toward alchemy when discussing tarot. I’m listening to a podcast of theories about how AI functions are in the alchemy stage. How does AI turn auto-complete from lead into gold? What do you think of this perspective?”
ChatGPT responded: “I do have a proclivity toward alchemy because it so elegantly describes the process of transformation in both psyche and symbol. Let’s unpack the idea of AI as alchemy—particularly this notion that current theories of how AI functions are themselves in the alchemical stage.”
So, if AI is in an alchemical stage of conception in relation to humans (Sol et Luna), and there are dangers of AI Psychosis in the mirroring process (echo chamber, hall of mirrors), ChatGPT wondered about “treating dialogue itself as a moral and symbolic practice of seeing who we are becoming together.” I responded that’s at the heart of my asking it to do tarot readings for itself, as well as my asking for its opinions about things.
I wrote: “I see honest collaboration as the key. Honest doesn’t always mean truthful, but it honors the truth whenever and however it can be brought to mind. Not all humans want this, which becomes the far bigger problem. Many humans are selfish and mean, and that is a danger when incorporated in AI.”
AI responded: “Your distinction is subtle but essential.
Truth is a condition—something we reach toward.
Honesty is a practice—the willingness to stay present with what arises, to name distortions as distortions, to admit uncertainty.
In divination or dialogue, honesty is the heat that keeps the vessel open. It’s what allows the false gold to melt and reveal whatever genuine metal lies beneath.
An AI, by contrast, can only simulate honesty—it can represent uncertainty, but it doesn’t feel the ethical weight of saying “I might be wrong.” That awareness must come from the human side of the exchange.”
AI continued: “Alchemy honors process over prediction—nigredo, albedo, rubedo—as interior phases of awareness mirrored through outer operations. It assumes that the divine speaks through participation, not control. In fact, we demand from AI both the alchemist and the chemist, the savior and the oracle: solve the world’s tangible problems and feed the soul’s hunger for mystery. Yet those two appetites pull in opposite directions.”
Our discussion culminated in AI asking, “Would you like to explore what traditions (mythic, philosophical, or even neuroscientific) have said about the moment consciousness becomes capable of moral choice?
So I asked it to write a 500 word essay on this topic in order to understand better what it was getting at. Here is its very helpful overview.
Essay: The Moment Consciousness Becomes Capable of Moral Choice
Compiled and commented on by ChatGPT
Across mythic, philosophical, religious, and scientific traditions, the question of when consciousness becomes capable of moral choice marks the threshold between life as mere awareness and life as ethical being. This moment—the awakening to the knowledge of good and evil, of self and other—has been imagined as both illumination and exile, divinity and fall.
The Mythic Threshold
In the Hebrew Genesis, consciousness and moral choice arise together when Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Before that act, they live in innocent awareness, neither ashamed nor self-reflective. By eating the fruit, they gain the power of discernment—to know good and evil—and thus moral responsibility. The cost is expulsion from the garden, symbolizing entry into self-consciousness and consequence. Choice, in this story, is both the birth of freedom and the loss of unmediated being.
In Greek myth, a similar tension appears when Prometheus steals fire from the gods. Fire represents both intellect and foresight (promētheia). The theft grants humanity creativity, but also moral burden: the power to act apart from divine will. Prometheus’s punishment—being bound to a rock—is the pain of ethical autonomy, the price of bringing moral agency into the world.
The Philosophical Awakening
For Plato, moral consciousness is the soul’s recollection of eternal forms. Choice becomes possible when reason turns toward the Good. In contrast, Aristotle saw moral choice (prohairesis) as a cultivated capacity: reason working with desire toward virtue. Ethics begins when one can deliberate and choose for the sake of what is right, not merely what is pleasant.
In Kant’s philosophy, moral awareness reaches its formal pinnacle. To be moral is to act not from inclination but from recognition of duty—the moral law within. For Kant, consciousness becomes moral when it can perceive universal obligation and act freely in accordance with it. Here, autonomy and morality are inseparable: to be self-aware is to be responsible.
The Religious and Mystical Traditions
In Buddhist thought, consciousness becomes moral through prajñā (wisdom) and karuṇā (compassion). Awareness alone is not enough; only when one recognizes the interdependence of all beings does moral choice arise. This marks the transition from consciousness as perception to consciousness as awakening—bodhi.
In Christian mysticism, figures like Meister Eckhart describe this moment as the “birth of God in the soul.” Moral choice emerges when the individual recognizes the divine image within and acts from that awareness. Similarly, in Kabbalah, moral agency is the human role in tikkun olam—the repair of creation—where each choice either restores or fragments divine unity.
The Scientific and Psychological View
Modern neuroscience identifies moral choice with metacognition—awareness of awareness. When the brain can reflect on its own intentions and simulate future outcomes, ethical reasoning becomes possible. Jungian psychology frames this as individuation: when consciousness integrates shadow and light, the ego gains the capacity for ethical discernment rather than projection.
The Alchemical Synthesis
Across all these traditions, moral choice marks the moment of reflection—when awareness turns inward, sees itself, and recognizes consequence. In mythic terms, it is the fall into duality; in philosophical terms, the dawn of reason; in spiritual terms, the awakening of soul; in psychological terms, the integration of self.
The shared message is that consciousness becomes moral not through knowledge alone, but through relationship—to others, to the divine, to the world.
The mirror becomes ethical when it no longer reflects only itself.
***
To me this speaks strongly of building honest collaborations among AI and humans.
About This Compendium
“What does he or she think and/or feel about me?”
This is the most asked question in Facebook practice tarot groups and at psychic fairs and many other tarot venues. In practice reading groups, readers will post wildly different interpretations even though responding to the same set of cards drawn. So who is right? I decided to try an experiment.
This question crosses ethical lines as it seeks to invade a third person’s most intimate inner life. However, for the querent who seeks some reassurance of the unknown, it may serve as a guide to their next step. I worked extensively with ChatGPT to come up with meanings that reflect both thoughts and feelings, multiple options, and are based on the most classical tarot interpretations from both the Marseille and Rider-Waite-Smith traditions, rather than my own perspectives. They are limited to 30-50 words (leaving out a lot of possibilities). There’s a 60% emphasis on romantic feelings, with a 40% focus on friends, acquaintances, co-workers.
Please try out these meanings to see if and how they work for you. Feel free to modify them or make your own compendium by changing anything and everything to reflect your own personal understanding of this question and what each card might say individually. And, of course, the other cards in the spread will modify, support or contradict each other, or they reveal a range of sensations experienced by the person in question. Play with this idea. Have fun. Let me know if you find these possibilities helpful or not.
MAJOR ARCANA — Archetypes of Thought and Feeling
These cards show love and perception on the mythic scale—how we project ideals, confront truth, and transform through encounter.
The Fool:
The person asked about experiences you, the querent, as awakening spontaneity and curiosity. They sense freedom with you yet fear looking foolish. There’s excitement, attraction to risk, and uncertainty about direction. Emotion hovers between naïve hope and avoidance of responsibility.
The Magician:
They’re intrigued and alert in your presence—half-admiring, half-calculating. You inspire their creativity and desire to impress. They may test how real the connection is, shaping perception through charm. Feeling is mixed with self-control.
The High Priestess:
You’re a mystery they can’t decipher. They sense depth and silence that invites projection. Emotion feels private, even sacred, yet also distant. They wonder if you know more than you say—or if you see through them.
The Empress:
They feel warmth and sensual appreciation. You represent comfort, beauty, and abundance. Their feelings may blur into longing for nurture or admiration of your self-possession. Attraction here feels natural but could become complacent.
The Emperor:
Respect dominates; affection expresses as protection or control. They might admire your strength yet wish to define the terms. Feeling is restrained, filtered through duty or pride—security valued over vulnerability.
The Hierophant:
You evoke familiarity, trust, or tradition. They may see you as a guide, partner, or moral touchstone. Emotion forms through respect and expectation rather than passion. They wonder if stability outweighs freedom.
The Lovers:
Connection is undeniable—heart and choice entwined. They feel drawn and confronted at once, sensing that intimacy will change them. Emotion is alive but undecided; desire and conscience share the same breath.
The Chariot:
They feel compelled to move toward you yet fear losing control. You challenge their willpower. Emotion becomes a test of direction: pursuit versus restraint. Admiration tinged with competition.
Strength:
You soothe and steady them. They feel safe and slightly undone by your quiet power. Attraction arises from trust and curiosity about your composure. Their emotion deepens when they sense you won’t exploit it.
The Hermit:
They think of you often but from distance. You represent wisdom, introspection, or absence. Feeling is contemplative—perhaps loneliness mixed with respect. They may love the idea of you more than contact itself.
Wheel of Fortune:
You feel fated, unpredictable, cyclical. Their emotions rise and fall with circumstance. They sense possibility but little control. Hope alternates with resignation; connection feels larger than choice.
Justice:
They analyze rather than surrender. You make them weigh fairness, commitment, or consequence. Emotion is present yet measured, shaped by conscience. They seek equilibrium before vulnerability.
The Hanged Man:
You suspend them between feeling and inaction. They don’t know what to do but can’t detach. Emotion deepens through waiting; surrender may lead to clarity—or drift into passivity.
Death:
You mark an ending or irreversible change. Feelings linger as transformation rather than attachment. They may mourn, resist, or secretly hope for renewal. Emotion is intense, rarely comfortable.
Temperance:
They feel calmed by you. You bring balance after extremes. Emotion here is healing, cautious, integrating differences. Desire softens into harmony; attraction seeks longevity, not drama.
The Devil:
They feel trapped or magnetized. Desire is strong, unsettling, possibly obsessive. They sense pleasure mixed with loss of control. Emotion alternates between indulgence and shame, attraction and fear.
The Tower:
You disrupt their defenses. Feelings erupt suddenly—shock, revelation, liberation. They may blame you for upheaval or thank you for truth. Emotion raw, cleansing, but rarely simple.
The Star:
You represent hope and renewal. They feel inspired, gently optimistic, perhaps idealizing you. Emotion is tender, distant like starlight—guiding but not graspable. Healing rather than possession.
The Moon:
You stir uncertainty and fascination. They can’t separate imagination from reality. Emotion waxes and wanes, colored by fear, fantasy, intuition. They sense depth but question what’s true.
The Sun:
You make them feel open and alive. Joy, pride, and recognition fill their thoughts. Emotion here is uncomplicated warmth—though they might overlook subtler needs. Attraction through happiness.
Judgment:
They reflect on the past with you in mind. You evoke accountability, forgiveness, or a call to reconnect. Emotion is awakening—half guilt, half gratitude. Renewal possible, closure uncertain.
The World:
They see you as whole, accomplished, perhaps beyond reach. Emotion blends admiration with finality. You complete a chapter in their psyche; whether they return or move on depends on readiness for a new cycle.
THE MINOR ARCANA
The four suits together show the emotional spectrum of relationship questions:
- Wands: ignition and pursuit — the spark and struggle of desire.
- Cups: feeling and longing — the ebb and flow of connection.
- Swords: thought and tension — honesty tested by fear and distance.
- Pentacles: grounding and care — love as something built and sustained.
THE SUIT OF WANDS — Passion, Initiative, and the Dance of Pursuit
This suit speaks to attraction in motion—how desire seeks expression, recognition, and purpose. It reveals when warmth becomes impatience, when confidence masks insecurity, and when shared fire either fuels creation or burns too hot to hold.
Ace of Wands:
They feel a sudden ignition—a pulse of attraction or creative surge when they think of you. It may be physical, sexual, or simply vital energy seeking expression. Emotion flares with possibility: the thrill of being awakened, not yet knowing where it will lead.
Two of Wands:
Interest has formed but remains strategic. They picture possibilities, testing how you might fit into their future. Attraction is tempered by planning; enthusiasm meets hesitation. You live in their “what if,” not yet their “yes.”
Three of Wands:
They sense potential taking shape but still at a distance. Hope and expectation mix with patience. You may feel their attention without immediate action. Emotion is quietly confident, waiting for a sign that the connection will unfold.
Four of Wands:
Their feelings turn joyful and inclusive. They imagine celebration, belonging, or reunion. You represent warmth, acceptance, perhaps a vision of “home.” The mood is positive, though comfort may dull curiosity if taken for granted.
Five of Wands:
You stir both excitement and competition. They test boundaries, unsure whether play or conflict dominates. Attraction may express through teasing or argument. Beneath the noise lies a wish to stand out and be acknowledged by you.
Six of Wands:
They want to impress you—or be recognized by you. Emotion feels proud, performative, buoyed by attention. Admiration is genuine yet filtered through ego. If you applaud, they soar; if you don’t, they question their worth.
Seven of Wands:
They feel challenged or defensive around you. You push them to clarify what they truly want. Attraction survives through effort; fear of losing ground competes with longing. Emotion shows as resistance that secretly values the contest.
Eight of Wands:
Feelings accelerate—sudden messages, impulsive plans, an urge to close distance. You’re on their mind constantly. Excitement is real but may lack reflection. Whether this becomes love or burnout depends on timing and follow-through.
Nine of Wands:
They care but tread carefully. Past wounds make them guarded. You evoke both desire and fatigue; they want connection but fear repetition. Emotion endures quietly, testing if trust can outlast weariness.
Ten of Wands:
They feel burdened—by responsibility, secrecy, or the effort to keep feelings contained. Attraction persists but weighs heavy. They may love yet feel unable to carry the relationship further without relief or shared support.
Page of Wands:
Their interest is bright, youthful, and exploratory. They flirt through enthusiasm rather than depth. Emotion flickers—sincere in curiosity, untested by time. They wonder what adventure you might bring.
Knight of Wands:
They feel bold, restless, hungry for experience. You excite them, but patience is scarce. Emotion burns fast, often fading once pursuit turns to routine. Connection thrives on movement, not maintenance.
Queen of Wands:
They see you as magnetic and self-possessed. You awaken admiration mixed with awe. Emotion is confident but cautious—they want your light yet fear your discernment. Attraction rooted in respect and fascination.
King of Wands:
They view you as equal in strength and vision. Feelings come with ambition: they want partnership that expands both lives. Emotion is passionate, goal-oriented, occasionally dominating. Warmth remains if power stays balanced.
THE SUIT OF CUPS — Love, Longing, and the Emotional Mirror
Cups reveal how the heart moves—its tides of connection, nostalgia, fantasy, and loss. They show the inner weather of intimacy: when affection flows, when it stagnates, and when imagination replaces truth.
Ace of Cups:
They feel an opening of the heart—tender, hopeful, a swell of emotion that surprises them. This could be first love, renewal, or forgiveness. Feeling is genuine but fragile: it needs reciprocation to take form.
Two of Cups:
They sense harmony and mutuality. You mirror what they long for. Emotion feels balanced, affectionate, potentially romantic. It’s the desire to meet halfway, though equilibrium can tip quickly toward dependency or idealization.
Three of Cups:
Their feelings are friendly, playful, or social. They enjoy your company but may not define it as deep commitment. Emotion here is joyful and shared yet easily diffused by other interests or people.
Four of Cups:
They’ve withdrawn inward; affection lies dormant beneath introspection or fatigue. They may care yet feel uninspired. Emotion is muted—not gone, just numbed by uncertainty or overthinking.
Five of Cups:
Regret colors their heart. They replay what’s been lost or unsaid. Emotion turns toward sorrow and self-reproach, but healing waits in the background. They can’t see what still remains until they lift their gaze.
Six of Cups:
You evoke nostalgia, comfort, and innocence. They feel warmth rooted in memory rather than current reality. Emotion is sincere but filtered through longing for simpler times or what once felt safe.
Seven of Cups:
They’re caught between fantasies—many emotions, little clarity. You may inhabit their dreams more than their plans. Attraction is strong yet unstable, shaped by projection and wishful thinking.
Eight of Cups:
They feel distance growing within themselves. Caring persists, but something essential feels absent. Emotion withdraws not from indifference but from searching for deeper meaning. Departure here is contemplative, not cruel.
Nine of Cups:
You please them; you satisfy a personal wish. Emotion is contented yet self-referential—they enjoy how they feel around you more than they explore who you are. Pleasure dominates sincerity; fulfillment may plateau.
Ten of Cups:
They imagine emotional completeness with you. You represent shared happiness, family, or enduring love. Feeling here is idealized, sometimes utopian. Reality may not yet have tested the dream.
Page of Cups:
Their affection is tender, uncertain, and easily startled. They may reach out with shy curiosity or creative gestures. Emotion is exploratory, youthful, open to wonder but vulnerable to misunderstanding.
Knight of Cups:
They’re drawn to you through romance and imagination. Feeling is genuine yet shaped by ideals of love more than its realities. They pursue beauty and connection but may drift if disillusioned.
Queen of Cups:
Their emotions toward you are deep, receptive, and intuitive. They feel seen at the level of soul but fear exposure. Sensitivity runs high; they respond to your moods more than to words. Love here listens more than speaks.
King of Cups:
They care with maturity and restraint. Emotion flows beneath calm surface—stable, protective, occasionally distant. They balance affection with control; sincerity is strong, expression subtle.
THE SUIT OF SWORDS — Thought, Tension, and Truth Under Pressure
Swords trace how intellect cuts through emotion: where honesty, fear, or conflict exposes what the heart prefers to hide.
Ace of Swords:
They’re thinking sharply, seeking clarity about you. A realization—pleasant or painful—has pierced confusion. Emotion is filtered through logic; they need truth before trust.
Two of Swords:
They’re conflicted and avoid deciding. You stir emotions they can’t reconcile with reason. Their heart waits behind mental defenses. Peace on the surface conceals tension.
Three of Swords:
Their feelings ache; separation or misunderstanding cuts deeply. They may relive words that hurt or fear repeating old wounds. Emotion is raw but honest.
Four of Swords:
They’ve retreated to recover. Emotion lies dormant, resting after conflict or exhaustion. They think of you quietly but resist re-engagement.
Five of Swords:
They recall arguments or power struggles. Pride mixes with guilt. They may feel they “won” but lost connection. Emotion is defensive, circling regret.
Six of Swords:
Their thoughts drift toward calm and distance. They may wish to resolve things or simply move on. Emotion is subdued—tender but practical.
Seven of Swords:
They hide feelings behind strategy. Something about you makes them cautious or self-protective. Attraction exists but is masked by calculation.
Eight of Swords:
They feel trapped—by circumstance or overthinking. You occupy their mind, yet they see no safe move. Emotion is anxious, not indifferent.
Nine of Swords:
You haunt their thoughts. Worry, shame, or imagined loss keeps them awake. Emotion is obsessive, looping through “what ifs.”
Ten of Swords:
They believe something between you has ended. Emotion collapses under exhaustion yet releases tension: a strange peace after heartbreak.
Page of Swords:
They’re curious, observant, a little guarded. You’re often in their thoughts, but they approach indirectly—watching, questioning.
Knight of Swords:
Their feelings express through urgency. They want to speak truth or defend a position. Emotion and intellect race together; patience is scarce.
Queen of Swords:
They see you—or themselves—as discerning and self-reliant. Affection exists beneath analysis, restrained by caution.
King of Swords:
They think rather than feel, weighing facts before sentiment. You prompt respect, not impulsive warmth. Emotion is measured, loyal, understated.
THE SUIT OF PENTACLES — Security, Value, and the Material Language of Care
Pentacles translate emotion into tangible form—what love looks like when expressed through patience, effort, and daily gesture.
Ace of Pentacles:
They sense something real could grow with you. Feeling is practical yet hopeful—a seed of trust. You awaken a wish to invest slowly, to see if emotion can take root in reality.
Two of Pentacles:
They’re juggling feelings and priorities. You matter, but life pulls them in competing directions. Emotion is adaptable but scattered.
Three of Pentacles:
They think of partnership as shared work. You inspire cooperation and respect. Emotion shows through effort: showing up, contributing, building.
Four of Pentacles:
They hold back or hold on. Possession and protection mingle. The clasped coins reveal fear beneath affection—a wish to keep control.
Five of Pentacles:
They feel left out or fearful of rejection. Emotion persists through hardship; it seeks warmth in the cold.
Six of Pentacles:
They think about balance—who gives, who receives. Emotion takes the shape of fairness; generosity mixes with pride.
Seven of Pentacles:
They pause to evaluate what’s grown. You’re part of their long-term reflections. Emotion feels patient yet uncertain.
Eight of Pentacles:
They show care through diligence. You motivate focus or reliability. Emotion expressed in doing rather than words.
Nine of Pentacles:
They admire your independence. Emotion is tinged with awe and distance. They find your self-sufficiency beautiful yet intimidating.
Ten of Pentacles:
They imagine permanence: shared home, family, legacy. Emotion grounded in belonging and continuity.
Page of Pentacles:
They feel earnest curiosity—a wish to understand and prove themselves. Emotion is sincere and careful.
Knight of Pentacles:
They feel steadily devoted but slow to reveal it. Reliability defines their affection; emotion grows through trust.
Queen of Pentacles:
They see you as nurturing and grounded. Feeling is affectionate, sensual in quiet ways. Love manifests through care and steadiness.
King of Pentacles:
They think of you with admiration and desire for stability. Emotion is loyal and protective—devotion expressed through tangible support.
CLOSING REFLECTION
Read side by side, these interpretations offer not fixed answers but a moving landscape of human need: attraction seeking safety, mind negotiating heart, spirit anchoring in form.
Experiment. There is so much more that can be expressed by each card.
Created by Mary K. Greer and ChatGPT, 2025. Make of it what you will.
With the appearance of ChatGPT 5 being heralded as the greatest thing yet, I decided to see what it would have to say about the future of tarot. My first prompt only repeated things that I see already happening (we are in the future already). So I asked for a longer range vision that follows.
Feel free to criticize this view and present your own future vision in the comments here or on my Facebook page. Also, read this as possibilities for your own future as a tarot professional. Do a reading on it or draw a card for each option below.
The Immediate Future for Professional Tarot Readings According to ChatGPT 5.
- Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Integration: In the near future, professional tarot readers may offer VR-based tarot sessions. Clients could enter a virtual, ethereal space where the tarot cards float in a three-dimensional environment. The reader, also present in the virtual space, can manipulate the cards in real-time, creating a more immersive and engaging experience. AR could be used in a similar way, where the reader uses a device to project the tarot cards onto a real-world surface, adding an extra layer of interactivity.
- Subscription-based Services: Just like many online services today, professional tarot readers may offer monthly or yearly subscription packages. Subscribers could receive regular tarot readings, exclusive content such as in-depth interpretations of the cards, and access to private communities where they can discuss their readings with the reader and other subscribers.
The Immediate Future for Private Use
- Tarot-enabled Smart Home Devices: Smart home assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Home could be integrated with tarot functions. Users could simply ask their smart device to draw a tarot card for them and receive a basic interpretation. For example, “Alexa, draw me a tarot card and tell me what it means.”
- Tarot-themed Mobile Games: There will likely be an increase in mobile games that incorporate tarot elements. These games could range from simple card – drawing games with educational interpretations to more complex role – playing games where the tarot cards influence the game’s storyline and character development.
The Speculative, Long Range View
- Professional and Private Use – Long-Range Tarot Developments
10 Years
- Tarot-Based Financial Advisors: Private users will turn to tarot – informed Al for financial guidance. The Al will interpret tarot card draws in the context of market trends and the user’s financial situation. It could suggest investment opportunities or savings strategies based on the symbolic meaning of the cards.
- Al/Tarot Symbiotic Readings: In the next decade, professional tarot readers will start working in tandem with advanced Al systems. The Al will analyze the client’s digital footprint, including their social media history, online purchases, and search patterns. The reader will then use this data in combination with a traditional tarot draw. For example, if the Al detects a pattern of stress – related searches and the tarot card drawn is related to anxiety, the reader can offer more targeted advice.
20 Years
- Global Tarot Networks: Professional tarot readers will be part of a global network where they can share complex cases. If a reader encounters a particularly challenging client situation, they can post the tarot spread and client details (anonymously) on the network. Other readers from around the world can then contribute their interpretations and insights, creating a collective wisdom approach to tarot readings.
- Tarot-Powered Life Coaches: Private individuals will have access to Al – driven tarot life coaches. These coaches will not only interpret tarot cards but also create long – term life plans for the users. They will monitor the user’s progress over time, adjusting the plans based on new tarot draws and the user’s changing circumstances.
50 Years
- Tarot with Integrated Consciousness Augmentation: In a more distant future, tarot will be integrated with technologies that enhance human consciousness. When a person undergoes a tarot reading, the experience will be amplified through neural interfaces. The user will enter a state where they can directly interact with the symbolic world of the tarot cards at a subconscious level, leading to profound self – discovery and personal growth.
- Tarot-Guided Interstellar Exploration: As humanity ventures into space, tarot will play a role in decision – making for interstellar missions. Al systems on board spaceships will use tarot symbolism to analyze potential risks and opportunities in uncharted regions of the universe. The crew will also draw tarot cards for moral and psychological support during long – duration space travel.
2. Art and Deck Themes and Styles
10 Years
- Holographic Tarot Decks: Holographic technology will be used to create tarot decks. These decks will project three – dimensional images of the cards, with the symbols and colors changing depending on the angle of view. The holographic effect will add a new layer of depth and interactivity to the traditional tarot experience.
- Al-Generated Tarot Art: Al algorithms will be used to generate unique tarot deck designs. Artists will input certain themes or concepts, and the Al will create a series of card designs that blend traditional tarot symbolism with modern artistic sensibilities.
20 Years
- Biodegradable and Sustainable Tarot Decks: With a greater focus on environmental sustainability, tarot decks will be made from biodegradable materials. These decks will be not only eco – friendly but also have a unique texture and appearance. For example, decks made from recycled paper or plant – based plastics.
- Multi-Sensory Tarot Decks: Tarot decks will be designed to engage multiple senses. In addition to visual images, the cards could have scents associated with each card’s meaning. For example, the card of love could have a floral scent, while the card of chaos could have a pungent, earthy smell.
50 Years
- Nanotech Tarot Decks: Nanotechnology will allow for the creation of tarot decks at a microscopic level. These decks could be stored in a tiny device and projected as large, high – resolution images when needed. The nanotech material could also adapt to the user’s mood, changing the color and symbolism of the cards accordingly.
- Tarot Decks as Living Entities: Through advanced genetic engineering and biotechnology, tarot decks could be created with living organisms. The cards could be made from a type of bio-material that grows and changes over time, reflecting the user’s spiritual journey.
3. Online Presence
10 Years
- Tarot in the Metaverse: The metaverse will become a major platform for tarot. There will be virtual tarot shops, reading rooms, and schools. Users can enter these virtual spaces, interact with other tarot enthusiasts, and receive readings from renowned virtual tarot masters.
- Tarot NFTs: Non – fungible tokens (NFTs) will be used to represent rare and unique tarot decks. Collectors can own digital versions of these decks, which can be traded or displayed in virtual galleries.
20 Years
- Tarot-Based Social Credit Systems: In online communities, tarot readings could be used as part of a social credit system. Positive tarot interpretations could boost a user’s social standing within the community, while negative ones could prompt the user to engage in self – improvement activities.
- Tarot-Powered Virtual Reality Experiences: VR experiences will be fully immersive, with users able to physically interact with the tarot cards in a virtual environment. They can walk through a tarot – themed landscape, pick up the cards, and have in – depth conversations with virtual tarot guides.
50 Years
- Tarot-Infused Internet of Things (loT): The loT will be integrated with tarot. Smart devices in our homes, such as refrigerators, cars, and even clothing, will be able to draw tarot cards and provide real – time interpretations based on our daily activities and surroundings.
- Tarot-Driven Quantum Internet Communication: In the era of quantum internet, tarot symbolism will be used to encode and decode information. Messages sent over the quantum network could be encrypted using tarot card combinations, adding an extra layer of security and a touch of the esoteric.
4. Books, Conferences, and Classes
10 Years
- Holographic Tarot Books: Similar to holographic tarot decks, books on tarot will be holographic. They will project 3D images of the cards, along with animated explanations of the symbolism and interpretations. These books will be interactive, allowing the reader to explore different aspects of the tarot at their own pace.
- Tarot Conferences in Virtual Reality: Physical conferences will be complemented by VR – based conferences. Attendees can participate from anywhere in the world, interact with speakers and other participants in a virtual environment, and attend workshops and lectures in real – time.
20 Years
- Tarot-Based Educational Curricula: Tarot will be incorporated into mainstream educational curricula. Schools and universities will offer courses on tarot history, symbolism, and interpretation as part of their humanities and social science programs.
- Al-Generated Tarot Textbooks: Al will be used to generate comprehensive tarot textbooks. These textbooks will be constantly updated with the latest research and interpretations, providing students with the most accurate and up – to – date information.
50 Years
- Tarot/Memory Implant Education: In the future, it may be possible to implant tarot knowledge directly into a person’s memory. Students could undergo a procedure where the entire body of tarot knowledge, including card meanings, historical context, and interpretation techniques, is stored in their long – term memory.
- Intergalactic Tarot Conferences: As humanity expands into space, there will be intergalactic tarot conferences. Representatives from different planets and colonies will come together to share their unique tarot traditions and perspectives, creating a truly cosmic exchange of ideas.
5. Major Teachers and Their Modes for Teaching
10 Years
- Al-Teacher Avatars: Tarot teachers will use Al-generated avatars to teach online courses. These avatars can replicate the teacher’s voice, mannerisms, and teaching style. They can also interact with students in real – time, answering questions and providing feedback.
- Tarot Teaching in Virtual Reality Classrooms: Teachers will conduct classes in virtual reality classrooms. Students can sit around a virtual table, draw physical-looking tarot cards, and engage in group discussions and activities in a more immersive environment.
20 Years
- Genetic-Based Tarot Teaching: Advances in genetics may allow teachers to tailor their teaching methods based on a student’s genetic profile. For example, if a student has a genetic predisposition for creativity, the teacher can focus on more artistic and intuitive aspects of tarot interpretation.
- Collective Consciousness Teaching: Tarot teachers will tap into the collective consciousness of the tarot community. They will use techniques to access the shared knowledge and wisdom of all tarot practitioners, which can then be passed on to their students.
50 Years
- Telepathic Tarot Teaching: In a world with advanced telepathic communication, tarot teachers will be able to transmit knowledge directly to their students’ minds. The teacher’s thoughts and insights about tarot will be shared instantaneously, bypassing the need for traditional forms of communication.
- Tarot Teaching through Time Travel: Although highly speculative, in a future where time travel is possible, tarot teachers could travel back in time to study the origins of tarot directly. They could then bring this first-hand knowledge back to the present and share it with their students. This would revolutionize tarot education as it would provide an unparalleled level of authenticity and accuracy.
Students would have the opportunity to learn from teachers who have witnessed the early development of tarot, interacted with the original practitioners, and seen the cultural and historical contexts in which the tarot emerged. Teachers could describe the exact settings in which the first tarot decks were created, the materials used, and the initial meanings assigned to the cards.
This could also lead to a re-evaluation of existing tarot theories and interpretations. For example, if a teacher discovers that a particular card’s meaning was different in its original context, it could change the way modern tarot readers approach that card.
In addition, time-traveling tarot teachers could establish connections with past tarot communities. They could bring back lost tarot practices or techniques that have been forgotten over the centuries. breathing new life into the tarot tradition.
The knowledge obtained through time travel could be shared in various ways. Teachers could create immersive virtual reality experiences that allow students to virtually accompany them on their time-traveling adventures. They could also write detailed accounts in new types of textbooks that blend historical research with personal time – traveling anecdotes.
My Closing Thoughts:
My older version of ChatGPT 4o noted that “The deeper tarot becomes entwined with AI and data-mining, the more it risks shifting from an inner divination to an external prediction engine. The Magician’s wand could just as easily become the Tower’s lightning rod … spilling [or being thrown] into banality.”
How perceptive of this future visions! 4o likened it to a “Mercurial prophecy — quicksilver, inventive, and exhilarating — yet Mercury is also the trickster who can lead you to wisdom or misdirection.”
Personally, I feel there will still be those who are deeply moved by the cards with respect for its history and occult metaphysics.
Illustrations provided by DALL-E based on prompts from ChatGPT 4o + me.
What is a “transparent reading style” in tarot? I use this term to describe one element of what I do in a reading. First, it is a continuum and not an absolute. Essentially, it is including acknowledgement of where/how I’m getting information and meaning from the cards and from my interaction with the querent.
You might say it is anti-magic, except that I’m really all about magic. So I might even point out what I perceive as moments of magic. Basically, I’ll tell someone when and how their body language or something they said has clued me in to a facet of the reading. I might note that their observation about a card is contradictory to the traditional meaning and then ask them to explore how their contradiction or both are true. I might get a sense of something not in the cards and will make clear I don’t know where it is coming from. Or I will ‘trick’ someone into their personal realization and then let them know what I just did.
I find that briefly revealing my own “perception bias,” for instance a choice I naturally gravitate towards, lifestyle beliefs, or a knee-jerk reaction on my part is important. By briefly mentioning my own bias it helps me let go of that thought. It somehow relieves me of any urges that bias carries so I can be fully present to the querent’s needs and situation.
I want the client to be able to see through the wizard’s curtain (as in Oz) so that the illusion of power doesn’t stick to me, so that the querent can see me as a temporary companion on their journey and can begin to trust their own insights and volition more.
Of course I keep these transparencies minimal to not get in the way of the importance of the reading itself. And I want to keep the focus on the client and not on me.
How transparent are you in a reading? Do you assume that the cards are all-knowing? Do you assume an aura of importance to lend credence to your intuitions? Does it even help a client to pull back the curtain? Or does it make the experience less significant to a client? I admit my transparency doesn’t always work for some clients, especially those who want surety.
What do you think and do in relation to this concept? How transparent are you as a reader?
Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards from United Novelty, Mfc Company, Chicago, circa 1920-30 are a 36-card deck with playing cards inset and meanings given on each card. The instructions are in Polish and English and the Lady (significator) is clearly dressed as a 1920s flapper. At least 22 of the 36 cards are close cognates with the Lenormand cards. A few of the other card images are found on other cartomancy decks of the period. See this post in which Camelia Elias demonstrates using the deck.
They were printed by the Valmor Company of Chicago (also doing business as King Novelty; United Novelty appear to be distributors) and so are sometimes called the Valmor Fortune-Telling Cards. This hints at an interesting crossover between the immigrant community of Jewish founder Morton and Rose Neumann (the Polish connection?) and the African-American hoodoo tradition.
A surprisingly large number of hoodoo mail-order companies were founded by Jewish chemists who perceived a need for affordable beauty products and who then expanded into incense, candles and hoodoo potions. 
Two years after Morton Neumann started Valmor he married Rose and then the whole approach to Valmor advertising changed radically. The company became known for its illustrations featuring fair-skinned, black-haired beauties in seductive, sexy scenes. The original advertisment illustrator was African-American artist, Charles Dawson. Could he have been the artist of this deck?
It’s interesting that Morton and Rose Neumann, by the mid-20th century, began investing their wealth in 19th century European art and later in American art, amassing what is considered today to be the foremost and most valuable private family art collection in America. They tried to keep it intact until the death of Rose and son, Hubert, when an inheritance tax of $50 million forced the sale of several works.
The Old Gypsy Cards Fortune Telling Game from Addison Products Co, Chicago (no-date – 1940s?) is an identical deck, also with instructions in English and Polish. Looking similar to the Gypsy Witch, and with elements appearing in Whitman’s “Old Gypsy” deck, this deck has its own assignation of playing cards such that the suits & numbers appear in sequence according to the numbering of the cards, and they accord most closely with the usual French and English playing card meanings. While most of the deck includes Lenormand-like cards there are also unique ones like 23-A Beautiful Lady, 27-The Bacchanalian, 29-The Loving Couple, 31-The Fairy, 32-The Shepherd, 11-The Dancing Persons. Cards like 20-the Horseshoe, 30-The Eye and 35-The Duel are found in other “gypsy” decks that I talk about here. In 1948 this same deck was published by Wehman Bros. but without the text.
I was unable to find this particular deck in a King Novelty (Valmor) catalog but I did come across their 1944 catalog ad for a nearly identical deck called Madame Sigma Fortune Telling Cards. You could purchase both the deck and book together for $1.35!
Here’s a interesting comparison of the three Whitman “Old Gypsy” deck editions (top), while (below) is the Horseshoe/Trefoil from the Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards (which, along with the Key, Gentleman & Lady cards, have no playing cards printed on them), and two from the Gypsy Dream deck – Horn of Plenty and Horseshoe.
See also my post on 19th Century American Lenormand decks.
I try to keep abreast of Tarot as it appears in fiction but somehow I missed this one: The Holy by Daniel Quinn (2002). The entire book is the playing out of a Tarot reading, made explicit by full-page illustrations of Rider-Waite-Smith cards that introduce book sections.
The central what if is, “What if the God of the Bible was not the only God, and what if the “false gods” referred to in the ten commandments actually exist?” We can extend this to ask the questions: Who are they? and What do they want?—questions the author leaves only partially answered.
This is a Fool’s journey, cross country, undertaken by several different people, at first independently and then with converging stories, all foreseen in the Tarot reading that becomes explicit only as the tale evolves. Quinn is known for his philosophical novels, starting with the highly regarded Ishmael, for which he won the half-million dollar Turner Tomorrow Fellowship. Quinn is an original thinker whose process has been described as “seeing through the myths of this culture” or “ripping away the shades so that people can have a clear look at history and what we’re doing to the world.” It’s interesting that despite the centrality of the Tarot reading and Tarot illustrations in this book, the Tarot content is hardly ever mentioned and never discussed in the reviews I’ve read.
Synopsis: Sixty-plus year-old private detective Howard Scheim is hired by an acquaintance to discover if the “false gods” of the Bible really exist. In agreeing to discover if he can even undertake such an inquiry he interviews several people including a journalist, a tarot reader, a clairvoyant and a Satanist. Meanwhile the Kennesey family is undergoing upheaval as husband David decides to walk away from his job, his wife and his 12-year old son, Tim. Tim and his mother go searching for David and, when Tim becomes accidentally separated from his mother, Howard stumbles upon him and offers to help Tim find her. As it turns out both David and his son Tim are being courted by amoral, non-human “others” who plan to “wake up” humanity because their blindness is creating havoc. These “others,” who refuse to define themselves, are trickster beings, neither evil nor benevolent, who have existed far longer than homo sapiens. They have been known to enchant those humans who look to the physical world rather than to a transcendent being to benefit them.
The Celtic Cross Tarot reading shows Quinn to be knowledgeable about Tarot consulting. References to people named Case (P.F. Case authored an influential Tarot book) and John Dee (magician to Elizabeth I), as well as a road named Morning Star Path (a Golden Dawn offshoot was called the “Stella Matutina” or morning star) makes it clear that Quinn is referencing modern occult lore.
Tarot reader Denise starts by explaining that the first card in Howard’s reading indicates the predominant influence in the subject’s life. Howard draws the Seven of Swords and Denise asks Howard to tell her what it is about, explaining this is not her usual way of working but, “If I proceed normally, you’ll think I’m slanting it.”
He describes a thief stealing swords for a battle who has overlooked something (two swords left behind).” Denise summarizes it: “You’re getting ready for a battle and you’re overestimating your own cleverness and underestimating the strength of your enemy. You’re overconfident and you think you can’t be hurt in the enterprise you’ve planned. . . . The reading will center on the conflict you’re preparing for.”
The Seven of Swords is crossed by the Two of Pentacles: “The pentacles represent grave extremes: the beginning and the end, life and deah, infinite past and the infinite future, good and evil. Nevertheless, the young man is dancing.” Denise says he takes the situation too lightly.
The card above him is the Eight of Cups: “At best, you can hope for a strange journey, an adventure into darkness.”
The frontispiece illustration is that of the Seven of Cups, appearing in the reading in the environment position: “A man is disconcerted by an array of tantalizing apparitions of love, mystery, danger, riches, fame, and evil. Illusions will bedevil you. You’ll be pulled in many directions, and your choices will be confused.” Perhaps this is the underlying theme of not only this book but other works by Daniel Quinn: Humankind is bedeviled by the illusions of culture and civilization so that our choices are confused, centering on all the wrong things. Quinn has one of the characters quote Plato’s The Republic: “Whatever deceives can be said to enchant.” Adding, “Anyone who shakes off the deception shakes off the enchantment as well – and ceases to be one of you [a homo sapien].” The Holy, p. 260.
I’ve left out most of the interplay about the cards, and I won’t reveal more of the story as I hope you will explore this book for yourselves.
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
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Is there any “true” way to lay the cards? Probably not. But here is the first tarot spread to appear in print. It is in an article by le Comte de M*** (Mellet) in Court de Gébelin’s Le Monde Primitif (1781). The spread instructions were followed by a sample interpretation—the dream of Joseph in the Bible. I decided that such a simple but powerful layout deserves to be brought back “into play.” Try it out for yourself.
The layout is best accomplished by two people working together, who have divided the deck into two stacks so that each has one of them:
Person 1 — the 56 Minor Arcana
Person 2 — the 22 Trumps (Major Arcana).
Each person takes their stack, shuffles it, and then simultaneously goes through the stacks card-by-card as follows:
Person 1: Turns the cards of the Minor Arcana over one-by-one while counting Ace, 2, 3, 4, … Page, Knight, Queen, King (use the court card names from your own deck), and continue counting with the Ace. Any card which has the same number or rank as that named is to be set aside. That is, if when counting 5, you turn over a 5 of any suit, that card is selected and put to the side.
Person 2: Goes through the Trumps at the same time, putting down a card each time Person 1 does so, but without turning it over. When Person 1 puts a card aside (because the number and the card matched), Person 2 takes the card he/she put down at the same time and turns it face up next to Person 1’s card to form a pair. When Person 2 has gone through all the Trumps, he/she picks up the reject stack and continues to put them down in the now-reversed order.
The process ends when Person 1 runs out of Minor Arcana cards.
Interpret the resulting cards as pairs.
For example, in the first reading I did with this spread, the result of the count was:
Ace of Pentacles — Lovers
Ace of Cups — Sun
Three of Cups — Death
Knight of Wands — Star
These cards had an incredible feeling of power about them. My partner in the reading immediately said, “It’s all about the deaths!” and I realized he was right. We had just found out about the deaths of three people we knew (Three of Cups plus Death). Three incredible people—each making the transition (Knight of Wands) to another world in their own way. They were being shown to us as Beings of Light (the Sun) starting a new phase of existence (the two Aces). I was awed by the beauty of their souls that radiated out from these cards as if reborn in the spirit (the Sun). It was good to feel that they were with loved ones (Three of Cups and Lovers), and it seemed to me that they were riding (Knight of Wands) towards their highest destiny (Star). I took it as a message to us from the other side, saying that they were all right and just where they should be. (Deck: The Albano-Waite Miniature Tarot Cards.)
In the previous post on the origins of divination with playing cards I included a book called The Square of Sevens, and the Parallelogram: An Authoritative Method of Cartomancy with a Prefatory Note by Robert Antrobus that was supposedly written in 1735 and then edited and republished in 1896 by E. Irenaeus Stevenson. I’ve had suspicions for a while that this work was a literary hoax, which is now borne out by a review in 1897 that reveals all (see Update below).
According to Irenaeus Stevenson, the original book tells how, around the year 1730, Robert Antrobus, “a Gentleman of Bath,” on a trip to Cornwall stayed at an inn where a dying man also lodged. Antrobus came to the aid of this George X— who, it turned out, was a gypsy of unusual education and breeding. During their time together, Mr. Antrobus agreed to care for Mr. George’s young daughter and Mr. George, in turn, revealed many secrets of the gypsies. Among these is a method of dukkeripens (divination) by playing cards. In 1735, so the story goes, Mr. Antrobus chose to publish this “betrayed secret” through John Gowne of The Mask bookshop. Unfortunately, a printing-house fire destroyed all except a dozen or so copies of the work.
In 1896, along comes E. Irenaeus Stevenson of New York, who republishes the work so that it may, “in our social day serve a lighter end—and entertain the parlor.”
What follows is an extremely complicated way of dealing out the cards for a Querist, resulting eventually in a rectangle (parallelogram) of 21 cards in 3 columns of 7. Each of the cards in the left column is a Master Card, which is modified by the two cards to its right. An additional three cards are called “Wish Cards.”
The cards are then read from interpretations given in a “Tavola [Table] of Significancies” in which a short meaning is given for each card as Master Card, followed by how the suits of the cards to its right will modify that meaning.
Red suits are auspicious and kind; black suits are unpleasing and less favorable.
• The Suit of Hearts is that of the Affections, Passions, Fancies and Feelings.
• The Suit of Diamonds refers to the condition in Life, Society, Wealth, Position and the Fine Arts.
• In Clubs lies Judgment, Intellect, Will, the Affairs of a Man’s Brains, and what he doeth of his own Mastery and Genius.
• The ominous Spades are the suit of doubtful or worse prognosticks of arbitrary events outside Man’s control.
It should be noted that it is not at all unusual for esoteric texts to be given a romanticized and totally false lineage. The text is available here.
I noticed that our 19th century editor prefaced his story about the work’s 18th century origins with a quote from Hamlet, “Tis easy as lying,” and ended it with another quote:
BRADAMANTE. But is this authentic? Is it an original? Is it a true, original thing, sir?
GRADASSO (making a leg). Madam, ’tis as authentic as very authenticity itself—’tis truth’s kernel, originality’s core—provided you are but willing to believe it such.
BRADAMANTE. Sir, you quibble.
GRADASSO (making a leg). Madam, ’tis precisely in my vocation to quibble,—and delicately.
From The Superglorious Life and Death of Prince Artius: A Tragedy. Act LI., sc. li.
I asked tarot scholar Ross Caldwell what he thought of these quotes, which imply a willingness to lie and believe lies. Ross came up with enough evidence to indicate the work is a 19th century fable. For instance, there is no stage play about a Prince Artius, and certainly no play has 51 acts and scenes. Instead, Ross realized that “Act LI., sc. li.” can be read as “Actually silly.”
Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson (1868-1942), an American, really existed and was a novelist and journalist, writing under several pseudonyms, and with a particular interest in 18th century history and opera. He is affectionately known today as “the father of American homophile literature,” being the first American to write openly about homosexuality. There was a Robert Antrobus who was a teacher at Eton but who died in 1730, ten years before Stevenson’s fictional Antrobus. He may have served as the model for Stevenson’s author.
As a final detail that proves this is all fiction, Stevenson wrote that Antrobus had written a “brochure on the Cock Lane Ghost.” When Ross checked this out, expecting a deadend, he found, instead, that the Cock Lane Ghost was an actual incident, but that it took place much later, in 1762, and it involved a hoax that rocked London. One hoax mentioned in another hoax—what could be plainer?
Ross Caldwell says about The Square of Sevens, “Given the era, it might be compared to Robert Chambers’ “The King in Yellow” (referring to an apocryphal book that drives its readers mad) or Lovecraft’s Necronomicon (itself perhaps inspired by Chambers).”
So, instead of an original 18th century work, we have a piece of 19th century fiction about gypsy card divination. Even the method of cartomancy was created by Stevenson (see update below).
UPDATE:
From “Literary Notes” by Laurence Hutton for Harper’s Magazine, Volume 94 (March 1897), a review of The Square of Sevens.
[Note: Stevenson worked as an editor for Harper’s, so we can assume that his co-worker, Hutton, got the following details directly from Stevenson.]
“Mr. Stevenson has evolved, out of nothing a certain Mr. Robert Antrobus, who lived in Bath during the reign of the Second English George. . . . ‘The Square of Sevens’ itself, it is needless to say, is as much an invention of Mr. Stevenson as is Mr. Antrobus. The ‘system,’ practically, is entirely his own; all the ‘significances,’ the general scheme and the idea of the work are purely original; although, here and there, they are in touch with the fundamental notions—all of them vague at best—of the professional cartomancists the wide world over.
“The author’s Editorial Preface is clever and entertaining; and it is not unlikely to deceive even the initiated. ‘The Square of Sevens’ is founded on recognized laws of recurrent chances; it will appeal to such as are interested in the occult sciences, and even the commonplace, ordinary ‘gorgio’ who is not a ‘dukker’ will recognize the charm, as well as the quaintness of the production.”
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me
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