What challenges and trials do you face along your life path that might be sourced from karma, however you define karma?
What facets of your shadow self can be revealed by your birth chart?
How might we express that part of your inner self that is divine? What facet of Divinity do you inherit so that you might carry out missions that the Divine has set for you?
We begin the search for answers by studying your birth chart, a map of your life path designed by the heavens.
These are the astrological features we’ll be covering:
Chiron: Your Soul’s Purpose
Your Social Responsibility (House 11 & Ascendant)
Black Moon Lilith: The Inner Darkness
White Moon Selena: The Inner Light
Hermetic Lot of Spirit: Your Guardians
North Lunar Node: Karmic Traits
South Lunar Node: The Shadow Self
Planetary Hour of Birth
Several years ago I started offering this astrological reading and since then have prepared thousands of these reports. If you are interested in getting one, please read through the service description carefully so you have a clear sense of what you’re getting.
I confess that I got to tinkering with the divination system before even opening its companion guidebook, but don’t worry– I’ll be reviewing it with the guidebook and getting to Klein’s approach. First, my own. =)
As soon as I saw the board with the astrological houses and keywords, as an astrology enthusiast I felt I immediately knew how to operate this thing. I was so excited by the concept I didn’t even continue rummaging in the kit that Klein had sent me. Instead, I ran upstairs and started picking out gemstones all on my own, from my personal stash, for the seven sacred planets and two of the main Hermetic Lots.
When I cracked open the front cover of this book, I didn’t even know what shamanic astrology was. I didn’t even know spirit animal signs were a thing. So that’s where I’m coming from as a book reviewer– not a place of knowledge or expertise, but the place of a beginner and how this book might serve the beginner.
Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign by Lucy Harmer (North Atlantic Books, 2009) introduces the twelve spirit animal signs of the Native American medicine wheel and how these animal signs correspond with our date of birth. Prominent public figures in the metaphysical community, such as Judy Hall (The Crystal Bible) and astrologers Derek and Julia Parker, Dr. Steven Farmer (Earth Magic and Animal Spirit Guides), Vicki Noble, creator of the Motherpeace Tarot, and so many more have thrown their positive weight toward Shamanic Astrology to give their endorsements.
The book is delightfully comprehensive. An introductory chapter acquaints you with shamanic astrology, the medicine wheel, and both the solar and lunar cycles. Then Harmer dives into the background of how spirit animals are interpreted, i.e., seasons, cycles, winds and directions, elements and clans, metaphysical correspondences, life paths, etc. Each of the twelve animal signs are covered, starting with a profile chart, description of personality, key metaphysical correspondences and influences, and then general insights into that sign’s luck– career, money, health, and then love. In the love section, compatibility with the other animal signs is provided. Shamanic Astrology closes with advanced material on the medicine wheel and the lunar calendars.
Now let’s take a look at the twelve spirit animal signs. Later in this review, check out Table 2.10 from Shamanic Astrology, which outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the twelve spirit animals.
Table 1.1 from Shamanic Astrology. Click image for closer viewing.
Back by popular demand (in case you’re like, what does that mean, I stopped offering this service for a while due to it basically taking over my life), the birth chart monograph is a minimum 90,000 word book about your personal astrology. There is also the secondary purpose of teaching you astrology. Then there is even a third mission of this monograph being a form of divination, or bibliomancy for you to reach for time and time again throughout your life path.
You will receive both the PDF and DOCX files of the monograph, formatted to 6″ x 9″ standard trim size for trade paperback with gutter and page margins all set up and ready for professional printing and binding into a hardcover or paperback book, which you would do on your own time through a third party print-on-demand publisher. I only provide the digital soft copy of your book. I also include a stock book cover design with the book title Book of ____, with the blank line filled in by your name. Above and below are examples of what the cover looks like if your name was James. Earlier you saw the Book of Abigail.
I’ve also set the intention for every monograph I prepare to be used as a form of bibliomancy. Some suggestions for how to use the monograph for divination are provided, though of course you’re not limited to those suggestions.
Inserted throughout the book, in between sections (practical reason: when there’s too much blank space left over at the end of a chapter or when I want a new chapter to begin on the recto, i.e., on an odd page, and doing so means a blank page), I’ll fill that blank page with an oracular message from the I Ching or lovely public domain classical art. I specially select art from old grimoires, medieval alchemical texts, that call to mind mythology relevant to some of what I cover in your monograph, and other art forms I find to be more spiritual or religious in perspective (covering all the major world religions).
Your book comes with a table of contents and a glossary of all astrological terms used throughout your monograph, so when in doubt and I’m using astrology jargon and you don’t know what that term references, you can quickly flip to the back of your book and look up that term in the glossary. However, unfortunately, there is no index. I understand this book would probably be doubly indispensable with an index.
That said, I do provide you with the DOCX file, so if you’re savvy with MS Word, I welcome and encourage you to fix up your own monograph before sending it off to the printers for book production. Above, after printing out the book in paperback form on your own, you get a sense of the thickness for the book.
Now the thickness of your birth chart monograph compared to, say, Holistic Tarot.
Every written reading will include the following:
Astrological Trinity: Sun, Moon, Rising
We will cover your sun sign, moon sign, and rising sign. It will cover elemental triplicities, distinctions between diurnal and nocturnal sect placement, house and sign analysis, decan rulership, significance of degrees for your sun, moon, and rising, significant angular aspects, and significance of moon phase at time of birth.
House and Sign Analysis
Since I read with the whole sign houses system, we’ll cover generalities about the signs in your twelve astrological houses per your ascendant. We will address what each of the zodiac signs mean as they fall in the twelve astrological houses of your birth chart. You have Pisces in the third…what does that mean exactly about your intellect, reasoning ability, way of thinking and communicating? Say that your ninth house is occupied by the sign Libra. What are the implications there? This section will go through the twelve houses and how the signs in those twelve houses of your chart mean about your life path, your fate, fortunes, and personality.
Elemental Analysis
Are you Fire, Water, Air, or Earth dominant and what would be the implications of such elemental dominance? Are you Fire, Water, Air, or Earth weak and what are those implications? How do you support your elemental weaknesses to create greater balance and harmony in your life? Based on elemental analysis, who are your spirit attendants from the animal kingdom (also referred to as animal totems)?
Your Decisive Age
We’ll talk about your Decisive Age. I’ll also provide a progressed chart (and tell you what a progressed chart is) for the year of your Decisive Age. There’s some free resources on what a Decisive Age is here on my site.
Planets in Their Houses and Signs
We’ll address house and sign analysis for the following natal planets:
Mercury (Mind & Voice),
Venus (Magnetic Attraction),
Mars (Ambition & Conquest),
Jupiter (Luck of the Draw),
Saturn (Discipline & Perspective),
Uranus (Your Ingenuity),
Neptune (Creative Intuition),
Pluto (The Curveball),
Chiron (The Hero’s Journey),
Ceres (Access to Resources), and
Eris (Psychological Projections).
The Midheaven: Your Higher Purpose
Your reading will also cover your midheaven sign and, since I read under the whole sign houses system, whether there are any discrepancies between your midheaven and tenth house. We’ll cover the major angular aspects to your midheaven and the implications of those aspects.
Hemisphere and Quadrant Analysis
Are you north or south hemisphere dominant and what does that mean about you? East or west dominant and that implication? Which quadrant of your chart is going to dominate in your life? Also, this feature will give you a life chronology of how to navigate the four quadrants of your life– (a) birth to age 21, (b) age 21 to 42, (c) age 42 to 63, and (d) age 63 and onward.
Chart Shape & Unique Patterns
I have a lot to say about stelliums and grand trines. If there is a stellium or a grand trine in your birth chart and you would like to know more about the implications of your specific stellium or grand trine, then this option will appeal to you. However, if there is no stellium or grand trine in your chart, then this option makes no sense.
I will also cover the overall chart shape and its implications in this option, your leading planet, along with assessment of any peregrine or besieged planets I observe, any other unique angular patterns (such as the Yod, or Hand of God), any elevated planets, Herculean Ternaries, Mark of an Empath, etc.
Key Sensitive Points
In addition to your ascendant and midheaven, let’s talk about your co ascendant, polar ascendant, north lunar node, and south lunar node.
This is not astrology per se, though some facets of this option include astrology. What is your Decisive Age? What is your Life Path number? We’ll cover both in independent sections of your monograph.
Hermetic Lot of Fortune + Lot of Spirit
Your monograph will go in-depth about your Lot of Fortune to reveal how you can best utilize your assets and attributes to manifest financially prosperous opportunities for yourself. Your Lot of Spirit will reveal your spirit guides since birth, the archangel per Judeo-Christian mythos that corresponds with your Lot of Spirit, and your directional guardian per Chinese Taoist mythos.
Your Professional Potential
Please note that this is its own standalone reading service, Your Prosperity Advisor. This chapter will examine your professional potential and also offer insights into how you can utilize personalized feng shui guidance to optimize your prosperity metrics.
Love, Romance, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Let’s focus on the seventh house of your chart, the eighth house, your Venus sign, Juno, and your fifth house. Let’s talk love, romance, romantic compatibility, your Juno return dates, and the pursuit of happiness.
Jupiter Returns + Saturn Returns
One chapter in your monograph provides all of your Jupiter Return dates for a 100 year period from the date of your birth. Jupiter Returns mark the most auspicious periods in your life, at least per established astrological principles.
Another chapter will include the dates for your First Saturn Return, Second Saturn Return, and Third Saturn Return, and all the waxing, waning, and opposition transits in between. This chapter also offers insights and recommendations on how to navigate your Saturn Returns. Saturn Returns mark the crossing of major thresholds in your life path.
Past and Present Life Continuum
This chapter covers past life astrology and how analysis of past life astrology relates to present life astrology for your moon sign, fourth house, eighth house, and twelfth house. Note that this chapter is the same as Part I of the Past Life Reading service, a standalone reading option I offer.
Your Key Asteroid Influences
There are about 45 asteroids I study and it does not make economical, practical, or even divinatory sense for us to cover all 45 asteroids in your chart. Instead, I’m going to look at key asteroid influences, but what “key” means will differ from individual to individual, case by case.
Esoteric & Spiritual Astrology
One chapter will cover your seven rays, per esoteric astrology. Another chapter will address your social responsibility per eleventh house analysis, and yet another will cover the spiritual practices keyed specifically to your sun, moon, ninth house, and Neptune.
Glossary of Astrological Terms
At the back of your monograph will be a copy of the Glossary of Astrological Terms. It’s a free download here on my website, by the way (scroll down). The main reason for tucking this in to the back of your book is for your convenience of reference. That way in the content of your monograph, I can simply say something like “profection,” “quincunx,” or “almuten” and trust that if you want to know what that word means in the context of your reading, you can flip quickly to the back of your book, look it up in the glossary, go “oh, okay,” and then return to the paragraph you were reading.
For $175, you’re getting:
JPG file of your birth chart constructed under the whole signs system
JPG files of all data tables and charts used for the analyses that went into the preparation of your monograph
The digital files for a book manuscript that is about 350+ pages, which comes pre-formatted into 6″x 9″ standard trade galleys for immediate upload and printing through any third party print-on-demand service of your choosing (file types: DOCX and PDF)
Step-by-step illustrated instructions on how to review and upload your book files for paperback or hard cover printing through a print-on-demand service
Your natal chart monograph is approximately the thickness of my second book, The Tao of Craft.
Delivery Time
At this time when you order your monograph, you’re also saying you’re ready to wait the full year for delivery. In other words, for all orders placed right now, delivery will be some time before the end of 2018. By placing your order, you understand that delivery term and thus, there is no set delivery date.
FREE Book Production Services to Those 65 Years and Older…
My momma, who is over 65, said it is not going to be easy for her fellow elderly folk to figure out how to upload my PDF, walk through all those prompts, instructions, and steps, and produce a good paperback or even hard cover copy of the monograph. And she said it was unfair and shameful of me to assume. She raised her daughter better than that. Alrightey then.
So. If you’re 65 years or older and you order a monograph, I will help you create the paperback or hard cover version of the book for free and arrange for it to be shipped to you. All you have to pay is the actual cost of the book that Lulu.com charges and the actual cost of shipping. Cost of the book is around $20 or under. Cost of shipping will depend on where you live. This production service is only free for our elderly friends.
…Otherwise, You’re On Your Own.
For everyone else, please understand that while I have done what I can to ensure that your files will upload and print through popular third party print-on-demand publishers, I can’t guarantee it. That is an issue between you and the third party print-on-demand publisher. If you experience technical issues with your upload and printing order, then you need to contact your printer, not me. I am not responsible for actually getting your book printed in hard copy. I am only responsible for delivering to you a PDF and, at your additional request, a DOCX file of your monograph. You’re not paying for a hard copy printed book. You’re paying for my astrology services.
Ordering Details
To order yours today, just e-mail me the following:
Name
Date of Birth
Time of Birth
Location of Birth
Gender You Identify As
When providing birth details, please provide it as follows:
January 21, 1971
12:21 am
San Francisco, California
Here’s another example of properly submitted birth details:
March 15, 1993
12:40 pm
Paris, France
Here is an example of improper birth details:
03/06/1980
Ten minutes after the morning of that day’s midnight hour
Nova Scotia, Canada
Why is the above improper? First, whether the birthday is March 6 or June 3 will depend on the country’s cultural norm and I don’t have time to figure this out. Second, just tell me whether you were born at 12:10 am or 12:10 pm. I get inundated with reading requests. I can’t process your birth details cogently if you don’t help me out a little. Finally, Nova Scotia is a province in Canada. I need the city name. E.g., Halifax, Canada [Nova Scotia]
Pre-Written Text, But Personally Prepared Just For You
Oh please I pray to all things holy that you don’t seriously believe I’ve written from scratch 90,000+ words or over 300 pages of text just for you for the mere fee of $175.00…….
Yeah, no. By and large the text in your monograph is pre-written from a proprietary master book I’ve prepared myself for these monographs. In other words, let’s say you are a sun sign Taurus. I’ll go into my master book, find the section I’ve pre-written about sun sign Taurus, then copy and paste it into your monograph manuscript. If your sun Taurus is under the decan ruler the moon, I have a pre-written paragraph just on sun Taurus under the decan rulership of the moon, and so I then insert that in to your manuscript. Say your rising sign is placed at 13 degrees. I have a pre-written passage on the interpretation of a rising sign at 13 degrees and will include that into your book. And so on and so on it goes.
However, I’m not generating the book through any software programs. It is all done manually, section by section, by me, with your birth chart printed out as a visual for me to constantly refer back to as I assemble your monograph by hand, one chapter and one section at a time. Thus, because there is that personal touch, when I see discrepancies, unique patterns, something anomalous, I can then add in customized text just for you to help you make sense of the pre-written text.
Email contact:
benebellwen (at) gmail (dot) com
For a full service listing of divinatory reading options I offer, click on the banner.
This has been going on for a while already and I am having so much fun! However, I don’t know if I’m reaching enough folks, so here is a blog post. You can sign up to get on a list of folks who consent to possible free randomized divinatory readings to be delivered to your e-mail inbox, perhaps when you least expect it. This is offered alongside all my reading services that you can book. More info on my “Book a Reading” page. Scroll all the way down to see the info on the Free Randomized Divination Sign-up.
Every few months I get the itch to dabble in sun sign horoscopes. To do so, we focus on what’s up with the Sun, Mars, Mercury, and Venus, with an eye on the Moon. I use the day-night rulership approach, running transits animations for January, 2015 and analyze those transits. There’s really no science to sun sign horoscopes and anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is just pulling your leg. Still, they’re fun and every once in a while, by some synchronous fluke, can even be useful. So here we go. January, 2015, and even some additional insights into the rest of the year for each sign.
I’m also going to throw in a tarot card draw for good measure, coming to you from the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless. (Click on any of the card images for a larger view.)
I like to open with the sun sign of the month, and that’s you, Capricorn.
Capricorn | December 22 – January 19
It could be a hectic start to the New Year and you’ll feel like you are at the center of everyone else’s personal predicaments. That’s only because people see you as always reliable and need you to be their rock. Be alert to curve balls that could get thrown your way. You’re going to feel a child-like fragility and vulnerability this month. Drama may ensue this month and it won’t be your fault. You just have to breathe, hold back, do not overreact, and try not to let the uncertainties of the future unnerve you. You’re contemplating a new course of action as part of your resolutions, but fear of the unknown holds you back. You need to regain confidence in yourself, and then blockages to your creativity can be eliminated.
Card Drawn. Nine of Crystals: Narrowness
Your hard, impenetrable character grounds you, gives you a sense of stability, but it is also isolating and lonely. There seem to be bars over your view, restricting your perceptions. And yet such narrowness is also what keeps you focused.
Retrograde Mars. Image Credit: Tunc Tezel. Source: NASA APOD.
So we, we being all the planets in the solar system, go round and round the sun in our orbits, right. Each one’s orbit is a little different, some are rounder and others more elliptical, and then there’s the tilt of the axis, each one tilted a bit differently from the others. Because of that, at certain times, earth will round a corner at a different pace than one of the other planets on its different-shaped orbit, i.e., maybe a little faster. At that point, from the earth’s perspective, because we’re rounding the corner a touch faster (and on a different-shaped orbit and a different tilt), that other planet appears to move backwards.
So the term “retrograde” kind of stuck.
At least that’s how I understand it. Hey, I’m no astronomer and barely even cut it as an astrologer.
Anyway, let’s just say that’s all about right. Well. Metaphysically, the change of pace is most definitely a change of energy flow and retrograde or not, astrologers are interested in how that change of energy affects life on earth. That’s basically what astrology is all about, whether you’re talking Eastern or Western astrology. It presumes the concept of a cosmic unity, that the whole universe is one being with a collective Spirit, and like our bodies, sometimes, something going on with the hands can affect what’s going on with the feet. So that’s the whole “As above, so below” and also the Dao and Qi concepts distilled into baby terms. And if you ask me, it’s entirely aligned with the concept of God.
We just survived an inordinately brutal Mercury in retrograde and now this. There’s Neptune in retrograde until the 15th of this month and Uranus in retrograde until December 22. It coincides with Jupiter going into retrograde on December 10.
That means right now you’ve got Neptune in Pisces and Uranus in Aries in retrograde (from the earth’s perspective) plus the Northern Node in Libra in retrograde plus Chiron in Pisces with Neptune in retrograde. November 13-14th-ish, the Northern Node goes stationary (but it won’t stay there or be prograde for long; more on that later). By noon Saturday November 15, 2014, Neptune will go stationary. November 16th onward, Uranus and Chiron continue in retrograde. On November 23, Chiron goes stationary; December 9, Jupiter goes stationary. Then December 10 onward, you’ve got both Jupiter and Uranus in retrograde. Oh, also on that same day, the Northern Node is in retrograde again. During that whole time, by the way, after my last statement about the Northern Node, it comes in and out of being stationary, in prograde, and in retrograde. I just stopped jotting down the dates as I cycled through the transit charts. December 22, Uranus in Aries finally goes stationary and is what we would call normal by the 23rd. Now Jupiter and the Northern Node continue in retrograde into 2015. Oh, and by the way, Jupiter is going to stay in retrograde until about April 7 when it goes stationary and then is back to normal after that.
And here’s what it kind of looks like animated:
Oct. 21 – Dec. 30, 2014 Transits
So what does all that mean? Depends on who you ask. Now let’s say you’re asking me, because– sad day for you– you have no one smarter to talk to about these things.
Writing sun sign horoscopes? Oh what fun! I wonder if people wonder where sun sign horoscopes come from. If that’s you, then read about my approach to sun sign horoscope forecasts here. Anyway, here are my sun sign forecasts for July, 2014.
Also, for each sign, I pulled a single tarot card to supplement the monthly forecasts and found every single one to yield a similar message as the stars. I’ve embedded the card interpretations into the forecasts below, but at the end of each paragraph, will note the card (Rider-Waite deck) drawn for that sign.
Cancer | June 21 – July 22
It’s going to be a great month for you, Cancer, thanks to the influence of Jupiter through the first half of the month, but you’re going to feel dissatisfied and perhaps even a bit moodier than usual. Resist temptations and stay focused, and grounded. Earth stones like jaspers and agates could help. There could be some drama and curve balls with spouses, significant others, or close business partners mid-month and onward and a few unexpected challenges late month. Open communication will be critical to smoothing over the ruffled feathers. Overall, though, energies around you in July are optimal for success, so take advantage of it and get ahead at work and in personal creative projects. If you’ve been out of touch with family for a while, get back in touch this month. [Card Drawn: Key 6: The Lovers]
Leo | July 23 – August 22
Finances and money may be a focal point this month and also, you could be feeling a bit more emotionally sensitive than usual. Leos working in the corporate sector will fare well in July and find themselves taking on a more prominent leadership role. Mid-July and on, Leos in creative or unconventional fields might find themselves redirecting energies, refocusing, editing, or changing course due to the aspect influence of Neptune in retrograde. All Leos should be getting an extra surge of intuition and creativity, so be sure to utilize it! July 16 and on will be a time of success, achievement, and results, and you should be proud of yourself, Leo! So don’t worry so much if family members aren’t quite on board just yet. They’ll come around. The 27th or 28th is a good time to start that new project you’ve been mulling over (or regain momentum for work that you’ve been leaving on the back burner). Carnelian could really help you to positively align your personal energies, Leo. [Card Drawn: Queen of Wands]
Virgo | August 23 – September 22
Lately there may have been miscommunications and misunderstandings in your life, so July will be a good time to get away. This Fourth of July weekend will be a great time of opportunity. Any time early to mid-month, consider a short trip out of town. If you have siblings, it’s a good time to reconnect with them. This July will be all about recalibrating your thought process and self-analysis. You’re too hard on yourself, Virgo, especially in the romance department. Love will come when it comes. Rose quartz would be good for you. Grace under fire is the mantra for you this month. Being able to maintain your inner balance will be crucial in July. And remember, things don’t have to be perfect to be good. Late July, around the 23rd, focusing on finances will bring rewards. [Card Drawn: Key 14: Temperance]
Libra | September 23 – October 22
Early in the month, up to the 6th will be great for you, Libra, but then it may get a little rough, with interpersonal tensions heightened through the first half of July. Then after the 23rd, there could be sibling issues, vacation trips that didn’t go as well as they should have, and miscommunications. Happiness could feel elusive throughout July, and planetary aspects with Uranus and Neptune could bring the unexpected, especially in creative projects. If you find your workload doubling this month, hang in there. Amethyst, citrine, or smoky quartz might help you to reduce tensions and work-related stress. Reconnecting with family and loved ones will be an effective way to alleviate mental blockages. Writing and journaling will be incredibly therapeutic for you. For you this July, you’ll want to be realistic with your expectations and reach your desired destination one step at a time. [Card Drawn: Knight of Pentacles]
Paul Foster Case (1884 – 1954) is one of the most influential American occultists on modern tarot studies. His approach to tarot is influenced heavily by Western astrology and the Hermetic Qabalah, as evidenced in his tarot divination course, Oracle of the Tarot, and other writings, such as An Introduction to the Study of Tarot (1920) or The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages (1947). Oracle is keyed to the Knapp-Hall Tarot, which was first published by J. Augustus Knapp and Manly P. Hall in 1929. The Knapp-Hall Tarot differs significantly from the Marseille, Rider-Waite-Smith, or Thoth interpretive traditions, so the card meanings in Oracle, in particular from the Minor Arcana, are not readily transferrable to the Marseille, Rider-Waite-Smith, or Thoth systems. Nonetheless, Oracle offers the beginner and intermediate student a strong foundation in the basics and anatomy of tarot.
Case opens the book with a strong statement: “TAROT divination is not fortune-telling. The practice of fortune-telling is based on the false notion that human life is governed by luck, chance, or fate–by obscure powers at work outside the personality. True divination rests upon the occult truth that the causes of all events in human life are really internal.” He thus begins by distinguishing divination from fortune-telling. Divination is an inward reflection process of using tarot to tap into the superconscious. The tarot utilizes imagery and symbols that communicate in the language of the superconscious and thus understanding tarot is in its essence the learning of a new language.
The introductory Lesson 1 warns the tarot practitioner to take tarot divination seriously and reviews a few ethical guidelines, in particular the practitioner’s duty of confidentiality and impartiality. Practitioners must remain non-judgmental when conducting tarot readings. Lesson 1 also subdivides tarot decks into exoteric and esoteric decks. Case provides the Knapp-Hall Tarot as an example of an exoteric deck, or one that operates in the realm of public knowledge, with imagery that more closely resembles the tarot deck originally used for playing games, and contrasts that with the Rider Tarot (or Rider-Waite-Smith), which he refers to as an esoteric deck. Esoteric tarot decks are the versions of tarot re-interpreted by occultists and used specifically for divination or other spiritual exercises.
Note that it is unclear and somewhat contradictory as to why Case expends the first half of the Introduction to describe tarot divination as an internalized process, but then applies an exoteric deck to teach divination, rather than an esoteric deck, which would seem to be more aligned with the internalized process of tarot divination. What’s more, the subsequent lessons in Oracle repeatedly reference esoteric tarot traditions.
The 10 lessons of Oracle are meant to be studied over a course of 10 weeks.
Lesson 1 then proceeds to describe the anatomy of the Major and Minor Arcana (referred to as the Major Trumps and Minor Trumps in Oracle). Case claims that his Hebrew letter attributions for the Major Arcana are the “correct” attributions and that preceding claims by such authors as Papus were wrong. Case sources his attributions from Eliphas Levi (1810 – 1875), a French occultist and influential writer on tarot. Case claims that his Hebrew letter attributions are better aligned with the standard astrological attributions of the Major Arcana, which he provides as follows:
Case’s Hebrew and Astrological Attributions in the Major Arcana
Key
Major Arcana
Hebrew Attribution
Astrological Attribution
0
Le Fou (The Fool)
Aleph (A)
Air; Uranus
1
Le Bateleur (The Magician)
Beth (B)
Mercury
2
La Papesse (The High Priestess)
Gimel (G)
The Moon
3
L’imperatrice (The Empress)
Daleth (D)
Venus
4
L’empereur (The Emperor)
Heh (H)
Aries
5
Le Pape (The Hierophant)
Vau (V)
Taurus
6
L’amoureux (The Lovers)
Zain (Z)
Gemini
7
Le Chariot (The Chariot)
Cheth (Ch)
Cancer
8
La Justice (Justice)
Lamed (L)
Libra
9
L’ermite (The Hermit)
Yod (I)
Virgo
10
La Roue de la Fortune (Wheel of Fortune)
Kaph (K)
Jupiter
11
La Force (Strength)
Teth (T)
Leo
12
Le Pendu (The Hanged Man)
Mem (M)
Water; Neptune
13
La Mort (Death)
Nun (N)
Scorpio
14
La Temperance (Temperance)
Samekh (S)
Sagittarius
15
La Diable (The Devil)
Ayin (O)
Capricorn
16
Le Feu Du Ciel (The Tower)
Peh (P)
Mars
17
Les Etoiles (The Star)
Tzaddi (Tz)
Aquarius
18
La Lune (The Moon)
Qoph (Q)
Pisces
19
Le Soleil (The Sun)
Resh (R)
The Sun
20
Le Jugement (Judgement)
Shin (Sh)
Fire; Pluto; Vulcan
21
Le Monde (The World)
Tau (Th)
Saturn; Earth
He attributes the Minor Arcana as follows:
Attributions in the Minor Arcana
Suit
Divinatory Representation
Elemental Attribution
WANDS
Work, enterprise, ideas; the energies of the spiritual plane or archetypal world (Plato’s world of ideas)
FIRE
CUPS
Desires, hopes, wishes; emotional activities; the states and forces of the mental plane, the creative world in which mental patterns are formulated
WATER
SWORDS
Action, and therefore conflict of forces; the states and activities of the astral plane; the formative world of unseen forces, which build the conditions of the physical plane
AIR
COINS orPENTACLES
Things, possessions; the concrete objects and bodies of the physical plane; the objectification of the energies and forces of the higher worlds or planes represented by Wands, Cups, and Swords
EARTH
As for significator cards, Case’s approach is to simply use Key 1: The Magician for male seekers and Key 2: The High Priestess for female seekers. That differs from the more popular modern approach of using the court cards as significators.
Oracle also teaches an initial divinatory method called the First Operation, which seems to be an antiquated practice now, as few modern tarot practitioners adopt the First Operation. It is nonetheless a method that the serious tarot practitioner should be familiar with. The First Operation is to be performed prior to a question. The significator card is shuffled in with the full tarot deck and then cut into four piles as follows:
The tarot practitioner then proceeds to locate the pile that the significator card is in. That pile, be it I, H1, V, or H2 (reading right to left respectively), will indicate the nature of the seeker’s question. The four piles correspond with the Hebrew letters Yod (I), Heh (H), Vau (V), Heh (H), which is a transliteration of the four constants forming the Hebrew name of the Supreme Being, again showing the strong influence of Qabalistic tenets on Case.
The four piles of the First Operation correspond as follows:
I
Personal Development; Health & Wellness. Seeker is asking about matters of personal development, such as work or career. Could indicate an interest in beginning a new venture or carrying out a new idea. Pile is also associated with the physical, such as body, health, or wellness issues.
H 1
Love, Marriage, Family. Seeker is asking about emotions, feelings, personal relationships, or desires. This pile pertains to the domestic sphere and interpersonal matters.
V
Politics, Ambitions, Social, Intellectual. Seeker is asking about ambitions and high aspirations. This pile could also pertain to conflict resolution, imbalances or disappointments. This is also the pile that corresponds with the Seeker’s intellectual faculties.
H 2
Money, Business, Property. Seeker is asking about a material matter, finances, property, or wealth.
If the significator card is in a corresponding pile that is consistent with the seeker’s question topic, then the First Operation has confirmed that the subsequent tarot reading will be accurate as applied to the question at hand. If, however, the significator card appears in a pile during the First Operation that is not consistent with the seeker’s question topic, then it shows that right now is not an appropriate time for the tarot to answer such a question.
Lessons 2, 3, 4, and 5 deconstruct the Suit of Wands, Cups, Swords, and Coins (Pentacles) respectively, keyed to the Knapp-Hall Tarot. Contained in the lessons are also simple 3-card spreads for divining past, present, and probable future influences.
Lesson 6 on the Major Trumps (Major Arcana) can be applicable to the prevailing tarot interpretive systems used today, though note that the Key 8 referenced in Case’s Oracle is “La Justice” (Justice) and Key 11 in Oracle is “La Force” (Strength), which is similar to the Marseille, but the reverse of the Rider-Waite-Smith (Key 8 is Strength and Key 11 is Justice).
Case claims that the timing of events can be revealed by looking at the astrological attributions of the cards, and the lessons in Oracle set about explaining how the 12 astrological houses can be used to divine the timing of events. From there, Lessons 7, 8, 9, and 10 teach complex tarot spreads, most notably combining astrology, the Tree of Life, and tarot, and further provides an overview of elemental dignities. Lesson 10 also provides an overview of numerology and its application to tarot.
Though some of the historic references in the book have since been disproved as myth, Oracle of the Tarot is still a work that every serious tarot student should have read. Not having read Paul Foster Case if you are a tarot practitioner is like not having read Anton Chekhov if you are serious about writing literary fiction. Though written over 80 years ago and keyed to a tarot deck that is, as of this writing, long out of print, Oracle nonetheless holds relevance today and every practitioner, no matter how advanced, will find at least one nugget of new information from Oracle.
So. Can Oracle teach tarot in 10 weeks? An operable foundation in tarot, yes, probably, though generally I am doubtful of any program that claims it can teach tarot in anything under 10 years. Learning tarot is nothing like learning to ride a bike. It’s really more like learning to play violin. In 10 weeks time you can probably learn no more than just how to properly hold the bow.
NOTE. You can download a PDF copy of Oracle: Oracle of the Tarot by Paul Foster Case (1933). Download by CLICKING HERE (Source Credit: TarotWorks).
Paul Foster Case (1884 – 1954) is one of the most influential American occultists on modern tarot studies. His approach to tarot is influenced heavily by Western astrology and the Hermetic Qabalah, as evidenced in his tarot divination course, Oracle of the Tarot, and other writings, such as An Introduction to the Study of Tarot (1920) or The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages (1947). Oracle is keyed to the Knapp-Hall Tarot, which was first published by J. Augustus Knapp and Manly P. Hall in 1929. The Knapp-Hall Tarot differs significantly from the Marseille, Rider-Waite-Smith, or Thoth interpretive traditions, so the card meanings in Oracle, in particular from the Minor Arcana, are not readily transferrable to the Marseille, Rider-Waite-Smith, or Thoth systems. Nonetheless, Oracle offers the beginner and intermediate student a strong foundation in the basics and anatomy of tarot.
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