Tarot Hermeneutics

Paul Nagy explores some of the mysteries of the tarot. He no longer hosts weekly teleconferences. Interested in a reading? phone 9195425719.

I have room in my schedule for new tarot enquirers to study tarot in a spiritual friendship manner. Curious about what this entails? Contact me via email or phone.

It is a tutorial customized to the our mutual interests. The duration is open ended.

 

 

abt intro color

Mock SRT

An Appreciation of Pamela Colman Smith, Creatrix of Modern Tarot

SEEEING WRITING ON THE WALL: ART OF BANKSY AND THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES: Sylvester Wojtkowski, PhD, KYOTO, AUGUST 2016

see Soviet Atheist Art

In May 2016 Paul Nagy & Enrique Enriquez completed Part 2 of our on-going dialogue.

Enrique Enriquez and I last month discussed how his tarot practice developed into his current pastime of playing with the letters of languages in his notebooks, more from a visual point of view than from a semantic. The results are published here and are free for anyone to read and ponder. Enjoy!

Reflecting on Mirrors of Passing Windows: How Tarot Feeds Alphabets, A Conversation between Paul Nagy and Enrique Enriquez

Pip Trump Club Records

Click here for list and pdfs.

The Pip Trump Club is a private Facebook group devoted to metaphoric readings of a Pip and Trump card in the Marseille style tradition. About twice a week a member selects a pair of cards, usually one Trump and one Pip for collective interpretation. Most contributions go unremarked. Generally the group offers readings of the pair using a variety of imaginative techniques, many inspired by the poetic surrealist tarot interpretations of Enrique Enriquez.

One may characterize these interpretations loosely as conceptualist tarot readings: where the cards are read anew each time as potential performance. Each reader follows their own lights and sometimes discussions and cumulative riffs follow and flow between discussants.

Hand Reading

The Art and Science of Hand Reading: Classical Methods for Self-Discovery through Palmistry by Ellen Goldberg, Dorian Bergen (Destiny Books) In this comprehensive guide to hand reading, based on Ellen Goldberg’s 40 years of teaching palmistry and the Western Mystery tradition, the authors make the powerful insights of the hand accessible in an inviting and user-friendly manner. The book presents the character traits and personality archetypes associated with each of the seven mounts of the palm and shows how to determine which are most influential in the nature of the individual. The mount archetypes reveal the lifestyle, love, sex, and marriage preferences; the best career choices; and the unique strengths and weaknesses for each person. The book also examines other factors that enhance the qualities revealed by the mount types, including the flexibility of the hand, texture of the skin, and the shapes of the fingers, fingertips, and nails. The meaning of each major and minor line is described in detail as well as the influence the person’s own mind has in healing defects and obstacles found on their lines. The authors also provide accurate timing guides for each line, making it possible to locate specific events and to see how your lines change over time.

Palmistry is a science and a universal language. The hand tells a story about your talents, relationships, health, and how you feel about yourself. It reveals periods of ease or challenge in your life, and it speaks about your weaknesses and the traits you need to develop. As you change, so do your hands, reflecting the progress you have made.

Presenting the hand as a guide to self-fulfillment, The Art and Science of Hand Reading incorporates correspondences to other mystical sciences such as astrology, Kabbalah, the Hermetic teachings, and archetypal psychology. It also includes practical examples and more than 600 illustrations to show how to integrate the meanings of each part of the hand to form a complete picture of your inner psychology and your ever-changing destiny. See Review

 

 

You may contact pnagy(at)tarothermeneutics.com if you have any questions about the class.

The Tuesday night teleconference is open to all who wish to participate assuming you want to follow the guidelines of the group which is no more than common courtesy and a willingness to let everyone have their voice about matters under discussion. The teleconferences are more a conversation among friends and does not have the directive intensity of a class. The teleconferences are designed for people who read the tarot avocationally and/or professionally. Besides the material read and discussed, we consult the cards about questions arising during our conversation.

These teleconferences are offered gratis and there are no fees attached or commitments exacted from participants. People are welcome to drop in at any time during the conversation and may address the issues under discussion.

Future topics for Tuesday night teleconference are always open for discussion, in consensus amongst participants.

I have an idea toward exploring the deep structure of the tarot via a close reading of Carl Jung’s Psychological Types. Because Jung uses classical types to delineate personality configurations, his discussion may also profoundly address deeper issues of philosophical attitude, and for tarot readers the deep structure of tarot cards, numerology, and iconology. The purpose of this reading then is not to make tarot an instrument of analytic psychology, but rather see how the fundamental ideas shape the universal significance of tarot as an oracle.

The texts I have in mind may include

Jung's Four and Some Philosophers: A Paradigm for Philosophy by Thomas Mulvihill King (Notre Dame)
The Question of Psychological Types: The Correspondence of C. G. Jung and Hans Schmid-Guisan, 1915-1916 (Philemon) by C. G. Jung, Hans Schmid-Guisan, edited by John Beebe and Ernst Falzeder.

Selective readings from William James, Henry Bergson, among others may be included in an ad hoc way. We may also consider some of the classical philosophers who embodied the types and provided early accounts of contemplative experience and the human condition. This would include Heraclitus, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and Proclus. To the degree we tackle these foundational thinkers of the Western tradition we will also constantly refer to tarot reading techniques as fundamental to our dialogue with self and other, knowledge and freedom.

Previous Discussion Links:

Christmas Interlude: Mysteries of Sex: Waite, Machen: Golden Dawn and Dusk

See Occulting Yeats page for special class.

see new Tarot Grapheme Pages for Recent Experiments

New Tarot Essays:

Tarot and Poetry [new]

Prayer Aphorisms

Tarot & Lord's Prayer-Handout

Rough Notes Tarot & Pater Noster

Reading with Tarot Dynamics Unleashed by Anna Burroughs Cook, review by Paul Nagy

New to tarot?

Taroting the Red Book

Udde’s Fall by Camelia Elias, with contribution by Paul Nagy

 

Past classes interviews, reviews, and initiatives.

Please Note download MP-3 recording. Do not listen to them on-line as live-streaming as this creates great expense in file data transfer rates that I pay for. Such inordinate expense will cause me to have to shut this website site down. I have disabled live streaming. You may download the file as is and then add '3' to the file extension to activate it on your computer.

See Review of Beatriz Inglessis: The Way of the Fool Tarot

Listen to Marcus Katz discuss his published Journal, After the Angel. Podcast Broadcast July 11, 2011 on Carolina Book Beat.

Listen to Paul Nagy discuss Marcus Katz's After the Angel. Podcast 

After The Angel: An Account of the Abramelin Operation by Marcus Katz M.A. with a preface by Lon Milo Duquette (Forge Press) The Abramelin Operation, a mysterious 15th century manuscript, promises nothing less than to give the successful practitioner of its instructions the knowledge and conversation of their personal Holy Guardian Angel. Following a six-month ordeal of intense practices, the ritual is also said to give the Operant magical powers, control of demonic forces and the use of the infamous magical squares and talismans whose abuse would otherwise cause insanity or dire spiritual consequences. In this landmark publishing event of the western esoteric tradition, the inner workings of its most profound and demanding spiritual ritual are fully revealed. Join modern magician Marcus Katz in a timeless journey to complete the 177 days of intense magick whilst living within a contemporary life. Find out more at http://www.aftertheangel.com.

Read Paul Nagy's Major Interview with Enrique Enriquez discussing his approach to tarot reading.

See my interview about Tarot with Enrique Enriquez

This interview was especially moving for me as Enrique and I had a good chemistry about binging the playful as well as the learned aspects of tarot.

Previous Special Programs that were Recorded:

Johanna G. Sherman's Teleconference on the Elemental Power Spread. from March 3, 2010

Based on her legendary Sacred Rose Tarot this class offers some magical wrinkles.

The Eternal Time Spread by Cynthia Tedesco from March 10, 2010

Based on many years of study of Master Numbers and the Court Cards.

Read Paul Nagy's Major Interview with Enrique Enriquez discussing his approach to tarot reading.

See my interview about Tarot with Enrique Enriquez

This interview was especially moving for me as Enrique and I had a good chemistry about binging the playful as well as the learned aspects of tarot.

MOTTS teleconference is now completed. Contact me if you want to be informed for a repeat opportunity. Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism by Anonymous Weekly Reading Group: Completed.

Read this note if you are new to having your tarot read.

You are interested in having a tarot reading, but you have never consulted a tarot reader before and you would like to know what to expect in general. 

Class Proposals by Paul Nagy

I am developing classes to teach this tarot hermeneutics approach to learning about the tarot. If you see any that spark your curiosity let me know as only the classes that attract some critical mass of inquirers are likely to be taught.

Paul on Internet Radio

Tarot Ethics discussed by Leisa ReFalo  and Paul Nagy on BlogTalk Radio with Dawn and Donnaleigh's Beyond Worlds.

Tarot Hermeneutics Teleclass On Tree of Life has begun by Joy Vernon and Paul Nagy September 24th 2009

You are welcome to view and listen to a recording of the Survey class below.

Sample survey class as introductory to Teleconferences classes. Most classes will not be recorded at this time.

What is the Tarot Hermeneutics Process?

Rev. Paul Nagy,  Spiritual Friendship and Tarot Consultations by appointment in person, by phone or on Internet. Contact info

Welcome

This website is new and is under development. Below is the general scope of services that are offered. Feel free to contact Paul (at) wordtrade.com if you are interested in a reading or are inquiring about a teleconference class. Many of hyperlinks are not now working but will be soon as content is developed for this site.

Paul Nagy has been reading tarot for well over 40 years. He is an ordained minister who has a spiritual friendship ministry. Spiritual friendship is the mutual practice of  conversation  to clarify who we are and what we want in life. It is a form of collegial self-inquiry as a quest for spiritual roots and coming to balanced relationships with our self, our friends, family and acquaintances.  Our business and professional life, and our ideals, our creative pursuits and ultimate concerns are also addressed.

Tarot Readings

Paul uses tarot for short term and issue oriented questions. It is a simple fee for service enterprise that usually helps to clarify and reframe issues in someone's life.

These tarot readings are for fun and entertainment, though the card symbols can bring up any number of profound life issues.

Spiritual Friendship

Spiritual Friendship is a sacred relationship. It is a unique possibility between friends oriented toward the divine that is not easy to characterize.

Spiritual Friendship can be described as a mutually agreed upon relationship where both client and minister pay attention to the mysteries of life and, in intimate, conversation explore what emerges.

Formally there is usually a contract that stipulates minimum time and resource commitments. Paul works with many forms of prayer, meditation, poetry, journaling, arts as well as periodic conversations.

In his ministry Paul requires a small stipend in addition to a volunteer service commitment by the client to some community organization of their choice.

Paul's style of ministry is nondenominational. Because of his diverse religious experience and background Paul is quite likely to be able to work within your own spiritual tradition, or be able to give you a good referral.

Proposed Classes

Tarot Classes for the Beginner

There are many superb beginning tarot classes and opportunities. Paul occasionally offers beginning classes. However he does suggest some books and some other websites for beginning students.

Tarot Services for Tarot Professionals

Paul is dedicated to serving the community of tarot readers to better develop their reading skills. Paul believes that all levels of readers can mutually empower and enrich one another by sharing  card meanings and other exercises with one another. The following topics represent current projects in development.

Fees are kept to a minimum in order to encourage wide participation. Because we follow a collegial model, the purpose is to learn from one another. Scholarships are available.  Though most of these courses are for people who have a general working knowledge of tarot, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of tarot can benefit and profit by participation.

Tarot Ethics

When reading the tarot cards, each card carries with it an ethical implication that may or may not be appropriate to a particular reading. One can say that each card has a prohibitive and beneficial ethical dimension. The prohibitive ethical dimension is what one is forbidden to do because it causes self or other harm. The beneficial ethical dimension suggests positive steps to enhance the general good of self and others. Ambiguities and conflicts can easily arise as the cards are laid out.

There is a level of ethics for professional and or proficient tarot readers as practice guidelines and a more general stipulation of ethics for the practice of hobbyist tarot readers. These guidelines should be clearly stated for clients to consult. See my discussion and personal professional code, and proposed classes.

Teleconferences and Workshops

The development of tarot hermeneutics happens through the organization of teleconferences and website chats. Also interpersonal workshops and retreats are organized and developed as the need arises. Some current projects are listed below:

Meditations on the Tarot by Anonymous

• Meditations on the Tarot by Anonymous is a weekly teleconference, on Wednesdays from 10 AM to 12 noon. The teleconference is open to anyone who has the time and inclination to study this important book of Christian Hermeticism. See here for more about author. There are no fees for this study at this time.

Workshops in Tarot Interpretation

• Tarot hermeneutics is a unique analytic and synthetic practice of developing tarot reading skills. After learning the basic meaning of tarot cards one can begin deductively applying tarot card meanings to various sacred and literary texts as a means of exercising the symbolic imagination. Eventually inductive styles are introduced to the study of the texts and the card meanings.
• Various workshops are offered to introduce this approach to understanding and developing tarot reading skills.

Sacred Tarot Interpretation

• Sacred texts from various religious traditions are studied using the tarot cards as a grid for understanding the various levels of meaning in the texts and how this reflects on the nature of tarot interpretation generally.
• Paul and some others are in an ongoing Study of the Gospel According to John as it relates to the development of tarot meanings for understanding the gospel itself and how the Gospel throws light on the esoteric dimensions of the major and minor Arcana of the tarot.

Literary Tarot Interpretation

• Literary texts are used in the application of the tarot layout in card meanings to novels and short stories from any genre as a way of developing objective skills in tarot interpretation and application. Workshops usually use short texts as a means of demonstration of how the technique can be developed.
• Paul encourages the use of complete texts for an enriched experience of developing inter-reflexive tarot interpretations. It also helps to work on texts in teams so that various ways that people approach the card meanings can help all participants to further their own understanding.

Premium Tarot Services for Professionals

Beside my own efforts reflected here, I recommend these tarot readers, schools and websites and groups. In each case these are readers or groups I know and have worked with personally and, in some cases, professionally. They represent mainstream and cutting edge tarot practice and theory. Tarot is much too rich and diverse these days to be easily summed up in a simple book or in one or another approach, no matter how touted as comprehensive.

Whether you decide to participate in these projects or not, I encourage you to study tarot as a means of engaging in the quest for self-knowledge through symbolic inquiry.

In many ways we, as a society addicted to technological notions, have lost the ability to understand the primacy of symbols, not only as a bridge to the unconscious but as a beacon of the multivalent consciousness: the means and end of personal and collective creative freedom.

The tarot is one way by which one may enter into this dynamic world of spiritual and personal discovery. There are other ways. One should follow  the inclinations of one's heart. I hope you find your way into the thrall of this mystery with grace and serenity,  joy and beauty. Blessed be.