The Best Tarot Decks

A question I get asked a lot is "What are the best Tarot card decks?" Well, "best" is a relative term. I don't really think there is any such thing as "best" but I do agree that there are some decks that are more popular than others and maybe a little easier to understand. In this article, I'm going to briefly review the most popular and probably the most easy to learn Tarot card decks in the world today. Hopefully, after reading this, you'll have a pretty good idea of what Tarot card deck you will ultimately end up with.

Without a doubt, the most popular and easiest to learn Tarot card deck is the Rider Waite Tarot Deck. This deck was named after the very famous occult scholar, Dr. Arthur Edward Waite. The deck was first created in 1910. He had the designs drawn by a very talented lady by the name of Pamela Coleman Smith. Pamela was a member of the occult society group called the Order of the Golden Dawn.

The deck itself is very pleasing to look at. The symbolism is very easy to understand. But the best thing about using this deck is that there are so many books written on the use of these particular cards that learning to use the Rider Waite deck is going to be easier than just about any other deck in existence. For this reason, most occultists recommend that beginners start off with the Rider Waite Deck.

Another very popular Tarot Card deck, though nowhere near as easy to learn, is the Llewellyn Tarot. The illustrations in this deck are based off of the legends and the mythology of Wales. The artwork is created ina a very beautiful watercolor style.

The Llewellyn deck isn't as easy to read as the Rider Waite and there aren't as many books on it either. However, you can find some decent ones in your more established occult stores, whereas you can find a Rider Wait book in just about any book store.

Of course, probably one of the most popular Tarot Card decks of all time is the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot, which was created by another Order of the Golden Dawn member, Aleister Crowley. Reading this deck is extremely difficult and requires some pretty serious prior knowledge of Tarot Cards. One of the most unusual things about this deck is that it contains three versions of the Magus card. If you're going to use this deck for your divination, some serious study of the Tarot beforehand will be required.

There are of course many other Tarot Card decks, but these three should be more than enough to get you started. I suggest starting with the Rider Waite, then moving on to the Llewellyn Tarot, and then finally tackling the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot, when you begin to feel more adventurous.

To YOUR Divination Success.

Steven Wagenheim

Diagnosis of Mental Disorders by Clinical Psychologists - Is it Unethical?

According to their ethical code...which usually becomes part of a state's licensing statutes...the unethics of diagnosing mental disorders by clinical psychologists is a problem.

Clinical psychology has its roots in psychometrics...the scientific measurement of mental functions. The earliest and most commonly known example of this is IQ testing.

For a Ph.D. in clinical psychology...students had to know and use the scientific literature...then to design and carry out publishable scientific research.

If they couldn't...it didn't matter how caring they were in the clinic. They didn't get a Ph.D. because the Code of Ethics For Psychologists -- Standard 2.04 says clearly...

Psychologists' work is based upon established scientific...knowledge of the discipline.

And the 'disorders' in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)...the diagnostic bible...are not determined by scientific investigation. Scientific knowledge is missing in the diagnostic practice of clinical psychology.

A clinical psychologist diagnoses a 'disorder' by matching symptoms to descriptions in the DSM. Good science requires a standard of what's normal before you can decide what is abnormal. But normal and disordered are never defined to differentiate them. So the extent of any 'disorder' can't be measured.

Despite its requirement to be scientific in its activities...the profession became 'medicalized' and adopted the procedures and the jargon of psychiatry -- which has never claimed to be a scientific discipline. It uses borrowed terms like...mental health...psychotherapy...psychopathology...psychiatric diagnosis. And it often relies on medication to manage symptoms in patients.

Why would psychologists use unethical methods?

Unfortunately the incentives...or pressures...are great for psychologists to use unvalidated diagnoses. Insurance companies...who pay psychologists...and the courts...that use them as expert witnesses...put great emphasis on diagnosis of mental disorder.

How could this affect me?

It wouldn't be such a serious matter...except a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder can have unexpected negative consequences in people's lives. When they don't know who uses diagnostic data or how...people even can lose their liberty based on unvalidated disorders.

If you see a clinical psychologist and you use insurance to pay for psychotherapy...a diagnosis is usually required...and may legally be shared with the insurer's affiliated companies.

This data sharing may have negative results (e.g., denial of employment)...which the therapist may not have explored with you. If not...then your agreement to put diagnostic data on the insurance form was not informed consent.

However, the Code of Ethics For Psychologists requires informed consent to share information (Standard 3.10) by discussing...

1. the involvement of third parties (e.g., an insurance company or credit card company and their affiliates) and limits of confidentiality. (Standard 10.01).

2. by discussing the foreseeable uses of the information generated through their psychological activities. (Standard 4.02)

How do I know psychiatric diagnosis isn't scientific?

With the DSM-III the American Psychiatric Association tried to validate the psychiatric diagnosis of 'disorders'...using scientific methods to answer the question: Would clinicians...independently evaluating the same symptoms...arrive at the same diagnosis?

The results were discouraging. Clinician agreement was very variable. This makes almost all mental health diagnoses arbitrary. But they are put in medical records as facts.

And this arbitrariness infects the next edition of the manual (DSM-V). The physicians candidly assert they may never establish the scientific validity of these 'disorders'...

Limitations in the current diagnostic paradigm...embodied in the current

DSM-IV...suggest that future research efforts...exclusively focused on

refining the DSM-defined syndromes...may never be successful...in

uncovering their underlying [causes].

So, the 'disorders' are...and will remain scientifically unreliable opinion.

You can read about the future DSM-V at the url listed below.

How are psychiatric disorders discovered if they're not scientific?

They aren't discovered...most are created. Committees of physicians (and a few non-physicians) decide...intuitively...what a mental disorder is.

For example...if a child is no good at arithmetic...she may be diagnosed with 315.1 Mathematics Disorder. Difficulty with arithmetic may be due to lack of interest. But that's not a disorder. Or it may be due to neurological problems. Which makes it a genuine medical issue...not an arbitrary psychiatric disorder.

What should I do?

You can remember that psychologists are required to practice from established scientific knowledge. They must have your informed consent to share information...such as a diagnosis. So...lacking those things...you should have concerns in this age of massive government and corporate data bases.

And you should raise any concerns about the unethics of diagnosing mental disorders with your psychologist or other therapist. But first know what their ethical requirements are. The url for psychologists is below. For other professions just type into a search engine "ethics for..." and add the name of the profession.

If you and your clinical psychologist haven't discussed these things...which might make you decide not to use insurance benefits...your relationship may be on vague ethical grounds...which are inadequate to protect you...the consumer...from unwanted consequences.

Can I still see a psychologist if I don't want a psychiatric diagnosis?

Of course. It's very doable. And I'll cover how in another article.

History Of Astrology - Not Such An Easy Task

If you look up just about any subject in existence, you're bound to find a comprehensive history on that subject, especially if the subject itself is fairly new, such as the history of something like AIDS or Rock and Roll. But when it comes to the history of Astrology, that's not such an easy thing to tackle for a variety of reasons. This article is going to examine some of the reasons why finding a comprehensive history of Astrology is close to impossible.

The main reason why finding a comprehensive history of Astrology is so hard is because the science itself has been around a long time before writing ever came into existence. So we're talking about a massive amount of history. In order for anybody to even tackle such a project, they would literally have to give their life to it, and very few people are going to want to do it unless they have a real passion for the subject and don't have anything else to do with their time.

Another reason why finding a comprehensive history of Astrology is so hard is because everybody comes into the study of Astrology with their own personal baggage. We all have our own feelings about the subject and it is inevitable that those feelings are going to end up getting included with the facts. Ultimately, what that does is it ends up giving you a history that is neither complete nor accurate.

As a result, if you go to the libraries and book stores and try to find a decent book on the subject, most of them are either terribly incomplete or so filled with personal feelings and opinions that they're not worth reading. There are however a few books on the subject that are worth reading, though still not totally complete. I don't personally think a complete history on Astrology is ever going to hit the shelves, but that of course remains to be seen.

For those interested in when it is believed that Astrology actually began, sometime around 15,000 B.C. would be a fairly accurate guess. The origins were probably somewhere in the Middle East. Of course, depending on what books you read, you'll get slightly different opinions on this as well.

In a way, it's a shame that such a fascinating science is most likely going to remain unknown to the masses as far as its rich history is concerned. Personally, if I didn't have a family to feed and a number of things to do, I'd probably tackle this subject myself.

But where would I start? 15,000 B.C. is a long way to go back to.

To YOUR Divination Success,

Steven Wagenheim

What Is Psychology?

Psychology has evolved from the Greek word "psyche," which means "soul" or "mind," and "logos," which means speech. It is an academic and applied field concerning the study of the mind, brain, and behavior, both human and nonhuman. Psychology also refers to the practical application of such knowledge to diverse spheres of human activity, including problems of people's daily lives and the treatment of psychological illness.

Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology in seeking to capture illustrative generalizations about the mental function and explicit behavior of individuals. However, contrary to this, other disciplines depend more heavily on field studies and historical methods for extracting expressive generalizations. In reality, however, there is much "cross-fertilization" that takes place among different fields. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is mainly concerned with the interface between mental processes and behavior of a person. It also refers to the common procedures of a system and not merely the biological or neural procedures themselves.

However, subfields of psychology, such as neuropsychology, combine the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have intuitively produced. Psychology in literal terms means the study of the human mind. It illustrates and attempts to explain awareness, behavior, and social interaction. This study can be structured purely in terms of phenomenological descriptions of internal experiences or as a result of behavior, which includes social conduct. Empirical psychology is mainly dedicated to describing human experience and behavior as it actually occurs.

The study of the correlation between consciousness and the brain or nervous system has been undertaken only recently. However, it is still not clear in what ways they interact.

Psychology is a particularly extensive field, which includes various approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior. An understanding of brain function is gradually being included in psychological theory and practice, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, neuropsychological, and cognitive neuroscience. Mechanical and electronic computing has played an important role in developing the information-processing hypothesis of the mind.

What Is Numerology?

I never could understand why Numerology simply doesn't get the attention that the occult sciences of Astrology and the Tarot get. You can't open up a daily newspaper without seeing your horoscope, but try to find anything related to Numerology and you might as well wait for world peace. Well, it's no surprise then that a lot of people really don't know what Numerology really is and what it's used for. This article will hopefully give you a decent idea of what's involved so you can make an informed decision on whether or not this is a field of study you want to pursue.

Numerology, believe it or not, has actually been around for over 10,000 years. Practitioners of this art use it, not so much to predict events, but to reveal hidden truths of your inner self. It's kind of like a numerical evaluation of a person. Many of these numbers are pretty much set at the time of your birth, but there are some that change over time, especially if you are a woman who gets married and changes her name.

The basic concept of numerology is very simple. Each letter of the alphabet is assigned a number. These letters, making up your name, where you live, where you went to school, and just about everything involved in your life, get added together and from this number, we learn things about each person. The actual numbers themselves have meanings, so we learn things about people just from the date when they were born.

Not only does each number in numerology have a meaning, but there are certain numbers which are very special, such as 11 and 22. These numbers have deeper meanings when analyzing a person's personality. That's why you will find many powerful and influential people who are born on the 11th or 22nd or have numbers adding up to 11 or 22.

Naturally, this is a very simplified explanation as the actual science of Numerology gets very complex. You can study this science for many years and never truly understand it completely.

On a personal note, I have been into Numerology for over 20 years now. I have done Numerology charts for every member of my family including myself. The almost scary thing is that after doing the analysis for each person, the numbers very much matched up to what I already knew about these people just from living with them. Imagine being able to do that BEFORE you get to know somebody. Numerology can be very helpful in determining if two people are compatible with each other. My wife and I, a perfect match according to the numbers. We've been married for 22 years as of this writing, so maybe there is something to it.

If you want to learn more about this fascinating science, my signature will direct you to a free resource that I have put together where you can learn about Numerology as well as many other occult sciences.

To YOUR Divination Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Where Personality Characteristics are Found

Copyright December 27, 2001

ABSTRACT)

The purpose of this paper is to present a perspective of handwriting analysis that the author believes may be absent from the mindset of graphologists regarding the location of personality characteristics in handwriting.

Some analysts rely on certain letter formations better know as stroke analysis. While perhaps easier for educational purposes and marketing, are the interpretations repeatable? Scientifically based? Worthy of validation studies? Able to withstand scientific peer review? It is thought not.

So, where are personality characteristics found in the display? These questions and others will be explored with the conclusion that, theoretically, no one place on the display is the sole possessor of a characteristic.

Foundation

Action follows being. This philosophically derived phrase simply means that one MUST behave according to "his/her nature" or genetics and cannot act in a manner greater or different than that capacity. Stated differently, we can only act within our nature's capacity. If we, as graphologists, believe that handwriting represents a true display of a person's behavior (personality) then the action (handwriting) must reflect the nature of the being producing it. Given an adequate display of writing, why do some graphologists seek certain areas to determine certain characteristics? Has the personality suddenly stopped at certain places and started again in others? It is thought not.

Therefore, given an adequate sample, and the personality being the continuum it is, the characteristics of personality must necessarily be found in the total display and not just in certain areas. Vanity, that oft-mentioned characteristic, is not found only in one place but, rather, is set down in toto on the whole page. And the other characteristics must also be "all over the page" for the person writing does not retract his/her being in part of the writing and then re-immerse it again later. So, are all handwritings being analyzed correctly in all cases? From what the author has observed over a period of 26 years, it is thought not.

Stroke-analysts may obtain clues to characteristics but is the "location" of those clues the only place where it is found? Is it a long term, reliable indicator? It can't be for the display encompasses all of the personality and not just some parts here and there. So, therefore, all of the characteristics must be capable of being evaluated by the whole display and not in just portions.

Does this mean we need to review how analysts, some but perhaps not all, determine characteristics? It is thought so.

RECONSTRUCTION and CONCLUSION

So, if all characteristics are found "all over the page", it seems that we need to reconstruct our evaluation process into a more scientifically based view. One that has a solid foundation. One in which peer reviewers and critics would necessarily have to recognize that pressure, speed, size, slant, spacing and all the other inescapable elements of handwriting are repeatable. Yet, they could say "trait-stroke formations" are not. Every characteristic must be capable of being discerned through the basic elements. This means that more information must be contained in these elements than is generally recognized or understood especially by those using "trait-stroke analysis.

Sonnemann in his book, Handwriting Analysis, elicited his "Dimensions of Rating" which listed many attributes to a single element. These, of course, needed to be assimilated with other elements for a supported analysis. That is the general concept of what is being referred to in this paper. The aspects of an analysis should be found "all over the page" and not just in one place. This concept is essential to exhibit a repeatable basis to evaluation decisions. Repeatable is the key word because all of the elements are repeatable in any writing anywhere and give handwriting the scientific foundation it deserves and establishes credibility in the scientific arenas.

As a brief insight, assume we are assessing ego strength. Many analysts will use the personal pronoun "I" for this evaluation plus "capital letters". Although these could be used to support or counter an assessment, many other elements are required to firmly rate a person's ego strength. Ductus, MZ size, pressure, angularity, regularity, speed are major elements, which must be assessed along with other elements to determine ego strength. This latter system of assessment is a solid foundation to strongly consider in an analysis.

These repeatable and scientifically based elements are very difficult for reviewers and detractors to expostulate. If handwriting analysis is to be accepted in the realm of science, then basing the analyses only on repeatable elements of handwriting/printing is absolutely critical and essential.