Review of Tarot Decoded for TABI Quarterly (Tarot Association of the British Isles)

By Mick Frankel

Elizabeth Hazel is a professional astrologer and Tarot reader. She lectures throughout the USA and writes for various astrological and Tarot journals including the American Tarot Association newsletter. Her book “Tarot Decoded” has just been published.

I was delighted to have the chance to talk to Liz for the TABI Quarterly.

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Liz, you're a Tarot reader and an astrologer, which came first for you?

I got my first tarot deck as a pre-teen, and spent several years memorising the meanings and reading every book available, which - back in those days - was not too much. I found the meanings in books a little dry, so started a Tarot journal, writing down the cards and meanings, and then going back to compare the readings to what had actually happened. I also had a notebook with a page for each card, and wrote down my expanded understanding of each card. I kept adding to this notebook for over ten years.

What was your first deck? 

My first deck was the Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini. Quickly realizing it was pretty but simplistic, I went back 2 weeks later and got a copy of the Crowley-Harris Thoth deck.

Eventually, I came across a copy of "Book of Thoth." It was evident that astrology was pertinent to the Tarot. Crowley (although a degenerate sort of person) was a cracker-jack astrologer. I was extremely lucky to find Dr. Rilma Buckman as an astrology teacher, and I took lessons from her for three years. The book is dedicated to her.

Since I had started out by learning Tarot on my own, I'd learned all sorts of intuitive tricks for reading the cards before ever seriously pursuing astrology. On the whole, astrologers don't particularly care for intuitive tricks! But I found that by combining intuitive techniques with knowledge of the placement and timing of planetary cycles, the scope and accuracy of my readings was greatly enhanced.

I think that many Tarot readers – and some astrologers- blend knowledge and intuition. Is it possible for you to say more about any of your intuitive tricks? 

Different clients evoke different skills as needed for their reading. I call this my "bag of tricks": clairvoyance, clairaudience, gut instincts, intuition, messages or pictures in the client's aura. Sometimes I get smells, too, but I'm not sure there's a name for that trick (whiffoyance?)! I also have empathic body reactions to people in pain - so if their knees hurt, mine do, too.  

Both the client and the cards evoke reactions. When a client sits across from me, I try to become an empty vessel and allow impressions from the client to fill me. But I never know which ability is going to manifest in a reading.

Whiffoyance – I love it. Sort of like “second smell”?

Did you have a target audience in mind when you wrote your book?

As a member of various internet Tarot groups, it was obvious that many beginners struggle to understand the concept of dignities. Dignities are techniques that allow a reader to get past the one-card-at-a-time style of reading, and move into merging card meanings by blending them with their neighbouring cards. To my knowledge, there aren't any books dedicated to providing a systematic overview of dignity techniques and their uses.  

So this book is written for tarot readers who have learned the meanings of the cards, and are ready learn how to make their readings more sophisticated and integrated. Some dignity methods are fairly simple to understand and use, while others may take years to master. The book begins with the easier methods and moves to cover the more difficult ones - people can go at their own pace.

I think your book achieves what you set out to do. Are you planning a follow-up book that goes even deeper?

"Tarot Decoded" is dedicated to the wide range dignity methods available for readers, and one of those methods is blending Tarot and astrology. The next book on the drawing board is focused specifically on methods for merging Tarot with astrology. These two forecasting systems are so complementary; there are endless ways in which they can be creatively combined.

I was pleased to see that you mention the 17th Century English astrologer William Lilly in the bibliography, has Lilly's work influenced you at all?

Lilly provided tables derived from Ptolemy, and the planet-sign combinations used in the Golden Dawn attribution system for the pip cards are from Ptolemy's "face" rulers of the sign. Decan, face, and term are all sign divisions used in western medieval astrology. Some of medieval astrology techniques survived into modern usage, but many have not. I enjoy comparing the differences between modern western astrology, Vedic astrology (Jyotish), western Medieval/Renaissance techniques, and Arabic astrology.

Lilly was one of several medieval/renaissance writers who catalogued contemporary techniques. Although I've found his work interesting, I actually prefer Ficino or Bonati as representatives of that time period. Bonati worked with Arabic techniques, particularly with the writings of Albumassar (who, as I recall, was a 9th or 10th century Arabic astrologer).

Bonati's description of the construction and use of Arabic parts is fascinating. Apparently, although the use of astrology was periodically in and out of favour with church authorities, the use of Arabic parts eventually was frowned upon, as they were used for extensive commodities speculation. I found this extremely amusing, as it so closely parallels the fall of junk bonds in our own time. People will try anything to make a buck.

Very true. Have you ever tried to use your knowledge of astrology to speculate on the stock market?

I'm not a speculator - I'm an investor, and therefore not too keen on taking risks. I use transits to determine when to move funds into different areas of the market, and did quite well last year because of this. My investment choices were due to plain old market research - only the timing was determined with astrology.

I do read articles by astrologers who are market experts, though. The crash of the dot-com stocks was a no-brainer with the Millenial Alignment being squared by Uranus in May of 2000. My dad made the same prediction, only he came to that conclusion from 50 years of financial experience. He got a big kick out of discussing it with me - we both came to the same conclusion, but from completely different thought processes! (And neither of us had much pity for people who ignored our advice.) Critical planetary activity is quite accurate for forecasting the areas of the stock market that will be doing well, and others that will be shaky.

Would you be willing to read for a client who asked for financial advice?

Clients do ask for financial advice. I'm happy to indicate when their chart is most positively aspected for making investments, and can offer a "big picture" view of what types of investments are going to do well during a particular time period, but clients are on their own in making investment choices. I have brokers and no-load fund companies that I give as referrals. The same goes for legal and medical problems - I encourage clients to seek professional advice, and to look into alternative opinions from experts if their current advisors don't seem to be doing their jobs.

Your biography says that your hobbies include perfumery. Could you tell us a bit more about this? Can we look forward to Hazelle No. 5?

I've been interested in perfumery for many years now, and have an extensive line of perfumes and incenses. I suppose I could have focused on aromatherapy products, but then perfumery would have lost its magical allure for me. My particular interest is in creating scents for a purpose, and in affinity fragrances. In order to do this, I choose specific times to blend the ingredients - astrological elections, in other words. So, for instance, when I make up a batch of Jupiter oil, Jupiter is well placed by sign, house and aspect; and all of the essential oils used in the blend have an affinity with Jupiter.

However, my favourite rule in my perfumery business is: there are no rules. This is why I'm still interested in it after all these years! Sometimes I make things that just smell good, sometimes they are made for a specific purpose. Perfumery integrates all of the things that I love: astrology, botany and gardening, art work (for packaging), experimenting with secret potions and keeping log books, magic, and beautiful fragrances. Plus I get to have an outlet for my "mad scientist-alchemist" side, rattling around in the laboratory in the middle of the night because that's when the planets are just so. What's not to love?

But the best part of mystic perfumery is when strange things happen. Sometimes strange things happen when I make fragrances, sometimes strange things happen when someone wears or burns the stuff. Magically-made perfumes and incenses attract unusual events like a magnet. What tickles me most about this is that it flies in the face of empirical "just the facts, ma'am" science. Magic doesn't so much bend the rules, as it relies on a higher set of rules.

Sounds wonderful. Do you have a shop that sells your perfumes?

My "shop" is in what was formerly my living room. I also enjoy doing street fairs a few times each year. I've got a nice blue pop-up tent and call my set-up The Booth of Truth. Meeting new customers is great fun.

“The Booth of Truth” – that’s perfect. Have you ever thought of designing your own deck?

I have! It is called "The Vala Tarot" and some images from it can be found at Tarot Passages in my "Portraits of Pips" series (www.tarotpassages.com). I've been dedicated to writing and getting this book finished for the past few years, so have not been sending the deck out to publishers for a while. Maybe it is time to get busy with that again.

Maybe. Your book uses the Golden Dawn system of astrological correspondences for the Trumps, Court Cards and pip cards. What would you say to an experienced Tarot reader who asks,“What’s the benefit to me of learning all these astrological correspondences?”

As I say in the foreword (forewarned!) of the book - some people may find astrological correspondences very helpful in their readings, while others may find they don't like them. In my view, astrology is the Mother Ship of forecasting techniques - it has a substantial and well-documented history, and a well-ordered set of conventions that support Tarot use. If a reader uses astrology as a dignity method, the cards point out (or confirm) particular planetary cycles that will have some kind of influence on the client, so provides an exact idea of "when."

Astrology, like dignities, can give tarotists an intellectual support system, an underlying mental framework that is a superb foundation for free-flying intuitive techniques. Some tarotists, like Art Rosengarten, use formal training in psychology as a foundation. History, medicine, and organisational dynamics are other types of multi-disciplinary studies that compliment tarot. The point is, if a tarotist can bring a broad knowledge base to the table, the clients are the direct beneficiaries of diverse wisdom. And the greater a tarotist's knowledge, the greater is their potential for service to others.

Liz, thank you so much for sparing the time for this interview.