Tarot Cards: Good, Sound, Common Sense Advice

mayday

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mayday
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Regardless whether you are a skeptic or a "believer." I recently began studying the tarot, and have read (and found) there to be no claim of the cards having any type of "powers" or magic. The cards are based on the study of human behavior and circumstances for more than 500 years. Basically, even though we don't realize it, there is no circumstance or situation that has not been experienced by millions of others, and with the same outcome that can be expected. So, in that sense, yes, the tarot can predict the immediate future, however, no legitimate tarot card reader will tell you the cards possess paranormal or magical powers.

I am into collecting and reading tarot cards. I love the beautiful pictures and spreads. I am finding it a therapeutic way to reflect, meditate and relieve stress. And, yes, the cards are (not amazingly) accurate.

I asked the cards if I would be able to meet Neil Young and have him sign my copy of his biography, "Shakey," after his concert on June 2, and right now, the final outcome card shows King of Wands, which, to me, points to yes, as the king of wands often means a fiery individual will be entering one's sphere who infects others with the power of his ideas (Neil...?) King of Wands in this position is generally positive.

I guess we will see come June 2. I will share my experience (positive or negative) afterward.
 

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I do believe that you have the wrong book of How to Interpret the Hidden Meaning of Tarot. In mine, the King of Wands predicts that Neil will not sign your book. Sorry. :(
 
mayday said:
I asked the cards if I would be able to meet Neil Young and have him sign my copy of his biography, "Shakey," after his concert on June 2, and right now, the final outcome card shows King of Wands, which, to me, points to yes, as the king of wands often means a fiery individual will be entering one's sphere who infects others with the power of his ideas (Neil...?) King of Wands in this position is generally positive.

I guess we will see come June 2. I will share my experience (positive or negative) afterward.
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In the world of objective things (e.g. the sphere of science) statements are not qualified by the assertion "to me."

So, in that sense, yes, the tarot can predict the immediate future, however, no legitimate tarot card reader will tell you the cards possess paranormal or magical powers.
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Whether you define the cards as paranormal or not, your claim that they can predict the future will earn you tens of thousands of dollars if performed under controlled conditions in front of many of the dozens of local skeptic groups that offer prizes.

If someone claimed that I were incapable of riding a bicycle and offered me $10,000 to ride a bicycle in front of him, I would damned sure take the test and walk away with the money.
 
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I also have collected tarot cards. I have a few dozen sets, I'm pretty sure. I loved to play with them, perhaps see some insight from time to time, and to just appreciate their beauty.

I don't believe they have power, but I did once have a book called "Tarot Spells" I think it was called (back in my "woo" days) and since it said you could use them for spells I would say that's a claim of them having power, even if the term "power" is used to mean "aiding in focus."

So Mayday, have fun with them, but don't rely on them. The King of Wands - I don't think it means he won't sign your book, it merely means he is a creative individual with a rather "fiery" temperment but is good-hearted, iirc.

Now, if you had King of Cups I'd say he's be more apt to sign.

But remember, he's a celebrity and cards won't really work no matter how much you believe, Mayday. He will sign if he has time, or his "crew" or whoever, allows him to spend time with fans and how long for signing. It will have nothing to do with you or cards or perhaps even himself. He may just have no time and have to pack up.

But I wish you the best of luck in getting your book autographed. I have a few books autographed by the authors and it is a really cool thing. :)
 
I think someone needs to explain tarot cards to me. If you ask the deck a question, so to speak, do you shuffle, then deal a card? Is that how you get an answer? If so, if you repeat the question, shuffling in between each time, do you always get the same answer? If no, why not?
 
Mister Earl said:
I think someone needs to explain tarot cards to me. If you ask the deck a question, so to speak, do you shuffle, then deal a card? Is that how you get an answer? If so, if you repeat the question, shuffling in between each time, do you always get the same answer? If no, why not?
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When I used to read, years back, I let the person ask the question silently, and used a spread appropriate to the "type" of question, such as a basic simple answer, or a problem that needed some insight. Then I would have the querent shuffle and choose cards until I told them to stop. Then I would lay them out and go.

Now, what got me was that even when we tried "repeating" a question, the cards would change, of course, but there would always be a few that were the same as were in the first and second spread. But in a spread that has, say, 10 or 12 cards, perhaps that wasn't so odd. But the interpretation was always the same. That's why I believed in them at the time.

I do think that their usefulness is real if you want to gain some insight or focus on some aspects of a problem, but beyond that...well, that's it, really. Nothing paranormal. But some cards have similar meanings with just a different slant, say, as to timing or personality traits of a person.

I usually got consistent results. But once I read for a friend and got nothing consistent at all. I was puzzled because I always got "something." But he then said he had been seeing a doctor because he has bi-polar disorder and was experiencing a lot of confusion. So he told me that the mass of confusion I had before me was due to that.
Well...perhaps. Perhaps not. I don't read anymore. But it was an interesting and fun thing to do at the time.

And oh, some decks are just positively beautiful and works of art. :)
 
Steven Wright: "Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died."

Michael

P.S.

Enjoy the concert!
 
He's going to sign that book if I have to leap off the balcony to where he's sitting onstage.
 
@Minarvia: Have you ever gotten the card that is the polar opposite of the other card? For example, have you ever gotten a "no" card for the same question after getting a "yes" card?
 
Mister Earl said:
@Minarvia: Have you ever gotten the card that is the polar opposite of the other card? For example, have you ever gotten a "no" card for the same question after getting a "yes" card?
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As a person who used to read tarot myself, I can say I did, and I can think of specific examples. Of course, at the time I was also able to rationalise this out. For example, I had done a reading for the same question ... which gave me time to consider my reaction to it, and may have caused me to respond differently when faced with it than I would have done had I not done the reading.

I did a reading once about whether a trip to visit my husband who had moved away from our country to try and find a better life would go well. The first reading was all disaster - the Tower, and Swords everywhere ... I was pretty upset. My response was to do a meditation, take an aromatherapy bath to relax me and enhance my perceptions, and then read it again. This one was much better, and of course I decided that being told the meeting would be disastrous caused me to reconsider my intended approach on meeting him again, and my attitude to the planned visit. I decided that had I not done the reading, I would have met him with some unrealised and unresolved issues bubbling under the surface - all causing tensions that would have erupted at some point into arguments. Being pre-warned of disaster, I had reconsidered my approach and decided to be more patient, quieter, and step into the discussions about our future in a different manner - hence no arguments scheduled (according to the cards).

And of course ... believing everything the cards 'told' me, I made huge efforts not to say or do anything that might cause a row when the trip finally happened. And then went on for a few years believing the cards had clearly been right all along.
 
I used to read the cards for myself and I often got 2 totally contradictory answers as my final outcome. For example, I would get the happy family/marriage card once, and then when I repeated the question later I'd get the Tower upside down. Things like that used to drive me crazy.

I have always been under the impression that Tarot readers believe there is something supernatural going on with the cards. I know I did.

Just for the record, I'd read in several places that if you repeat the same question, you anger the power (spirits?) behind the cards and that's why you get contradictory answers.

mayday said:
He's going to sign that book if I have to leap off the balcony to where he's sitting onstage.
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I predict that, with a can-do attitude like that, he will sign your book. :) Never mind what the cards say.
 
I've had my tarot cards read a number of times. My opinion of them is that they are something like Rorschach Tests in that they don't "mean" anything by themselves. They are a tool for bringing out things about yourself that perhaps you hadn't thought of. They can be useful and fun for starting a discussion.

And in a pinch, you can play a mean game of "Go Fish" with them.
 
I find it sort of funny, as Tarot started out as a card game.
I've met people who claim they can use a regular set of playing cards to predict the future as well.
 
ShadowSot said:
I find it sort of funny, as Tarot started out as a card game.
I've met people who claim they can use a regular set of playing cards to predict the future as well.
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I can use them to predict the future too. If I have four of them with the same letter in the corner, then I'm about to come into some money.
 
catsmate1 said:
OK here you are; they're nonsense, sometimes pretty but still nonsense.
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Best reply so far!:)

Also, one of the things I heard some back is that part of the "accuracy" required that the cards belong to the person being foretold for (the foretellee)
rather than the reader (foreteller, or, as we like to say, the fraud).:D
 
coalesce said:
Steven Wright: "Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died."

Michael

P.S.

Enjoy the concert!
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You CAN play Poker with Tarot cards. I have done so at Several Renaissiance Fairs......

And no one died.
 
Mister Earl said:
@Minarvia: Have you ever gotten the card that is the polar opposite of the other card? For example, have you ever gotten a "no" card for the same question after getting a "yes" card?
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I can honestly say that I never did. That's what got me, I think, to believing there could be something to it at the time.

However, I did test myself on this, but not for every reading I did, so that could account for my apparent "accuracy." I'd guess that for every 10 reading I did I would retest about 4. After that it took too much of my time so I didn't retest them all.
 
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