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Ok so I totally believe in lots of esoteric and magickal things but tarot cards? I feel like that is a bit far fetched for me. Why do these drawings have any significance to my life and how could it possibly be answering my questions? Its fun to play with occasionally but I still don't get the fascination around them. Maybe I just haven't learned or seen the light dunno.

I was quite interested in tarot when I was younger. The problem I had with them was there ambiguity. It seemed they could be read in many different ways to say what the reader wanted them to say.

Like all fortune telling and horroscope stuff they play on superstition and mysticism. And I'm not sure that these things have any place in today's world.

Loz

My experiences with such mysticism has led to my logical disbelief. Every single reading that has ever been done w/ me (several) has always been widely inaccurate, both past and future. Perhaps while I may be easy to read to an average person, the psy-person is normally completely out of the ballpark regarding my character, choices, and desires.

That isn't to say that I don't leave the door open for the possibility of unusual things currently defined as psy/magic. It just hasn't presented itself to me.

I read... and 9 times outta 10 i'm dead on. Bringing people to tears.

I just read for a Gem City Ballet benefit and freaked a LOT of people out.

I also collect decks because a lot of them have some utterly gorgeous art on them. One of the same reasons i collect rosaries.

This stuff seems to be not much more than a very strong sense of intuition on the part of the reader, who'll say what the client wants to (or should) hear. There's also the fine art of calculated but vague guessing. However, I also feel that there's also a minor sort of "cosmic energy" aspect at play.

If you're going to invest in irrational beliefs, what difference does it make what it is? Only it would be nice if more of the delusional community believed more in fun things, rather than things that require, for example, burning witches or slaughtering infidels.

Supposedly you are supposed to interpret the patterns.

HOWEVER when someone sits down, and as they are shuffling the cards i look at them and say "You need to spend more time with your son. Stop questioning that and do it!" And i have never met her i think it's less about the cards and more about "other" factors.

There IS a lot of telling the person what they want to here, and a lot of psychology... but i threw that out of the window a long time ago when i was well into reading cards. I didn't want it to be a like a "drug" making a person feel better on a temporary level. So i changed my approach and made it as real as i possibly could.

Reality is a creation born of your mind.

Believe in what you want to. However, doubt is a sure way to devalue your own beliefs.

Like Rocco, I too read Tarot (Thoth deck), and have been spot on 9/10 times and have brought people to tears. There is a connection to the cards the person draws, and the ability of the 'reader' to answer the questions that need to be addressed.

It's a mental tool to answer the questions you don't *want* to answer. What you read from the cards is usually the things you don't want to admit, "I've got to stop doing X" or "I need to take control of Y."

Divinitory? Probly not. But useful? Depends. For several friends it works like a psychologist you don't have to pay. Something to bounce your sub concious thoughts off of.

In part i do agree with Diver. He's seems to be a pretty smart cookie! I like him more and more each time i read a post of his.

Hear hear!

i agree with diver, it can be a tool to work out some stuff and i see that. as for cosmic energy while shuffling, maybe? i don't believe in coincidence, so I guess every card has a reason, but I believe every thing has a reason as small or large as it may seem in the broader scope of things.

I like to play with them, but I treat them like a projective test, same deal with the I Ching.

Approaching them this way -- in the way people tell and interpret a dream -- is useful for disclosing unconscious contents.

That would be the smart way to say what I was trying to convey.

Yay for OW

Well, you really need another person present, though. The unconscious by definition wants to remain, um, unconscious, so it usually requires another person to accurately reflect what's disclosing itself. Otherwise, it's your own tendency to re-repress the contents.

I also use a process called sandtray, in which adults create a scene in a tabletop sandbox with their choice of hundreds of images (like the action figures in one of my pics). I find this especially effective because it's hard to deny what's going on when it's directly symbolized by the unconscious.

Of course, some people do very well denying anything. I saw a very famous rock musician a few years back. She was one of the angriest people I've ever met but was totally clueless. I had her do a sand tray and she created only one scene featuring two objects: an alligator devouring a baby.

"Don't you think that's kind of an angry scene?"

"Not really, I just think alligators are cool."

"You complain pretty incessantly about the way your mother treated you. So you think there's no connection."

"I think I was just pissed when they outlawed alligator wallets and handbags."

Whatthefuckever.

I'd have so much fun over at OW's house. I love playing with toys.

Read into that as much as you want.

To you guys who read the cards... would one of you please tell me the numbers I need to play for Friday's Mega Millions Jackpot? It's up to 70 million dollars.

"I'd have so much fun over at OW's house. I love playing with toys.
Read into that as much as you want."

Come on over. I have a full set of the Colt action figures.

behiker I could tell you but I don't want to share the wealth.

This thread brought back memories of my grandmother, who passed away last year at 96. She was a very religious woman, always going to church a few times a week and would even cook for the priest at the rectory.

But should was into this mystical stuff. When i was younger, she would read tea leaves, read the cards and even had a crystal ball. It was nice when I was young boy, drinking tea with her, and then having her read the leaves. It was mostly about trips or school and stuff, but i never put much stock into it. I asked her about her crystal ball once and why i never saw her use. She said she saw something in it one time that deeply disturbed and never used it again, but it did stay there on her dresser.

Tarot cards are simply a tool, or a focal point, and its the interpretation of the images, their placement, whether they're positively or negatively aspected, etc that helps the reader tune in to the subject. I used to read and still have both of my decks, but I eventually got to a point where I no longer needed the cards as a focal point... and tarot isn't really that useful to one who walks the path of shaman, anyway.

Is it magic or mystical? That depends on how you define those terms. It does have a lot to do with intuition and in some cases, probably psychic ability to some degree. I've seen many very specific readings done for people that the reader did not know and had never seen before. Likewise, I've met psychics who I'd never met before that told me specific details of events in my life that no one knew but me. So yes, I believe some people are gifted in those areas.

Of course, I've also seen many roadside "psychic/palm reader/tarot reader/crystal ball scryer" types who are only there to feed you a line of bull and take your money. For me, here's the key to knowing a fraud... if they can tell you things about yourself or your life that you and only you could know, without any input from you, they're probably not a fake.

I dunno. I think the reader is intuiting stuff based on the conversation as much as the images per se.

Most of the images represent so-called archetypal figures, which are personifications of certain aspects of the self (as the Greek gods were). These are common to everyone, so the reader's riff is rarely "wrong" as long as he doesn't get into literal, specific prognostications.

That's not to say it's useless. I think most people aren't aware how "multiple" the psyche actually is -- virtually a cluster of identities (again, like the Greek gods).

To add on to OW's comments, I would agree that the reader usually just speaks about things in an general/architypal way, and the connection to maybe an unconscious thought is what comes up when someone gives you a reading. It seems real to you because it connects to something in you.

Granted, you could probably do the same thing by randomly choosing words out of the newspaper too, but the issues represented in the Tarot cards are more universal.

Question: does anyone here have the Gay Tarot deck?

how and where did you guys learn to read the cards? is it difficult to learn?

Saw a cable program on this last night. A man gave readings to three groups of six participants one from another country. He asked then to rate how accurate the readings were. After he gave thenm their readings on a detailed typed response specific to each of them. After they read the interpretations all but one felt he had psychic ability. He was rated 89-99% accurate. He then asked the participants to pass their reading to another member to read and the participants were to try and guess who the reading was specific to. Some did not want to share theirs because it was too personal. Some were in tears! After the folded them up and exchanged them ramdomly they soon kept finding their own reading over and over. He then revealed that every reading was identical. All but one felt foolish. He was a logical man and said his reading was only about 40% accurate. The point of the show was to reveal it is all utter BS. If anyone spends money on this they would be better off buying lottery tickets or donating the money to a good/real cause. buyer beware

I think we all have varying degrees of natural psi ability, it's just part of the human package. For some, the cards are a focal point that allow you to tap into it more easily, for others the nordic runes work best. I don't think any one deck of cards is better than another, it's all symbology to be interpreted.

when I was younger, and doing lots of readings, I'd read for a total stranger and most of the time touching the first card felt like a door opening that I'd fall through... I'd tell them what the card was supposed to mean, symbolically, and tell them what impressions I was getting about it for them specifically, making sure I wasn't looking at them.

Some people just weren't open to it at all, and I got no impressions from the cards to help them, but most of the time people were freaked out over my accuracy about details they hadn't told anyone.

And I still have my "Cat People" deck that I was given for my 18th birthday... I just love the artwork in it, and the symbols. Death even has a companion cat, and it's a sweet/sad thing instead of the scary thing most people see.

DUDE!!!!!!! Cat People is the most AMAZING deck EVER! The tattoo on the back of my neck is the back of the cards!!!!!!

I am in agreement with Native and Alan. The cards are a focal point. Most of us need the focal point to help get rid of the daily static. I am truly inspired (and a little humbled) by Native for his ability to focus much easier, knowing he is a shaman makes it clear.
Yes, there are some people that can give truly 'accurate' general readings, based on the psychology of the archetypes. However, those same people could also give the an identical reading by watching someone, and reading their body language and mannerisms...they are called magicians (Cris Angel type) by some. They are only doing it for the 'fame and money', and because they couldn't become a psychologist by training.
Believe or not believe is your choice. Just as it is my choice to believe or not the "accuracy" of the Book of Revelations?

Spartan:

Revelation, it's singular buddy ;)

You do raise an interesting point since many people believed John the Greek was a nut for writing Revelation.

Now many agree that the pictures painted by the book are symbolic. I don't think i know of anyone who is looking for a "Beast with ten horns and seven heads" unless they are talking about one of the drag queens in the city of Columbus, Ohio...

Daily static hmm?

I think Tarot Cards are like the placebo pill. Our body has the amazing ability to fool us into believing we feel better after taking a pill were lead to believe is real.

Same with the cards. I know they're nothing more than printed paper or wood, but they can lead increased health or positive feelings just because were fooling our brains.

StripperRoccoDUDE!!!!!!! Cat People is the most AMAZING deck EVER! The tattoo on the back of my neck is the back of the cards!!!!!!

Yeah, the artwork in that deck is probably the prettiest of the ones I've seen. The Lovers card is my fave, though.

My favorite is the Knight of Pentacles. I also like the face of the man on the Wheel of Fortune card and the Magician card is really cool!!! The whole DECK is cool.

I REALLY like the richness in the pentacle cards, the showing of wealth in those cards, with the fur coats and such, is amazing.

If nothing some of the most amazing works of art can be found in Tarot decks.

Trance you are wise beyond your years!

i really love brian froud's faerie oracle. i think it's one of the best i've seen. oh, and i think some of you are getting hung up on an expectation for the tarot to answer simple yes/no questions... they don't work that way. if you get what appears to be an ambiguous answer, you've probably asked an ambiguous question.

i had a real tarot reading when i as in highschool and i was still in the closet. and it was creepy cause she was like you're going thru a lot everyhting will get better, life will be good etc etc. obviously she went a little more in depth and i was like ... 5 years ago maybe so i dont quite remember what she sais exactly but it was creepy how true everything turned out,..

I've got three decks: Cat People, Native American and Vampire. And I've also got a copy of The Complete Idiot's Guide To Tarot. I never actually read any of the cards to other people; but I do like to read them fairly regularly to myseld and just to study and enjoy them.

i have beasts deck and follow the oldest possible rules i can to them and no one has told me I'm wrong yet (they could just be that they're very polite) So i have a certain degree of faith in the whole divinatio system thats built mainly off the success people have told me I've had with them.
In all honesty I started reading cause I thought I could make some money off it. Then I kinda thought, "If this is really, I shouldn't exploit it." So I dunno, theres my 10 cents....

I went to a fortune teller once, with my (female) friend Jackie. She read the tarot cards, and then told us we were soon to be married and would have four children. I laughed so hard I gave her a BIG tip.

Uh huh.

I have a theory on how tarot cards work. You know the metaphysical law "as above, so below"? That what happens on a macroscopic level (the heaven) is reflected on a microscopic level (the earth). How I think tarot cards work is that a card reading reflects whats going on in the querent's life. It's similar to a weather forecast. The cards act as a satellite image of the querent's life. The reader (meterologist) uses his knowledge and intuition to read the patterns and predict the "weather" of the querent's life. Sometimes, though, the reader can misinterpret and be wrong.
I've done a lot of tarot readings for friends and strangers and they are surprised at how accurate I can be. And I tend to do readings without ever hearing the question to reduce bias, since bias can affect readings (among other things.) Sometimes the readings are vague, and sometimes they can be very specific. It really depends on how you do the card spreads, the reader, and the querent.
I own a Universal Waite deck, a Tarot of the Sephiroths deck, and a Roots of Asia deck. I enjoy using the Universal Waite and Roots of Asia decks the most. I like tarot reading in general. It's alot like interpreting art. Each person tend to see different things and derive their own meaning to it. I use tarot cards to get a deeper understanding of symbols and the psyche.

jprichva saidI went to a fortune teller once, with my (female) friend Jackie. She read the tarot cards, and then told us we were soon to be married and would have four children. I laughed so hard I gave her a BIG tip.

Uh huh.

Oo! I have a story similar to that. I asked a pagan priestess (who is well respected and knowledgeable) once to do a card reading about my love life. She didn't know that I was gay at the time of the reading. When she did the reading, she was perplexed that male court cards came up. I just thought that was a hoot.

NativeDude saidFor me, here's the key to knowing a fraud . . .

What, they're breathing?

I'm totally fascinated with tarot cards. I don't believe them of course, but I'm fascinated by them in the same way I'm fascinated by Dungeons and Dragons. LOL Someday I hope to design my own deck. Ideally by hand.

I read Tarot cards.

It's my belief they don't tell you anything you don't already know. When I've done a reading for someone, I have my guidebook right there and show them what each card means. I try my best not to put my own personal spin on it.

I only read Tarot cards for myself, when I'm undecided for some time about something pretty important, and for close friends when they ask me.

I have two decks: the Tarocchino Lombardo, and the Haindl Tarot.

The card designs are very rich in symbols, the significance of which coalesce around one or more closely related meanings.

Like any metaphysical tool, they can be used in a variety of ways, from fortune telling to self-development.

The "reality" one gives it (like almost anything else) is personal and profound, IMHO.

Charlie