Any other Tarot Readers Here?

[Emerald]

12 hours ago, FocusOnTruth said:

@Emerald I haven't done Tarot reading, but I've gotten my fair share of tarot reads, among other psychic readings(other types I've also practiced myself). 

I was quite surprised how often some of the reads really hit home. Prior to experimenting with, I had dismissed them as just playing with cards and doing some guesswork. 

One of the big things in getting more of out of them was getting more and more in touch with intuition and feeling. I always had a proclivity toward the spiritual, but there was still often this barrier much too intellect oriented. The interesting finding regarding that is this was the case as the person being read, not just for the reader.

With that in mind, I'd like to mention a related finding about psychic insight in general (something that seems to be the case for tarot, channelers, etc.): all these readings are relational/relative. From how often they've resonated, I believe readers often do really see something other than their own projections. (I say that after applying skepticism and really trying to investigate and not prematurely buy-in). However, there is always a filter. The reader's own preferences/biases/ defilements come into play. This happens on an individual and group level-- I noticed groups of people with similar POV's/ communities would have similar impressions, even though there would also large variation in the reading within those communities.

Navigating the limitations of reading, accounting for distortions, distinguishing between what different readers said and whether they noticing a different aspect of something or if the differences were some delusions/projections was difficult. Due to that, I decided psychic reading is best used as a supplemental aid for self-awareness and self-examination. When done well with the right attitude from both reader and querent, it can function as a more in-depth form of psychotherapy. Ime, it's very easy to become subconsciously enchanted with readings and forget the limits, even if there is a conscious effort to be objective about it.  At least, that was a big pitfall for me.

An observation/hypothesis that I felt really put things in perspective is that these abilities are something everyone has to some extent, just with all sorts of variation in both degree and type of perception. For instance, most unknowingly acknowledge it when they comment on someone's vibe or give their impression of someone.  It's been helpful approach it and just getting someone's opinion on something, just by different and through a wider field of perception, but many of the same underlying mechanisms. 

That's my 2 cents based on my exp so far. There's ofc a lot I don't really know/understand and could be mistaken about it all.  

Great points. I always think it's important to approach everything with an open mind, but also an open hand. I know that a lot of people can use something like the Tarot to get attached to it as a tool or attached to its outcomes. I think, using it as a guide, and taking it with a grain of salt is the wisest thing to do. It's more effective that way anyway, because your mind will be able to let go more and you'll be able to shift more into that intuitive space.

 

 

[Emerald]

10 hours ago, FocusOnTruth said:

@Emerald Btw, if you get really into it, I think it'd be pretty cool, to cover it in-depth on your channel. You're well-spoken, and I've found most who speak on it to be kind of lacking in presentation quality. I think you could discuss it really well. 

I plan to make a video or two on my channel. But I also just opened up a second channel specifically for exploring into the Tarot. Here is the link if you'd like to subscribe...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ9MsKTslg8bSAktOz-tZfg

I don't have any content on it yet, but I'll start releasing videos on my original channel and my Tarot channel later on this week.

 

[Emerald]

10 hours ago, Esoteric said:

@Emerald I have just started getting into the Tarot. I have the Hermetic Tarot deck. Beautiful illustrations. Though I bought it for learning to do Divinations and contemplations specifically, Major Arcana. I will probably get deeper into it as I progress.

Any literature you recommend on the Tarot?

I recommend "The Ultimate Guide to Tarot" by Liz Dean. In the beginning part it talks about all the different systems within the Tarot that will really help your readings.

There are suits, numbers, colors, astrological signs, correlation between Major and Minor Arcana cards, etc. Once you know these systems, you can read more intuitively, as opposed to just memorizing the meanings of each card separately (though I do recommend this as well).

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

10 minutes ago, Emerald said:

It could work. I've actually seen people do Tarot readings with Uno cards before, for yes and no questions. 

That cracked me up. ?

 

12 minutes ago, Emerald said:

There is a correlation between the swords, wands, cups, and pentacles suits in the Tarot and the spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds respectively.

So, all you'd have to do is to see those connections and know the meaning behind the numbers, aces, and the court cards.

The Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings are related to the Jacks, Queens, and Kings in the deck. But no card represents the pages, so it's a little different. Also, the Jokers relate to the Fool card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. But otherwise, the other Major Arcana are not represented.

So, you could definitely read the Tarot, though it would be more limited and it wouldn't engage the narrative mind of archetypes, since there's not a lot of visuals to latch onto with a typical playing card deck.

I see,,,, Thank you for making those connections!

I look forward to your new channel.

[Emerald]

10 hours ago, Ero said:

 

@Emerald Is there a deeper dynamic to them? 

The thing that I think is so powerful about the Tarot is that it engages our connection with the archetypes of the collective unconscious. Each card in the Rider-Waite deck (which is the deck most people learn on), corresponds to a pattern within human life that applies to all people. So, using these images, gives us a more intuitive perspective on these cycles we experience throughout our lives. It's similar to how myths teach us about life in a non-linear and non-rational way that is more engaged with emotions and our story-teller nature.

This was always how we learned prior to the discovery of rational, scientific, and linear thinking modes. Now, this is not to knock any of those ways of thinking. But we can be quite neglectful of our primary learning mechanism, which is through visuals and hearing stories.

So, the Tarot is like a probabilistic mix and match myth, that you can use as a map and framing device to derive meaning from in a similar way to how people would learn from myths, fables, and fairy tales.

 

[Emerald]

10 hours ago, tsuki said:

I haven't done any Tarot yet, but I used I-Ching for that purpose before.
From one point of view, divination can be viewed as a mirror for the mind like @Leo Gura says.

However, the symbolic nature of the oracle has another use.
If meditated upon, it will establish a language between the conscious and the subconscious and is a gateway to altered states of consciousness.
I believe that is how it was originally used for the divinatory purposes. Looks very dangerous when viewed this way.

There is always an element of danger when it comes to things of a spiritual nature. And this is specifically the danger of becoming ungrounded. If we are trees, and the mind/spiritual represents our branches and fruit and the mundane/emotional represents our roots... then if we are too focused toward our branches without developing our roots, the three can become uprooted.

So, it's very important to have a stable relationship with reality and mundane existence before engaging in anything spiritual.

But yes, the I-Ching is very similar in that it's a probabilistic system for mirroring meaning back to us. The same is true of cloud gazing, reading tea leaves, and doing Rorschach tests.

 

[Emerald]

9 hours ago, remember said:

@Emerald  pictures are powerful. symbols are powerful. if you look at the development of tarot there are some hints that tarot alchemically might be connected to very old symbols and might be the remainder of a polydiety belief system. so in that sense they are pretty archaic. i just think that these symbols have to be approached more intuitively than only learned from books, to understand them in a metaphysical alchemic context very deeply. a tarot artist/shaman/psychic is probably someone wwho lived through the cards his/her self, knows his/her own relationship to the cards and understand that the cards open up new meanings everytime they connect to another being. to read the cards is to read a person, not reading a person but reading cards, not reading cards but reading oneself.

therefore i`d be very attentive to whom is reading the cards.

Absolutely. I think it's very important to read the cards based on an awareness of what all the elements within the card represent as opposed to just the general meaning. And it's these small elements in the card, that can jump out to you and help you find new paths to think through.

For example, I was doing a reading for a fellow Tarot enthusiast and he had asked the question of "What are the deeper implications of the Tower card in relation to my life and life in general?" And I had begun the reading kind of scratching my head about how the cards relate back to The Tower.

But then, I noticed that the very first card that I drew was the 2 of Wands, which depicts a man at a high vantage point, overlooking the land with a globe in his hand that is yellow and red instead of blue and green. And the typical meaning that I take from this is that he's keeping himself from the world because his worldview is distorted. And he's too attached to his own worldview. And I could only somewhat make this fit with the meaning of The Tower card... which tends to represent the breaking down of systems and the chaos that ensues.

But then I realized, that the man in the 2 of wands is standing up on top of a Tower. It's an obvious detail but I had overlooked it at first.

So, I could then see that there is a connection in that, when the Tower falls in someone's life, it brings them from illusion and the high and safe place that they're used to look from... all the way down to the ground. And often painfully, as when we are attached to our worldviews and ideas about the world, it is painful to have those illusions and security blankets stripped away from us. It is the meaning of disillusionment.

But it also allows us to have a closer experience of life. And it allows us to experience instead of just being intoxicated by the illusion of knowing.

 

[Emerald]

32 minutes ago, Zigzag Idiot said:

That cracked me up. ?

I see,,,, Thank you for making those connections!

I look forward to your new channel.

Thank you! I'll start releasing videos on it next Sunday.

Edited August 31, 2019 by Emerald

[Emerald]

9 hours ago, mandyjw said:

I use them, they are like a good friend who always tells you the brutal truth but also knows when you need some encouragement. Quite like a few people I've know from here on the forum.   I have the "The Wild Unknown" set, because I deeply resonate with nature and animal symbolism. I think it's important to love the deck and the art on it.

Intuition and faith in the cards or a spirit guide/inner being behind them is important. Sometimes I feel for the right card but normally I choose it visually, I see "personalities" and subtle qualities or energy from the back of the card. Most of my insights and awakenings have come to me visually, so I guess it makes sense that I'd use my strongest sense. I'm guessing that those of us like that would gravitate to tarot more. 

 

I have seen that deck but I don't have it. It has some very nice illustrations to it.

Normally, when I choose a card, I tend to just imagine that reality is creating a kind of synchronicity through the cards. So, no matter which card is draw, I begin with the assumption that it's relevant. 

But I do it by feel when I shuffle and cut the deck... and choose the significator card. I get a feel for it. But sometimes it's visual for me too.

[Esoteric]

15 hours ago, Emerald said:

I recommend "The Ultimate Guide to Tarot" by Liz Dean. In the beginning part it talks about all the different systems within the Tarot that will really help your readings.

There are suits, numbers, colors, astrological signs, correlation between Major and Minor Arcana cards, etc. Once you know these systems, you can read more intuitively, as opposed to just memorizing the meanings of each card separately (though I do recommend this as well).

 

@Emerald Thanks, I will check out that book

[Leo Gura]

18 hours ago, Emerald said:

Actually, I've thought the same thing. I do both life-coaching and Tarot reading (both as lines of work), and they're quite similar.

The main difference with the Tarot, in facilitating a person to find their own answers is that you're using a visual framing device, that has a more direct link to the archetypal/narrative aspects of the mind.

So, the Tarot is a lot like a vehicle that can drive you to aspects of the mind that you would have a much harder time reaching without that vehicle. The difference between trying to walk across the desert versus driving.

The other difference is the massive woo factor which will spook off most materialist clients

If you're gonna announce you do Tarot, your only clients will be hippies and witches.

One of the downsides of hippies and witches is that they're usually poor.

[Aakash]

Lool they would be scared indeed 

[Emerald]

4 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

The other difference is the massive woo factor which will spook off most materialist clients

If you're gonna announce you do Tarot, your only clients will be hippies and witches.

One of the downsides of hippies and witches is that they're usually poor.

I've actually found quite a few people who are interested in the Tarot from a Jungian perspective. It really just depends on how you present it. Also, what helps for me, is that I have a YT channel where I present somewhat "Woo" topics from a perspective that's more palatable to those who identify with rationalism. I'm like a gateway woo...

 

[remember]

@Emerald  

they say a rose is a rose, but not one is like another.

[Emerald]

14 hours ago, Esoteric said:

@Emerald Thanks, I will check out that book

You're welcome.

 

[Apparition of Jack]

8 hours ago, Emerald said:

 I'm like a gateway woo...

 

Nice!

[kieranperez]

How do I know if a Tarot card reader is any good? So it’s badically a psychic medium for getting clear about my desires and obstacles? What do you believe is the right way for someone going to a Tarot to treat the session in terms of expectation as to what they want to to get out of it? What is the medium trying to help someone who goes to a Tarot reader do?

[Emerald]

13 hours ago, kieranperez said:

How do I know if a Tarot card reader is any good? So it’s badically a psychic medium for getting clear about my desires and obstacles? What do you believe is the right way for someone going to a Tarot to treat the session in terms of expectation as to what they want to to get out of it? What is the medium trying to help someone who goes to a Tarot reader do?

From what I've seen, there are many different philosophies around Tarot reading. For some, it's a tool for divination, and it can be used in the way that you mentioned. But that's not true for me because I don't possess psychic abilities. 

Instead, I use it as a tool for the querent and I to use while we explore the topics that get lit upon in relation to the cards. So, it's more collaborative like life-coaching.

But there are many different ways to look at it. For some, it's a parlor trick. For others, it's fortune telling. For others, it's usuing divination to get clarity. And for others, like myself, it's an archetypal framing device for life's patterns. And I'm sure there are many more perspectives than that.

 

 

[remember]

@Emerald  found this deck, it`s supposed to be a very old one - somehow i like the symbolism. a lot of devils appearing on the cards. thought it might be interesting, also that there are hints to the shadows of the cards. as there is so much talk of devils and angels going on - i thought some kind of shadow tarot would be refreshing.

some of the pictures are pretty funy - like the magician - who wants to become a table?

Edited September 2, 2019 by remember

[Aakash]

The way to use tarot cards is to engage with the inner desire that one has. The cards are meant to reflect the clients reality. So you ask them questions using the cards they pull and leave. No advice given just questions and your intention is to find out what their inner desire is and them them to indulge in it to the extreme, to the point where it’s deteriorating their health.