Home
>
Spirituality
>
The Trouble With Tarot Reading

The Trouble With Tarot Reading

Anything can be used for divination; coins, tea leaves, cards, the flight of birds, the spilled entrails of captured enemies. The objects used are a focus for the psychic talent of the seer. Or rather a distractor, so that the everyday consciousness is pre-occupied, and something else can give its opinion.

So why the fuss over tarot cards? Are they the Devil's picture book, an ancient mystical symbol system, or an evolving historical artefact?

This writer inclines towards the latter view. You see, modern would-be occultists have a real barrier to understanding their subject. It's a monster that rears its enchanting head in times of prosperity, and consequent personal freedom. Its latest incarnation is bright, gaudy, simplistic and woolly-minded by turns.

It's called the New Age.

It should be called The Same Old Fraud In A Shiny Suit. Occultism has long been the pastime of the leisured classes. A genuine mystic has a connection to the divine; acquired in a previous incarnation, or learned in a mystery school, or monastery, in this one.

The rest of us have to pick through paperback books, or knock on the doors of the living saints of our familiar religion.

Popular mysticism is a business; a big one, and profitable. Reprinting and re-hashing a mish-mash of old grimoires, Eastern religions, neo-paganism and occult biographies is cheap and easy to do. You can avoid any practical experience of the subject matter as well. There is no 'down side'!

Except of course the karmic consequences of knowingly wasting peoples' time and energy with half-truths, bluffs and blinds.

The pitch for tarot cards is that they were created in ancient Eqypt by hierophants to codify their occult knowledge. How inconvenient then that one can trace their development from a plaything of titled ladies in Renaissance times, to the cards used to gip fools in Las Vegas today.

You see, tarot cards originally showed the major virtues and powers in a Renaissance person's life; not for occult reasons, but for the same reason children collect cards today: their amusement. You have the Sun, Moon, Star, Temperance, The Pope, The Emperor, Empress, Hanged Man, Death etc. All very lurid and exotic to modern eyes, but hard facts of life when the cards were made.

Only the wealthy were literate, printing was expensive, coloured pictures (of anything) were something to marvel at and treasure. We take these for granted today; our ancestors did not.

Also, our forebears had to amuse themselves most of the time. Even our great-grandparents played the piano or the fiddle, knew ten formal dances, could sing twenty songs from memory, were keen raconteurs and loved a good joke well told. They had to; there was little other amusement. A young lady who couldn't play the piano, or at least sing, was at a social disadvantage.

Popular occultism and tarot cards should be seen in this light; a pass-the-time, taken a bit too seriously by failed priests, alienated young men and lovelorn young women.

Lively discussion about this subject can be had at the Alt.Tarot Usenet newsgroup, most easily accessed here: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.tarot.

Its FAQ makes for a good read: http://www.tigertom.com/download/tarot-faq-01-01-1998.txt.

The upshot is that there are libraries-full of drivelling, disingenuous, sententious, re-hashed balderdash written about this subject. A case can be made that 90% of *all* occult books are a distraction away from that which they are supposed to point to: the Divine in us, and how we can co-operate with it.

To that end, they are indeed the Devil's work.

The best definition of tarot cards I can paraphrase, from memory, is one by Amado Crowley, a noted English occultist: "They are a computer that can know you". This I take to mean you can use them to help solve knotty personal problems, rather than divine the future.

The paradox of tarot reading is: Does predicting someone's future to them in a spooky setting influence their future actions, regardless of whether the seer is psychic or not?

If you do give readings to others, should you influence someone in this way? If you are a querent, do you want someone else's predictions lurking in the back of your mind, influencing your future actions?

T. O' Donnell ( http://www.tigertom.com ) is an ecommerce consultant and curmudgeon living in London, UK. His latest project is an ebook on conservatories, available at http://www.tigertom.com

Other T. O' Donnell freeware may be downloaded at http://www.tigertom.com

shuttle to Midway Beardstown .. Lockport Chicago limo O’Hare

In The News:

Google’s scam detection features, powered by artificial intelligence, are a significant step forward in safeguarding Android users from fraud.

The FBI has issued a warning that scammers are impersonating doctors, police and banks using spoofed numbers as "smishing" texts surge nationwide.

Communities with unreliable internet service stand to gain after Amazon's Project Kuiper launched its first full batch of satellites into orbit April 28.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says unsubscribing from spam might actually backfire. Learn when to avoid it and stop junk effectively.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson talks about how the first nonstop beating heart transplant, called zero ischemic time, at Taiwan hospital changes surgery.

Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson: FBI warns of "time-traveling" hackers.

Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson talks about a soft, vine-like robot called SPROUT that aids safe survivor rescues in collapsed buildings.

Health insurance giant Blue Shield of California confirmed it had been sharing private health data of 4.7 million users with Google for three years without even realizing it.

Delta and JetZero’s blended wing body aircraft marks a meaningful step toward a cleaner, quieter and more efficient future for air travel.

Recent reports show many common passwords can be cracked in literally seconds. Kurt the CyberGuy explains how to strengthen your passwords.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Iron, a robot that stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 154 pounds, combines advanced artificial intelligence with human-like movement and exceptional vision.

Hertz, the rental car giant, recently confirmed that customer information was exposed through a cyberattack on one of its software vendors.

There are a number of features with AirPods you may or may not know about to take your listening experience to the next level. Kurt the CyberGuy explains.

These 35 Chrome extensions have privacy and security concerns. Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says to delete them now.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says 329,000 mph fusion rocket promises to be fast, disruptive and enable deep-space missions.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says a new autonomous AI is a game changer that also raises privacy risks. Is your data safe?

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says robots and drones are revolutionizing fruit farming with faster picking and smarter handling.

Landmark Admin revises May 2024 cyberattack scope to show twice as many people were affected. Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson gives tips to help stay safe from an insurance data breach.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson talks about how Yamaha’s hydrogen outboard motor could revolutionize boating with zero emissions.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson reveals how to memorialize or remove a deceased loved one’s Facebook account and protect their digital legacy from misuse or scams.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says an Apple Watch saved psychiatrist Amanda Faulkner by detecting deadly leukemia early.

Scammers and fraudsters are increasingly targeting the most vulnerable, especially nursing homes and the personal data of their residents. Kurt the CyberGuy has safety tips.

Infected USB flash drives can spread malware among multiple organizations in ways that can easily bypass traditional security systems.

The Trouble With Tarot Reading

Spirituality