Can Tarot really foretell the Future ?

[Nikita_]

If it fortells a possible future and you take action to change it, does it mean it was wrong? It just means you didn't go down that path. Tarot enables you to see what you already know, intuitively.

I feel like asking yes or no type questions is missing the point. Asking "what should I think about", "what would happen if"... it's not that the cards were wrong if that doesn't happen, it just means, you disagreed with what the cards said, and took action to change that future. It depends what question you ask--the future of the present path? The future of a hypothetical path?

I see fate as a rather lot of branches, not a straight road... and tarot not so much as divination but as allowing us access to intuition. But, that is just my perspective on the matter.

I'm glad you brought this up, because it gives me a chance to answer all those who have replied in a similar way, and described the future as many possible paths ( branches ) and we can choose which path to take.
Let's assume for a moment that that's really how it is-and I personally don't agree with this view, but still, let's say it's the way it is.
If we have many possible paths ahead of us, and free will and free choice of which one to take, either tarot is able to see in advance which one we will choose, or it isn't able to do that, ie, it can't foretell the future. I really do think it's as simple as that.
Everyone can stand at the centre of a crossroads and claim to be a psychic, telling people passing by " I know which one of these ten roads you'll go down ! " If then, when someone chooses to go another way, he claimed " I wasn't wrong, but you changed your mind !" he would become a laughing stock. And rightly so.

 

[dancing_moon]

I'm glad you brought this up, because it gives me a chance to answer all those who have replied in a similar way, and described the future as many possible paths ( branches ) and we can choose which path to take.
Let's assume for a moment that that's really how it is-and I personally don't agree with this view, but still, let's say it's the way it is.
If we have many possible paths ahead of us, and free will and free choice of which one to take, either tarot is able to see in advance which one we will choose, or it isn't able to do that, ie, it can't foretell the future. I really do think it's as simple as that.
Everyone can stand at the centre of a crossroads and claim to be a psychic, telling people passing by " I know which one of these ten roads you'll go down ! " If then, when someone chooses to go another way, he claimed " I wasn't wrong, but you changed your mind !" he would become a laughing stock. And rightly so.

I can see what you're saying. But if you really live by that principle, you won't need Tarot to make pure predictions because you'll be the one choosing your future. You'll be only interested in potential benefits/drawbacks of the available options, and then make your choice according to the information you get about them.

Talking about relationships, aren't we a bit too practical and focused on 'end results' nowadays? 'Show me if this guy is worth pursuing, and if he turns out bad marriage material, I won't waste my precious time on him'? I mean, really. I've been in a similar situation for over a decade, but I don't feel like it was for nothing. I've learnt a lot of things from that person and from that futile hope, and I'm forever grateful for that.

 

[Farzon]

I'm glad you brought this up, because it gives me a chance to answer all those who have replied in a similar way, and described the future as many possible paths ( branches ) and we can choose which path to take.
Let's assume for a moment that that's really how it is-and I personally don't agree with this view, but still, let's say it's the way it is.
If we have many possible paths ahead of us, and free will and free choice of which one to take, either tarot is able to see in advance which one we will choose, or it isn't able to do that, ie, it can't foretell the future. I really do think it's as simple as that.
Everyone can stand at the centre of a crossroads and claim to be a psychic, telling people passing by " I know which one of these ten roads you'll go down ! " If then, when someone chooses to go another way, he claimed " I wasn't wrong, but you changed your mind !" he would become a laughing stock. And rightly so.

If the future is predetermined, why do you think you can help people make the right decisions?

Wouldn't it all be in vain?

I agree with you that some things need to be accepted in life. But with your philosophy towards predetermination, I don't see any use left for the Tarot except helping you to accept, give hope and so on. Where do you see Tarot 's place?

 

[Nikita_]

I can see what you're saying. But if you really live by that principle, you won't need Tarot to make pure predictions because you'll be the one choosing your future. You'll be only interested in potential benefits/drawbacks of the available options, and then make your choice according to the information you get about them.

Talking about relationships, aren't we a bit too practical and focused on 'end results' nowadays? 'Show me if this guy is worth pursuing, and if he turns out bad marriage material, I won't waste my precious time on him'? I mean, really. I've been in a similar situation for over a decade, but I don't feel like it was for nothing. I've learnt a lot of things from that person and from that futile hope, and I'm forever grateful for that.

It isn't about marriage ; in my book a relationship worth pursuing is one where the "benefits " ( in terms of emotional exchange, or equal energy exchange, what it does for our growth as human beings, as well as what we do for the other person, and above all, of course, about LOVE ) outweight the tears, heartache, sadness and hard times that can be devastating for our soul and confidence, don't make us go forward in our spiritual development, and sometimes even makes us go backwards....A relationship can be an enriching, incredibly fulfilling and positive experience even if it lasts 3 weeks and doesn't end up in marriage, but we must be happy knowing that it will never go beyond that, and not secretly hope it will turn into something it will never be, or it will cause us just pain and bitterness....

 

[Teheuti]

"Every material form is a symbol of the force which generates it. ... The future is only the past unfolded."
--Minetta in Tea-Cup Fortune Telling

 

[Nikita_]

I think that, although the really big events in our life are are predetermined and we can't avoid them, we can change our way of dealing with them, and like I said, shorten the time we waste after things that are not worth pursuing, because they are blind alleys which will lead us nowhere. In time, with experience, we can learn to recognize the signs of impossible love or relationships, or any other situations that life presents us with which don't have a future even without the cards, but still, tarot can be a great help in that....
If tarot cannot be relied upon to help us do that, in my opinion, it is almost useless.

Here Farzon. This is tarot's place, in my view. Prepare us to accept and deal with what's to come.

 

[Nikita_]

"Every material form is a symbol of the force which generates it. ... The future is only the past unfolded."
--Minetta in Tea-Cup Fortune Telling

Which means we can't change it, because as a matter of fact, it's already happened....

 

[Teheuti]

Which means we can't change it, because as a matter of fact, it's already happened....

Interesting. I don't read it that way at all. However, I don't think we have as much free will as many of us like to think we do. My stepdaughter had three accidents in which her car flipped and rolled. The first two times she walked away without a scratch, the third time she died. The circumstances in all three cases were exactly the same - her driving fast and angry after a drunken fight with a boy friend.

Chance may give us new and different circumstances, but how we deal with them is an unfolding, in some way, from our dna, background and character.

 

[Nikita_]

I can see what you're saying. But if you really live by that principle, you won't need Tarot to make pure predictions because you'll be the one choosing your future. You'll be only interested in potential benefits/drawbacks of the available options, and then make your choice according to the information you get about them. .

I don't live by that principle at all; in fact, I think the future is pretty much fixed, and the guy standing at the crossroads-tarot ? -just can't or won't see it.

 

[Nikita_]

Interesting. I don't read it that way at all. However, I don't think we have as much free will as many of us like to think we do. My stepdaughter had three accidents in which her car flipped and rolled. The first two times she walked away without a scratch, the third time she died. The circumstances in all three cases were exactly the same - her driving fast and angry after a drunken fight with a boy friend.

Chance may give us new and different circumstances, but how we deal with them is an unfolding, in some way, from our dna, background and character.

Her destiny chasing after her ? Showing that there's no point in trying to avoid it ? It reminds me of that movie were a group of people escaped a plane crash in which they were supposed to have died, and Death chased after each one of them, one by one, until they were all dead....