Should Tarot be Mainstream?

FaeryGodmother said:

But "fortune-telling" is mainstream. Or at least the art of prediction is. We have weather forecasts every night on the news. That is backed by years of scientific training and complicated jargon that most people (at least most people I know) don't truly understand. We could learn about it easily enough, or at least the basics of it by looking it up on the net or in an encyclopedia, (or trying to remember high school lessons that for a large portion of us are highly outdated). There are so many predictions in "mainstream" life its not funny. And we aren't surprised when they aren't always right- but we make decisions based on them anyway. Personally I don't think theres a difference between fortune-telling and predicting other than connotation.

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Telling fortunes based on reading cards falling randomly in a spread is way different from making predictions based on examination of scientific evidence. One involves "magic", the other involves science. And please don't try to tell me they are the same thing, because they are the exact opposite.

Anyway my rather long winded point is that "fortune-telling" or predictions ARE mainstream- very much so, from the weather to market predictions, projected sales etc etc. All these things backed up by nothing more than numbers and previous experience.

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previous experience and numbers is way different than using randomly ordered cards, and seeing how they fall.

All card readers know what they know from experience and learning.

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hmmmm. They learn how to intrepret cards from experience and learning, but a spread from a shuffled deck falls as a random signs from the universe -- this is where the aspect of something like supernatural intervenes.

Firemaiden, I don't think this thread is about going into the mechanics of HOW tarot reading works. There are plenty of threads which discuss that. Suffice it to say, I personally, don't think its "magic" at all. Don't we take it for given in the light of this thread that it does work?

I was responding to your assertion that tarot reading could only be mainstream if it were divorced from fortune telling. I don't think the predictive element has anything to do with whether or not tarot is mainstream because of the fact that prediction permeates so many levels of our everyday life.

What does make tarot stand out on its own is that it is neither scientifically backed nor religiously sanctioned. I can't think of anything mainstream that does not fall into one of these two categories.

For the record, TIME magazine recently had a special on the demographics of the US. The article stated that 18% of the american population believed in tarot. Is that mainstream yet?

Given what Tarot has been in my life, I personally don't only think it should be mainstream, I think they should teach it in school. School is to prepare you for life and I can't think of any other skill I have that has been a bigger help in my life. Certainly makes more sense to me to study Tarot than some of the other subjects I had to endure and never use again.

Bar

I don't have any problem at all with tarot being used for fortune telling ! why not ? it works, & people have used it as such for hundreds of years -- there's nothing wrong with that at all.
Maybe its just not fashionable at present to come out and say it. Which is why I am. lolol

I've never thought of tarot as not mainstream. In other words, I find tarot to be well-accepted, just not popular or common practise. However the trend of tarot's popularity where I live is burgeoning. Tarot shelves in every bookshop I visit is growing and there are tarot columns just like horoscopes in practically every newspaper or magazine sold around here.

FaeryGodmother said:

I was responding to your assertion that tarot reading could only be mainstream if it were divorced from fortune telling. I don't think the predictive element has anything to do with whether or not tarot is mainstream because of the fact that prediction permeates so many levels of our everyday life.

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HI there Faery Godmother -- well, in my way of seeing things, "fortune telling" is a very different thing from "prediction" - so I would make a distinction between mainstream accepted scientific predictions, and fortune-telling by cards - which may not be "mainstream" accepted (whatever mainstream is). (It's not accepted by any one in my family for example)

What does make tarot stand out on its own is that it is neither scientifically backed nor religiously sanctioned. I can't think of anything mainstream that does not fall into one of these two categories.
For the record, TIME magazine recently had a special on the demographics of the US. The article stated that 18% of the american population believed in tarot. Is that mainstream yet?

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Right, that means it is not, I guess. Although I would submit that I myself do not "believe" in tarot, and yet I do use it...

I'm starting to sound like my hero Bill Clinton, LOL, define "believe", define "mainstream", define "tarot", define "working"... oy oy oy, I better stop now, LOL before I start trying to define "American" ... heeeeeeeeelp.

Mainstream information, science and knowledge put Man on the moon. Maybe mainstream perception, understanding and wisdom can get him back on earth again.

Major Tom said:

There are many people in the world working very hard to help make tarot more mainstream - more open and available for everyone to use. In many ways, that's exactly what the Aeclectic Tarot Forums do - make tarot more readily available. I personally think that most people would benefit from the use of tarot, far outweighing those who might be harmed. Indeed, if we compare it to other things that are mainstream, television for example, tarot use would seem considerably more beneficial. Shall I use tarot to examine my options or spend the next couple of hours in a vegative state in front of the TV? Hmmm, that's a tough one.

What do you think?

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I think I will quote myself :

" Sometimes it's better that they not be too mainstream . "

Notice I did not say mainstream . I said TOO mainstream.

What is too mainstream ? For me it would be turning on the tv and having to listen to some bubble head celebrity drone on about his/her deep tarot insights every other day . Such as you have to steal your first tarot deck or other fanciful news. Too mainstream would be Hanged Man cereal . Tarot "Churches" on every corner , with Tarot Witnesses coming to the door to spread the word. I would no more want teachers giving a tarot deck to every student than I would want every student given a Bible or a Koran or a Book of Shadows .

I doubt that anyone who is for the tarot wants it to be illegal, hard to find, impossible to understand, or something that will get you burnt at the metaphorical stake . But I have respect for spiritual traditions , and many of them are mysteries you walk a path to understand . Unfortunately in our modern world , whatever becomes too popular is beaten to death in the media for profit and eventually becomes kind of cheap and creepy in the end. You only have to look at witchcraft and vampire fads in the media and the cartoonish bs they have produced . I have to imagine that the only reason it hasn't happened to tarot yet is that tarot is harder to understand once you're face to face with it on your own.

stella01904 said:

TdM will NEVER be mainstream: "Ewwww, it's UGLY!" "It doesn't even have PICTURES!" etc.

While the rest of the world is studying their Malcolm In The MiddleTM Tarots, we weird types will be perusing our TdM's, secure in the knowledge that we are not, and will never be, "mainstream."

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Tarot de Marseilles IS mainstream - it is the most popular deck in France, decks like the Charmed are the marginal ones.

At the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Italy people wore cards from a historic non-scenic deck. How much more mainstream can you get ?

WolfSpirit said:

Tarot de Marseilles IS mainstream - it is the most popular deck in France, decks like the Charmed are the marginal ones.
At the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Italy people wore cards from a historic non-scenic deck. How much more mainstream can you get ?

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Hmmmm.....maybe mainstream French and Italian are not so appalling as the McMainstreamtm we get shoved down our throats over here. Maybe "mainstream" over there is determined by something other than advertising hype targeting the lowest common denominator?