Tarot: Does it work? How?

So, I'm guessing that the vast majority of peeps in here believe in the tarot- it works for you, yes?

So the real question is HOW does it work? What is the mechanism (in your world view) that makes 78 pieces of printed card stock know so much?

The quick rundown of my world view:

I don't do readings for others. period. I don't believe in them. I don't get readings from others- again, I don't believe in them. To me, it is sort of like dream interpretation (it's best done for yourself). There is nothing magical going on- the cards don't know, the universe isn't putting the cards *there* because *there* is where thye are supposed to be. It is simply a matter of a system of symbols that is flexible enough to fit most any situation, and fitting your issue (the question at hand) to the answers that your cards present forces you to look at your issue in a new way. Thus you learn something about yourself or the situation that you wouldn't have known otherwise. The reason that I don't read or get readings with others is because it is *my* issue, and I don't wany anyone else's issues or assumptions interfering with my reading. (or vice versa). But I can imagine that others could *help* you get a reliable reading for yourself by guiding you in the meanings of cards- I just find it most useful to think of my issue and let the cards speak to me- a good deck will always find *something* to say that makes sense, and possibly some mysteries that at least open up new paths of thought.

I imagine that I'm gonna get a lot of flack from others on this board who believe that spirits are controling the deck- psychic powers of the reader are being used- the cards somehow know.... or whatever. Try not to get your hackles raised too much. From my point of view, it's real easy to believe *any* explanation for why it works, but it quite simply does work, so I'm pretty far from making fun of anyone who believes in any of the magical, occult, paranormal explanations. I'm just not in that camp.

So tell me- how does it work for you?

-tb

For me the tarot opens up my intuition, and allow me to read the other person. I also experienced that it works better on people I don't know at all, when I make readings on people I know it can be hard to differ between when I'm listening to my intuition, and when I'm only using logic.

This is just the question I try to answer more than 20 years. I think it is somehow related to the collective sub-conscious.

To me, the cards are either chosen by the collective sub-concious, or just from whatever's out there I guess... I don't believe they're just random cards that popped up and are flexible enough to fit situations. I've actually tryed, when I first started reading, to deliberatly choose cards and place them in a spread to see if it could fit in any way in my life. The answer? It was no. Absolute nonsense they were! But whatever or whoever chooses the cards in our tarot spreads isn't really important, it's just one of those things you just have to believe in. I was very skeptical about it at first, I though: of course, everyone's had decisions and challenges and love in their lives, but by reading (especially to others) I came to see that it really did work as a divination and meditation tool, and why it works isn't important. If it's works, fine, and if we ever find out what is really behind the cards, even better!

lad

I may be in the minority. . . I believe we are all born with the answers to the questions we will ask about life, but we have managed to very successfully bury them beneath a bunch of other "stuff" that we consciously consider to be more important. Call it an "inner voice," "inner guide," or whatever you like - it's there just waiting to be acknowledged and listened to.

Tarot cards bring the subconscious knowledge to the surface. We couldn't have those forehead slapping, "duh" readings if we didn't already know this stuff. We use the tarot to focus - to get extraneous things out of the way, and listen to our inner voice.

Tarot is for me just one of several methods of clearing my mind and focusing on a specific issue with an intent of coming up with an answer. I also meditate - and meditation on a card or cards has been very useful to me also.

Mmmm big question...i have started to tackle it on my website

"The summoning of internal imagery may seem like the description of miraculous oracular powers but it is really a simple process of uncovering something our deeper psyche already knows." ~ David Whyte from a book called Teach Yourself Tarot by Naomi Ozaneic

I think that's the best explanation I've seen for what I believe about it myself.

For me the Tarot reading is a manifestation of my intuition. It allows my intuition to have a physical means of expressing itself in a way my logical Western mind can read and understand it. It's a blessed tool to help my instincts express itself.

thinbuddha said:

So the real question is HOW does it work? What is the mechanism (in your world view) that makes 78 pieces of printed card stock know so much?

The quick rundown of my world view:

I don't do readings for others. period. I don't believe in them. I don't get readings from others- again, I don't believe in them.
….
I imagine that I'm gonna get a lot of flack from others on this board who believe that spirits are controling the deck- psychic powers of the reader are being used- the cards somehow know.... or whatever.
-tb

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Eeeeek a Heretic!

It’s okay. We like heretics, slowly roasted with garlic and Chinese five-spice…LOL.

Seriously – think on this. It’s not so crucial or important on ‘How or Why’ Tarot works. Who cares. Three Tarot demons arrange the cards during the cutting – whatever – who cares.

What’s important…is after all these years…all the debunkings of Tarot as myth, the public comes to card readers…. They may have church, the scientific world, family and friends, lawyers and doctors, real estate agents, the modern world of entertainment Dr Phil, Oprah…But if they got what they were searching for there – divination would never exist.

The media has done a wonderful job of portraying our clients as gullible, and us as con’s (thankfully this is changing).

…They come to us. Why?

We’ve put men on the moon; we know the specific gravity of the moon and the planets…and still they come to us.

Why?

That’s your question. Who cares how or why it works.

Why do they come to us?

Because ultimately it’s not about what you or I believe as we sit here and sip our tea…(doubter and believer side by side)…it’s the rest of humanity that counts.

Why do they come to us?

Umbrae said:

It’s not so crucial or important on ‘How or Why’ Tarot works. Who cares. Three Tarot demons arrange the cards during the cutting – whatever – who cares.

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The reason I ask a question is to sort of take stock of who it is that is visiting this forum. I'm new here, and this seems a quick way to find out what most tarot card readers think is actually going on.

Further- if you assume that it does work, does it matter how it works? Of course it does. The only arguement against asking the question would be if somehow finding the answer stopped it from working. If you know how it works, you can refine the process and make it work better.

You talk about the media making readers out as con artists, and clients as rubes. The assumption there is the same as the one I'm making: namely that the cards are so flexible as to be able to fit nearly any situation. But what I tell people is that *that* is the point. The fact that the cards have a certain amount of flexibility is what makes it work. at least for me.

The other thing I forgot to mention about my view- part of the reason that I only read my own cards is that I know what the cards mean *for me*, and I am the one that shuffles the cards (so my mind knows where the cards are in the deck at any given moment. So yeah- maybe there is some subconscious mechanism at work that makes me place the cards in the right place. And if a person is truly psychic, they would be able to do that *for others*. What I can't figure out is why- if a person is psychic- they would need the cards or find them useful (unless their psychic ability is subconscious)

do I ramble? yes? good.