Is tarot helpful?

Tarot can be helpful depending on how we use it. There is a line. I have crossed the line I think at times in the past when it becomes a crutch or an addiction, when you have to know about something or you keep reading on the same topic over and over. That isn't using it in a helpful way but a real desperate need for comfort. I think about 18 months after I first joined here, I started reading on everything. It was so unhealthy!

But it can be so good at helping make decisions and telling us what is coming up if we you use for that. It's good for getting a different perspective and finding out a truth that you can't really see. But I am more careful about what I read about myself now or the questions I ask. Do I really want to know that? Can I handle a negative reading or a truth? Do I really just want to hear what I want to hear for comfort? Because the tarot isn't helpful for that, we have to find our own peace of mind

However it has helped me avoid things coming up, helped me make decisions and most of all find so much about myself! That is really helpful

danieljuk said:

Tarot can be helpful depending on how we use it. There is a line. I have crossed the line I think at times in the past when it becomes a crutch or an addiction, when you have to know about something or you keep reading on the same topic over and over. That isn't using it in a helpful way but a real desperate need for comfort. I think about 18 months after I first joined here, I started reading on everything. It was so unhealthy!

But it can be so good at helping make decisions and telling us what is coming up if we you use for that. It's good for getting a different perspective and finding out a truth that you can't really see. But I am more careful about what I read about myself now or the questions I ask. Do I really want to know that? Can I handle a negative reading or a truth? Do I really just want to hear what I want to hear for comfort? Because the tarot isn't helpful for that, we have to find our own peace of mind

However it has helped me avoid things coming up, helped me make decisions and most of all find so much about myself! That is really helpful

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that is so true. You have to learn to set your boundaries. Otherwise you go nuts. For very mondaine things i draw my own cards. If it's about important stuff, i'll ask a friend to do it for me. Just to keep my sanity. ;-)

EmpressArwen said:

This is something I'm pondering.

Let's say someone correctly predicts something is about to happen using cards or whatever, did it help me to know it was coming? Or did it just cause me anxiety while waiting for it? Or did it not change anything...like knowing didn't change anything for me, good or ill? If so...what was the point?

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yes, it helps. if you KNOW something is coming, you can prepare for it--perhaps change it enough so it is't going to be a 'bad' something--or at least be prepared for it enough so that you don't have a major break down if something bad that was predicted does come your way.

Then add in the more insight type readings...have you ever really been told something that you wouldn't have known or that really changed a situation for you?

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yes. a few times.

I've had some very accurate readings in my life...but did it change anything for me? Or did I have to go through the situation regardless? And if I did have to learn and go through it regardless...again...what is the point?

I'm not looking for a debate as I don't really know my opinion yet...still in the pondering phase. Any thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

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I did have numerous tarot readings (some here!) that predicted something awful was going to happen to me and it was going to cause me great pain and sorrow.

I was still taken off guard when the tragedy struck, but, I was somewhat prepared for it and I can see now that it was meant to happen. Before it occurred, I began to carry specific crystals for protection, focus and control. Perhaps these helped me some too, who knows? Not sure I'd have begun to carry or wear them if the tarot predictions had not come my way. The result of this tragedy has forced me down a new path that is much more rewarding as a result. I was happy with life before--but now I look back and see the tragedy made me a stronger and better person. It has also set me on a new path in life that I may not have taken if I didn't go through that.

Predictions of good are always better to receive, obviously, but even the bad predictions can be good to know about ahead of time. It may still take you by surprise, but I feel you have the time to somewhat prepare yourself for it even if you don't realize you are doing just that. Out of bad comes some good.

so, like violetdaisy said:

Tarot can be helpful. It may not change a situation but it can change, or enforce ...your attitude about said situation, what you say and do in said situation, and thereby encourage one outcome over other options.

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and I'll add- it can change things that need to be changed in your life so that you begin down a more fruitful path.

mahafrins said:

Its not adding value in my life any more at all and doesn't predict anything.. also there is nothing new that I get in the advice. In fact somew of the advice of tarot is actually misguiding at times so I have a mixed to contrary view...

Tarot doesn't help much and its more just a reliever to your senses...

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I don't mean to psycho-analyze here, but when one feels disillusioned or feels negative feelings about something, one perceives everything around much more negatively than it really is...Perhaps, you could start exploring your abilities in a different way now, not via Tarot...

It would help if you found psychic reader who is renowned in the field. Get a reading from her/him -- you will pay some extra money for the reading, but you will get the information you are looking for...

Readings can be extremely helpful where choices are concerned. Off the top of my head, I can think of a couple of instances out of many over the years.

One was where a client had her choice of being posted for her work in two different countries, and she wanted a reading on which would be the better choice. The cards said that if she went to India, the work would not be that challenging, but she would probably meet the love of her life. She chose India, and two years later she, her husband (whom she had indeed met in India) and their entire wedding party returned for readings on their wedding day.

Another instance was when a client asked if she should allow her daughter and baby to move back in "for a couple of months in order for her to get her life in order." It wasn't like the daughter would be out on the street if my client said no, but of course she would save money in doing this. There were some pros and cons, but overall the cards were adamant that doing this would pretty much ruin my client's life for the time that her daughter was in their home, and it would be a lot longer than the daughter said it would be. My client decided to go against what the cards advised and for over two years after that I listened to her complaining about how her daughter was continually taking advantage of her (at one point the boyfriend moved in too), how it was ruining her life, and how she wished she had listened.

Apollonia said:

Another instance was when a client asked if she should allow her daughter and baby to move back in "for a couple of months in order for her to get her life in order." It wasn't like the daughter would be out on the street if my client said no, but of course she would save money in doing this. There were some pros and cons, but overall the cards were adamant that doing this would pretty much ruin my client's life for the time that her daughter was in their home, and it would be a lot longer than the daughter said it would be. My client decided to go against what the cards advised and for over two years after that I listened to her complaining about how her daughter was continually taking advantage of her (at one point the boyfriend moved in too), how it was ruining her life, and how she wished she had listened.

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My sister-in-law had a similar situation. Her daughter's partner committed suicide in a rather grisly manner (the Lovers rx as "the heart of the matter"), and the devastated daughter moved back home. My SIL wanted to know how that was going to work out between them. She and my brother don't really have a lot of money to support a third mouth-to-feed. The 10 of Pentacles came up reversed in the outcome position, suggesting a setback in their financial well-being, but not one that would be impossible to accommodate. And so it has turned out.

Sometimes predictions are only the work, the other half is knowing what to do with them. Macbeth was foretold he would be king but it wouldn't have happened if he hadn't done anything about it. He was a real go-getter. He was also a crazed serial killer, but not everyone is perfect. Tarot doesn't show the future, it merely shows a possibility of the future and there are always variables that may change an outcome. Some are more likely than others, but the future really does have endless possibilities.

It is also important to keep in one's Tarot journey changes focus over time. When I started out it was with doing predictive readings with RWS-style decks and in time I moved on to self-exploratory readings with the Thoth. In fact, I do actual readings less than ever before to the degree that I've found out I don't really like doing them, but that doesn't mean that my passion for Tarot has waned.

So the question is less "is Tarot helpful" but more "is Tarot helpful for what you are trying to do with it."

Zephyros said:

In fact, I do actual readings less than ever before to the degree that I've found out I don't really like doing them, but that doesn't mean that my passion for Tarot has waned.

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Interesting observation. As much time as I've spent pursuing self-understanding through the tarot and astrology (and it's a lot over the past 44 years), I still get the most pleasure out of applying that experience to the act of reading the cards for others. It's like the study and contemplation part is the rewarding labor and the reading part is the fun.

Barleywine said:

Interesting observation. As much time as I've spent pursuing self-understanding through the tarot and astrology (and it's a lot over the past 44 years), I still get the most pleasure out of applying that experience to the act of reading the cards for others. It's like the study and contemplation part is the rewarding labor and the reading part is the fun.

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For me the reading part is the "show," the stage where you perform all that you have learned. One of the problems I have is that people seem to listen to what I say too seriously, and it creeps me out somehow. I'm a passable reader, but it isn't the focus of my Tarot studies. I suppose you could call me a Tarot theoretician, I thrive on models and theories. I don't get out of the Tarot lab that much.

Nemia said:

But I don't judge things in my life for their usefulness. I could simply buy herbs in the supermarket, couldn't I? Why waste time and water taking care of my own herb garden? Well, it makes me happy and that's enough for me.

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I completely agree. And besides, if something brings us joy, interest or diversion, that's useful in itself.

In my experience with tarot, ive found that it reads what's inside you at the time of the reading it gets deep inside your soul and literally rips out your gut for good or for bad.

I'm not finding that tarot is that good for predictions, to me tarot seems to work better for deeper understanding of a situation or person or themselves.

For example someone asks how their night out will go in a couple of days time, so in my experience the cards will only tell you how your feeling about going out in a couple of days time, NOT how it will actually pan out.

So if the cards you get for this certain night out, was ....(death, 3 cups, 4 cups) this to me would say that right now your feeling down and are bored and really just fancy letting your hair down and having some fun, your feeling very emotional due to something changing in your life which is causing you to feel like this.

I WOULDN'T say that the night out would be a let down (4 cups) its not your usual place to go (death) and its left you feeling really emotionally drained (all cups).

For me inner work is Tarot, and predictions come from Lenormand and PC's. But Lenormand are my favorite for predictions so far.