Cor serpentis
Warning: this will be very long post I will state my experience and I’ll appreciate every other’s experiences, comments and opinions on this topic. Also, English is not my native language, so sorry in advance for potential grammar mistakes and wrong expressions.
Question from the title of the thread also applies on all others tools for divination, but I'll try to stick just to the tarot. I'm interested in opinions of others 'cause I've already commented on this topic with many people who use runes, geomancy, I-Ching and so on and majority of them agrees with me – that all of that tools are just intermediaries between us and Universe, God or whosoever provides us answers and advices we ask for. So when we ask over and over again, that „whosoever“ sends us a message „stop asking, at least for some time“. It's my conclusion, at least for now, but I think that I won't change that opinion.
When I started with tarot I already been in some other branches of divination and knew that by „raping“ one or more divination tools one, after some time, start to receive completely wrong or, in the best case, confused and mixed answers. I tasted that on my own skin saw that just doesn't work on other people's examples and at least dozen other people who are using some divination tool(s) agreed with my opinion and conclusion. So when I began with tarot, I already had some clues and knowledge what to do and what not. I decided to move on slowly, step by step, in order to not repeat my and other people's mistakes.
First step was to „address“ to those „higher force“ whose provides answers and tell that I’ll, at first, I will use cards just for practice and in order to learn specific meanings of my own deck and that it won’t be any kind of misuse and “raping” cards. So I asked bunch of people to ask me a questions on which they can provide me feedback in some reasonable time (from a day or two to a few months, even a year if it takes so much time), did readings for myself (I don’t do it for a long time, but at start I was) and asked questions for friends who weren’t interested in tarot, or, rather, don’t believe in divination at all and consider people who are engaged in such activities as weirdos. Eg. friend texts me that she had huge brawl with her husband and that she needs my advice; then I ask “what their quarrel was about?” and in day or two after that she tells me what happened and I compare her story with cards I pulled. I still don’t think that was violation of ethics, ‘cause I did it for practice, not to spy and stalk anyone and those people would anyway tell me what happened. I answered on questions even if I considered silly many of them (eg. “will I have good time at the party/club/date tonight?”) because I wanted to “collect” as many as possible meanings of the cards. Usually in books and all other texts (on sites, blogs etc) we find some general, in many cases even “spiritual” meanings of cards, but not trivial meanings. But right that “trivial” and “barely significant/insignificant” meanings I find more important than “spiritual meanings”, because, ‘till today, I’ve never, never been asked for advice about spiritual development, or “what is the root of my problems?” (of any kind) ie “what’s wrong with ME and/or MY approach, what needs to change in MYUSELF”; and I’ve been asked maybe dozen (or even less) times for advice, but also on “material things”, eg “what I need to do to draw his/her romantic attention”. All other questions were like “Will I marry this year?”, “Will I get the job I want?”, “When will I start new relationship?”, “Will he propose me soon?” and so on (those were most serious questions I got and I’m still getting; I’ve mentioned that there were almost pointless, but at the start I accepted almost every question whose could provide me every possible meaning of some card and didn’t violate my ethics code).
But soon I realized how many people, more online than in RL, are real addicts in literal sense of that word and that there are silly and stupid questions and that, by giving answers on every “stupid” question, that “higher force” can at one moment refuse to give correct answers at least for some time. Here’s one example: one girl asked me if she ever travel all over the world and I refuse to do that reading. Why? I would never get feedback. She is in her mid 30s, has only high school, has no job, isn't married, doesn't have a dime, still depends on her parents (whose aren't wealthy at all, both of them earning just for barely decent existence and not a penny more) and there's almost no chance that she'll ever manage to save enough money even for weekend in some European capital, let alone „travelling all over the world“. So I consider that question is stupid because she asked it just for fun, she was bored and 'cause she asked me at least 10 times when she'll marry, does she already know her future husband, how he looks like, where and when they will meet and so on, she probably asked first question that crossed her mind at that moment. If you think that there are no stupid and pointless questions, I have more examples but I’ll back to it later.
My method of practicing was to write down all questions and pulled cards and when I receive feedback compare my original interpretation with outcome, so I after some time ruled out some meanings, find many “minor” meanings for almost all cards – I’m saying “many” and “almost” ‘cause there are thousands of meanings of every card and it all depends on question in hand, our approach, I think that we're all will be students of tarot as long as we dealing with him etc… but back to topic. After some time, maybe a year, I “announced” that I won’t answer on questions that I consider stupid and pointless; in fact there was one more reason: some people (like girl I mentioned as example, including her) practically deluged me with their questions, several times per day, and I (in private ) told to some more serious people, with which I already commented on this topic and eventually exchanged readings ‘cause some of them, as I mentioned, are using some divination tool(s) to feel free to continue asking me questions, but more sensible than “I have crush on my acquaintance, will we meet in next 3 days and will he give me some sign that he likes me too?” and I started to doing CC (which is still my favorite spread) more than 3 cards spreads. There still were questions for fun and/or curiosity, but to a much, much lesser extent, pretty rarely and I orderly received feedbacks so I didn’t have problem with that and I slowly became to be pretty serious in my readings, almost like real professional, only difference was that I did readings for free (which I still do and I’ve never did reading for money).
But then began to occur some odd things. At first, sometimes after even a “small” reading on significant questions (eg. “will I pass my exam?” for which I would pull one or 3 cards) I felt exhausted, like I did reading for hours. Also, answers I received from the cards started to be more and more confusing and then I started to discuss with people why is that happening and majority of them concluded same thing that I wrote at the beginning of this post: if you use some divination tool(s) too much, especially if you use to ask pointless questions or ask something just ‘cause you’re bored and something almost insignificant crossed your mind at the moment and you ask tarot (or some other oracle cards, runes, horary, geomancy and so on) after some time, you’ll start to receive completely wrong or, in the best case, confusing answers.
After that, the first thing I did was to definitely stop doing readings for myself (‘cause I’ve already concluded that I’m obviously projecting my wishes/worries and cards give me that “projected” answer and outcome, in majority of cases, had little to do with reading, although I have never been “tarot addict”) and even more decreased the number of people for whose I did readings. The second was that I again “announced” that I won’t give answers on “short-time questions” ie questions on which querent will find out the answer soon. Then I put all my decks, although I used just one, in a box and put the box in the cabinet and didn’t read the cards for few months. There was 2 or 3 exceptions, when some of my close RL friends had big problems and needed advice and clue how and when their problems will be resolved, but excepting that cases, I didn’t touch my cards nor I asked someone else to do reading for me. Since then, I do readings just for close friends and people with which I communicate online for years (regardless if we meet personally or not), from time to time and only when I consider that is not just for fun and out of pure curiosity and that question is really important to one who asks. Answers still aren’t 100% accurate as they were when I was pure beginner and answered on almost totally insignificant questions (“will I have good time at the party tonight?” – for god’s sake, why is that so important??? And at the begining cards were giving so precise answers that it's almost incredibly), and still sometimes I don’t touch my cards for weeks ‘cause there’s no need to do that. My final conclusion is that cards and all other divination and oracle tools can became unruly if we are disrespect them, take them for granted and using them just for fun, or they're just convey that message from that "force" whose provides answers on our questions.
I know that here are many members who will not agree with me at all, or just in some parts of my post, but again, I’d like to hear every comment and opinion.
Regards,
Cor
Question from the title of the thread also applies on all others tools for divination, but I'll try to stick just to the tarot. I'm interested in opinions of others 'cause I've already commented on this topic with many people who use runes, geomancy, I-Ching and so on and majority of them agrees with me – that all of that tools are just intermediaries between us and Universe, God or whosoever provides us answers and advices we ask for. So when we ask over and over again, that „whosoever“ sends us a message „stop asking, at least for some time“. It's my conclusion, at least for now, but I think that I won't change that opinion.
When I started with tarot I already been in some other branches of divination and knew that by „raping“ one or more divination tools one, after some time, start to receive completely wrong or, in the best case, confused and mixed answers. I tasted that on my own skin saw that just doesn't work on other people's examples and at least dozen other people who are using some divination tool(s) agreed with my opinion and conclusion. So when I began with tarot, I already had some clues and knowledge what to do and what not. I decided to move on slowly, step by step, in order to not repeat my and other people's mistakes.
First step was to „address“ to those „higher force“ whose provides answers and tell that I’ll, at first, I will use cards just for practice and in order to learn specific meanings of my own deck and that it won’t be any kind of misuse and “raping” cards. So I asked bunch of people to ask me a questions on which they can provide me feedback in some reasonable time (from a day or two to a few months, even a year if it takes so much time), did readings for myself (I don’t do it for a long time, but at start I was) and asked questions for friends who weren’t interested in tarot, or, rather, don’t believe in divination at all and consider people who are engaged in such activities as weirdos. Eg. friend texts me that she had huge brawl with her husband and that she needs my advice; then I ask “what their quarrel was about?” and in day or two after that she tells me what happened and I compare her story with cards I pulled. I still don’t think that was violation of ethics, ‘cause I did it for practice, not to spy and stalk anyone and those people would anyway tell me what happened. I answered on questions even if I considered silly many of them (eg. “will I have good time at the party/club/date tonight?”) because I wanted to “collect” as many as possible meanings of the cards. Usually in books and all other texts (on sites, blogs etc) we find some general, in many cases even “spiritual” meanings of cards, but not trivial meanings. But right that “trivial” and “barely significant/insignificant” meanings I find more important than “spiritual meanings”, because, ‘till today, I’ve never, never been asked for advice about spiritual development, or “what is the root of my problems?” (of any kind) ie “what’s wrong with ME and/or MY approach, what needs to change in MYUSELF”; and I’ve been asked maybe dozen (or even less) times for advice, but also on “material things”, eg “what I need to do to draw his/her romantic attention”. All other questions were like “Will I marry this year?”, “Will I get the job I want?”, “When will I start new relationship?”, “Will he propose me soon?” and so on (those were most serious questions I got and I’m still getting; I’ve mentioned that there were almost pointless, but at the start I accepted almost every question whose could provide me every possible meaning of some card and didn’t violate my ethics code).
But soon I realized how many people, more online than in RL, are real addicts in literal sense of that word and that there are silly and stupid questions and that, by giving answers on every “stupid” question, that “higher force” can at one moment refuse to give correct answers at least for some time. Here’s one example: one girl asked me if she ever travel all over the world and I refuse to do that reading. Why? I would never get feedback. She is in her mid 30s, has only high school, has no job, isn't married, doesn't have a dime, still depends on her parents (whose aren't wealthy at all, both of them earning just for barely decent existence and not a penny more) and there's almost no chance that she'll ever manage to save enough money even for weekend in some European capital, let alone „travelling all over the world“. So I consider that question is stupid because she asked it just for fun, she was bored and 'cause she asked me at least 10 times when she'll marry, does she already know her future husband, how he looks like, where and when they will meet and so on, she probably asked first question that crossed her mind at that moment. If you think that there are no stupid and pointless questions, I have more examples but I’ll back to it later.
My method of practicing was to write down all questions and pulled cards and when I receive feedback compare my original interpretation with outcome, so I after some time ruled out some meanings, find many “minor” meanings for almost all cards – I’m saying “many” and “almost” ‘cause there are thousands of meanings of every card and it all depends on question in hand, our approach, I think that we're all will be students of tarot as long as we dealing with him etc… but back to topic. After some time, maybe a year, I “announced” that I won’t answer on questions that I consider stupid and pointless; in fact there was one more reason: some people (like girl I mentioned as example, including her) practically deluged me with their questions, several times per day, and I (in private ) told to some more serious people, with which I already commented on this topic and eventually exchanged readings ‘cause some of them, as I mentioned, are using some divination tool(s) to feel free to continue asking me questions, but more sensible than “I have crush on my acquaintance, will we meet in next 3 days and will he give me some sign that he likes me too?” and I started to doing CC (which is still my favorite spread) more than 3 cards spreads. There still were questions for fun and/or curiosity, but to a much, much lesser extent, pretty rarely and I orderly received feedbacks so I didn’t have problem with that and I slowly became to be pretty serious in my readings, almost like real professional, only difference was that I did readings for free (which I still do and I’ve never did reading for money).
But then began to occur some odd things. At first, sometimes after even a “small” reading on significant questions (eg. “will I pass my exam?” for which I would pull one or 3 cards) I felt exhausted, like I did reading for hours. Also, answers I received from the cards started to be more and more confusing and then I started to discuss with people why is that happening and majority of them concluded same thing that I wrote at the beginning of this post: if you use some divination tool(s) too much, especially if you use to ask pointless questions or ask something just ‘cause you’re bored and something almost insignificant crossed your mind at the moment and you ask tarot (or some other oracle cards, runes, horary, geomancy and so on) after some time, you’ll start to receive completely wrong or, in the best case, confusing answers.
After that, the first thing I did was to definitely stop doing readings for myself (‘cause I’ve already concluded that I’m obviously projecting my wishes/worries and cards give me that “projected” answer and outcome, in majority of cases, had little to do with reading, although I have never been “tarot addict”) and even more decreased the number of people for whose I did readings. The second was that I again “announced” that I won’t give answers on “short-time questions” ie questions on which querent will find out the answer soon. Then I put all my decks, although I used just one, in a box and put the box in the cabinet and didn’t read the cards for few months. There was 2 or 3 exceptions, when some of my close RL friends had big problems and needed advice and clue how and when their problems will be resolved, but excepting that cases, I didn’t touch my cards nor I asked someone else to do reading for me. Since then, I do readings just for close friends and people with which I communicate online for years (regardless if we meet personally or not), from time to time and only when I consider that is not just for fun and out of pure curiosity and that question is really important to one who asks. Answers still aren’t 100% accurate as they were when I was pure beginner and answered on almost totally insignificant questions (“will I have good time at the party tonight?” – for god’s sake, why is that so important??? And at the begining cards were giving so precise answers that it's almost incredibly), and still sometimes I don’t touch my cards for weeks ‘cause there’s no need to do that. My final conclusion is that cards and all other divination and oracle tools can became unruly if we are disrespect them, take them for granted and using them just for fun, or they're just convey that message from that "force" whose provides answers on our questions.
I know that here are many members who will not agree with me at all, or just in some parts of my post, but again, I’d like to hear every comment and opinion.
Regards,
Cor