Barleywine
I learned a new word today while reading Joseph Maxwell's observations on the nature of intuition in his generally excellent book, The Tarot. Although the dictionary definition of "vaticination" means simply to foretell the future or prophesy, Maxwell fleshed it out in terms of its subconscious, astral and spiritual dimensions:
" . . .the faculty of being able to read the information possessed by the enquirer about his past, present and future. Coming events cast a shadow before them; each individual has a presentiment about his own destiny, which may remain latent: the normal processes of consciousness do not include such presentiments."
"To understand the presence in each individual of a detailed record of personal consciousness it is necessary to take into account the fact that an individual being exists, as it were, on several planes simultaneously, or is capable of so doing. What is loosely termed the subconscious is actively interleaved with the astral levels; the mental and intellectual processes, emanating from the intelligence, link themselves in a living web to the spiritual levels."
In other words, the subconscious is a “conduit” delivering insights from a more universal order of self-awareness. I've always felt that tarot divination works through "subconscious induction," by which sitters impart specific information into the arrangement of the cards through the shuffle and cut, based on their prescient knowledge of the developing situation. Maxwell's observations support this, and also merge it with the viewpoint of many people here that the true origin of tarot insights regarding a sitter's future is the realm of spirit.
But he is also clear on one of my other "sticking points" in reading for others: the active engagement of the querent in the validation of the reader's intuitive perceptions. Here is the full quote that I extracted from the book.
" . . .the faculty of being able to read the information possessed by the enquirer about his past, present and future. Coming events cast a shadow before them; each individual has a presentiment about his own destiny, which may remain latent: the normal processes of consciousness do not include such presentiments."
"To understand the presence in each individual of a detailed record of personal consciousness it is necessary to take into account the fact that an individual being exists, as it were, on several planes simultaneously, or is capable of so doing. What is loosely termed the subconscious is actively interleaved with the astral levels; the mental and intellectual processes, emanating from the intelligence, link themselves in a living web to the spiritual levels."
In other words, the subconscious is a “conduit” delivering insights from a more universal order of self-awareness. I've always felt that tarot divination works through "subconscious induction," by which sitters impart specific information into the arrangement of the cards through the shuffle and cut, based on their prescient knowledge of the developing situation. Maxwell's observations support this, and also merge it with the viewpoint of many people here that the true origin of tarot insights regarding a sitter's future is the realm of spirit.
But he is also clear on one of my other "sticking points" in reading for others: the active engagement of the querent in the validation of the reader's intuitive perceptions. Here is the full quote that I extracted from the book.
