"Don't make a major life decision...

Vanny

nisaba said:
I've gone the other way, to my cost. I've made a life-decision without taking notice because the ONLY warning I had ahead of time was a Tarot warning, and I paid for ignoring that warning very dearly indeed.

Prior to starting a relationship, when I already had the target identified, I did a reading for likely outcomes of the relationship.

She had already told me she lived an an unsalubrious block of flats, with a local hard-man in one flat who was fresh out of gaol for having permanently and totally disabled someone in an assault with a weapon, and a drug dealer-cum-fence upstairs whose customers were always trying to break in to flats as they arrived and/or left.

The Seven Swords came out in the reading, in cards indicating what she brought to the relationship (there were cards for what I brought, shat she brought, and the connection between us). I immediately thought: lies, theft, dishonesty, perhaps violence.

I chose to go into the relationship anyway. My justification was: a) you shouldn't make decisions based only on Tarot, and b) the card was probably referring to the people around her.

And so it looked, in the beginning. Addiction even to legal stuff being what it is, though, after a few years there was theft from me (and my young child's piggy-bank!), violence and lies towards me from her, and even being effectively kept under house-arrest for years on end.

My deck knew. I just bloody wish I'd taken notice and run away very, very fast.

Now I *never* ignore Tarot warnings. You do so at your own risk.
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I had a similar experience to yours. I had gone to a Tarot reader and these were her exact words when she talked about the guy I was in a relationship with. "He's not going to marry you." I remember being pretty upset. Well, fast forward to a couple months later he and I moved in together and everything was going great. I even thought that she had been so wrong and way off. Then everything went downhill. He ended up moving out and he ended up disappearing on me for 7 months!

I think I will pay way more attention to the Tarot's message from now on.
 

The crowned one

Debra said:
Ah.

I meant to say, "only" because of a tarot reading.
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No I have not.
 

nisaba

Debra said:
Ah.

I meant to say, "only" because of a tarot reading.
Does that make a difference?
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No, not really. The *only* warning I had was in the cards - her personal energy was fine and I certainly didn't see any other warning-signs.
 

Alta

I have, and the I Ching as well. I learned to trust the oracles back in the 80's and while I am not stupid about it, I do other checks, I take them seriously. If you treat tarot as a light game, it will treat you as such in return. At least that is my experience.
 

Debra

Sinduction said:
Obviously, it would be stupid to fire the accountant because the tarot reader said so...
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Yeah, well, that's what I think, too, but you never know.

Some people see tarot readings as entertainment and some see them as Commandments from the Gods On High--and everything in-between.
 

euripides

Yes and no.

I don't believe in deity or mystical forces, and the cards are just pieces of paper. There is no hidden hand moving them. I appreciate that others feel very differently, I'm just stating my personal position for context.

What a good deck does possess, in my view, is powerful, deep, rich, multi-layered images that allow us to tap into our intuition - gut feelings that we don't always process on a conscious level. Sometimes those feelings can be deeply buried, and sometimes run counter to our professed views.

So if a tarot reader looks at her or his cards and tells me something that doesn't gel with me in any way, I'll probably disregard it. However, if I look at the cards with them and see the same thing, and feel some kind of logic to it - then maybe it's a sign that there is something I need to think about.

Reading for myself, more so: that fact that I've asked that question and seen those answers means they need to be considered, and particularly if this is operating as an instinctive response to a card and not a book meaning I've had to look up.

The book meaning or a meaning I wouldn't have considered, or the other reader's view also have value though because of their very 'outsideness' (sorry I can't think of the word I need) - because they are ideas I wouldn't have considered at all, that are a very different way of looking at things, maybe they give me a fresh solution.
 

greycats

euripides said:
Reading for myself, more so: that fact that I've asked that question and seen those answers means they need to be considered, and particularly if this is operating as an instinctive response to a card and not a book meaning I've had to look up.
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That's interesting, euripides, and I agree. Your reasoning goes rather contrary to that of many other readers, but I've often thought that a reader who consults the tarot on her own behalf is seeking to know herself, first. And even if the scenario that the cards present doesn't come to pass or does not seem likely to do so, I think I've been well enough rewarded if I understand how I might have reacted in such a situation. ;)
 

moderndayruth

Debra said:
Have you had someone make a major change because of a reading you did, or have you gone a different way yourself because of what came up in your cards?
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Yes, totally and more than once - but i do feel that when that happens - it has less to do with me and the cards (i mean, it does, but only the domain of me interpreting the message for them) - and more with them getting in touch with their intuition/subconscious...
Actually, now that i think of it - most of my friends and acquaintances consult Tarot when they are about to make serious life decisions - and while i really have the most laid back attitude possible (no drama, nothing is written in the stone, i might be getting wrong the message etc.), they do actually consider their readings very seriously and usually act accordingly.

Alta said:
If you treat tarot as a light game, it will treat you as such in return. At least that is my experience.
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Yes, me too. I think my folks, among else, get their readings seriously because my attitude to the mystery of Tarot is respectful and full of awe.
(Of course, i also have fun with it, but i do realize what a powerful tool it is... if used properly that is.)
 

punchinella

euripides said:
What a good deck does possess, in my view, is powerful, deep, rich, multi-layered images that allow us to tap into our intuition - gut feelings that we don't always process on a conscious level. Sometimes those feelings can be deeply buried, and sometimes run counter to our professed views.

So if a tarot reader looks at her or his cards and tells me something that doesn't gel with me in any way, I'll probably disregard it.
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I'm with you here. I often think of reading cards as having a conversation with myself, albeit sides and aspects of said self that would otherwise remain out of sight or without voice . . . and this perspective works for me. It's interesting to read other perspectives, and realize how responsive tarot is to what we put into it. It is what we make of it, as Alta points out :)
 

Grizabella

I think Americans are less inclined to take readings as seriously as do people in other cultures who have had more experience with Tarot and other oracles. But I also think that the longer a person uses the cards and other kinds of divination, the more seriously they take them. I went from thinking of it as a card trick, sort of, to then thinking it tapped into intuition and now I'm convinced there's more at work there than just intuition. But even though I take heed to the cards, I still wouldn't totally base my major life decisions on them. It's like getting advice from a best friend or your grandma---you still do what you want, but you put their advice in the back of your mind and keep it there, you know? That way you can be watchful of their warnings and advice while you're still living your own life and making your own choices. Maybe there will eventually come a time when I do base some decisions just on the cards but right now I don't foresee that.
 
Have Tarot, Will Travel! My husbands reading