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Post by E on Apr 24, 2009 15:07:47 GMT -5
I just wanted to pop off a general discussion about what you think about reading someone's Tarot.
I believe that Tarot is a very personal experience and that you are literally reading someone's energies therefore it helps to "see the whole picture". I won't read a frantic, depressed, aroused or otherwise "emotional extreme" person. I think that particular energy skews the reading because it overrides all of the subtle under currents that I need to see to do an accurate reading.
Then again I think I get the best readings when the cards "call" me. It is a pretty invigorating experience to feel this deep all encompassing need to do a reading for someone. It is like being driven forward by some unseen force, pushing my instincts into action. It is like suddenly being immersed in icy water and being yanked out to find I can run a marathon. It is motivation at it's finest. It is the Tarot.
What do you feel, think, believe? What say you?
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simplykali
New Member
Mid-Coast Maine REPRESENT!
Posts: 47
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Post by simplykali on Apr 25, 2009 11:55:11 GMT -5
Well, it's complicated.
I tend to read the tarot when I feel the need or pull towards the cards. Lately . . . not so much. BUT, I do have a great story about tarot to tell, and it has to do with strong energy mixing up the reading.
Several years ago, before my boyfriend Aaron and I got together, I was hanging out with Aaron and his roommate Ric. Aaron found his tarot cards in a box and they were sitting on the table. I noticed them and asked if they would like readings, just for fun. It must have been around midnight. I gave Ric his very generic reading that ended up helping him out and then I moved on to Aaron. Aaron wanted to know if he was going to finally find a job. But the reading ended up not being about a job at all. At first, I was confused, but as the reading progressed, I noticed that all the cards were about love. And all the love was directed at me. And that's how I found out that he had a huge crush on me.
I don't mind doing readings for people when they are in an emotional state because even though the reading gets skewed, for me, it tends to be skewed into whatever problem the person is actually having, and then I can help them with the bigger problem at hand rather than the "will I have a healthy life" type questions.
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Post by E on Apr 25, 2009 16:34:40 GMT -5
I can see that. My problem becomes I become discomfited the reading if it gets too direct in one emotional extreme or another.
I feel like my readings should give us a general view into what to expect, be prepared for and what to avoid. When emotion tangles in that I get antsy, letting the cards feel it and then it is all garbaled and confused
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Post by Denethor on Apr 25, 2009 16:51:52 GMT -5
Oh, man. I still like the Tarot, I still like the pretty cards, I still like meditating on them, the "entertainment" value of doing a reading, &c. I'm just having a little trouble lately believing (despite having done many "successful" readings!) that there's any real way the cards can actually tell me anything I don't know already. Sure, I'm familiar with all the theories, and sure, I know that what's doing the "telling" isn't the cards themselves but some deep inner power-source in the human mind, or however one wants to put that. But none of those things...make...any... sense...the critical logic, it burns... But I don't want to be the harsh skeptic either. That might have been the way I was raised, but I'd like to think I could be more open-minded than that. I still meditate on them, though I wonder how long that will last. Maybe if I picked 'em up again and did a couple of general readings; maybe if I read some for someone else; maybe, maybe, maybe. I don't mean to harsh anyone's mellow, so please ignore this post if you have to. It's just that things like Tarot are near the nexus of my latest questioning spirituality phase. Along with other forms of divination, "spellwork", and existences of Gods and angels and whatever as separate personalities, it goes against the toolkit I was given as a child for navigating the cosmos. So every now and again these concepts bump against that. Old habits die hard I guess. What really gets me is how I can come back to thinking the skeptic's way anyway, despite all the experiences I've talked about on the various other sites (I won't reiterate them, but they are fairly standard), successful "readings" and workings by myself and others, &c, &c. It just keeps popping back up like the monster you thought they'd killed in the horror movie. Don't worry, I'll get over it. Sooner or later the cycle will come back. Edited to add: lookee, an actual substantive post. There is hope yet! ;D
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Post by E on Apr 27, 2009 13:01:34 GMT -5
Oohhh, Den that was a good post!
I just posted another thread about "spirituality" ... somewhere.. the one under "the mixer".
Anyway, I think that whatever energy you put int something is what you get out of it. I think that the Tarot read your energy. I'm not saying that they have a mind of their own, that would enable too much persona to get in the way. I think that everything a deck of Tarot is.. essentially is you.
That leads into why I do not share my cards with others, they are for Shawn and I to touch only, and that is a marriage of our energies, so is sybolic more than anything. Well it also leads to balance I think...
Anyway, what do you think?
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Post by E on Jun 8, 2009 19:14:38 GMT -5
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simplykali
New Member
Mid-Coast Maine REPRESENT!
Posts: 47
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Post by simplykali on Jun 9, 2009 11:17:34 GMT -5
I agree that the tarot reads your energy. I do not let other people touch my cards for that very fact. And yes, sometimes the cards do only tell you things that you already know. I find they are most useful when someone is stuck. Maybe they do know the answer deep inside but they can't seem to put their finger on it. After all, tarot or any other divination is a TOOL and isn't going to just give out the answers to all the questions in the universe willy nilly. Like any tool, you need to use it to get better at it, and, like any tool, it needs to be used to work.
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Post by E on Jun 9, 2009 14:48:30 GMT -5
True, and good points. I mean I can get crazy with an axe on the wood pile and not get nearly anything chopped, until I have practice and technique and confidence in what I am doing.
I do think that if you do read, you need a few keys first. Basics, you know? Like what each card feels like to you. That goes into the fact that each card feels different for each read because each person's energy is different. I also think you need a pretty good grasp of the readee's energy before you take a crack at it though.
That's what I don't get about telephone tarot. I guess if you prod enough with questions you get a general idea, or you could do a general read. I don't know, I just don't think I could successfully read someone I didn't know from Adam.
Which is funny because I feel like I have bond with all of you guys, you are some of my closest friends. So perhaps it can work if you have a general understanding of the individual.
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Post by MsAriel on Jun 10, 2009 11:04:21 GMT -5
I had a reading done about a year and a half ago with Trelane, and it was pretty accurate, but then again he and I know each other rather well, so it worked.
I agree that I think it would be difficult to do a reading online or over the phone if you do NOT know the person, but I've had a few done and they've been rather close.
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Post by Denethor on Jun 10, 2009 14:08:12 GMT -5
Just to clarify, when I said this: I did not mean that I go into it expecting this: So if the second was meant to be a reply to me, it was barking up the wrong tree. What I have had lately is a burst of complete skepticism, the only way it's any kind of a problem is that it is skepticism toward things I had previously enjoyed. It's more like I have had an attack of what is known as "metaphysical naturalism", the view that the natural (or physical or observable) universe is all that is, and that any "supernatural" entities, energies, or phenomena are all in our collective heads. (Note: "metaphysical naturalism", despite the fact that it has the word "natural" in it, is not a term that has anything to do with Paganism or "nature worship" at all.) It's the view of the universe that I was brought up with. I've tried kludge-ing around the issue with various descriptions of a "mythopoetic" experience of the same physical reality, or with suggesting that the "subjective" can be as important as the "objective", with limited success. The other sad part is that it's really put a damper on what I have left to post about. People really want to hear that I hate or am afraid of Realtors only so many times a day. (Especially since I'm hoping that last issue will one day fade and be but an awful memory). It's very, very hard to post this set of opinions...because the things I do not mean vastly outnumber the things that I do. I do not mean "this is all a load of bunk and people who believe in it are stupid/fluffy/crazy/whatever" or "I'm really someone who lacks the Power/Sight/Connection/Whatever" or even "this is now what I will always think and I'm 100% sure of it", and I most certainly do not mean "I'm never going to post here again" or anything extreme like that. But because it is hard to post this set of opinions, it has meant that I haven't posted as much on the "serious" (?) topics lately. I'm sorry about that. But it isn't that I go into the game expecting something completely different from what I get. It's more that I keep encountering other explanations for what I do find, that don't require I upend the whole conception of the universe that I grew up with - hence I'm finding more and more that I agree with those explanations and points of view and less and less with those that would require such an "upending". (Things are complicated by the fact that for a long time I thought I had upended all that). I just hope that when I have to soften my posts to make it clear that I mean no insult to people who may disagree with me, I don't end up fogging over my meaning completely.
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Post by E on Jun 10, 2009 18:11:27 GMT -5
Den this gives me a fantastic idea. What is your take on Nature vs Nurture? Everything you just said makes me want to start a thread on the N v N theories and see what people chip in. I personally think it is a topic that you can fully express in without the hindrance of spiritual inflections, well mostly. I mean really, how much of what we use in our belief systems is nurtured into us vs how much we are predisposed to want to believe?? Come on Den, pop it and I'll get windy! ;D
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Post by MsAriel on Jun 11, 2009 6:55:44 GMT -5
I'd love a N vs N conversation!! I have some wonderful examples.
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Post by E on Jun 11, 2009 19:03:48 GMT -5
Oooo, yeah Ms A! You are a great resource to tap for examples. I'm impatient D, I'll start the thread.
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Post by Denethor on Nov 10, 2010 14:24:03 GMT -5
Hellooooooooooo......
Ya know what? Let's re-kick this thread on its original topic:
Metaphysical naturalism or no, I've found another "rationalist" IRL who enjoys trading readings around, and have read for this person/gotten readings back on more than one occasion in the last few months. We started it when we were at a convention as a quiet way to spend some time in an otherwise sensorily overloading environment and kept it up whenever we could see each other in person since then. (Which isn't often, as my friend is in another state). Some time after the convention I was spending time in that town and we had one of those evenings where one feels there is a strong "spiritualness" in the air, like whatever one's impulses are might have something to teach. I had the urge to give a reading, received permission (a non-negotiable for me; if "the cards" really do tell you anything then to read without permission is an invasion of privacy, and if they don't it remains a bit insulting), and did so. Since the standard "payback" for a reading is a return one, I got one also, and Tarot has become a favorite part of any of our get-togethers.
Might seem weird for a pair of non-fluffy, anti-New Age types, but the same internal aspirations that affect the standard human organism affect such people too. It's usually just done in a different way. Some people go to church or do magic for their awe-fix; others study particle physics and astronomy. (And some do both, but that's a different post).
It occurred to me upon thinking about these readings that factual correctness of any kind is really a non-issue. It's the encouragement of introspection that's the point for me. A reading gets one thinking about the question at hand, or about life in general if it's a "general" reading; if the reading seems factually correct one teases out why and if it doesn't, then whatever the actual truth is is highlighted and explicated indirectly, as in "no, that isn't true, but pointing it out makes me think of something I hadn't thought of before".
This is why those quick & dirty "love money health" readings that phone psychics and the like give out seem so useless. It's because there isn't the depth; the professional has another appointment waiting and/or you're rushing it due to a per-minute fee, so there isn't time for that meditative attitude. (In the worst-case scenario, the "psychic" is trying to draw out the reading for as long as possible because it's his or her own meal ticket, whereas you are unable to concentrate as you pray to just get off the phone already.) This is one reason why I was never tempted to give readings professionally; even when I thought about doing so for survival purposes it felt like cheapening something that is valuable in a completely different way. So when survival came up I did the standard thing and signed on at a temp agency instead; cheapening, sure, but at least only of me and not of one of my happy activities as well.
Edited to add: and no, when the cards (or other divination) "aren't right" it isn't always just because they have said something "negative" about the querent that he or she couldn't handle. For instance, several placements in my astrological birth chart traditionally indicate that I am insanely wealthy. If this is true then I am also fantastically unobservant. Many modern books will stretch the meanings of such placements to include poorer people who have good money skills (I have decent ones or I wouldn't be eating, but I wouldn't call myself a prodigy), but when one stretches these interpretations too far, one runs the risk of meaninglessness. So.
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