Tarot Card Readings - A Scam?

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   Down2EarthTarotposted 12 years ago

   Rather than putting the paddles to an old thread better left in the morgue, I thought I'd start my own thread about Tarot cards, their readers, the clients and the issue of integrity.
   
   I have been reading my cards for about 3 years now.  I'm a nice person.  I don't cheat anyone out of their money.  In fact, I'm the first one to lay it out, front and centre, that I'm not a psychic and I don't do predictive readings.  I'm also pretty darned smart.  This means that I'm not particularly superstitious.  I do believe in God, I believe that things happen for a reason, and that there is more to the world and our lives than meets the eye.  More than science and medicine, in all it arrogance, can currently prove with its considerable collective knowledge.  Used to be a time when the latest in modern medicine had us bleeding into bowls to alleviate a common cold.  And the world used to be flat, too.  Nope, I need to prove things for myself, and I can't just believe something because someone says its true.
   
   In the time that I have started reading my own cards, I have never met a charlatan or shyster.  Do they charge money for their readings?  You're darned right they do.  I don't see anything wrong with charging for their time.  They have taken it upon themselves to put in the necessary work to learn the cards and become proficient at reading them for clients.  This includes reading for ornery clients who feel it's money well spent to sit across the table from them, arms akimbo, with a snide smirk on their face, ready to try and poke holes in their reading.  For those who refuse to see anything other than their own beliefs, there is no convincing them of the Tarot's value.  But for the rest of you, I just thought I would clear up a few things.
   
   Being psychic is nothing special.  We're all a little bit psychic.  The fact that you can't find the ESP antenna protruding from the top of the skull does not mean that the human organism is incapable of extrasensory perception; it just means that we currently have no way to prove it beyond anecdotal evidence.    We've all experienced it to some extent: dreaming about seeing someone you haven't seen in years and bumping into them the next day.  Not being able to get the name "Cynthia" out of your head, and your brother proudly announcing that that is your new niece's name.  Humming a song, only to turn on the radio and hear it already playing.  Things like that.  My "gift" seems to be finding myself thinking of people who rarely cross my mind, only to hear about their death about a month later.  My great aunt, my horse, my cousin...  Weird.  So yes, we're all "special" and sort of psychic.  Some people are just really good at "tuning in."
   
   This brings me to another thing: cold reading.  Why in the world is cold reading a bad thing??  We use the ability to "cold read" people all the time.  Knowing when it's a bad time to ask for a raise.  Knowing when you've walked into a room and interrupted a cold-war-type argument.  Knowing when your kid is lying about being sick because he has a test.  Psychic ability is just an extension of this valuable skill.  Again, I have never met a Tarot card reader who misled her clients about her ability, which is where we run into the integrity issue.  My job is not to astound you with a psychic miracle.  My job is to help you sort out your problem for yourself.  You don't go to a doctor and sit there with smirk on your face waiting for them to prove their ability as a doctor by guessing your symptoms.  What a waste of time!  Does it not make more sense to work together openly and honestly, using the cards as your problem-solving springboard? 
   
   The cards are like a road map: they don't tell you where you're going, they just show possible paths you could take.  And although I can't quite explain why the most appropriate cards tend to show up in the right spot at the right time, the cards themselves are not magic.  They're pretty pieces of cardboard, mass produced and wrapped in plastic shrink wrap on the shelves your friendly neighbourhood bookstore.  Anyone can read them if they take the time to learn.  And honestly?  I encourage people to do just that.  Everyone should own their own deck of cards and read for themselves.  You can pray to God for answers, which is like sending a letter by snail mail.  Or you can pray using your Tarot deck, which is more like picking up the phone.
   
   So what do you think?  This is just my own opinion, but I don't think it's accurate to make a blanket statement that all Tarot readers are con artists.  It seems to me that the problem lies not with what Tarot readers are doing, but in how they are perceived.  Maybe it's time to look at the subject more closely before making assumptions.

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      Paul Wingertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I don't see card, tea leaf, or palm reading as a scam. To the average Joe Blow, it should be viewed as entertainment. Just like playing slot machines.

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         Down2EarthTarotposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think card and tea leaf readings - as well as scrying (crystal ball, mirror, bowl of ink, etc), runes, i ching, and pendulums - are all ways to connect to our subconscious mind.  The best way to get the full value of all these things - and in particular, Tarot cards - is to read for yourself because you are the one who knows your mind best.  When you go to see someone to read for you, you still pull from that reading the most important things you need to think about.  I think when you hear it from someone else, it validates it all the more.  So it can have more value than mere entertainment.  Palm reading is a whole 'nother ball game.  It has less to do with prediction than it does with health and personality reading.  Very interesting stuff. 

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Good in depth post. I have had some excellent Tarot Readings, and I am careful never to give any information about myself away for fear of doubting what they have told me (a bit like going to a Medium.) Be pleasant, say yes or no where appropriate, and don't fall into the trap of being 'quizzed', as in, the reader asks you so many specific questions that you give them all they need in your answers. The Yes and No's should only be to confirm the information given is correct or not.

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         Down2EarthTarotposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It is actually more helpful to the reader (at least in my experience) for the querent (the person who is getting the reading) to not give many details initially.  A general reading with no question, or letting me know the area you are most concerned about (love, career, health, etc.) seems to work best for me.  I like to go ahead and read what I get from the cards and then ask the querent if this makes sense to them.  Almost invariably they say yes, they know exactly what the reading is about.  I would then invite them to fill me in on some of the details of how the reading fits with their particular problem/situation.  This gives ME an 'Aha!' moment when everything suddenly clicks and I see very clearly what the cards are trying to convey, and I can then elaborate on the meanings and suggest ways to move forward.

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   brotheryochananposted 12 years ago

   So you shuffle a deck of cards. Ask the person to touch them (putting some of their energy into the deck i assume) and then shuffle again.
   
   So what power makes the cards assume the formation in the deck that they are all in place in exactly the right order, right side up or right side down?
   
   When christians get into God and they realize that there is only one power that efficiently works in all things, through all things and for all things, which is God himself, we rather begin to think "God is shuffling a lot of cards for a lot of people."
   
   and the idea becomes ridiculous
   some hits and misses lol but it think it takes more faith to believe in that than it does to believe in God.

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