Is prediction what tarot reading is all about? What if it is not to learn that a particular thing is going to happen but, rather, to explore later what those cards can teach us about what does happen? What if the reading is simply to make us spiritually or psychologically aware of what’s really important and significant in life events—to wake us up to how the outer and the inner reflect each other in a meaningful way?
As an example, I’ll describe a very powerful experience a group of us had in one of my classes (permission granted to tell this story). I had proposed an experiment in prediction. Each member of the class was to draw a Major Arcana card to signify the most significant archetype that would be functioning over the following week. They were then to draw two Minor Arcana cards that would describe the situation that archetype would function within—giving us the particular circumstances and literal details. As a group we made predictions that would be evaluated the following week. (Without reading any further you may want to look at the three cards below and think what prediction you would make.)
The cards Heidi drew from the RWS deck were Judgment, Three of Swords, and Knight of Pentacles. Knowing that Heidi’s father had recently died, we predicted that her feelings of grief for her father would be strongly triggered but would result in some kind of awakening or acceptance of her loss. She told us she would be going to his home three hours away to tie up his financial affairs and we warned that going through his papers would probably be very difficult.
When we gathered the following week Heidi told us that the reading had referred to a very specific dangerous and traumatic event. Given that the assignment was prediction, she wondered (as did we all) why no one had been able to warn her so she could have avoided it.
She had gone to the bank to close her father’s accounts when a man with a gun came in to rob the bank. As the robber waved his gun around, Heidi dropped to the floor in fear for her life. The robber even stepped on her shoulder when he took money from that cashier’s window. To add to it all, he had taken a bank deposit box withdrawal slip containing the address of her father’s house.
When a customer stupidly ran after the robber, Heidi had held and comforted his young daughter, assuring her that her father would be all right (although she couldn’t know that) and that the robber wouldn’t return.
She felt that Judgment referred to her fear for her life. Heidi had faced the thought that she might be meeting her maker. The Three of Swords was her terror and anguish, and the Knight of Pentacles was the robber (jumping in a getaway car with the money), as well as herself (traveling to the bank to deal with money issues). He might even have been the “hero” who tried to stop the robber from getting away. And, of course, it was her father leaving her.
The archetypal images in the Judgment card include a guardian angel, a “wake up call,” emergence from some kind of “boxed” thinking, and a child and parents. Something about being a child to a parent appeared to be breaking into consciousness. Having just lost her father, plenty of early childhood issues were being triggered in Heidi. She was able to be both guardian angel to a terrified child and the child herself.
Heidi also noted that, like in the movie Roshamon, everyone’s judgment varied. Each person at the scene described the robber differently (the three swords crossing each other). And, while most people turned in only a few lines of written description to the police, she had written at least a page and a half, even while realizing that her own judgments might be coloring what she said. Judgment would never mean the same thing to her again!
The strangest thing Heidi found was that she was left with a tremendous fear of revolving glass doors leading outside, and she remembers having had this fear when she was younger—although we didn’t have time in class to explore that. The revolving metal holding the glass was like the metal of the three crossed swords. Of course, death itself is a painful doorway—especially to those left behind on the other side. In essence, Heidi had been robbed of her father, but she ended up assuring a little girl (as well as the child within herself) that both her father and she would be all right. Would it have served her as well to have avoided the situation all together?
Everyone in class agreed that they could never have predicted a bank robbery from the cards Heidi had drawn. However, looking back on the incident, we saw how perfectly they describe the robbery. Much more importantly, they indicate how Heidi was affected and point to unconscious complexes that were triggered by the events. An experience she’ll never forget also became a rich vein of personal alchemical gold that Heidi will be able to mine for years, using the cards in the reading as guides to layers of healing.
So, is tarot best at prediction (since it is too often a hit-or-miss proposition), or is it more ideal for reliably exploring the deeper significance of whatever does happen?
25 comments
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September 2, 2008 at 12:31 am
Stacey Riley
I’d say insight. The powerful tarot spreads for me are those that allow me to look at issues from deeper levels. Besides this, as soon as we perform an action we change the future; the future we experience is constantly changing and evolving.
~~~
Stacey Riley
Wisdom of the Queen of Swords – http://staceyuk.chaotic-creative.com/blog/
Member of Tarot for Life and Fortuna’s Oracle
September 2, 2008 at 2:11 am
Freesparrow
I have often had Tarot cards give another way of understanding a situation, and possibly Heidi’s reading could be seen in this light.
In different ways two events provided a wake-up call: the death of Heidi’s father and the bank robbery. (Judgement)
Both events have brought pain. (3 of Swords)
Both events will ultimate strengthen Heidi. (Knight of Pentacles). This Knight is one of my favourite cards, usually indicating courage, strength and steadfastness.
I agree that it is unlikely that Heidi would have been able to predict the bank robbery with this reading.
Sometimes these kinds of readings can give another perspective on actual events – something that has always meant a great deal to me.
Love and peace to Heidi.
September 2, 2008 at 2:15 am
Freesparrow
Forgot to say ….. that’s probably insight!
September 2, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Pitch
In my expereince, readings offer insight into events that have happened (in my life or the lives of those around me) rather than predict specific events that are going to happen. Themes of comprehension and connection, not plot elements through which the themes play themselves out in action.
When I have read trying to predict, the reading often develops notable
kick back–or my sense of the reading does.
Having, maybe, learned a lesson, I turn the cards to reveal sources of insight.
September 3, 2008 at 12:04 am
marygreer
Prediction has always been a problem for me. I’ve been spectacularly right at times but then found those people handing their will over to me in a way that felt very wrong. But, I’ve also been incorrect – so why should anyone put that much trust in me?
Furthermore, I’ve been to several “world-renown” psychics who seemed to be talking about someone other than me, and I only remember one specific prediction that came true exactly as stated. Of course, other people have derived tremendous benefit from tarot and psychic predictions and have developed their own skills along those lines. Isn’t that how we come to do the things we do? Couldn’t Spirit have presented me over-and-over again with circumstances that have led me to work the way I do? I can teach people about gaining insight far better than I can teach people prediction.
I guess my point in the post is that the cards themselves may be “right,” but can we always correctly interpret what that means? And, how can we work with the information provided to our greatest benefit? If the future is in such flux and we can change it so easily (consciously or unconsciously)—then might there not be other, deeper benefits to the information in the cards?
September 4, 2008 at 3:52 am
Tero
Maybe it might be more important to focus on the actual way in which we give the information to the client – be it then prediction or insight. I recently had a client who had been to a tarot/astrology consultant in order to get clarification to a possible relationship she was ‘going towards’. This consultant had said to her, “you absolutely must take this man and deepen your relationship with him – he IS the right one for you”. Before this reading the client in question had occasionally had some ‘bad vibes’ about the man, but decided to suppress them and proceed with the new information. As she came to see me she had learned that the man was severely addicted to multiple drug-use, had mental health problems and was ‘keeping’ several women around. You can imagine what the cards in her ‘present situation’ looked like..
That reading really put me into thinking of free will and the power that people have over each others (be that then doctors or tarot readers or friends). Before each reading I try to remind myself that I have no idea what the situation of the client is, and how sensitive he/she might or might not be. And the use of ‘right words’ is another tricky thing. Correct speech, balanced understanding, insightful questions and maybe even a seed of truth in all of this (?) – dealing with the element of Air and the suit of Swords isn’t a piece of cake at all.
-tero
September 4, 2008 at 4:19 am
marygreer
Tero – The example you give is all too frequent. I’ve had to do quite a bit of “damage control” involving situations very similar to this, including people being told that a parent would die soon (who didn’t) or that something wouldn’t work out (though it did over the long run). One woman was even told she would have a miscarriage of the baby she was delightedly carrying! (In his mind he was only reporting ‘what the cards said.’) OTOH, on a few occasions I’ve been known to be pretty definitive about what was going to happen (left me shaking in my shoes, but something compelled me to say what I saw without prevaricating).
There are no easy solutions here. How many doctors have predicted death in six months only to have the person either die the next day or twenty years later?!
Given that prediction is not a sure thing, isn’t there something we also can be doing that could benefit the querent no matter what happens? At times I see something very clearly but leave it unsaid, because it’s clear it would likely harm the person, make the situation worse, or be disempowering by getting in the way of the querent’s own process.
So many of these things are “judgment calls” that are, hopefully, informed by the reader’s education, experience, ethics and good sense.
September 4, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Tero
Touché, Mary. I think one of the most positive aspects of the tarot is that the readings can show us how to find strength and peace of mind – even if (and when) the shitstorm hits. It’s been a big learning process (and one which continues to the very end) for me to learn how to turn around my own answers into encouraging questions during readings. I think it’s much more positive for the client to try find the answers themselves than me / us giving the ‘correct’ answers for them.. and hopefully this is the direction where readings are heading towards more and more.
September 5, 2008 at 2:10 am
mkg
Tero – While you and I prefer to work in these ways, I’ll always have respect and admiration for those who are truly gifted at prediction with tarot—who do it consistently well and conscientiously. It is something that few are really skilled at—despite it being seen by far too many as the way tarot is “supposed” to be done. Both the Golden Dawn and my own teachers in the psychic field have insisted on rigorous training—for both those who were especially gifted and others—like me—who wish to develop their more modest gifts. I’ve discovered that I’m far more empathic than psychic—although I’ve experienced periods of extreme psychism (rather like tides). It is partly because of this fluctuation in my abilities that I’ve learned not to base my own work on the psychic elements. Some people are far more consistent.
September 7, 2008 at 3:33 am
Freesparrow
Some years ago I did a series of readings about a life/work situation using the Hudes deck. I saw what the cards were saying but the way I interpreted them was incorrect.
Over a period of months the cards gave me not only a prediction of what would occur but an explanation as well. I misinterpreted that too. I journal all readings and was able to see quite clearly what had happened a year later.
My personal view is that ‘prediction’ can be the outcome of either psychic skills and/or common sense, the latter based on a holistic overview of the circumstances and plain old wisdom, or a little of both.
In this over-analytical and complicated world we can too easily the simplicity and essence of the messages given. That is important, too.
September 7, 2008 at 4:03 am
Freesparrow
Not used this posting format!
I think it would be impossible to predict the bank robbery from the three cards drawn without psychic input. This is where tarot can easily be inadequate, I believe. Tarot symbols can trigger psychic input, however.
We can guess, as I did, that the cards give meaning to what occurred but that is irrelevant without the interaction with Heidi.
What do they say? Prediction is easy with hindsight, but there is simply not enough detail given in those cards to enable precise definition of the future (in my humble opinion).
September 7, 2008 at 4:31 am
mkg
Freesparrow – You write that it would be impossible to predict the bank robbery without psychic input. I agree with you. This is where psychic insights can astonish us with specifics that are not directly available through any of sensory or informational data. Intuition tends to put together data really fast into meaningful patterns. Psychic insight can use the cards as a focusing or trigger mechanism, but the actual data isn’t there. Often the two work together.
September 8, 2008 at 3:26 am
zephyr
i believe it would be more on insight, and believe it provides insight on things to come rather than predicting what is to come.
i remember doing a reading for a friend who was planning to make a “purchase” for the hobby he loves and was concerned he would not have enough money. the cards advised that money was not a question as he would have more than enough when te time comes to make the purchase, but also advised not to make the purchase itself due to “a major turning point in his life which would bring great change”. that was all i could interpret from the cards and it did seem a bit vague with the later part. come three weeks later, my friend found out his wife was pregnant.
with the example i gave, does that not show that the cards do give insight of things to come? just my two cents.
September 8, 2008 at 6:09 am
mkg
zephyr – seems to me we have a slightly different topic here – advice based on foreknowledge (prediction as one element of another process) – of which yours is an excellent example of it working well. I don’t mean to say that prediction cannot be a part of the reading process—but is it the bedrock on which we always want our readings to rely?
Those who are really interested in this topic might want to look in on the related discussion at aeclectic’s tarotforum:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=104798
September 9, 2008 at 4:05 am
Mark
This is an excellent post. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Although this is a new idea for me involving Tarot readings, I’ve always felt that Astrology works better as a tool for insight into the past. It’s sad that more astrologers don’t own up to this fact and promote it instead of trying to predict the future with all of its variables. I believe in order to use Tarot and Astrology for understanding events that have already happened the reader must have a deep understanding of the mythology and psychology involved in interpreting a Tarot layout or particular Astrological events. Thanks Mary!
September 16, 2008 at 1:33 pm
dovelove
I did purely psychic readings before I knew the Tarot. After discovering my passion, the Tarot, I felt much more at ease in doing readings with the cards (despite very accurate psychic readings). Initially, I did what I called “double readings,” where I’d do a purely psychic reading, and then asked the same questions using the Tarot. It always amazed me how the two overlapped, and yet the Tarot would add something richer to it. I no longer do this mega time-consuming reading, and I haven’t done a purely psychic reading in a long time. There’s just something about the Tarot, it gives me more confidence — with a psychic reading, it’s about listening reeeeally well, but with the Tarot, it’s right there in front of you…you can touch it 🙂
Although I don’t feel that I have fully integrated the two, (my psychic ability with the Tarot) I have in the past “seen” psychic/specific kinda things in the card images. I think one of my “issues,” is my impatience, I don’t take the time to really look at the images, I’m just too quick to whip out my Tarot and symbols knowledge without so much “listening.” 🙂 But in one of my “double-readings” in the past, I do remember a very poignant reading where I saw the woman’s husband in a wheel chair per the Wheel of Fortune card… She said it was one of the most accurate and beneficial readings she’d ever received.
And I say all of that to say this, maybe most of us are doing the same thing, being too quick to give one (or several) of the Tarot meanings, and not truly looking deeply into the images, and not “listening” with our psychic ability (which I believe we all have). That is, not heeding that “be still and know” directive 🙂 Granted, it’s a challenge when we have all these wonderful Tarot interpretations running around in our heads, lol 😉
I think the future is, for the most part, malleable (that’s a word that “little voice” in my head seems to really like, ha). I do believe we generally have the ability/power to change our future (thank goodness), but I also tend to believe that if something is one way, then it has to be the other way as well (like all our precious Tarot cards, both positive and negative meanings). That is, I feel some things are destined to be.
Peace,
Dove
September 16, 2008 at 1:49 pm
mkg
Dove – I like your suggestion to “take the time to really look at the images” and to listen. For me, it’s not about second-guessing our impressions, but taking the time to capture that first unadulterated thought or image before we’ve overlaid it with explanations and systems and then simply be with it.
A good exercise for becoming more “aware” is to write everything that goes through your mind for ten or fifteen minutes—thoughts, sensory awareness (all the senses), images, memories, emotions. While it’s impossible to do this comprehensibly, after a few tries you’ll start discerning more and more layers of awareness that are going on simultaneously, and you’ll begin to recognize which are reactions and which are more spontaneous. Eventually, if you keep this up, it may help you identify where inner impressions that are more likely to be psychic come from in yourself.
September 17, 2008 at 8:29 am
dovelove
I agree, Mary, we should consider everything that comes to us. In my experience, one symbol can have multiple meanings/messages at the same time. But I will say that the first impression isn’t always the most significant. For example, an experience I had earlier this month with my animal totem cards. I’m still amazed that I got a “psychic” impression from one of those simple animal images (I don’t recall having done that before), and it turned out to be the most beneficial impression — and yet it was not my first impression. I asked a question and drew the Otter card. What immediately shot to my mind was “playtime” or “playfulness.” But I was definitely not in the mood to “play,” but I’m sure the Universe was likely suggesting to me to lighten up about the situation 😉 So perhaps I did so unconsciously at that point, because I then looked at the Otter image again and discovered the most “practical” answer from that image. I blogged about it here:
http://dovelove.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/the-otter-showed-me-where-to-look/
Hmmm, I’m only just now thinking about it, but maybe it was that “be playful” or “get light-hearted” or “tune into your feminine side” (all Otter messages) that I needed to first get, so that I could then get the psychic impression, a specific directive from the image. It literally showed me where to look for something I’d lost 🙂 But again, it wasn’t my first impression, or if it was, I had stifled it with what my mind already knew of this image, playfulness 🙂
Peace,
Dove
September 17, 2008 at 10:15 am
mkg
Dove – as you point out so well, this psychic stuff is not easy to pin down – else we’d be able to replicate it easily.
September 17, 2008 at 10:58 am
dovelove
Yep, ’tis true — but I kinda think a key may be in that there Otter message, playfulness and light-heartedness… There’s something very powerful about a playful attitude 🙂 I s’pose because it tends to obliterate that nasty ole fear 😉 that tends to muck things up so much. And our potent need to pin things down (control) is a reflection of it. Hmm, kind of ironic 😉
February 21, 2011 at 7:24 am
Sue Z
In reading this illuminating post and comments, I would agree that it would be pretty difficult to predict a bank robbery from this three card spread without relying on a strong psychic component. What you’ve written, about allowing the deeper significance of the event, rather than the particulars of the event, to take precedence in a reading, was very enlightening. This is often the inclination for the reader, yet a querent often asks for concrete answers. When that situation arises, I think adding more cards to the spread, to “open up” the meaning, is needed.
October 17, 2014 at 8:24 am
cerene martin (@CerenateeCerene)
I know this is an old post but I wanted to tell you my interpretation. When I saw the 3 cards, I thought she was going to face a really hard time that she would have trouble talking about or wrapping her mind around, that a guy or someone was going to cause it and then leave, and that she would have a new vitality for life, a time of rejoying, because of it. I did not see a bank robbery, at all, but the interpretation is still valid. I think the tarot can be predictive when we don’t try to fit it in to what we already know, thus defeating the very purpose of prediction. Your class knew her father had passed so they used their logicto try and adapt the cards to her current situation, forgetting that they don’t know what they don’t know about her future happenings. I had no idea what was happening in her life, before I continued reading, so I read the cards based strictly on what came to mind. The cards have always been very predictive to me because I read what I see, or what I’m told by the Divine, not what I know about that person. That’s my take anyway. Thanks for sharing this with your readers.
October 19, 2014 at 4:52 pm
mkg
Cerene – Thank you so much for your interpretation and comments. Yes, it is easy to make assumptions when you think you know part of the story.
July 17, 2016 at 3:23 pm
Kailho
What happens is that the true value of the card reading is predicting. Everything else is secondary. If we can not predict the tarot I see no real value.
July 19, 2016 at 1:17 am
mkg
Kailho,
It’s great that you’ve committed yourself to this approach to Tarot. It’s wonderful, too, that Tarot is rich enough that, like other professions, there is room for people to specialize based on their personal talents, skills and knowledge.