Long-term predictions: What is a reasonable amount of time?

I have a question about using the tarot for long term predictions. When doing readings about the long-term potential of something...how far into the possible future would you say is reasonable for the cards to predict accurately? More than a year?

I know because of free will it can be difficult, especially because life has so many twists and turns...but I am interested in others' opinions on this.

Thanks!

The Future is Now

Using any oracular device for predicting the future is a slippery slope. One that easily leads to a type of addiction that can paralyze one’s ability to be spontaneous in the here and now. Better to use Tarot as a diagnostic tool for self-reflection in the present. By learning how the archetypes represented in the cards are inherent aspects of our own consciousness, we become more effective at “reading” the future once we meet it.

I don't really know. I tend not to do readings like that. I like to keep track of what was accurate and what was not, as best I can, because I think that's the only way to really answer questions like this: through recorded personal experience.

However, I'm not patient enough to keep track of multiple readings for years and years. (I also doubt I would remember to bother. I sort of hope I wouldn't remember. It's a bit too type A for my taste. lol) Plus, there are some things I don't want to know about my own future. I suspect they are the sorts of things that people who want really long term readings do want to know.

However, I can say that I did a reading once (in 2005) about some famous people I admire. It was a past present future spread and it just happened to get entered onto the first page of a new journal. I have made further notes on that page, showing how accurate the reading was, in 2006, 2007 and 2008 - so far!

So... draw your own conclusions.

Most readings go up to 6 months, though I have known those that can read a lot further into the future (years). Sometimes you can specifically ask questions such as "Where will my career be in 5 years?", giving the cards your own time limit.

xx
Vad

Strangely enough

I will venture to say it depends on the person you are reading for. Some people are more "spiritually mature" than others and they tend to have an understanding of free will and while they value readings they will also continue to move forward on their paths without the "addiction" that comes with relying solely on outcomes and timelines to live their lives. So long term readings (say 6 months or so) may not be so offbase in these cases.

Then there are others who before you have recovered your energy from the reading are off trying to do things to "make it happen" in THEIR timeframe not the Universes. You know who they are...they return more often than necessary always saying well I did X, but Y happened when you predicted Z and so on. In these cases I wouldn't go past a few weeks. So just give it a feel for who you are dealing with and always tell them that nothing is set in stone..of course they will still get upset if it doesn't pan out...but at least you warned them. Good Luck!!!

misskatie said:

I have a question about using the tarot for long term predictions. When doing readings about the long-term potential of something...how far into the possible future would you say is reasonable for the cards to predict accurately? More than a year?

I know because of free will it can be difficult, especially because life has so many twists and turns...but I am interested in others' opinions on this.

Thanks!

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My opinion is that, well it's impossible to say. Or at least it's a very complicted question and what works in one case may not in another. The future predicted in the cards does tend to fulfil itself though UNLESS something happens to stop it. The cards do indicate the path that is most likely to occur given all the variables involved.

Now once someone does know of that future, any steps they take (consciously or unconsciously) to change things is subject to changing that future.

If however, the people involved do not know of the future predicted in the cards, and therefore made no effort to change it, then it should play out as predicted. Or if they do not try to change it in any way.

I know of a case fo a reading from over 10 years ago where a man I love, who is married (but not for much longer) had a prediction over 10 years ago that the cards still are confirming as accurate. There were a number of predictions in teh reading all of which have already come to pass. There is just the last one to wait and see.

The last prediction showed he would have 3 marriages in his life and only the last one would be happy. He is now ending marriage number 2, and well we are in love and I have had SO many cards predicting marriage in our future, and all kinds of cards about us being soul mates, about us having been together in past lives and .....

So I well suspect that the predication from over 10 years ago will still come true.

Babs

Trish76 said:

I will venture to say it depends on the person you are reading for.

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And the question I would add also. Somethings maybe you can only ask about what will happen tomorrow, others maybe you can ask about years ahead. Depends if your reading for a Gemini or a Taurus. Or go crazy and ask a question about what something will be like in a millennium. Hard to check how far off you were of course, but still could be interesting to ask.

From what I can remember, about 6 to 8 months. Then mostly things happen right at 2. It depends on the question and what is going on in my life, or the life of who I am reading for.

I've done readings for as far as 10 years ahead, by just specifying 10 years as the timeframe (someone was asking about her career choice and where she'd be if she stuck with it.)

I don't usually like to do longterm readings, as stuff tends to look pretty bleak on the whole. There's some kind of saying, "inch by inch, life's a cinch; yard by yard, life is hard" that seems to apply here -- most people don't seem to achieve their hopes and dreams, they just manage to find a tolerable state to be in, and so that's probably why everything typically looks awful in a longterm reading.

I will confess I did worry a bit about the ten year reading, since as mentioned, so much time, a person can do a lot of work to effect that especially if they know it's coming. It's unfortunately going to be able a decade before I can find out how accurate the results will remain

Two, three months maybe.

The exception is that "past" cards and cards that show long-term trends in someone's nature or sensibilities tend to be right for as long as they are the "same kind" of person.