Theories on the nature of tarot

Hi there.

I am just curious as to everyone's opinions on the nature of the tarot, as in how it actually works. Although new to this, in the past I've heard everything from "it's spirit guides" to "the cards that appear are totally random and your interpretation is simply a projection of your own psyche".

Personally, as with any divination tool, I believe (although this may change as I learn more), that it is to do with the directing of your will into the universe. I'm sure many of you here are aware, and even believe the concepts regarding thought being energy, and producing a reaction just like any other action. Many spiritual paths deal with the idea that a strongly focused intention directed properly will result in the manifestation (through any possible means) of what is desired.

I am still not sure of my feelings as far as spirit guides go. Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong believer in spirit guides, but if we are talking about their influence when you are reading cards, is that not getting into the realm of mediumship, which to my knowledge is a whole other road?

I'm very interested to hear all your thoughts on this. If this has been discussed before or belongs in another section then please accept my apologies.

Peace

Campbell

Joseph Campbell once said, "There are many creation stories from many diverse cultures. They are all wrong! And they are all correct!" Tarot is like that for me. The theories are myriad, everybody has their pet theory about "how" it all works, etc. I have my own, probably more in tune with Jung's synchronicity. But anyway, the point for me is that there are myriads of theories about how tarot works, they are all wrong, AND they are all correct! The Spirit manifests in a zillion diverse ways, and tarot is a very flexible tool. I feel that a person's theory about all this is more indicative of the person, rather than any objective reality. BB, Michael

on the nature of the tarot, as in how it actually works.

I'd like to make an analogy.

...I think the 'nature of tarot' brings to my mind the nature of "inspiration" and how "it" (inspiration) actually works. In short, when I think of sitting to a tarot reading, I'm bringing lots to the reading tarot table. In my reality, I'm handling a bunch of cards and a belief that I can pull out inspiration or interesting thoughts from these card images. In my belief, this is good.

My definition of the nature of tarot shows a mixture of positive attitudes that I associate with myself and tarot. How it works for me or people that I know can vary with their nature and how they approach the world. Some very spiritual people do need tarot; some do not. Some have spiritual beliefs that connect to their inner world or hearts and their inspiration in a way that may or may not agree with my defined paths. Or the way that I explore what I do...That's fine and actually, lovely to know. They can explain it to me if they wish or not. In general, there's many other people who have other beliefs about the 'nature' of the tarot.

To me, the evolved 21st century thoughts of tarot studies brings a whole bundle of many things. I like to see "tarot" as a huge bundle of string with attached card images, unravelling throughout the road of time...leaving a sticky trail of card images that I can enjoy observing with a swivel of my imaginary eyes.

"Whee," she says, running off to follow the next thread...."

Slight pause for breath..."Thanks for the topic!"

Cerulean

Hi wayofthedragon

I'm a little confused about something.

You mentioned you are curious about the nature of the Tarot, specifically how it works. Then you said, "Personally, as with any divination tool, I believe (although this may change as I learn more), that it is to do with the directing of your will into the universe." Are you saying we manifest the cards that come up in any given reading through the projection of our will? Can you elaborate a little more?

-fof

Hi fools fool,

I actually said I was curious on everone's opinion of the tarot, as I'm currently quite happy with my own theory but it is subject to change

My apologies if I didn't make myself clearer regarding my comment on directing the will. What I meant was, we hold the intention that we want to find information about the person we are reading, and as that will is directed into the universe, it results in the cards being dealt that can best answer our questions. Therefore the cards that are dealt, are a manifestation of our will.

I hope this has made things clearer my friend.

Peace

Intention

Yes, "Intention" is the key word here, I believe. All things are started and completed with a strong, focused, confident "intention." Our intention is what causes the universal engergies (in whatever form or by whatever name we wish to use) to bring us what we seek. With confidence, clarity of the heart, and the wish to help someone in some way, the universe responds. This is what it is with tarot and with everything else in life. Dave

Yes, wayofthedragon, now I understand more clearly. I'm a little slow sometimes.

I strongly agree on this idea, as I've posted elsewhere. A strong intention and purpose of will is a prerequisite for a successful reading, imo. We can use the analogy of hunger to illustrate the point. Someone who's full has no will to find food; someone who is starving has a very powerful and focused will to find food, and they will go to great lengths to get it. The same can be said for tarot reading. If you read too often it can become mechanical and you may not be there 100%. I find my best readings happen when I'm at my wits end, starving for an answer. My will is powerful and focused, my desire strong; I know I must have an answer and I will find it, no matter what.

I'm one of those who believes the fall of the cards is strictly random, luck of the draw. But when it comes to interpreting them, I believe something else comes into play. It's something I can vaguely sense, but I'm not sure what it is; whether angels, spirits, daemons, demons or something from my unconscious, I don't know. I just feel that there's something there that's not "me."

-fof

The tarot is an esoteric system and can be explained from an esoteric point of view. This means accepting that there is no such thing as a coincidence, or 'random' cards. For my explanation of how the tarot works, I would like to refer to one of the great hermetic laws: the law of correspondence.

I think most people here will have heard of this law: 'As above, so below'. It means that what is true for the macrocosm, is also true for the microcosm. Every person is a microcosm, and his or her world is the corresponding macrocosm. Therefore, everything in a person's world corresponds to some aspect of this person's life. Including the tarotcards that are drawn.

This is a really interesting question; I'm very eager to hear people's thoughts. Rationally, I can't help but take the position of "the cards fall randomly; any meaning we see in the spread is just our hyperactive human pattern recognition systems finding faces in the clouds." Even if that's true, it doesn't make the Tarot a bad tool for exploring our psyches. But at the same time, it's hard to watch the Hierophant fall across the Fool in a spread about social anxiety and not feel like there's something extraordinary at work there. So at the moment I'm caught between the Hermit and the High Priestess

If the Tarot does "work" -- i.e., the fall of the cards is nonrandom -- I have no idea how. Could be our subconscious keeps track of the cards -- but can you imagine how much computational power and control over the minutest of muscle movements that would take? Could be God, Satan, Mother Moon, or whoever you believe in -- but why would they concern themselves with such things? And why would they make readings work for me, a person who has very little in the way of religious beliefs? I'm tempted to wave my hands and say "it's our personal power reaching into the deck and manifesting the contents of our subconscious minds in the form of a spread of cards," but that's not really an answer; how does this manifestation happen?

I'm a scientist at heart. I believe that in principle science is capable of explaining everything observable, including Tarot spreads. But we're not there yet. Someday maybe science will study seemingly supernatural phenomena more closely than it has so far. If so, perhaps it will find that "random chance" isn't so random after all. Or maybe not -- who knows?

I agree with Blackbirdmusic and Arcana through a filter of imagination

Arcana:
Therefore, everything in a person's world corresponds to some aspect of this person's life. Including the tarotcards that are drawn.

BlackbirdMusic:
I'm tempted to wave my hands and say "it's our personal power reaching into the deck and manifesting the contents of our subconscious minds in the form of a spread of cards," but that's not really an answer; how does this manifestation happen?

I wrote a post last night and deleted it because it was way bulky a topic for this wonderful sharing of opinions and view. I hope my over-lengthy explanation below is relevant...

To me, the history of being able to take images out the imagination and then doing a form of conversational storytelling or recorded poetic allegory is tied up with tarot images. (Got sidetracked on that point, see below)*

Nowadays, the popular culture from birth might be exposed to use of pictorial and moving images. The young might be taught how to take allegory in the form of film and illustrations and translate it into expression or meaning. We don't really 'explain' how this process works because we've been taught how to do it from an early age and how to perceive and translate images. Of course, the multicultural images in film and in the news might be more or less more common to our everyday lives and experiences, so we grow to accept what we consider popular culture images as 'standard' to our internal frame of reference. ( I hope this is clear)

In tarot though, depending on the deck, the images might be teaching us of how to understand what pictorial images we see might not be standard--a Rider Waite Smith (RWS) deck picture of a man in tights these days might be seen as funny or archiac. So for the RWS, we need to retranslate our references and 'learn' that a man in tights is common to tarot and five men in tights (Five of Wands) waving sticks might mean a scattering of energy. Making the metaphoric leap of meaning and association is similar to processing film and other illustrated images--but it can take time for us moderns to make those mental leaps from RWS images, in my opinion.

That's a lot of associative thinking and I don't think it was intuitive to me--I had to consciously learn the associations. After awhile the synapses of my brain made a faster association between men in tights waving sticks and seeing five sticks on a piece of cardboard and then coming up with the meaning of scattered energy or combat or playful strife.

And after I accepted how to interpret that pictorial language, I had to take other steps to understand and accept if these symbolic meanings had relevance to me. Like learning to write poetry where a writer takes outside manifestions of the weather as an expression of an internal state of being. I had to fall into the imaginative leap and believe the tarot card was an expression of my state of being on some aspect of my life.

I can delete and edit if this overlengthy answer doesn't make sense. Thanks for the topic-sorry for not being able to condense at the moment.

Regards,

Cerulean

P.S. The beginning of my deleted post was this:

*(sidetracked on history of images) "...If you accept that the beginnings of tarot as we knew it began with noble images and courtly games--roughly from the 1450s in Europe and traced "generally" the paper trail growth of printing/paper histories with an intertwined flow of literature, art, romance and images--I believe you will find a "general" growth of sophistication in popular culture and uses of images in playing cards. I say "generally" and I'm talking about people who like to see card games historically as reflections of the art styles and snapshots of the fashions of the time...."

You can browse topics in the historical forums if you are interested in tarot history and opinions...sorry, that is another topic!