What is the "future"? Bear with me while I explore or "unpack the concept"...
So...I think of someone I haven't seen in a long time...the phone rings and it's them. Was I seeing a glimpse of what's to come or simply seeing what already IS?...because I don't know what the future looks like until after the fact, anyway. And if this person hadn't called, they would have just been a thought and nothing more.
I find that most people who come to the tarot are trying to read a chapter ahead of the one that they're actually living. It's constant negation of what IS in favour of a desired future (isn't that why people often ask the same question, ad nauseum - me included), one that will "one day" make them
happy? The implication is that they think their life is written in stone - pre-determined, pre-written, pre-filmed - and they want a sneak preview...versus....those who come to the tarot looking for guidance and insight into personal tendencies, patterns or potentials, for example, which suggests that if they don't take certain actions, life will follow along in the familiar trajectory. This category includes people who use the Tarot as a tool for self-knowledge, as opposed to a pure literal reading of the "future."
YET, to me, Free Will and Determination CAN exist simultaneously.
And yes, it's a paradox! How does the infinite exist within the finite? Man is the author and the authored, if we are both God and Man, for example. One part wrote the story and the other part is a character in it...
The reason I feel this is a difficult thing for people to wrap their heads around is because they're looking at it in a linear way...but we're talking about events that don't move in a linear fashion. It really doesn't matter if "I" believe that it's all predetermined, because I don't ever know what predetermined looks like, until I see the "outcome", until "after the fact", except this implies that there is a specific moment in time that remains static, which is not possible, therefore, it's out of time - Eternal. We can't grasp what it means to be "out of time." Just because I believe something was meant to be or was fated doesn't negate the fact that I made choices along the way (or that I am responsible and accountable for my actions), or that I practised free will. That opportunity is ALWAYS available to me. The outcome is always a reflection of my choices, so whatever the outcome is, IS exactly what IT IS - tragic or comic. I particularly like Spinoza...
I am more interested in the question, Can we tap into a vision
Sub specie aeternitatis (under the aspect of Eternity)? As opposed to, through the aspect of Temporality, which is our default mode of perception.
Okay...I'm rambling...and haven't really answered the question...
Can tarot predict the future? Ah....I'm not sure...I don't know.
Sometimes, these kinds of questions necessarily complicate the problem. It's a great way to explore. Thanks for letting me do that here, Nikita.