Tarot and the distant future

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Mar 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Diana	12 Mar 2002
edited

faunabay	12 Mar 2002
I look at it this way. I do have a choice in life. I don't believe that my whole life is completely mapped out before hand. I do believe that there are choices mapped out, but it depends on which choices we make as to what our future will hold. So with that in mind how can you divine your distant future when there are all sorts of choices in front of you before you get to that point? I've even heard some people say that once you do a reading the outcome has changed already. Because by doing the reading you are made aware of certain things and that in itself changes the outcome. I don't think I would go that far. :) But I do see some merit in paying attention to that thought. But then I confuse even myself because I also believe that linear time as we know it does not exist either. To get technical about my opinion - I believe that time is a circle. The past, present and future is all happening at the same time. That doesn't mean that the choices are taken out of the picture though. UH OH - I think I just made YOUR point to myself by this rambling of mine. LOL hhhmmmmmm If time is a circle then you should beable to divine the distant future because even though you are still making choices they are happening at the same time you're doing the reading?????? Oh my head hurts now!!!!!! LOL

Major Tom	12 Mar 2002
I don't think the limitation exists within tarot. I think the limitation exists within ourselves. While although tarot surely can reveal our distant future - how could we apply the information?

catlin	12 Mar 2002
I am always a bit careful about giving a date in the future. Ě stick to my "3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years" rule and until now it worked perfectly.

DeLani	12 Mar 2002
I don't think anything can predict the future with 100% accuracy. And the further we go into the future, the less accurate we'll be. Because each moment of our lives, we make decisions which affect outcomes. From those outcomes, we make other decisions, which affect different outcomes, and on and on to infinity. It's like predicting the weather. There are a lot of variables, and the further into the future you go, the more the variables multiply, making it harder to predict. That's my take on it. DeLani

MeeWah	12 Mar 2002
This will probably raise more questions, but my own experience has been that one *can* "foresee" with some accuracy using Tarot. Note that I do not use the term "predict". I usually work with Year Cards, though sometimes it is after my birthday. A few years ago prior to my birthday, I was moved to look at the next Year Card, which was 11-Justice. I used the Rider (Smith) Waite card. I was not meditating but simply looking at the card when I received images/impressions from it. It was one of those occasions where the knowledge was crystal clear, & I did not question it nor see it as possibilities. I do not know how to explain this in the face of the concept that nothing is written in stone because *all* that I "saw" came to pass: my father's passing; difficulties with a couple of relatives; situations with my youngest son, a Libra (the astrological sign associated with Justice). Forget challenging--it was a *very* difficult year, not just its effects on me but on everyone involved within this particular circle of influence. When reading for others, there have been occasions of impressions of past life influences; or forthcoming events. While such information can be as "possibilities", there are times when I know such to be true, as present/now/the status quo even if it may not be readily apparent to the naked eye. In terms of this finite, linear life, the past is already "completed". What remains are the emotional/psychological resolutions or adjustments--karmic issues that can be dealt with in the current life or as one chooses to address them. There is no statute of limitations on them. The pattern can be changed by working on an understanding & acting on that understanding. It may lessen the more traumatic effects of the past, & pave the way for a better "future" or "now". I think what I experienced was set in motion some time ago & was reaching fruition, manifestation. Despite the experiences of that year, generally I still think perceiving a possible future does not mean it cannot change because of all the variables involved as well as the percentage of chance.

Lion-O	13 Mar 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Diana Now if Tarot can teach us about our past lives, why can it not teach us about our distant future life or even lives. Why would this universal knowledge that Tarot contains, a knowledge that transcends time and space, stop at some point in the future? Hi Diana, Well, personally I don't think the knowledge you describe actually lies within the Tarot itself. I see the Tarot merely as a tool/medium to allow you to gain insight knowledge. When I dream (I do from time to time) there are situations in which my dream actually "foresee" or maybe even "predict" the future. This has happened to me 4 - 6 times now in the past 15 years (well, the times which I could recall) but I never have control over them. Sometimes it happens and most of the time it doesn't (or I can't remember it. Not that I have 'deja vus' very often but still...). I'm into Tarot for some time now and lately my readings are getting better and better (I start keeping my deck under my pillow when I'm asleep) Still; I don't think its the Tarot which is the keeper of knowledge here; its merely a key which you can use to 'unlock' those mysteries. After all; from all I've read so far it became quite clear to me that in order to use a deck properly you'll have to get used to it. It must appeal to you, mean something to you. Maybe even call out. All those ideas give me the feeling that it boils down to your person getting familiar with the tools to use. In this case the Tarot deck.

dreamweaver	13 Mar 2002
I don't see any limitation to using tarot--it is only a tool to help tune in to "knowledge" that's available. The drawback to distant future readings is, as has already been said, that there are so many factors that influence outcomes. I believe that our thoughts create our experiences. Consider using key tarot cards for sending out your will about what you WANT the future to be. Pull the card, place it in a special place (altar, if you have one) and spend time focused on your dreams. Tarot is a great way to ask for insight regarding how to create the future you want, too! My New Year's reading always asks what I can do to be perfectly successful in the next year. The wisdom is always of good use. So, bottom line...read away, if it suits you (but I prefer to create my future, rather than "read" about it!)

Original Destiny	15 Mar 2002
for me, the further away. the more chance you have for influencing your destiny

Kimon	16 Mar 2002
Hello, I think basically tarot can tell us about anything, past, very past, present and near and far and very far future. Anyway, the more we move away from the present (doesnt matter in which direction) the more un-detailled it gets in respect of our understanding. I am convinced tarot could even tell us the day and way we are going to end our lives. But this is a taboo and a limit I will never cross. In these landscapes of reading I do not feel at home, and I dont think it is a place for humans to be. Greetings, Kimon

Silence Dogood	16 Mar 2002
We are humans blessed with Free Will. Even if time is a circle, as some have said, or that all time exists at the same time ( meaning that Alexander the Great is still out there conquering the world), we can infleunce or change what is going to happen. We do this millions of time every day without realizing it, The mere fact that we put on a red shirt and decide as we are walking out the door to change it to a blue one already changes the future. These are conscious decisions. If the future were already written in stone for us, there would be no need to try to divine the future. Tarot shows us possible answers and possible actions and courses; by choosing 'A' instead of 'D', we have moved down a different path. Do the paths for 'B' and 'C' also exist out there at the same time? Who Knows? If the future could be divined, and we find out that it's all preplanned for us, are we living our lives, or merely reacting to a pre-programmed stimulis?

Malachite	16 Mar 2002
I think the problem with long-distance divination is that you can not get any kind of grasp on what the circumstances will be...you might get cards which predict exactly the future, 10 years from now, but the 'interpretational' element of the Tarot means that you might not understand the answer, or read it the wrong way...the limitation is only in us, as Major Tom said...btw....Tom...why are you an 'elder'?....Do you feel elder?

MeeWah	03 Apr 2002
Malachite: Sorry, missed your question first time around. The designation of "Elder" refers to the number of posts. Not sure of the level, but I think it is from 500 & up.

Diana	04 Apr 2002
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Jewel	04 Apr 2002
Hi Diana, when it comes to Tarot and the future what I see in readings is that EVERYTHING remains on the same course it is at the time I did the reading then "X" is my probable outcome. Since we live in a world where all (most all of us anyway) have free will, then the odds of all of the elements and people that it would take in order for a the long distance future reading to come to pass as unprobable (As illustrated by yourself above). On the other hand, if you believe in predestination ... well then that is a whole 'nother story which I could not help you with as I do not subscribe to that theory. Good question by the way! :)

Thirteen	04 Apr 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Diana Let's take an example (invented for this purpose). So let's say I do a reading to find out my state of health in fifteen years time. And with a shock, I realise that I'll be suffering with severe arthritis. Now, with the knowledge that my mind is the cause of bodily illness, this can help me "change" my future. What you're discussing here is what can be known and changed and what can't be known. Let's first go back to your original question. The past, recent or distant, has already happened. It's pretty much set in stone. We may want to go back into the past and stop Kennedy's assassination, but we can't. It happened. He's dead. All a past life spread does is help answer a mystery--what was I in a past life? That's set in stone. That's who/what you were. So it's no problem for the tarot. The distant future, however, as so many have pointed out, isn't written yet. Some things are "inevitable" but too many other things are not. So let's go back to the arthritis. If you're genetically inclined toward arthritis, then yeah, I think the cards might be able to tell you whether you will or will not get it. And you can then take steps to make things better--though I doubt you can stop it unless there's a medical breakthrough. Or let's put it another way. You ask the cards about your future health and you get an indication of breast cancer in 15 years. So you get regular mammograms and, yep, it shows up. You catch it real early, get it taken care of, and no more cancer. That was "inevitable." It was in the genes, in you body. The only question was whether you were going to catch it early or not. This isn't the far future the cards are predicting--rather they're seeing what inside you that is likely to manifest itself. An "inevitablity" if you will. Similarly, I think they could predict far futures for people who never learn, or never seem to change. You know the type. Where they are now is pretty much where they'll be 10 years from now. However.... I don't think I can look at the cards and see that 15 years from now I'm going to be vacationing on a South Sea island. Consider what that would require. Not only knowledge of me, my tastes, my personality--which the cards have and can see--but knowledge that there will be a certain lottery 15 years from now and that, on a whim, I'll buy that ticket at a market a friend I'll meet 4 years from now will take me to because she forgot to get milk the night before. That the numbers I'll choose for that lotto ticket will be the birthday of a friend I'll meet 10 years from now after the place I work at went suddenly out of business and I had to change jobs and so met this friend who's birthday I'm using. That I'll win the lottery and decide to use the money to go to the South Seas because a beak-through in new technology allowed me to met someone in a holographic conference about deep-sea fishing who lives there. That I'll get into deep sea fishing 9 years from now because a friend I'll meet 5 years from now talked me into it. That'll I'llwant to meet this South Sea person, but will debate going there or to Egypt, and only decide on the South Seas because one particular airline, just that month, decides to have a special on trips to the South Seas. Do you see all the things the Tarot has to predict to reach that vacation? None of these things are inevitable either. What if I read the tarot early, learn the job's going to vanish and change jobs early so I never meet that friend who's birthday I used to win the lottery? The future is a very complex thing. Some things stay the same. But too much does not. Go rent "Connections" by James Burke. You'll see what I mean. The littlest thing, the simplist choice, can make all the difference.

Maan	05 Apr 2002
And even if tarot could predict the future that far away i dont think i want to know I would only be worried and i don't think i could enjoy my life. Surprises make life difficult but i also make's life fun!

Diana	05 Apr 2002
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Major Tom	08 Apr 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Diana So methinks that Tarot can predict the future, but that this future can be changed. And therefore it could be very useful in terms of self-development. Do you see what I mean? I'd love your and anyone else's feedback. Diana - Having first approached tarot from a magickal direction, I always thought that what you say is the the purpose of tarot. Thirteen - Don't you also get clients that go on to get their own tarot decks? ;)

The Tarot and the distant future thread was originally posted on 12 Mar 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.