Exactly ~How~ Ambiguous Can The Tarot Be?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Apr 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kiama	26 Apr 2002
The subject of this post says it all... But to give you the reason why I am asking, and to give you an example... My boyfriend's Mother-in-law went to a Tarot reader the other day (Even tho she could get it free from me, but she insists you should never go to somebody you know for a reading...) and was told loads of stuff that is absolutely correct and true. Then, she told her that she would be having a grandson soon... Very soon... Her daughter is pregnant. With a girl. And her only other offspring happens to be my S.O... So, now she's convinced that I'm gonna have a baby soon! (Which I seriously doubt...) Given that it is highly highly unlikely that I am pregnant (And if I am, I will not be keeping it) I am wondering exactly how ambiguous what we get from a Tarot reading can be. When someone says, 'You'll be having a grandson soon', so they mean something like, well, within the next 3 years? Or, could it be a metaphorical grandson, eg- One o your grandkids makes very good friends with another kid, and that kid ends up as one of the family... Or could it even be taking a miscarriage to be that grandson? Kiama

Scorpion	26 Apr 2002
Hi, Kiama! Don't you just hate it when something like that happens?! If it's any consolation, I remember someone at work had the tests because she'd decided if it was another boy they could stay put but if it was a girl she'd need to move to a larger house. She was told it would be a girl, so she duly moved, only to have another boy. She was furious - I think as much as the fact that she'd paid for the test as for the expense of the move! It's a shame the reader felt she could safely name the sex - sounds as if she was spot on just going down the "grandchild" route - and to add "soon" is a killer! Do you know what the reader said verbatim? And what input your b/f's mum put on it? I read recently for someone who was determined I was going to say something particular and tried to steer me on every card with "could that mean...?". Not, of course, that your other half's mum would have consciously done that, but is a grandson important to her? It sounds as if it would have been helpful if the reader had been more ambivalent!

Soraya	26 Apr 2002
Hi Kiama, There is another thread around which questions the possiblity of establishing a baby's sex throught Tarot. Have you seen it? In any case, I can imagine that the reader saw a page in the spread and interpreted him as being a baby-boy, whereas he could just as easily represent a baby-girl since pages stand for children in general. Also, as some-one pointed out in the other thread, the child could be a girl, but with a boyish temperament. Just a few ideas which you could throw at the soon-to-be grandma.

Diana	26 Apr 2002
edited

kayne	26 Apr 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Kiama I am wondering exactly how ambiguous what we get from a Tarot reading can be. When doing a reading for someone I would never say something as... inevitable as a baby on the way... (Unless the reader is also psychic - Funkpuss, have you seen anything like this for Kiama?) When doing readings I always take it as being specifically about the querant and their perspective on the people around them. Perhaps if a page appeared the reader could have said it was you from your boyfriend's mum's POV (young etc) I also pretty much always read Court cards as aspects of the querant... we are such complex people, we can be a page, queen, knight or king all in the one day in different situations, despite our gender..

Original Destiny	26 Apr 2002
Mmmmmmm, I never get anything as precise as that...I get the possibility of a pregnancy..say "you are coming into a time when conception is likely" i never see an "involved party", someone other than the client...so clearly...My readings are for the client first...The Tarot always has some mystery. It sometimes doesn't give all ...often hints are all that is needed..:TFOOL

Kiama	27 Apr 2002
It seems that all the readers my boyf's Mum goes to are very specific... They will tell her things very precise like where she will go on holiday, etc... Can the Tarot really tell us that? Kiama

Original Destiny	27 Apr 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Kiama It seems that all the readers my boyf's Mum goes to are very specific... They will tell her things very precise like where she will go on holiday, etc... Can the Tarot really tell us that? Kiama For me this is too controlling...it isn,t allowing freedom of choice..it is being directive..in the worst cases the Tarot reader will take control of the clients life, they become dependant on the reader. Not being able to do anything without checking the reader first. I dont think that the cards are that accurate...they impel not compel:TFOOL

Diana	27 Apr 2002
edited

Tarotbear 2	27 Apr 2002
Is this an oxymoron? 'Exact' and 'Ambiguous' in the same sentence? LOL!

destinyawaitsme	27 Apr 2002
Well, you being a reader yourself..you know more than anyone else that a reader can always be wrong. We are people too; it happens! And besides, even if she was right about you being pregnant, you know ahead of time, so you could take precautions to prevent it. Change your path so to speak. I know people that are psychic that just use tarot to point them in a direction and they can do the rest. If they can tell her where she is going on vacation I would feel safe in saying they were clairvoyant. I have never known a way to tell location by cards! I think tarot is very intuition oriented...Yes, it takes a lot of memorization of meanings, but your intuition makes the reading. I think the cards within themselves are ambiguous, but the reader makes them specific. Does that make any sense?

SusanAe	29 Apr 2002
I wonder myself about that reading, the confidence by which the Reader was operating out of. Yeah, I suppose Clairvoyants can predict "facts" quite well, but even the Clairvoyants have to be careful. Sounds to me that the Mum is looking for knowledge about her family from a stranger when she could get it from someone she knows. Which brings me to my point, the use of Readers to advance an agenda of some kind. I had a friend who has been to plenty of readers, she approached them like she wanted to test them for their "abilities". She wanted to be told things in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS.. this will happen, that will happen and so on as if she had nothing whatsoever to do with outcomes. And she didn't open up either.. you just do your thing and make it right! Oh she used me too, I saw through it when the Tarot handed her a question.. What is it you really want? I didn't play the gypsy game and she proceeded to tell me that maybe I am too psychological to PREDICT her life. Needless to say it set me thinking about responsibility to the Querent. I say run your own cards on it.. you'll find out the truth about any baby coming forth. Love Susan Ae

The Exactly ~How~ Ambiguous Can The Tarot Be? thread was originally posted on 26 Apr 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.