Can you guard against personalising the Tarot too much ?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

samantha	01 Jan 2003
So , recently I have started to wonder about this question. In everyday life we use ourselves as touchstones to try and make sense of life and experiences. This is not surprising , and thus to some extent must follow us into our Tarot readings. However, whilst hindsite is acceptable in everyday life ("I was wrong ......I made a mistake .........I didn't consider x enough") there is not really the time frame available in the questioner/reader situation to do the same thing.On the occasions when I have realised that I have made a mistake with a reading......I did infact get back to the people involved and given an alternative interpretation. But !! This only seems to be a short term strategy to get out of a long term problem !!!!! I really want to know how long it takes before the conscious , and more importantly , sub-conscious assumptions that we bring (or I bring !!) to the cards will dissapate ?! and transform into something which is far more flexible, and able to view the cards for the multi-faceted individuals that they undoubtedly are. I guess that I am striving towards a "World" ideal of integration and assimilation. Is this possible , and how did you do it ??!!

Umbrae	01 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by samantha I really want to know how long it takes before the conscious , and more importantly , sub-conscious assumptions that we bring (or I bring !!) to the cards will dissapate ?! Perhaps never. After years of reading, I still insinuate my own opinion into some readings; which is why I never want to know too much about a sitter, I detest reading for friends, and I never read for myself…I’m too close to the subject.

Khatruman	01 Jan 2003
I think this is a very interesting question that extends out to beyond tarot reading, but to listening to the world in general. We cannot help but see the world through our eyes. We are thrown tons of sensory data at all times and focus comes in when the brain takes and interprets all this into understandable parts. Have you ever tape recorded a situation and listened to it again and find that the voices that were so much more focused to you sound now just meshed in with everything else? When you listened to it, and were there with it, your mind decided what was most important and reinterpreted the sound levels. People with ADD often have problems because their brain cannot decipher what to focus on. I had a student who would say, "I am listening to what you are saying, but I am also hearing the air conditioner in the corner and I can't focus." The cards show patterns and images and symbols and it is the mind which must decipher them and link the ideas using repetitions, prior knowledge and understanding. If you are reading for someone else's life, you are dealing with someone who has different associations, life experiences, and their own personal symbolism. If the cards are speaking to them, I feel it is therefore important to ask them, to explain what symbolism is given in the cards, but to stop talking enough and listen to them react, and let them react. I don't think I am a very good reader, so therefore, I try to explain some of the symbolism in the cards, but I really try to get the person I am reading for to tell me what they see, no matter how stupid they think their ideas are. I have these notions about what I think they say, but I am always keeping in the back of my mind that those are MY ideas. It matters most what the person who's reading it is feels about what they say. What I try to do is teach them the deeper significances of the cards' symbolism. When a person sees the card "Death" they may immediately think, "Ohhh, means someone is going to die!!!" I explain the deeper symbolism of transformation. This is what irks me about fortune telling, that people who first experience tarot think it is about the reader telling them what is going to happen. They therefore tend to come in thinking, "ok, I am skeptical, so I am going to shut up and see what YOU can tell me." It should be an interaction, it should be more about what the person feels is the message. I have no delusions of power and don't mind if the person I read for says, "Well, I told YOU what it was about. So, what did YOU do?" I think the power of the cards is to draw out a persons deep intuition, instinct, unconscious knowledge. I guess in that way I see it as more purely Socratic. Peace!

Moongold	01 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Khatruman I think the power of the cards is to draw out a persons deep intuition, instinct, unconscious knowledge. I guess in that way I see it as more purely Socratic. Peace! I agree with this but there are different approaches. Some readers are so experienced and skilled they can do very accurate and intuitive readings a lot of the time. The only readings I have done face to face are ones such as Khatruman describes. I am very new to Tarot and use it primarily as a personal development framework. Mary Greer characterizes reading approaches as analytic, psychic, therapeutic and magical. Sometimes a reader might use a blend of these approaches. There is a lot of interesting written material about this and lots of discussion here, some of it passionate! You've raised some good ethical questions, however. I would be interested to know whether people who read for the public or who sell readings give an explanation or "disclaimer" before they commence the reading. I guess the person getting the reading has the responsibility to exercise judgment in her choice of reader and in her acceptance of the message. There is a lot of discussion about the "certification" of Tarot readers and that, if it ever happens, might help people make judgments about who they choose as readers. Some of the same issues apply in other helping disciplines. People may have all the professional training and skill in the world but still give advice that may not be correct or helpful to their clients. Or they may give good advice that the client simply does not want to hear. Returning to the question, for the few times that I have read for others I've simply explained that Tarot is a lens for looking at the world through symbolism. Sometimes the lens is very clear, sometimes not. And then we usually have some fun in exploring the cards! Moongold

Khatruman	01 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Moongold for the few times that I have read for others I've simply explained that Tarot is a lens for looking at the world through symbolism. Sometimes the lens is very clear, sometimes not. And then we usually have some fun in exploring the cards! Moongold Now THAT is great! I love that as an explanation and perhaps a key for looking at it in my adult high school classroom. Thanks, Moongold! Peace!

Alex	01 Jan 2003
in the social sciences? That sounds somewhat like Piaget. I don't know though, if I understand the question. I am often wrong when reading for myself, and many times wrong when reading for others. However, I'm not sure it has to do with "preconceived knowledge" about the cards. I guess it has more to do with not being able to read the person fast enough so I can say something "sounding" to them. Alex. Quote: Originally posted by samantha I guess that I am striving towards a "World" ideal of integration and assimilation. Is this possible , and how did you do it ??!!

The Can you guard against personalising the Tarot too much ? thread was originally posted on 01 Jan 2003 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.