1st time in paying for a reading

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 Feb 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

pozt	07 Feb 2003
Last night I went and got a reading done by a pretty famous tarot card reader in HK. She used the Chinese version of Osho-zen, and did a 4 card relationship reading for me and my ex. She really provided a lot of insight and I would've missed had I been doing a regular reading for myself (not using Osho). Can I ask - one CAN change his/her course of life, right? Just wanted your views.

RedWood	07 Feb 2003
I believe you can change yoru course in life...Tarot is possibilities...not set in stone..There is so many factors involved..including your own free will that nothing is set in stone.

Dark Inquisitor	07 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by pozt Can I ask - one CAN change his/her course of life, right? [/b] Always!! There are many possible futures . Readings should ideally make you aware of the options & outcomes of certain paths you might take, so that you will be equipped to make the changes & decisions you need to. Tarotphelia

MeeWah	07 Feb 2003
Pozt: One most certainly can! It depends on how much one is willing & motivated; the choices made. The cards only describe what has been; what is present & what the possibilities may be (based on past & present). .

Umbrae	08 Feb 2003
“Fortune Telling”, be it Tarot, Runes, Entrails…does not reveal the future. It mirrors the present. It resonates against what you know…holds reality up to the light. The problem, is that the sitter (in this case you), often cannot see that their lives can and could be different. They cannot see that change is possible; they are embarrassed to ‘change’ their lives. But Tarot, Runes, Dice…the gods…they all expect you to help yourself as much as they help you. The best way to foretell the future, is to invent it.

Athara	08 Feb 2003
That's exactly why I started reading Tarot. Not because I want to know what the future looks like. I just want to learn how to handle certain things, what I can expect and how to prepare for it. I think that people who read Tarot and tell you: you're going to marry then and then, have 3 kids and divorce then and then aren't doing it the right way... I think it's not 'fortune-' or 'futuretelling' but just getting to know yourself... Good luck, and don't worry!

MeeWah	08 Feb 2003
I also do not read specifically "to know" the future nor for prophecy, but to be more cognizant of the underlying forces which may influence or impede. That it sometimes seem to be prophetic is a quality that comes with the territory; requires discernment.

pozt	09 Feb 2003
Hmm....so one CAN change his future...... thanks for the insight! What I find strange about tarot sometimes is that they tell you what you already know...yet u can feel like "hanging suspended", unable to do anything, which can make u even more frustrated.

Mojo	09 Feb 2003
Tarot, when used for divination, is merely a roadmap. It's a view of where you are likely to end up if you continue following the route you're currently on. And just like a roadmap, a Tarot spread will also give you options. Consider what happens to the outcome if you turn one card over, or perhaps just skip over one or another? This is a good thing to remember when you do a reading for someone and it comes out looking negative. Rather than deliver it as gloom and doom, you address it as a challenge. Don't like that 10 of Swords in the outcome position? Well, then how about we go back and work on that 4 of Pentacles in the "self" position and see what happens to the rest of the spread?

Osher	09 Feb 2003
Just thought the following story might be of help: All my life I have seen or known things before they happen. Around 10 years ago I had a vision. A little while it came true. I joined a class, and went to a remote hotel in Wales, and there suddenly I saw it, I remembered the dream, and from running it back was able to predict every word that was said during a 1 minute epoch. Except, it changed. The last sentance changed. Instead of him asking 'any more questions', and my asking a silly question, he closed with a similiar but different sentance. Yet, until then my vision/prophecy was 100% accurate. Ever since then my visions have been close, but slightly out (usually, occasionally still spot on). It seems that somehow my future has changed. I see what should have been, which is darn close to reality. Am I blessed with seeing an alternative? Maybe, but more importantly I realised that the future is not set in stone. It can be altered. Therefore, tarot can be close, but as we can change things, so it cannot be 100% accurate.

MeeWah	10 Feb 2003
Happiness: Thanks for that very appropriate illustration from personal experience--I love it!! I have had similar experiences with dreams & visions, some of which include what I call "blank spots". The experience in reality is oft preceded by a sense of deja-vu or the memory of having dreamed a sequence & includes a blank "ending". Based on personal experiences, I think the "blank spot" may be the area that can be changed or influenced, possibly by prior events or choices that affect the final sum of the "equation". I also see the essence of such experiences as ye have hypothesized: as viewing or connecting to one of possible alternative "futures". I have to include that I have also seen things that ran in exact sequence, down to every detail such as clothing worn by the people involved &/or the dialogue. Some dreams are precognitive; involve only the receiving of information & no actual setting other than being in a white place.

sagitarian	10 Feb 2003
I believe that tarot readings is like asking a good friend what they think about a specific subject such as "what do you think of my relationship with my husband?" and they respond like a good friend would, telling you the truth about both people involved and pointing out where both of you could use some work. I usually explain to the querent that "future" cards are only a possibility that's based on the past, present, and if you were to do NOTHING, this is most likely what would happen. Sometimes, final outcome cards are warning cards, if you don't react, or take action, this is what could happen. I too have dream visions. I've dreamed of many things that have come true, including september 11th. Although like the other posts about visions, not all of mine are EXACT. Most of the time it's just the main content that's important. For instance, when I dreamed of my son, I was at the hospital fully dressed coming to "claim" him. The dream had a feeling of something horrible happend to a couple that I knew and they left their young son to my husband and I. A few weeks later I found out that I was pregnant. (He's my third baby, I dreamed about all my children before I knew I was pregnant). In any case, when it came time to have him, I had a lot of difficulties at the hospital, but once I gave birth to him, everything was fine from that point on. My dream was only telling me that I was going to have some difficulties when it comes time to give birth, but I will be having a son, and we won't be naming him what we originally picked out. That was the important content of the dream, all the other stuff was just stuff that my subconcious was filling in. The same could be true and be applied to tarot. The main content, what you get out of it, is the important information, the main message, after that, it's all fill in the blanks.

Alex	12 Feb 2003
if one wants to. The question is then: does one want to change one's life course, or not? I like a series of books written by a psychiatrist called Eric Berne because he put into simple words something we tend to ignore, or fail to realize: when we are about 7 years old, a lot of our future has already been written in the form of draft "script", and our roles in future life are already defined by then. People tend to be faithful to such scripts along their lives and bring family, friends and even health care providers to play in it, helping him/her to fullfill that set of "unknown prophecies". Some people overcome their own "scripts" upon bringing certain aspects of it into consciousness. Others never do. Sometimes we are lucky to come accross a certain book, a certain person, a movie that shows us an aspect of that "hidden" destiny, and that's when we have the choice, to change it. I'll give just one, quick example from my own family. ALL women in my family, from my mother side, married men who turned out to be poor providers (in past times it was a severe fault in a man). Aditionally, some were alcooholics and gamblers. My ex-husband turned out to have a personality disorder, which only surfaced in his early 30's. This is a kind of script women in my family write to themselves, "I'll be a co-dependent wife of an incompetent husband; AND I'll be miserable with him, but even more miserable without him" (my Grandmother's motto: bad with him, worse without him). One of the messages I received when I was growing up was that a woman on her own is nothing, that we should be pretty happy if we ever find a man that will want to marry us and care for us, and the older I got, the more pressure I got to "marry soon" while any man would still look at me (in my early 20's!). I'm not sure how that has affected me but look at that: I too married very early, and an incompetent husbad! Hope that helps clarify your issue Alex. Alex. Quote: Originally posted by pozt Can I ask - one CAN change his/her course of life, right?

Aoife	13 Feb 2003
Many years ago I had a friend. He had had a relatively poor education and difficult background but was determined to be a success in one of the most competitive academic subjects. So by the time I met him [he was about 26] he had attained a first class honours degree followed by a masters degree in English. Everyone felt he would achieve great success in his field but - One day he announced that he wanted to be a [contemporary] ballet dancer. He asked us to watch him 'perform' and to give our honest opnion - we watched. It was one of those excruciatingly embarrassing, panic filled moments. What should we say - little time for thought about how best to tell him that as a 6ft+ , heavily built man with the grace of trucker, the last thing he should contemplate doing was this. He was one of the most determined people I have ever met. Over the next 18 months, in addition to a [time and energy] demanding job, he attended twice daily ballet classes. This was in the days before the 'fitness' revolution. We watched with amazement as his body transformed - his broad shoulders and muscular arms and legs evolved into finely honed and tapered limbs. His posture and movement changed radically and became an amazing blend of power and grace. I particularly remember how his hands changed. He was accepted by the UK's leading contemporary dance companies to train to become a teacher. He would have to give up a relatively well paid job, move to London with no obvious means of support train over the next two years - knowing that he would never become the professional dancer he truly wanted to be. He completed the course and went on to become a leading light in the field of therapeutic dance. He never became the professional performer he wanted to be but when I next saw him perform I was riveted by his beauty, fluidity, power and skill. He taught me that if we want something badly enough, are prepared to work harder than we have ever contemplated, there is little outside the realms of possibility. He also taught me a valuable interpretation of the progression from 7 to 10 of cups. The changes for him were not just physical and material but mostly importantly, about his relationship with himself.

HudsonGray	13 Feb 2003
That's great! Determination in an individual can do wonders. Wish everyone could decide to go ahead on their dreams, but it totally depends on the individual. A long while back, when talking about life scripts & how we see ourselves, someone pointed out a study to me in the psychology field. Apparently the fairy tale that had the most appeal for us as children is actually a form of life script that we build up our lives around. Taking a deep look at that can give insights into who we are & how we deal with things. At that time I remembered most vividly a fairy tale called The Goose Girl, which is actually a form of Cinderella. Well, once I realized that yes, I WAS waiting for the prince who was supposed to take me away from a horrible life, I could actually drop the script and start taking care of myself. Man was THAT an eye opener to find out at about age 24! Try it and see, and compare it to your present life. Hopefully nobody will have anything nasty turn up, but it is worth giving a moment of time to.

The 1st time in paying for a reading thread was originally posted on 07 Feb 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.