How Do You Explain Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 08 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Logiatrix	08 Mar 2004
Ideas, please! I was speaking to a guy who works at a restaurant I frequent (it's right next to my favorite tarot temple), and he respectfully asked me about my 'card thing' that he's seen me do. He asked, "So, do you like, see your future, or what? I mean, what is it?" It kinda threw me off-guard, but.... I told him that I'm basically like a map-reader, a Spiritual Cartographer, so-to-speak. "So, say I'm giving you a reading..." I said. "As my querent, it is a segment of your life-journey that we are looking at on this map. The 'map' is the spread of cards that I lay before us; my job is to help you understand the map." "There are many paths on the map," I explained, "and it is my job as the reader to tell you what you can expect on these paths as you make your way through life." He seemed to understand that. I also brought up the issue of Free Will--that he can still take whatever route on the map he chooses to take, and that there are many versions of 'Point A to Point B.' Anyway, that's the best I was able to do, off the top o' my old noggin.... I'd like to be better prepared for a 'next time.' So, how do you explain Tarot to the sincerely inquiring onlooker? Thank you, and PEACE! :)

Star Spirit	08 Mar 2004
Interesting question. I think how you described it was very good. I normally like to say that tarot is a tool for personal insight into just about anything. I stress "insight" rather than things like fortune telling, since just about everyone thinks of it in stereotypes. I try to portray it as more of a practical device rather than a divinatory or mystical one, since people often take those types of words the wrong way. They are just cards, after all :D

Ilithiya	08 Mar 2004
Love the explanation, Tauni! I usually think of it as 1) signposts on the journey, or 2) nasty little pieces of brightly colored cardstock that beat me over the head with Wands and Swords (tee hee) about those things I need to think about or work on. Yes, every single one of my decks has an *attitude*! :)) Illy

jmd	08 Mar 2004
The metaphor of the map for journeys which may be taken - and what may be encountered along the various paths chosen, or for possible solutions and general guidelines by which to trek through the terrain of life - is wonderful. I was trying to find where something similar had been previously discussed, but am obviously not in the right frame to properly specify my search within the Forums. The question asked is quite specific, really, and a general discussion on how Tarot may be explained seems to run away with the idea in broader terms - though I would add that some of the discussion in the thread titled Archetype & Symbolism seems to also address something similar (as does What makes Tarot work?). When asked the question by various people, I personally generally refer to the spiritual world, though also usually mention that some people prefer to explain it in other ways. The map metaphor is, again, wonderful... :)

closrapexa	08 Mar 2004
I've found that the tarot doesn't really give answers, but questions. Questions the querent wouldn't necessarally ask himself

Astra	08 Mar 2004
The best answer I've been able to come up with that works with everybody, including Skeptics who will pounce on just about anything to explain why you CAN'T be right, is "Gee, I dunno. I put out the cards and say what comes up. Seems to work." I have to admit, I would rather not try to "explain" the Tarot, except on a strictly historical basis, since everything I've worked with seems to come down to: if your question is answerable, and you really want an answer, you'll get one (or more). How? Beats me, and calling it intuition is simply begging the question.

Astraea	08 Mar 2004
I don't even try to explain it in depth any more. I just say that I think of a reading as a "brainprint" (rather like handwriting, with the pen as an extension of the psyche) at a particular moment in time.

ros	08 Mar 2004
Sometimes I tell people it's like standing outside of your of your life & looking in. You can't see what's happening with your life when your living it or when your not aware. Tarot is out of the box thinking. It helps you look at your question the same way but from a different angle.

Star Spirit	08 Mar 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Astra The best answer I've been able to come up with that works with everybody, including Skeptics who will pounce on just about anything to explain why you CAN'T be right, is "Gee, I dunno. I put out the cards and say what comes up. Seems to work." I like that, Astra :laugh:

Kath	08 Mar 2004
I once read somewhere (quite possibly here) that a tarot reading is like a snapshot in time. It’s like a photo of what is happening right now, and what may happen if you continue on the course you are on, without changing anything. This also deals with the ‘free will’ aspect, because if you change the course you are on, then you can change the outcome (especially if it’s ‘bad’). But I really like the map analogy, I might just have to use that one :)

Teranar	09 Mar 2004
I get this question a lot, and I found an answer that people usually accept. Yes, I'm reading your future, but it might not be the future that happens. Its like a squirrel slowly climbing a tree. You're the squirrel. I can tell you which branch you're most likely to climb and what's on that branch, but you might not go on that branch, you might go down another branch with a whole new set of possibilites down it. I'm telling you which branch you're most likely to go down, or which branch you should go down. Nothing is making you go down that branch. They usually get it. Or give up. Going down a different branch since 2000, -Teranar

DesertHowler	09 Mar 2004
I explain tarot is tapping into the zero point field. I tell them what I get is the probablilities of how things will go if things don't change. I also explain that they have free-will and can change things. I add the the reading is already a start of changing things if they are willing to do so. I usually use the Osho Zen so there isn't too much prediction; it's much more insight into self. There are no people controlling your life, only your reactions to what others do that controls and influences. DesertHowler

Phoenix Rising	12 Mar 2004
I've just recently been saying to friends, that the cards indicate what you're thinking about at present and if you continue to think on that then you will manifest it within the given time frame(3 month spread say)But if you don't like something then we can change it. But because there thoughts were bought to their attention, things started happening within the week or that very day actually.

The How Do You Explain Tarot? thread was originally posted on 08 Mar 2004 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.