Poll: How Does Tarot Work?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Jun 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rusty Neon	04 Jun 2004
Another Rusty Neon poll! :) To assist in formulating poll choices that are more likely to make sense to voters, I've adopted terminology and text from an article on the WorldWideWeb by Judith Laura.

OakDragon	04 Jun 2004
Alas, that link seems to be broken, RN.

Rusty Neon	04 Jun 2004
I fixed the link, I think. :)

Dark Inquisitor	04 Jun 2004
Greetings once again, King of Polls. It's a hologram. The little picture of the big picture. Organized by mysterious forces of cutting edge energy physics. Don't tell anybody. (This would include Higher Self ,Universal Mind; Unconscious, and Synchronicity.)

Luminessence	04 Jun 2004
I think it's mostly, or at least partly, on the level of the Higher Self. I think that the answers it gives us do come from ourselves, but a much greater part of ourselves than we can access in physical incarnation. Of course, there are also Qabalistic, astrological, and elemental associations in the cards, but I think that's more a part of interpreting the cards than what makes you draw specific cards. But I don't think it's only on the level of the Higher Self. I think it might also go higher than that, to universal energy. But I can't really know, and at this point it doesn't matter to me all that much. (Unusual for me - usually I'm the one to question things like that endlessly. But for whatever erason, in this area I'm content to not know for now.) But even if it's not completely or even mostly on the level of the Higher Self, that's still the closest to my conception of it. I think it connects to universal energy, but I don't really believe in a Universal Mind or a Universal Unconscious as such. Although I guess those things could be the same as what I believe in, just with different terminology. Things get murky when you discuss stuff like this :)

Woof	04 Jun 2004
I voted for: "It works by corresponding to Jungian archetypes." However; had "Who knows, who cares!" been a choice, that's the one I'd have picked. I use the Jungian archetypes and an explanation for scoffers who are baffled by a heady dose of BS. (Not that it is BS, hey it works as well as anything else as an explanation, but most people don't want to ask what a Jungian archetype is and are satisfied with the answer.)Not that it changes anyones mind but they seem to find it somewhat acceptable. Personally, I really am completely unconcerned with why it works or how it works. It just does. Woof

MeeWah	04 Jun 2004
Rusty Neon: I thought based on a caption I read prior to voting that more than one choice is permitted; however, was only able to vote on one choice. So, chose the Higher Self since in my view, it would include the Universal Mind, Universal Unconscious & Synchronicity, etc. Edited to add: thanks very much for including the link to the interesting article & a fascinating website!

Cerulean	04 Jun 2004
I believe it is a sight-driven, learned association similar to a young child associating pictures as representing concepts. My initial idea is historical to present tarot art pulls predominately from Western understanding of symbolic concepts. I may be wrong, but there might be a predominance of left to right layouts and ways of reading that would emphasize the Western way of ordering text. I believe much of the symbology also stems from Western history, or predominately European views up to the 1970s and then more ways of using tarot art became popularized. Of course that might be too dated a view! Regards, Cerulean

fairyhedgehog	05 Jun 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Cerulean I don't see my thoughts... Nor I mine! A lot of the options seem pretty similar to me. I wonder if you could add in 'I don't know and I don't care' for Wolf and probably others. And for me, 'it's psychological'. I don't think it matters which cards show up, we can always make up a story that makes sense of them. Because that is what human beings do: we make up stories to make sense of what happens.

BlueLotus	05 Jun 2004
I voted for the ....higher self, which seems to me the most probable reason, although I would not rule out others entirely, as they may be connected . To me this option does seem to be the one that resonates most with the readings and insights given by the cards; many of these leave the reader flabbergasted at their accuracy, even if the reader does not understand or see it at the time.

laura_borealis	05 Jun 2004
I would need to have "Higher Self" defined, I think. What that means to me may not be the same as what it means to others. I was going to say something flippant, like "angels invisibly re-shuffle the deck before you turn each card over," but I decided against it. (whoops! said it anyway! :D) Honestly, I think the way the cards turn up is due to chance; how we interpret them is based on making links between the symbols on the cards and concepts in our minds. I think intuition is a highly developed process of making cognitive connections. But there may be an element of synchronicity, as well, so I voted for the last option.

Imagemaker	05 Jun 2004
Higher Self is my choice, because I too feel that HS can communicate with universal mind, see patterns the Ego can't, and guide us to choose the cards that have the message we need.

ros	05 Jun 2004
I voted Synchronicity because I couldn't decide if it was that or the Higher Self or Universal Mind. I think the three connect.

Indigo_lady	05 Jun 2004
Nice options I voted for universal unconscious. Somehow I feel that tarot is just another form of meditation to get in touch with this unconscious that we are not in contact with in our daily lives. The answers are all over us, but sometimes we need the right decoder to read them..

Mojo	05 Jun 2004
You left off "None of the above"

kerri28	06 Jun 2004
My vote was for the universal unconscious. We're definately tapping into something bigger than ourselves when using tarot.

hedgecub	06 Jun 2004
Quote: Originally posted by fairyhedgehog I don't think it matters which cards show up, we can always make up a story that makes sense of them. Because that is what human beings do: we make up stories to make sense of what happens. :eek: You just pulled the words right out of my mouth :D I think tarot works in a way similar to inkblot tests. The cards you pull may be random, but the meanings you glean from them are not. What you see in a card says a lot about your innermost thoughts and feelings on the matter, sometimes thoughts and feelings that you're not consciously aware of. Thus they bring out parts of you that you hadn't noticed before, and can offer deeper insight into your motivations and opinions. Also, the meanings of cards are so flexible that they can usually relate to just about any situation, and hence they have the ability to comment on a situation from a point of view you may not have yet considered. Thus they allow you to look at the problem from a different mindset and might offer additional insight into the situation. Of course, the universe is a very very big place, so I'm definitely not ruling out the possibility that tarot works due to another mechanism or some greater force.

Rusty Neon	06 Jun 2004
Quote: Originally posted by hedgecub Also, the meanings of cards are so flexible that they can usually relate to just about any situation, and hence they have the ability to comment on a situation from a point of view you may not have yet considered. Thus they allow you to look at the problem from a different mindset and might offer additional insight into the situation. To me, tarot works as a brainstorming tool. The cards are random, and the reader can - because card meanings are so flexible - give a meaning to those cards. The meaning given by the reader can differ from reader to reader, and even so, from day to day. The cards drawn are unconnected with the problem and are truly random, but the insight from any of the various possible interpretations of those cards can be valuable from a brainstorming point of view. I voted for Jungian archetypes, by the way.

Flavio	09 Jun 2004
I voted for synchonicity because I feel it mixes jungian archetypes psycology with the intervention of something higher and inmateral I can not accurately name.

Seed Crystal	20 Aug 2004
My answer on this changes, pretty constantly. Today had it been an option I would have selected Human Capacity for Pattern Recognition.

Shalott	21 Aug 2004
hmmm. I hovered between "universal mind" and "universal consciousness," only because I couldn't recall Edgar Cayce's terminology, and went with "mind" largely to differentiate between Jungian and Cayce-an terms...Whatever it was, that belt of all knowledge surrounding us that he tapped into during his sessions, that what I personally think powers the Tarot.

The Poll: How Does Tarot Work? thread was originally posted on 04 Jun 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.