Feeling frustrated

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 03 Jan 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Flavio	03 Jan 2005
I took my Universal waite deck to the New Year party at my sister's house, I designed a spread to review the 2004 year (what was learn, what to forget etc...) and offered it to everyone so after the midnight dinner I read for almost 7 persons and the next morning for another 4 more, the source of my frustration is everyone wanted to know about the future and one aunt wanted to know something my code of ethics doesn't allowe me to read, so I wondered if all the things I've studied aren't enough to satisfy potential querents needs... I've felt the power and healing of accurate "present readings" for myself. I don't see me offering "future" readings as I believe the future is created every moment by our present actions but at the same time I wonder what kind of readings with a touch of "future" can satisfy the querent's needs, do you have an advice for me reading a situation like this? Thank you very much.

Ruby7	03 Jan 2005
Flavio wrote: I don't see me offering "future" readings as I believe the future is created every moment by our present actions but at the same time I wonder what kind of readings with a touch of "future" can satisfy the querent's needs, do you have an advice for me reading a situation like this? Thank you very much. Hmmm. You could do a reading with a touch of "future" by having an outcome card/ future card that you explain as being POSSIBLY in the future, also explaining to the querent that for the most part they are in control of their future and nothing is set in stone. If the outcome card is something they don't want to happen then they can direct their actions in a way to avoid this and if the outcome card is desirable then it offers hope if they work towards it. This works in Celtic Cross readings or even just 3 card, past, present, future readings. Only works as long as the querent really understands that there are many different paths and futures they could experience. I am always hesitant about future cards myself because even a possible future card could dramatically change the decisions someone makes for better sometimes but for worse other times maybe. Ruby7

Nevada	03 Jan 2005
I agree with Ruby7, and will add that although I nearly always have some aspect of the future in my readings, I never look at it as written in stone, but merely as a potential. To me future shouldn't be considered when looking at accuracy, either. I actually think the insights we gain are much more important than any prediction of the future. The future will be what it will be, and any resistance we have, or set idea we have, will likely need to be set aside once we are there. I also hate to see anyone take a reading more seriously than they do their own intelligence and will in setting the course of their life. But, again, that doesn't mean you shouldn't incorporate some aspect of "future" into your readings. Of course it's up to you. Nevada

augursWell	03 Jan 2005
Flavio wrote: I don't see me offering "future" readings as I believe the future is created every moment by our present actions... I also feel this way about "the future", generally speaking the future is always a potential reflection of the present situation. This is what any card reading says, in my opinion, that these things exist now and will/may effect future outcomes, one way if not changed, another if left as is. On the other hand life is full of unexpected happenings that we have no control over. If you are wrestling with the ethics of this than my opinion is that you should simply emphasize that to the querent, that these cards represent present potential for the future and that there are too many variables to say that this is a fact about the future. I think people understand this basically but hope that in some way Tarot cards eliminate the fact that life still has to be lived and consequences will result from what one does. Sorry, got a little philosophical there. :) My personal feeling is that only truly important events, life changing kind of events, will intrude on the present from the future and usually only for the person themselves as they are the only ones capable of interpreting such a message. For example people who suddenly refuse to board a plane or a boat because they know instinctively that a disaster will result. A Tarot card reader who is able to do this for others may or may not exist but if your ethics say not to do this then you are simply recognizing that you are not ready for this or not capable of this. Making a mistake about something so important is nothing to be taken lightly. I myself am not able to read cards for others in this way but I do not leave out the possibility that there are some who can.

magpie9	03 Jan 2005
They always want to know the future, don't they....? the way I deal with this is to explain that we are constantly making choices, whether we realize it or not. And these choices, each of them, affect and create the future. Most of the choices we make are so habitual that we are unaware of doing them--like always starting in the same isle at the grocery store. We don't think about it. So the future is built by our present and future choices, and we can't be certain of what the future,(the product of soooo many choices,) will be. it's too complicated to predict accurately. However, if we make the choices that are natural to us, as we go along, then such and such card is the most likely outcome. (probable future or Outcome card) If we don't want that outcome, we need to make other choices--and that can be read for, too. I have a simple Bridge layout for this: 3 cards, #1 is where you are now #3 is what you want (choose this card) #2 is the bridge-what you have to do, or change, to get where you want to be. And one more....... #4 is the troll card, that I usually add, to show what the resistance, or obstacle is to getting what you want. It's laid out in this pattern: ...........................#2.............................. ...............#1...........#4........#3.............. You could get more elaborate with it, if you need to. Card #4 in the layout -(I call that the troll under the bridge) is what really makes the spread work, in a practical way. I've found it very helpful for myself and others. Hope this is helpful. :D

Fudugazi	04 Jan 2005
I think is is a very important discussion Flavio has started, and I'v not yet seen any such threads on the Forum, though I've not been here long, so quite a few could be archived. It's given me food for thought. What is our future? How much conscious, or unconscious control do we have over it? How much do outside events intrude into our free will? Do we really have free will, or this just another illusion of grandeur, and we are just objects - of political, military and economic powers, of our own genetics, of our history, of our upbringing, of our religious education, of our family atmosphere and customs? The Asian tsunami has reminded us what little pawns we are faced with an overwhelming force. Perhaps free will, our power of decision over ourselves, can only take place in response to such events? Or to how we were formed? I think how we read the tarot, even how we view its whole philosophy, is really determined by those questions. I don't have an easy answer. I tend to think that free will is about how we respond to our circumstances, how we seize opportunities, even in the midst of crisis. How we accept, throughout our lives, our limitations and our end. I'll leave this stream of thought, just for now, with a couple more of Shakspeare's titbits to ponder: "There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries". "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings" Both from Julius Caesar, who played fate - and lost. And Montaigne, from the Essays: "To philosophise is to learn how to die". magpie9 wrote: I have a simple Bridge layout for this: 3 cards, #1 is where you are now #3 is what you want (choose this card) #2 is the bridge-what you have to do, or change, to get where you want to be. And one more....... #4 is the troll card, that I usually add, to show what the resistance, or obstacle is to getting what you want. I like that one! Thanks, Magpie. I sometimes use another spread posted here (I foget by whom) - a 3-card advice spread: situation - advice - outcome if advice is followed. It's been quite useful too, people enjoy it and it gives me fewer moral problems than the unbending "this is the outcome" spreads. But yours is more creative, I think, since one card is chosen. I love the idea of the Bridge. On a couple of occasions, I asked for a Bridge (not in the same layout, but I like bridges, so) - and got the Bridge card - V-the Pope! So of course then I have to ask him a clarifying question about the nature - in this situation - of his bridging. (Makes it sound like dentistry ;) )

Flavio	04 Jan 2005
Thnak you everyone for answers so far, I've studied your comments and concluded some points regarding making readings with a "touch of future" to please the Querent and still respect my code of ethics. Is OK to give hope to the Querent about a potential future by doing this both the Reader and the Querent have a responsibility. The Reader responsibiity is to help adjusting Querent's expectations, inform the future is not written in stone and depends on present choices and actions of the Querent, remark we never loose our free will. The Querent has to take responsibility on the choices made after the reading and do the hard work needed to reach a goal in its life. Querent must also understand many choice (no matter how small) are taken unaware of them. Neither Reader or Querent can anticipate the influence of external and "force majeure" events afffecting the Querent Is advisable to use spreads with a postion for "outcome" or "future status" as long as the Querent is conscious Tarot readings are meant to gain insight and not to actually predict events. I think is unfair to expect the Reader to make life changing revelations in every single Tarot reading, just because the Querent is unable to make choices or has wrong impression of what a reading is for. Thank you very much also for the proposed spreads (loved the "troll below the bridge" :)) will start using them at first with me and then with Querents. Further comments are appreciated.

DarkElectric	04 Jan 2005
Hi Flavio :) I always tell people whom I'm reading for that the reading represents, to me at least, a so called "Photo" of the energies which are currently in play at the time the reading is being done. The future is always in flux, nothing is carved in stone and we all have free will and free choice. This is why I can't tell them exactly the "Future", because the future is going to change from minute to minute, and everything we do, every decision we make, no matter how small, will influence it. I see time as not only a force, with certain, shall we say, "laws" by which it seemingly behaves; but a force which has, as one of it's infinitely interesting characteristics, the possibility of infinite occurrence of events. I sometimes wonder if time itself isn't a lot like water, which we wade through, or swim through, or drown in, eventually. Therefore, there really is no concise way to tell "The Future" really, although in a universe filled with unlimited possibilities, sometimes that which we see as the potential direction in which the energies are headed does, in fact, turn out to be precisely where they end up.

The Feeling frustrated thread was originally posted on 03 Jan 2005 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.