Does Tarot adapt to your reading style?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Simone	09 Apr 2005
This is a question I have been wondering about for a moment now... If we decide to read reversals or not, if we decide to read pictures or attribute a defined meaning to a card, how comes the results fit our reading styles? I mean, I never use reversals (and they never come up unless I hold the deck upside down, but then they are all reversed and I just turn them around) - but I seem to pick up the reversed meaning anyway if appropriate. Would I pull different cards if I decided to read reversals? Would I pull different cards if I decided to read the cards numerologically instead of picturologically ;)? I know the questions are virtually unanswerable... but is it the deck adapting to how we read or us adapting to how the cards lie... Never mind, guess my fundamental question probably is "how does it work" ;) Any input? Thanks in advance Simone

contradiction	09 Apr 2005
yes, and no, to all of the above. Now that I have totally confused you, I will elaborate. First I do not believe the cards, have any power other than what we give them. They are not magic, they are not "demon possessed", or any such thing. They are just cards. We give them meanings, I mean each of us personally. Therefore the meanings we give them reflect how we read them. The question then, is "how can I sit here in Mississippi, and do a reading for someone in the UK, and not only get a believable reading, but accurately describe a situation, that I not only did not know about, but had nothing to do with the question asked?" and the answer is I don't know. It just happens. So did I answer your question, or give you more questions? Too many questions, just too many...........(contradiction, walks off shrugging his shoulders, muttering to himself.......with a very puzzled look on his face, and scratching his head....)

Rosanne	09 Apr 2005
I used to torture myself with these Questions. I tried to read the same spread of cards in different ways. They always came out how I would read cards- just with different parameters. I decided I was never going to know the answer- unless I had a Ground Hog Day- repeating the same spread and the same question and the same cards and the same Querent day after day... and it still would be me reading the cards my way. The answer would always have meaning and that meaning may or may not spark recognition in the Querent, tho it usually does spark a response. So do the cards adapt to me?- I don't think so -they are symbols on card. I take my method to the Cards as they lay- you take your method and both ways are unique and meaningful and have answers that apply to the question. Thats the magic and the profoundness of Tarot- clever little tool eh!! I am pleased that I don't quite know why :D

ncefafn	09 Apr 2005
There are some decks I just do not read reversals with: the Fey, the Tarot of the Gnomes, and TdM come to mind. But with the RWS and its close clones, yes, I do. Why is that? Well. For one thing, the Fey and the Gnomes are so rich that I can get different stuff off them each time I do a reading with them. The TdM is more practical -- except for the trumps, it's difficult to figure out whether they're reversed or not. I go with Rosanne on this -- I do a reading, and then afterwards I look in a book to see what the book says about the cards I've read. It never changes my reading anymore. I used to add things to my readings from the books (when I could use them), but those added bits were always wrong. My clients always told me, "No, that doesn't fit me, but what you said earlier does." But I never looked at the book and thought, 'Well, that doesn't conform to my reading so I'll change what I said.' Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm wrong, and sometimes I don't figure out what the card meant until months later. I'm sorry . . . what was the question? Kim

Fairawen	09 Apr 2005
Ok, this is how I look at it. I'm sure most of you think differently, but this is my view and it's fairly logical. :) A little while a go, my family began group experients using our minds. My Dad said that the human mind is very powerful, and we practiced this by flipping a coin. Three people would concentrate on the coin, willing it to be either heads or tails. The percentage raitio should have be close to 50/50 when it was flipped a hundred times, right? When we focused on wanting the coin to be heads up, it would be about 75%-85%. I think our highest was 88%, and that was with my entire family on one coin (I'm one of seven). What I think partially influences the cards is our subconcious... or is it unconcious?... mind. Subconcious I believe. :P I think the reason that we understand the cards so very well, is because our subconcious knows a great deal we don't. Humans only use 10% of our brain at a time. I think... there was rumor that we ONLY use ten percent, but that's been disproved. Anyway... our minds hold great potential, even if we don't know it. We did that experiment with the coin over and over. Using both tails and heads. Each time it leaned in our favor. Personally, I think that's a large part of it. It certainly makes sense. I like refering to tarot as a mirror. Tarot is a tool: We can't see how much of a mess we are until we look into it. But how does the mirror work? Well, I could tell you the human side... the eyes see it and the image goes into the brain and so forth... but there is also the matter of how the mirror itself works. That I can't tell you. I'm not entirely sure if any of us know. Sure, some say "It's influenced by my god." I personally say, "It's influenced by THE God." Others don't know. About the reverals: If you tell yourself that you aren't reading reversals anymore, it'll make sure the meanings make sense all right-side-up. Your brain knows how to organize messages to you. Messages to yourself might not make sense to others. *shrug* Sometimes, they do. Depends on how skilled the person is. Anyway, that's my two cents, hope it makes sense. :P ~Fairawen~

Simone	10 Apr 2005
ncefafn wrote: I'm sorry . . . what was the question? Kim LOL, Kim, I think I don't know either... Thanks all for your thoughts, I still am trying to formulate the question :P Fairawen, you are raising an interesting point with your coin experiments - one which trows me back to a train of thought I had earlier in my life... actually about 15 years ago ;) what if cards were blank unless we look at them? what would then influence which picture shows when we turn them around? I know these are stupid questions as usually, as we perceive the world with our reality-biaised minds, we see them cards as pieces of cardstock imprinted with an image that varies for each piece of cardstock in the set of 78. what if they had a secret life of their own?

TemperanceAngel	10 Apr 2005
Simone wrote: what if they had a secret life of their own? Imagine that LOL, the things they would get up too :laugh:

psychic sue	10 Apr 2005
I too torture myself with these questions. When I used to go to the Spiritualist Church many years ago, the Mediums there frowned upon the Tarot. They would say that using the Tarot is a link to the Spirit World and with the constant use of the cards, you are leaning on a "crutch" spiritually speaking. They would tell me that I should try and open up psychically and develop as a medium rather than use the psychic crutch of the tarot. In short, they felt Tarot hindered development. Of course I took absolutely no notice of them. I prefer to test things out for myself, and for me personally, Tarot is the best tool I use for any sort of contact. In fact, I think the Tarot has actually AIDED my spiritual development rather than hinder it. I agree they are only a deck of cards, inanimate objects, but something does make them spring into life when we read them. I'm not sure what that something is yet! Sue x

Elven	10 Apr 2005
Hi Simone, I dont have answers to 'the question' but I do have different approaches when I read cards, which I comprehend as being the best method for the tool I'm using. Its like I dont use a hammer to try and screw in a nail - its not that it wont work but I can save alot of anguish by fixing something in a way I know I have tried and it works to the best result with the least damage being done, and get an excellent result. If a better screwdriver comes along to the one Im using, Im open to seeing if the results are as good as my usual method. One particular deck of cards I shuffle, cut, and splay differently to any other deck I own. I choose the cards each time from the same spot (in the middle of the splay) everytime, regardless. My mind is attuned to the idea that the cards I want will be in this placement. It works for me so I dont question it. So ...what was the question again? (LOL) Blessings Elven x

Moongold	10 Apr 2005
Hi Simone ~ What we do with the cards IS our reading style so I am not sure that I understand what you're asking :). If our reading style is intuitive, we will choose decks and spreads that suit that style. And the same applies for people who use other styles. Quote: I know the questions are virtually unanswerable... but is it the deck adapting to how we read or us adapting to how the cards lie... When I went back to read this sentence a flow chart flashed before my eyes but I think you'd hate that! Without the reader, there would not be a reading. I believe that the tarot works through the reader. You give, direct, channel the reading ...... It works through you - your skills, your learning, your humility, your imagination, your spiritual readiness. And your style develops as you grow in skill and confidence. You choose to read and the energy flows through you. At least that is what I believe. Moongold

snowy25	10 Apr 2005
Maybe one more thing to think about but it seems like a reading not only adaps the style. many times when doing a reading some cards, to me, make no sense at all. I just say what pops up in my mind or something on the card just draws atention. And it makes no sense at all but the querent tells me this is spot on. So I think many times the cards don't ajust to my stile but to the person I'm doing the reading for. In the first year I did readings, and they where much harder to connect with, I often took another deck and spread out the same cards of from the other deck. It always was a different theme in the other deck but it worked. Almost like they impowerd eachother. Nowedays I don't have to do this any more but it seems like it's not in the deck you use but in the connection of the cards, querent and reader somehow. In what way? Energy? Subcontiouse? Spirits? Gut feeling? I don't know but it seems to me it's not in the cards but somehow in or working thru us as readers.

Breathhh	10 Apr 2005
hello... For me.. I have a flexible methodolgy. What that means is that mostly I have a way that I read most of the time, & it works for me. The flexible part is that certain combinations of cards, elements and numbers create their natural differences and still...well.. I have my way of engaging that. Dear me... that was a mouth full.. basically.. if it works for you than it works. I consider Tarot a language that I learn and that I am always always adding more of the language of it to my vocabulary. this expands my knowing. The language of Tarot for me comes from the ever present sense of elements and their relationships, numbers and their relationships, symbols, conversations, books. listening to all of you, my intuition, and more. This lets me discern for myself what of this vast language works for me and the accent I will use to speak of it. The more I know of any language the more confident and flowing I become with it. The better I speak it and the better I am in letting you learn the language so you can speak of it as it forms within you. I love the language of Tarot. It is rich. blessing breathhh

Fulgour	10 Apr 2005
When I am working for someone, as an employee, their wishes determine my actions. Within reason, I will do what they want. It goes pretty well, unless they want to be completely in charge, but time and again will become difficult when asked questions. Excuse me for asking such a stupid question, I'll feel like saying, but I need the stupid answer. And yet I only want to do my job. There are simply certain times when clarification will be needed, and since it is their business, they're responsible for all decisions. Readers have a gift and accepting it as it is, newly given each time they come to the cards for enlightenment, they need but to listen. A musician who pauses between each note to ask 'what now' will play a very poor tune, as will a reader who doubts what is shown. What is in your heart when you turn to the cards creates the bond that allows every possibility imaginable, but it only happens once, there can be no repetition or predictable outcome. Since the dawn of time everything that has ever happened has led to this moment.

similia	10 Apr 2005
Fulgour that was beautiful! I vote for what he said :D This is something I've always wondered about. At what stage in your tarot learning do you follow the deck's lead (or book's lead perhaps), and when does the deck start to follow yours? The big question for me is "what if I had picked a different type of deck? How would it have shown me the same thing?"

Simone	10 Apr 2005
Whoa, now I have goosebumps, Fulgour, for the sheer beauty of what you said, and similia, for finally finding a way to formulate the question :D Thank you all for helping me on my quest, it is getting a little clearer as this thread evolves... :)

Rosanne	10 Apr 2005
Fulgour wrote: When I am working for someone, as an employee, their wishes determine my actions. Within reason, I will do what they want. It goes pretty well, unless they want to be completely in charge, but time and again will become difficult when asked questions. Excuse me for asking such a stupid question, I'll feel like saying, but I need the stupid answer. And yet I only want to do my job. There are simply certain times when clarification will be needed, and since it is their business, they're responsible for all decisions. Readers have a gift and accepting it as it is, newly given each time they come to the cards for enlightenment, they need but to listen. A musician who pauses between each note to ask 'what now' will play a very poor tune, as will a reader who doubts what is shown. What is in your heart when you turn to the cards creates the bond that allows every possibility imaginable, but it only happens once, there can be no repetition or predictable outcome. Since the dawn of time everything that has ever happened has led to this moment. That is the best description yet of what I am and Do. Thank you Fulgour.A Clarity statement for when I have Readers Block or a slump or a torturous 'question myself and Tarot' which happens I guess to all of us. ~Rosanne

HOLMES	11 Apr 2005
my approach is this.. that the card that appears when one is grounded, full of energy and knows the flow is on (which means we are not on a off day due to some circumstance which could be astrology related, stress related, client related, and so froth ) is the card that is meant to be there. the tarot doesnt' adaept to fit our reading style, instead our reading style adapts to fit the tarot :) a person who can use all forms of extra divinations techiques to further expand the cards such as astrology, elemental, numerology, inuitive picture readings, or reversals all work very well. yet the basis must be based on what the cards means must be considered. if i see death card i know it means transofrmation and endings through that transformation and rebirth. if it appears reversed for i use reversals then i know that the person is trying to block this from happening. however if i didnt' use reversals and flip the card over then i may mention it, my inuition may bring it up or not. since i know a bit of numerology i would relate death to other cards like emperor, emperess and high priestress to add further expansion to it. yet everything related would still be related to transformation and growth through that transformation. if i was to use scorpio to add further that it is a powerful energy according to zodiac. for this card incorpates powerful energies for you can harness your quiet aggression to force change or to promote change. yet everything i relate to this would be based on how scorpio affects the change. (on a devil advocate side i could say that is your boyfriend a scorpio ? he is ? well he is a man who loves change , or if reversed he hates change yet secretly he thrives on it lol ) and then to use the face of the death card as further colouring. what is it you wish to strike down in your life for it no longer serves you ? see the light ? it means that night is almost over and that there will be new things to grow with. by the time i am done incorpating all the things in my reading style that i have included (soem to a more degree then others as i barely begun studying astorlogy ) it is clear that there is big change going on in the persons life eheh. of course this is based on a very virgo, systemic approach. (i am of the mind that there is 12 approaches to the tarot based on the 12 signs of the zodiac that goes past the four basic elements ). yet i didnt know nothing about numerology, astrology, psychology, inuitiveness when i first got into the tarot. all i wanted was my books meanings for it was my safety net. i so didnt' want to be wrong. consider that if i was a professional astrology and took the golden dawn astorlogy assignements and so when i used the tarot it would be mostly astrology based and heck perhaps death wouldnt' mean transformation when i read it. would the tarot be adapting to my reading style? nay i would begin to adapt my style to adapt to the tarot. (i had to know somethin about the tarot in order to relate to it astrology via gd style, wise so it is a bad example eheh) numerology is a better example for i could add up 13 to 4 to get the harder worker and the number of stablity. yet there is the death title to get me to relate to that is the death of stability in the situation. (yet i fear that i had just came at the tarot without any book, or basic meaning and just numerology i could of called death actual death, and devil actual devil) inuitive wise, i do feel that that style can transcend the basic tarot meanings to get jumps in information that can shock the client. then again that would your style fitting to adapt to the deeper meanings of the tarot. many time the numerology system came through for me from one card it amazed them."you get all that from one card" so what is the point of this whole post if i can summ up ? the point for me is that all systems that can relate to the tarot , study them for they will make you a well rounded tarot reader over time as you can. dont' force the tarot to fit a style, nor make your style fit the tarot instead let your style and your understanding of your tarot grow together :). which brings me to the real point of the systemtic study of the tarot, your inuition, experience, and spiritual logic will tell you which system to apply.

Ahria	11 Apr 2005
I believe the cards adapt to you, the logic behind this is simple - you know those blotches that they show you when you go a physciatrist everyone will make out their own picture and story. I think I have read through the traditional meanings once, I look at the picture and let it tell me a story. I dont think about the standard meanings just what the card is trying to say. It often happens the same card can say something completely different to me from one reading to another. But because of this I am very picky about the artwork in a deck so it could be that the cards have something in this as well :)

The Dreamer	11 Apr 2005
I don't worry at all about whether another deck would show the same thing. What I get as my answers are obviously true at that time, or play themselves out later. It's never failed. I tend to view the choice of deck as a tarot choice just like choosing a card. You draw from a deck, a particular deck, as you draw a particular card. It was right for that moment. It shows that it was. That coin flipping experiment which Fairawen mentioned was interesting. I still go back and forth between "the human mind influences the right thing to be drawn" and "a greater power causes the right thing to be drawn" as theories for why divination works. I do not use the tarot like a Rorshach test ("those blotches... where everyone will make out their own picture and story".) but more like an oracle. The meaning of the same card does not vary to me, and the meanings of the cards are pretty well defined. I use reversals for more possibilities of meaning. My brother uses it differently. Once, as an experiment, he started drawing cards from my Victoria Regina deck and said "Ok, we're going to go strictly by the pictures. You are going to see this tomorrow." And drew the eight of wands (a bunch of near naked men flying through the air with spears, in that deck.) We both laughed at that. Then he drew one for what he was going to see the next day. He drew four of coins (a japanese man seated and holding a sheathed sword, in that deck.) That was very appropriate, as my brother is a karate instructor, his colleague is japanese, and they fight with weapons. I forgot about my naked fying men prediction until the next night, after returning home, when I realized I had seen no such thing and the day was almost over. I turned on the tv and there was Cirque Du Soleil doing a performance, men flying through the air from one rope to another while holding sticks. I started laughing to see that it could be so literal. Then I thought, but they're not naked. The next segment of the show had three shirtless men come out and move the desk off of the stage. Very amusing. I suppose one way to see if tarot would adapt to one's reading style would be to try other reading styles, and see if they work. Other than that, it's just a matter of hearing about other people's stories- the way they do it, and have always done it- and they don't know if it would work differently for them either. I have found that tarot does not "want" to give the info to me in picture form. (I'm a very nonvisual thinker. Can't picture anything, don't like too much visual clutter, etc.) I tried a couple of times to go only by the pictures myself, and got nonsense. It gives the info to me in the form which I like, and trust, and can use. I recently got The Faeries' oracle, and thought, maybe with this one I could interpret by intuition, or just by looking at the pictures. I drew some for a question and looked, and tried to get something. But nothing. I opened the book, and there it was, clear and true as always- the thing which fit, obviously, but I never would have thought of myself. I'd never seen the cards, or the book. But it gave me the right answer. The picture is nice, and at times can be very affecting and add to it, but the meaning, which I don't come up with, comes first. That's how it works for me. I find that my drawing style is adaptable- sometimes I am intutively drawn to pull a certain card, and usually I do it that way- but sometimes I try to be random about it. That works too. At times I lay the cards out face down first, before coming up with the question. That works too. Reading style- I read the book, until I remember it. Then I still read the book. I'm not very adaptable. Tarot helps me anyway. :)

Simone	11 Apr 2005
Thank you all again for your thoughts on this subject - it has helped clear it in my own mind a bit! Now tonight, following a spontaneous idea from Ahria, we organised readings in the live chatroom. We offered double one-carders to willing victims or guinea pigs, each of the two of us pulling one card. The interesting results were, while the cards that came up were (of course) never the same, they complemented each other nicely, like one told the beginning of a story and the other one continued it. It was really very interesting! (we're still there if anyone wants to try) :D Simone *edited* - I'm off to bed now, so the offer is closed ... good night!

SunChariot	15 Apr 2005
Simone wrote: This is a question I have been wondering about for a moment now... If we decide to read reversals or not, if we decide to read pictures or attribute a defined meaning to a card, how comes the results fit our reading styles? I mean, I never use reversals (and they never come up unless I hold the deck upside down, but then they are all reversed and I just turn them around) - but I seem to pick up the reversed meaning anyway if appropriate. Would I pull different cards if I decided to read reversals? Would I pull different cards if I decided to read the cards numerologically instead of picturologically ;)? I know the questions are virtually unanswerable... but is it the deck adapting to how we read or us adapting to how the cards lie... Never mind, guess my fundamental question probably is "how does it work" ;) Any input? Thanks in advance Simone My take on it is that yes if you decided to purposely do a reading using reversals and/or to read the cards numerically, instead of the way you normally did it you could well receive different cards. The message comes to us in the form that we can most easily make sense of it in. If you "tell the universe" before starting that you intend to do reversals....you should receive the message in a form that will accomodate that. Although for me a reversal does not mean the opposite of the upright card. I tend to take it to mean that the energy of the upright card is present and trying to manifest itself but there is a delay or blockage. Meaning either that it will take time to happen, or that there is something in you (or in your situation) blocking it and you need to remove the blockage before it can occur. Bar

SunChariot	15 Apr 2005
psychic sue wrote: I agree they are only a deck of cards, inanimate objects, but something does make them spring into life when we read them. I'm not sure what that something is yet! Sue x the magic and power inside each of us, inside the person doing the reading...:-)

Simone	15 Apr 2005
LOL, I was about to quote this ;) SunChariot wrote: sorry this message came out twice, see the next message... So here is what I wanted to do: SunChariot wrote: Although for me a reversal does not mean the opposite of the upright card. I tend to take it to mean that the energy of the upright card is present and trying to manifest itself but there is a delay or blockage. Meaning either that it will take time to happen, or that there is something in you (or in your situation) blocking it and you need to remove the blockage before it can occur. I do totally agree with you on this, Bar! I never read the cards physically reversed anyway. But the other part of your message was more interesting: SunChariot wrote: My take on it is that yes if you decided to purposely do a reading using reversals and/or to read the cards numerically, instead of the way you normally did it you could well receive different cards. The message comes to us in the form that we can most easily make sense of it in. If you "tell the universe" before starting that you intend to do reversals....you should receive the message in a form that will accomodate that. This would imply that if I state beforehand what form I wantmy message to have, my hand is "guided" to find the cards that fit that request? Simone is interested and will think of some more experiments in this respect...

SunChariot	15 Apr 2005
Simone wrote: This would imply that if I state beforehand what form I wantmy message to have, my hand is "guided" to find the cards that fit that request? Simone is interested and will think of some more experiments in this respect... I would love to hear more of how your experiments go. :-) I don't know about if your hand is guided...I think of it more as if you express a sincere desire to learn something the universe (G-d, call it what you will) sends you what you need. If you specify how you want to know it, it should work out that way. Presumably the universe knows which cards you will pick in advance and sets them up to come out in the right order for the best possible message. Does that make any sense??? LOL Bar

SunChariot	15 Apr 2005
Ahria wrote: I believe the cards adapt to you, the logic behind this is simple - you know those blotches that they show you when you go a physciatrist everyone will make out their own picture and story. I think I have read through the traditional meanings once, I look at the picture and let it tell me a story. I dont think about the standard meanings just what the card is trying to say. It often happens the same card can say something completely different to me from one reading to another. But because of this I am very picky about the artwork in a deck so it could be that the cards have something in this as well :) You're so exactly like me. LOL I could have written this letter.:-) Me too that's how I read, and the same card in the same deck rarely has the same meaning for me in different reading. I love that about Tarot, I find it beautiful the infinite number of meanings a card can hold. As I read this way, the quality of the artwork is very important for me. I woudl not buy a deck unless I loved the art on it and could see a lot of depth of meaning in it. Bar

The Dreamer	15 Apr 2005
SunChariot wrote: I would love to hear more of how your experiments go. :-) Me too. Maybe reading reversals (in a different way than you have in the past) might be something for you to try. SunChariot wrote: I don't know about if your hand is guided...I think of it more as if you express a sincere desire to learn something the universe (G-d, call it what you will) sends you what you need. If you specify how you want to know it, it should work out that way. Presumably the universe knows which cards you will pick in advance and sets them up to come out in the right order for the best possible message. That's the way I've come to view it also, based upon my experimentation. It would have been just as easy for the tarot to give me a more visually based message when I asked for it, but it did not do so when I tried; I think that this is because I have so little tolerance for the kind of ambiguity which is involved in the statement SunChariot wrote: the infinite number of meanings a card can hold. To me, that would not be a beautiful prospect, but rather one which would render my tarot use virtually useless. If a card can have infinite meanings, then it could mean anything, and, in my eyes, that means that it means nothing. I want to know what it does mean. If I just wanted to sit around and speculate about the myriad possibilities about a question, I would not be bringing the question to Tarot. And, apparently Tarot "knows" this about me, so doesn't give me cards to be interpreted in that way, even when I have tried that experiment. I think experimentation is a very good way of finding out what one's personal relationship with Tarot is. (P.S. SunChariot- why the spelling of God as G-d? Does god have something against vowels?)

SunChariot	15 Apr 2005
The Dreamer wrote: Me too. Maybe reading reversals (in a different way than you have in the past) might be something for you to try.That's the way I've come to view it also, based upon my experimentation. It would have been just as easy for the tarot to give me a more visually based message when I asked for it, but it did not do so when I tried; I think that this is because I have so little tolerance for the kind of ambiguity which is involved in the statement To me, that would not be a beautiful prospect, but rather one which would render my tarot use virtually useless. If a card can have infinite meanings, then it could mean anything, and, in my eyes, that means that it means nothing. I want to know what it does mean. If I just wanted to sit around and speculate about the myriad possibilities about a question, I would not be bringing the question to Tarot. And, apparently Tarot "knows" this about me, so doesn't give me cards to be interpreted in that way, even when I have tried that experiment. I think experimentation is a very good way of finding out what one's personal relationship with Tarot is. (P.S. SunChariot- why the spelling of God as G-d? Does god have something against vowels?) There you go, your Tarot knows you don't like the cards to have infinite meanings and they don't for you, mine does because I like it that way. It really is so adaptable to our needs. :-) That in itself is fascinating. :-) For me, it is not a matter of speculating though. Not of thinking at all actually. It's more about turning off my thoughts as much as possible and sensing and feeling what a card and its symbolism mean in relation to the question each time, as a means to access the unconscious and the wisdom there. As for the missing '"o", it is a religious thing. Not that I am all that religious although I consider myself quite spiritual. But still it is in my upbringing and some of these things get to be habits and you do them without thinking. It's a Jewish thing. I always forget that other people don't write it that way. :-) Not being all that religious I couldn't tell you the exact basis of it, but it seems to be a respect thing. Apparently G-d (there I go again, LOL) is so great and unfathomable that are not supposed to know or say his name. Bar

The Dreamer	15 Apr 2005
Very interesting :)

Fudugazi	15 Apr 2005
The Dreamer wrote: If a card can have infinite meanings, then it could mean anything, and, in my eyes, that means that it means nothing. Not so. Infinite meanings does not mean - all meanings. Rather, that in a certain direction of meaning - a continuum - there is no end. Meanings do not go in every direction: but they are not a fixed point either. It is rather like being on a rocket in space that is set on one course - you see many different galaxies, but you do not alter your course, the direction is all the same. It is a question of using your imagination and your lateral thinking to go further and further and further down that course. And that is where symbolism comes in. No symbol has a single meaning - but most symbols tend to have meanings that go in the same direction, at least within a culture or a related group of cultures. Symbols are like myths, they touch something in us deeper than the conscious - they are actually one of the bridges between the conscious and the unconscious mind. To fix one or a limited number of meanings would be like making the bridge into a single stepping stone. Quote: why the spelling of God as G-d? Does god have something against vowels? It comes from the Jewish taboo against writing or pronouncing the word of G-d. It's now become a habit - though hardly necessary in English, since the only name of God that is taboo is the Hebrew YHVW. Even my writing this in English letters is not really taboo.

The Dreamer	15 Apr 2005
Yes, I assumed that the spelling of g-d was based upon YHVW. It seemed paradoxical. It might be better to come up with a symbol for the name instead, like Prince used for a while. ;) Not to be insulting. I actually really like the idea of something so profound or infinite that it could not be approached in language. But, when I'm practicing divination, I'm doing so for practical reasons. Infinite on a particular continuum does not help me in a practical way much more than infinite in every direction. I can laterally think pretty far out, and for a long while. If I want to do that, I'll philosophize. But when I want to get answers for a temporal question at a particular time, I want something which has some boundaries on its meaning, and which I didn't just make up. A stepping stone is exactly what I'm looking for, not a trek across the ocean of the unconscious. Some people seem better able to trust the bridges they can come up with when approaching symbols in that way, but I don't trust huge bridges which were built on imagination in practical matters. One stone at a time. I trust that more.

Rosanne	15 Apr 2005
Thank you The dreamer, I read exactly like that. I step to a stone take a look around, step to next , put last stone in basket, step on; talking all the way and asking. Then I peruse my basket of stones and placing them down make my way back. Great, I just want the immediate water around not the whole Ocean. Great analogy. I have printed your reply out for my scrapbook- maybe even for my notice board.~Rosanne

SunChariot	15 Apr 2005
The Dreamer wrote: Yes, I assumed that the spelling of g-d was based upon YHVW. It seemed paradoxical. It might be better to come up with a symbol for the name instead, like Prince used for a while. ;) Not to be insulting. I actually really like the idea of something so profound or infinite that it could not be approached in language. But, when I'm practicing divination, I'm doing so for practical reasons. Infinite on a particular continuum does not help me in a practical way much more than infinite in every direction. I can laterally think pretty far out, and for a long while. If I want to do that, I'll philosophize. But when I want to get answers for a temporal question at a particular time, I want something which has some boundaries on its meaning, and which I didn't just make up. A stepping stone is exactly what I'm looking for, not a trek across the ocean of the unconscious. Some people seem better able to trust the bridges they can come up with when approaching symbols in that way, but I don't trust huge bridges which were built on imagination in practical matters. One stone at a time. I trust that more. Sounds like you have found your method and it is working well for you and I am happy for that. :-) I think Tarot is such an individual path, and we all have to find what works best for us. I am sure everyone doing a reading wants a specific answer to a specific question or why bother doing the reading. I think we just end up at the same place in different ways. :-) Reading a card by feeling what the symbolism means at that particular time is not making the answer up. :-) Sometimes it does feel like you are making it up, but I read that early on that contacting your subconscious is supposed to feel like that. And I have found my readings so accurate, something way deeper is happening. It's true over time with the Tarot I have come to trust in that very deeply, that I can connect to that inner wisdom in that way. Listening to your subsconscious (or your intuition) for the answers does not feel like that to me, a trek across the ocean of the unconscious. I get an immediate feeling for what it is. It's not like thinking over all the possible answers of what it could be and trying to decide what it means. The answers come almost instantaeneously and are usually quite specific. Of course it does leave you at the end with the task of piecing together all the wisdom found in the symbolism to make a story of it. Which for me is a big part of the fun, watching it emerge. :-) A card can to me have an infinite number of meanings, in that it can mean very different things in different readings. But it has a very specific meaning in each reading I do, and it is just a matter of sensing and feeling what that is.:-) Have a good weekend.:-) Bar

The Does Tarot adapt to your reading style? thread was originally posted on 09 Apr 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.