psychic ablility and tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 17 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

little_redfox	17 Apr 2005
Hello, (sorry in advance if this is in the wrong section) i know this is an odd question - sorry if its been been disscussed b4 i had a look and couldnt find a thread about it. I enjoy tarot and am learning all i can from books, reading this forum and the info supplied here helpfully on the AT sight. I want to use tarot as a divining tool as well as helping me with trying to understand current situations with myself and others through meditation and such. But im not psychic at all, not a psychic bone in my body - i cant correspond with guides or anything like that ( and am rather in awe of people that have this brilliant ability ). Can i still be succesfull using tarot ? is it a necessity? Or can i get as much out of the cards as anyone with other helpful abilities? Thanks for any advice, or any general pointings to existing threads that you guys can help me with. LRF x

Fudugazi	17 Apr 2005
Yes of course! What you need to develop is imagination and intuition - which everyone has, but not always developed to the same pitch. Tarot actually helps to develop both - especially if you put away the little book and start journalling for yourself, in notebooks and by hand, allowing the one card at a time to lead you to free association, thoughts, evocations, etc. Later you can try with two cards together, to see how they match or differ. You can do this exercise, a little every day. You can also do visualisation exercises using your Tarots. Psychic ability is absolutely unnecessary for Tarot, though some fine Tarot readers have it - and some people discover it in themselves once their intuition has developed far enough.

Mesara	17 Apr 2005
This could be answered and argued in many ways, for you have brought up an old and never ending debate on what constitutes psychic ability, and what that ability can bring within your reach as far as use of the tools of divination are concerned. Here is my take on it. Everyone is psychic. It is an innate gift that all humans possess and refine to varying degrees. Even you, who feels cut off from this ability and ungifted, do in fact have this ingrained within you and you may not even know it. Do you have intuition? Do you sometimes get inexplicable feelings or impressions? Do you have vivid and strong dreams that may have preluded some event, no matter how trivial, in your life? In my opinion, these are all attributes of our psychic ability, and they will aid you in your study of the tarot. Now, even if it is true that not everyone has these abilties, that there are those left without psychic awareness or intuition, or perhaps they just haven't worked to tune them in, whatever... The tarot could still be a valua ble and entertaining pastime for these people, because the tarot could be used for so much more than divination. But I suppose you know that, since in your question you mentioned divination specifically. I do not see guides, I do not see auras, I am not able to communicate with the dead ( though honestly I have never tried, gives me the creeps), and my premonitions are very limited and trivial. I have never once had a vision of someone's upcoming demise or other tragedy, but I have had premonitions of being offered sunflower seeds by a blond girl (happened), and I had a dream that my dear friend would not be going to Hawaii like he planned, and the next day he called me to tell me his plans were cancelled. Just a few examples of how trivial and small our psychic abilites can seem, almost to where we doubt they even exist. I think the most important tool in using the tarot is your intuition and you willingness to learn. True, not everyone is *in tune* with their intuiton, but with work and practice you will become so, and there is no better way to do that than using your tarot cards regularly. Soon you will see that you have these inherent gifts the same as everyone else, maybe to a lesser or greater degree, but you have them nonetheless. And you do not have to be Sylvia Brown or whatever her name is, or another John Edwards to use your cards. I think that is one of the most common misconceptions about tarot and tarot readers. In other words, please don't give up. Tarot is so much fun, and I would hate to see someone discouraged because they don't believe in themselves and what they can do.

Rhiannon SW	17 Apr 2005
I agree with the others in that everyone of us has the ability just how you are able to tune into the gifts. People who are "psychic" have the ability to raise their vibrational energy that we all emit. Some just have more ability than others to utilize tha energy. Don't let that stop you from using the Tarot. It shouldn't be a block to you enjoying the cards. Blessings Rhiannon SilverWolf

Fudugazi	17 Apr 2005
Mesara wrote: I think the most important tool in using the tarot is your intuition and you willingness to learn. True, not everyone is *in tune* with their intuiton, but with work and practice you will become so, and there is no better way to do that than using your tarot cards regularly. Soon you will see that you have these inherent gifts the same as everyone else, maybe to a lesser or greater degree, but you have them nonetheless. Absolutely right! Don't give up little red fox! - Tarot is not always an easy road - nothing of value is - but it's a very enjoyable and fulfilling one. Mesara - I am curious nevertheless: how do you distinguish psychic ability and intuition? Or do you see them as the same thing? To me they are distinct: we all have intuition, but only a few have psychic ability.

Mesara	17 Apr 2005
I see intuition as one of the many elements of psychic awareness, as I guess it is my belief that psychicness (is that a word)? is comprised of many different aspects, intuition being one of them and perhaps the most basic and fundamental one on which the others are built. That is just my belief, construed from my own experiences and my speculations on the experiences of others.. By no means am I trying to present this as absolute fact, but rather as my personal ideas and opinions on the matter. So, my question to you is, do you see intuition and psychic ability as completely unrelated, or more like distinctions of a greater phenonmenon? Im always interested in others ideas about these kind of things.

Fudugazi	17 Apr 2005
Mesara wrote: So, my question to you is, do you see intuition and psychic ability as completely unrelated, or more like distinctions of a greater phenonmenon? Im always interested in others ideas about these kind of things. I am still trying to sort out how I see them! That's why I asked you the question ;) But - tentatively - I would say they are related, cousins, but not the same thing. Psychic ability involves things such as clairvoyance, clairaudience and natural healing gifts; intuition is more of an understanding based on a variety of experiences and which the unconscious mind stores and brings out when we need it. Up to us to listen or not. I would say that intuition is a necessary quality for psychic ability (since you have to be able to trust what is not given to you by your logical brain) but much more is needed. I really believe that some people, for instance, have the Sight; others have a natural ability to heal with their hands. I was convinced of their difference with my Irish brother-in-law, a very left-brained trader, who doesn't belive in anything uncanny. Yet he has a gift - a true gift - to heal with his hands: he has inherited it from his father, who is no new ager. He has absolutely zero belief in psychic things. His intuition for all things financial is developed and he posesses empathy, but no more than the average kind person. Yet he has an undoubted healing gift. Intuition is intimately related to imagination, however: and I would like to reiterate the utmost importance of imagination in Tarot. And just as intuition, it is a gift all humans possess, though not all have (yet) developed it to the same degree. I get very sad when I hear someone say "I have no imagination." It's like saying "I have no heart".

Mesara	17 Apr 2005
Helvetica wrote: I am still trying to sort out how I see them! That's why I asked you the question ;) But - tentatively - I would say they are related, cousins, but not the same thing. Psychic ability involves things such as clairvoyance, clairaudience and natural healing gifts; intuition is more of an understanding based on a variety of experiences and which the unconscious mind stores and brings out when we need it. Up to us to listen or not. I would say that intuition is a necessary quality for psychic ability (since you have to be able to trust what is not given to you by your logical brain) but much more is needed. I really believe that some people, for instance, have the Sight; others have a natural ability to heal with their hands. I was convinced of their difference with my Irish brother-in-law, a very left-brained trader, who doesn't belive in anything uncanny. Yet he has a gift - a true gift - to heal with his hands: he has inherited it from his father, who is no new ager. He has absolutely zero belief in psychic things. His intuition for all things financial is developed and he posesses empathy, but no more than the average kind person. Yet he has an undoubted healing gift. Intuition is intimately related to imagination , however: and I would like to reiterate the utmost importance of imagination in Tarot. And just as intuition, it is a gift all humans possess, though not all have (yet) developed it to the same degree. I get very sad when I hear someone say "I have no imagination." It's like saying "I have no heart". Yes, thats very true. Imagination is important in all things.

little_redfox	18 Apr 2005
Thanks guys - its interesting what you were saying about intuition and psychic ability, given me a bit more confidence =) Ill have to start doing more exercises to get my intuition working and who knows. LRF x

SunChariot	19 Apr 2005
little_redfox wrote: Hello, (sorry in advance if this is in the wrong section) i know this is an odd question - sorry if its been been disscussed b4 i had a look and couldnt find a thread about it. I enjoy tarot and am learning all i can from books, reading this forum and the info supplied here helpfully on the AT sight. I want to use tarot as a divining tool as well as helping me with trying to understand current situations with myself and others through meditation and such. But im not psychic at all, not a psychic bone in my body - i cant correspond with guides or anything like that ( and am rather in awe of people that have this brilliant ability ). Can i still be succesfull using tarot ? is it a necessity? Or can i get as much out of the cards as anyone with other helpful abilities? Thanks for any advice, or any general pointings to existing threads that you guys can help me with. LRF x Absoluletely. I would have categorized myself along the same lines when I started. I did not have a psychic bone in my body, and if I ever did have a sense of something that would happen or not, it was always wrong. That being said I have two things to say to you. :-) I have always been impressed and amazed by my reading, and they have been very accurate. They have definitely changed me and I cannot imagine what my life would be now without my Tarot And secondly Tarot is likely to make you more psychic over time, the more you work with in. IMHO we all are to some extent, but we don't necessarily know how to access that part of us. You may well find, and I think you will that you will develop more of it from your Tarot usage.:-) Bar

ricardozen	20 Apr 2005
Well, actually i do believe you're wrong. I do believe you're psychic like everyone else. And you can talk with your inner guide. Only that you haven't learned how to listen. Tarot is a way to communicate with your inner guide. If you can lay a spread and make a reading, you can talk with your inner guide. Have you ever started to cross a street then something told you to stay put only to find that a car almost hit you? That "something" is your inner guide. Everything is trained and developed. Women have intuition more developed at birth and man need to develop it more. Man on the other hand have a creativity more developed (generally speaking, of course there are a lot of exceptions). Try the daily reading. Draw a card and make a story with it. Do that every day. You’ll find that your intuition will be more and more sharp. Trust me on this one. ....Z

hoomer	20 Apr 2005
We are all Psychic.... we just dont all listen to it....often our inner guides....are actually just ourselves...our higher selves....that which most label "spirit"......intuition is genrally just listening to your self..... Now personally I have known I am psychic since I was about 6yrs old....sadly it isnt something I have developed much.....though I am strongly intuitive..and have never been an atheist...lol... there are 2 kinds of tarot readers....... 1. the kind that merely are usiung their innate psychic abilities...which can become amplified by the crads.......whther they are aware that its all from them or not.... 2. same as the above...but also the kind that have meditated deeply upon the cards,...and the cards literally talk to you........ STory telling and conversations are great ways to communicate with the tarot......though I disagreew ith people who feel the need to consult them daily for a rreading......there'sa danger where one can become dependant upon them......like reading your daily horoscope... but each to their own...your choice "God is thus not to be looked at, but loved and enterd into union with. Loved and Lover must become one." --W G Gray (The Ladder of the LIghts)

stella01904	20 Apr 2005
MM ~ Everyone IS psychic, there is even a school of thought that we have seven physical senses, and seven astral senses. You can unfold your psychic abilities with Tarot, meditation, breathing exercises, guided meditation, the list is endless. I personally recommend a regular scrying practice, along with whatever else you're doing, as a very safe and speedy way of "unfolding". Be aware that psychism is not infallible. There is a tendency among "outsiders" to think that it is ("You mean that you don't KNOW what my question is? I thought you were supposed to be psychic!") You and I did not create the Universe and should not be expected to have ALL the answers. (Even John Edward had no premonition of 9/11 except for a general feeling of irritability. Does that mean he isn't psychic? Of course not.) Regular practice makes you a LOT better than you were, though! BB,Stella

WalesWoman	22 Apr 2005
I believe the act of reading, expanding on the meanings, gaining the confidence and opening your mind by using your intuition develops any latent "psychic' abilities we possess. I don't consider myself psychic at all, things happen sometimes that I can't explain, maybe that is it, maybe I'm a lucky guesser or maybe I wouldn't recognize it as such unless I'm slapped really hard by it, so I'll notice. It's like the old saying use it or lose it... only different. I think Tarot stimulates something... opens that third eye. It could be anything at all that might do that trick, for some it's meditation or guided imagery and I have no idea what else. I know one method is to close your eyes or let them go unfocused and let your mind flow, not really direct it, just let it go and then later write it all down. Can be quite amazing what happens after that. In fact I think Tarot is a bit of guided imagery, using those images on the cards to guide our intuition based on "standard" cues that help us break out of mind sets and see things from another perspective.

mingbop	23 Apr 2005
I read tarot for over 40 years...and only in the last 3 have i begun to see & feel spirit. I must be the world's slowest developer !!

mike gorth	01 May 2005
everyone has the ability. It is just who has developed it or not but I'm sure you've already heard that.

Statickitten	01 May 2005
I think anyone has it within themselves to use the tarot. All it takes is using your intuition, and the cards help guide you.

The psychic ablility and tarot thread was originally posted on 17 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.