A different way of looking at this...
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| rennfahrer |
19 Jun 2005 |
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I'm not sure exactly where I stand on all of this higher power psychic stuff yet but I wondered what kind of responses it would generate if I threw out some thoughts and obvservations.
1.) I think anyone that is good at this is clearly part psychologist and part pyschic or intuitive or whatever. What that ratio is may depend on the person but clearly (this is only works for face to face readings) someone could do a very convincing job if they were very skilled at simply reading a persons mannerisms in a very scientific way and drawing clonclusions or making guesses.... I.e. This persons body language suggests they are timid, afraid, and insecure ---> They probably had a troubled past ----> they probably have had difficulty with relationships. Then again on the flip side of the coin, to what degree is a good pyschologist book smart or are they relying on their intuition to connect with people and help them with their problems?
2.) I see a way that these cards can be a very beneficial excercise even if you "don't believe in that stuff." Each card tells a story which can be related to human situations, obviously. Even if a draw of the cards is complete random and there is nothing of a higher power at work - I can still see value in the excercise in that looking at the meaning of the cards and how they do or do not relate to your situation is quite a useful excercise. It can open up a new way of looking at things and start a chain reaction thought process that you never would have realized otherwise. Seems like a useful meditative type excercise to gain perspective and insight into your situation. I guess the only point I'm trying to make is that I could see value in playing with tarot cards even for people that are very closed minded to them. What do you think?
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| Moongold |
19 Jun 2005 |
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I would say yes to both. There are lots of things which contribute to good reading. You've listed some of them. They come and go like the tides.
And the cards represent various archetypes of human experience so most people can relate to them. These stories evoke responses from people and that is the important thing. Everyone has an interesting story, a life tale to tell.
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| Astra |
20 Jun 2005 |
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All what "higher power psychic stuff"?
Could you define your terms?
Yes, the Tarot can be useful even if there's nothing magical and no extrasensory perception or intuition in the universe. Would you rather there weren't any unexplained phenomena? Life is an unexplained phenomenon - we know it happens, and from what we see, we know it happens just about any time it's possible - but between complex molecular reaction and "life" there's this large black box.
Lots and lots of black boxes like that around - and working with the Tarot tends to bring rather a lot of them up for most people. We name them variously, depending on our beliefs and mindsets: intuition, magic, spirit guides, psi - but what we're saying is "something happened that I can't explain, and it worked". And we go back and play with it some more.
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| Red Emma |
20 Jun 2005 |
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All what "higher power psychic stuff"?
Lots and lots of black boxes like that around - and working with the Tarot tends to bring rather a lot of them up for most people. We name them variously, depending on our beliefs and mindsets: intuition, magic, spirit guides, psi - but what we're saying is "something happened that I can't explain, and it worked". And we go back and play with it some more.
I'm a dyed in the wool "higher-power-psychic-stuff" person. For those who aren't, your black box concepts are brilliant.
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| wizzle |
20 Jun 2005 |
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there have been some excellent threads started by psychologists who use the tarot in their practice. not to read, but as something beyond rorhshack (sp?) blots. you might want to find them. sorry i can't help you with a search, but the topics/forums/threads are not obvious.
Take care and happy tarot
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| rennfahrer |
20 Jun 2005 |
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All what "higher power psychic stuff"?
Could you define your terms?
Yes, the Tarot can be useful even if there's nothing magical and no extrasensory perception or intuition in the universe. Would you rather there weren't any unexplained phenomena? Life is an unexplained phenomenon - we know it happens, and from what we see, we know it happens just about any time it's possible - but between complex molecular reaction and "life" there's this large black box.
I'm not saying that at all. I certainly believe there's more to life and everything else than meets the eye. I'm just saying, supposing there is nothing to it other than what it is. It still seems like it can be a useful mental excercise. Something that occurred me that I thought was interesting. Thats' all.
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The A different way of looking at this... thread was originally posted on 19 Jun 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.
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