Question raised by spot-on insightful computer reading

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

Myrrha	04 Jun 2004
Hmmm. This was the second reading I've had from tarot.com, they have both been insightful and accurate. This last one was about a concrete situation and was really impressive both for the accuracy of the cards in the "past" position and background of the situation and for the value of the advice given. (Well, I won't really know that until the situation resolves itself but it seemed to make a lot of sense and was inspiring). The reading was specific, not those vague statements that could apply to everyone. A computer cannot be said to have intuition and the reading was based on card meanings rather than on any response to the pictures yet this was one of the best readings I've had. So now I'm wondering about the value of giving intuitive responses to the pictures (or suite/number correspondance) "on the fly" during a reading. I am also wondering how in the world a computer could give such an accurate reading. --Myrrha

Astra	04 Jun 2004
Well, my best guess has always been that since the card(s) drawn depend on the exact time you ask for a reading, it's not the computer at all, it's the querent. There aren't a lot of ways to generate truly random cards, and the easiest and most used one is to let the random number generator work off the date/time number as a "seed", so that it's unlikely that any two readings will be the same.

FlipTarot	05 Jun 2004
I also had interesting results from web-based reading engines (my first Tarot exposure), as mentioned in my recent self-introduction in the new members section. I half thought I might get boo-hooed if I mentioned it. However the responses for each card+position were just a paragraph of associated meanings next to the position meaning. I still had to sift through the different possible meanings listed to create an overall interpretation of the spread, so, in addition to being the one who initiated the spread by clicking the mouse, I was also the one who integrated the final readings(s). I printed out the spread results and have examined them using dfferent schemes - also interesting. One thing that really struck me though was the fact that, when I made different interpretations at different 'levels' of the cards displayed, these all reinforced. It blew me away. The references to past and present were also very spot on. Because I knew nothing of tarot, I had asked questions that were rather badly framed in the textbook sense, too. One other thing - because I didn't know that you are not supposed to just do multiple readings, one after another, that's exactly what I did, using all of the provided spreads on the same question. All of the results hung together and converged beautifully. Either something very powerful was going on, or the spread engine is rigged so cards in each position are linked to the corresponding position in a spread perfomed immediately after from the same IP address. But, I mean, why would they bother doing that? The experience got me started with Tarot. FlipTarot

Myrrha	05 Jun 2004
Thank you both for intersting answers...I hadn't thought about the exact time you pose your question being important in reading with a computer. That is important in horary astrology as well. Flip Tarot, that is strange that you got so many similar readings on your question in a row. I've decided to keep on reading intuitively (or attempting to anyway! :-) ) but also to try to deepen understanding of card meanings related to the spread position related to the query, 'cause that is what made this reading so remarkable. --Myrrha

FlipTarot	06 Jun 2004
Thanks Myrrh hope this was useful to you - yes the convergences between spreads (they either said much the same thing or filled in each others' gaps) were uncanny enough to open me to the possibilities of Tarot and start the deck addiction process. I still think a lot about that reading(s). The most ambiguous cards were the final outcome cards (perhaps not surprising given the ambitious sweep of the questions), fortunately a little more positive in tone than negative. FlipTarot

The Question raised by spot-on insightful computer reading thread was originally posted on 04 Jun 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.