a blog entry on tarot time

I'm wanting to get some other opinions before I actually put this on blogger:
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This post has been brewing for a few days. I’ve decided to make it a short series rather than a long one. This entire series is, of course, my opinion. More importantly, it’s how I choose to read.

The tarot isn't about the future. Let me rephrase that a little. The purpose of the tarot is not intended to foretell events that haven’t happened yet. Put simply: don’t use tarot to tell the future. The tarot is about right now. It’s about your past. It’s about knowledge, and seeing things from a different perspective. What a bold statement!

Time. It always seems to be a variable that is so hard to control. I’m sitting here trying to think of something I can compare time to. I’ve come up with two things, weather and the oceans. As much as I hate to use two different things, I’m going to have to. A scene from Star Trek also comes to mind. For you Trekkies, you remember Generations very well. There is a scene where a bad guy says to the good guy “Time is like a predator. Stalking you.” This is important for a couple reasons. It paints a picture of time being a living thing, with a consciousness and an agenda. The concept of “time” also brings to mind a person trying to describe a word they don’t understand very well.

Now let’s think… what are the two forces on earth we know the least about? Weather and the Oceans!

If you have spent any amount of time watching the daily weather, you know that it’s all about patterns and observations. Warm air is blowing over the ocean (there’s that damn word again) picking up water. The warm air is blowing in the direction of cold air. It’s going to rain somewhere along where the two different air temperatures meet up. We know this. Or do we? Ever seen your weekly weather forecast where they call for rain, then the day before the downpour a “system” pops up out of nowhere and changes the whole thing? Fill a glass with water. Dip your finger in it. How long till there are no more ripples? Earth is a part of the cosmos. How long has it been here doing the same thing without the “giant finger of cosmos” poking at us? Why do WE still have changes and ripples? Well, there are other galaxies, other stars, other planets. Other everythings. It all plays a role. Sometimes significant. Time is like this cosmic pattern. There are patterns, but there are always outside influences as well.

The ocean is the other example I decided to use. It’s liquid. It can move very fast, or barely creep along. You can completely immerse yourself in it for a little bit, or you can try to avoid its effects totally for a little bit. The ocean can create or destroy. It’s a well known scientific fact that we know more about Mars, our closest planet neighbor that we have never stepped foot on, than we know about our oceans which is so vital to the function of our own planet. What part about this does not relate to time?

Ok, so I’m pretty sure the horse is dead now… we can’t predict events in time. We can get pretty close to accurate if we try REALLY hard, but there are always circumstances that make it impossible to peg time down to the “instant.” We need to go with the flow, so to say. Maybe, just maybe, with the right knowledge we can have an influence on what time gives us.

I really like this post.
I always tell people that there are other means to get a fortune telling.
What tarot does best is take you outside of yourself so that you can see the big picture more clearly.
You know how it's easy to give advice to others but cannot take it yourself?
Emotions can sometimes muddy up things, especially if you are sensitive or empathic so I use the cards to tell me what my emotions are keeping me blind to.

I would say that your post is just fine, but I would consider not making such bold statements about how impossible predicting the future with tarot is. I predict with tarot just fine. Down to the day sometimes.

What would Tarot do?

I think this post has opened an important issue. Mary Greer has done a good job of working at the edges of this issue without offending anyone.

There seem to be two main thrusts in the use of Tarot:

1. Those who believe Tarot can predict the future: divination.

2. Those who believe Tarot can help us reveal our inner selves, making the unconscious contents of our mind come into consciousness. In Jungian terms, allowing for integration.

These do not have to be in conflict; a person can believe in both.

As Greer points out, there is some benefit to acting "as if" 1 is true, even if you normally might not. I believe this is because if you consider the cards merely random, you might fail to push far enough for personal growth.

Greer also points out that the reading is a snapshot taken at the moment when the cards are dealt so that even if you believe in their magical powers, the act of the reading itself changes the outcome because you can act on what you have learned.

Most Tarot readers are either in camp 1 or are a mix between 1 and 2. Greer's writing carefully deals with the issue and I can imagine her being purely in camp 2 and very diplomatic or being in both 1 and 2.

For my use of the cards, I stand in group 2. The cards, to me, are very well designed, but they are paper, not magic. When they do predict the future, it is because we already know the future inside ourselves and the cards just help us reveal that knowledge. The real mystery behind the cards is that they work well to reveal what is already on the inside.

Please note: this is only intended as a personal statement of how I think about the cards. I think you should use and believe in the cards in a way that seems right to you. My intent is not to persuade anyone, merely to provide support to others in what I perceive to be a small minority.

blogs ARE about personal opinions, post anything you want.

That said, the link in your profile goes no where, needs repaired or changed?