Tarot and health issues?

harperevan said:

I know this is controversial, but I think you can use tarot to inform health related issues, as long as it is not in place of actual treatment.

For example, my herbalist usually does a tarot reading during our consultation sessions, to see if there are treatment options she hasn't considered suggested by the cards, or to see if there are any major patterns coming up. Last time, the advice was as simple as "eat whole grains and make sure you are using your body for work / exercise". I wouldn't take this advice in place of treatment, but it can definitely be the beginning of a wellness plan.

I would also love to learn more about actual associations, I know she uses the Thoth tarot, which is heavily influnenced by astrological elements, so that seems really sound.

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Hi harperevan,

thanks for responding to my post, your herbalist seems to have the right idea, more like using the tarot to give healthy lifestyle advice and to make the sitter aware of options they may not have considered with regards to treatment.

Yeh i am interested to, i'd rather be aware of how to use the tarot to do with health issues, and make a decision whether or not to use the info', than not know anything at all. I think it would give a new diamension to the tarot also, for me anyway. I just want to know everything i can about it so i have a well rounded view of the uses of tarot to progress my learning.

Yeh, the others mentioned the astro' connection to and the Thoth connection. I'l see if i can find any other info (books or net) and if i find anything decent i will pm you, and if you find any good reading could you pm me please.

Thanks again

xxxMags

I don't do predictive readings about physical health for a couple of reasons.
1. It will be always be more valuable to consult a doctor/herbalist/other licensed practicioner about health questions. Physical questions demand practical, physical answers.. the sort that are better provided by actual verifiable tests, not divining, in my opinion.
2. I believe that our attitudes about our bodies and health can affect them, and therefore wouldn't want to tell someone that they will become ill, or that they will not get better, because I believe that can actually worsen the physical problem.

but... people ask about health a lot, so here's what I do.
I use a kind of 'wellness' spread, of 8 cards. Body/physical surroundings, mind, emotions/relationships, and energy/overall well-being. Each of those categories has a card for challenges to the health of that part of themselves, and a proactive card which makes a suggestion for how to promote health in that area.
I read them intuitively, rather than with particular associations to each card, and am careful about how I do the body cards.. I do not like to 'diagnose'. Occasionally, I might see a physical problem in there, but I do not like to name them... I ask the client about what I'm seeing. Awhile ago, the 10 of wands came up, and when I looked at the figure bent over with those wands on his back, all I could think of was back pain. The woman confirmed that she had injured her back in the past, and had problems as a result at numerous points in her life. I advised her to be careful around bending and lifting in the next while.

If you see something, I think it's better to ask, "have you dealt with a chronic illness?", for example, than to say, "gee, it looks like there's cancer in your reading!"... but unless something really jumps out at me, I focus on overall wellness, and try to stay brief and upbeat about what the cards suggest they can do to take care of themselves best at this time.

If they are asking about the health of friend or family member with an illness, and how it will progress, I won't do that reading, as such.
I will draw one or two cards for how the affected individual is handling their present condition, and then another for how that querent can support the other person's healing proccess.

I try to remind people that I'm not a doctor, and can't legally give them medical advice, if it seems like we're getting into touchy territory.

Rasa said:

I don't do predictive readings about physical health for a couple of reasons.
1. It will be always be more valuable to consult a doctor/herbalist/other licensed practicioner about health questions. Physical questions demand practical, physical answers.. the sort that are better provided by actual verifiable tests, not divining, in my opinion.
2. I believe that our attitudes about our bodies and health can affect them, and therefore wouldn't want to tell someone that they will become ill, or that they will not get better, because I believe that can actually worsen the physical problem.

but... people ask about health a lot, so here's what I do.
I use a kind of 'wellness' spread, of 8 cards. Body/physical surroundings, mind, emotions/relationships, and energy/overall well-being. Each of those categories has a card for challenges to the health of that part of themselves, and a proactive card which makes a suggestion for how to promote health in that area.
I read them intuitively, rather than with particular associations to each card, and am careful about how I do the body cards.. I do not like to 'diagnose'. Occasionally, I might see a physical problem in there, but I do not like to name them... I ask the client about what I'm seeing. Awhile ago, the 10 of wands came up, and when I looked at the figure bent over with those wands on his back, all I could think of was back pain. The woman confirmed that she had injured her back in the past, and had problems as a result at numerous points in her life. I advised her to be careful around bending and lifting in the next while.

If you see something, I think it's better to ask, "have you dealt with a chronic illness?", for example, than to say, "gee, it looks like there's cancer in your reading!"... but unless something really jumps out at me, I focus on overall wellness, and try to stay brief and upbeat about what the cards suggest they can do to take care of themselves best at this time.

If they are asking about the health of friend or family member with an illness, and how it will progress, I won't do that reading, as such.
I will draw one or two cards for how the affected individual is handling their present condition, and then another for how that querent can support the other person's healing proccess.

I try to remind people that I'm not a doctor, and can't legally give them medical advice, if it seems like we're getting into touchy territory.

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Hi Rasa,

Thank you for such a detailed post, it is very interesting, i enjoyed reading it. I appreciate the two points you made. I agree that a trip to the GP and having proper tests and diagnosis is the only sure and safe way to determine health issues. And i do also believe that worry and the way the mind works can worsen a health issue. If stress alone can manifest so many physical symptoms then what would stress do to somebody who is already ill and just had a worrying tarot reading, make them alot worse. So i take your point on both of those.

The way that you have created you 'Wellness' spread is very careful. It's interesting how you read the cards intuitively, rather that with the planetery association of the cards that i have heard being used as a guide to body parts. Thank you for relating your reading story. Can i ask though, hypothetically speaking, if you did see or feel a cancer vibe - like you mentioned you would ask in around about way about chronic illness, if they said 'no, there has been no chronic illness', they didn't have any idea why they were feeling unwell and you had a strong feeling, would you tell them what you had seen or felt about cancer being present? Or would you encourage them to see a GP?

Also would you only be open to picking up health issues, via a health spread? During any other reading would there be a possibility of something coming through? As the cards may tell you what you need to know rather than what the sitter asks i'v heard. In that instance, what would you do? Would you feel that the information was ment for the sitter and tell them.


Thanks Rasa for your post,

xxMags.

May i add - My husband went to a tarot reader who is known to be accurate. The reader was good, he picked up on alot of information about our life and so on. He also picked up on the trouble i have with my back, and a problem i had with my stomach, which was freakily accurate, considering i wasn't even there. I was in hospital for a night with severe stomach pain, they kept me in did 3 tests to do with life threatening illness - found nothing and sent me packing. Now the tarot reader said i need to go back to the doctor for a checkup as he thinks i have an ulser in my stomach. He told all this to my husband. Well i haven't been back to the GP, but do wonder how accurate he was.

Where would you stand on that type of health issue reading that my husband received?

Hi, Mags

MagsStardustBlack said:

Can i ask though, hypothetically speaking, if you did see or feel a cancer vibe - like you mentioned you would ask in around about way about chronic illness, if they said 'no, there has been no chronic illness', they didn't have any idea why they were feeling unwell and you had a strong feeling, would you tell them what you had seen or felt about cancer being present? Or would you encourage them to see a GP?

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If I drew a card that felt like some serious problem, asked them about it, and they denied that they had such a problem, I might draw an additional card for clarity, and look to the advice card for that position.. Generally, I think it would be a good practice to recommend that they see a doctor, or at the very least, to pay a lot of attention to their body, and get anything odd checked out, especially if they already suspect there's a problem (which they probably do, otherwise they wouldn't likely be asking about their health in the first place).
I don't think that I know enough about diseases to be able to name something, nor do I usually get clear 'verbal' kinds of visions or something; I get feelings about things. So I might feel like something is blocked or stuck, or overactive or broken or tired, or growing or waning, etc.. but I don't think I could actually name a specific organ or disease, and wouldn't feel comfortable doing so.

MagsStardustBlack said:

Also would you only be open to picking up health issues, via a health spread? During any other reading would there be a possibility of something coming through? As the cards may tell you what you need to know rather than what the sitter asks i'v heard. In that instance, what would you do? Would you feel that the information was ment for the sitter and tell them.

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I believe that the information that comes through in a reading is what they need to know at the time, and needs to be shared. I don't conceal anything.
If something health-related came through in a non-health reading, as a factor affecting a situation, then I'd certainly say so.

Thanks Rasa, your insights have been most enlightening. Thanks for sharing and I understand what your saying and where your coming from. xxMags.