Brown Eyed Mystic
Hey Barley,
Thanks! You mentioned you don't answer thinks/feels questions. Just curious why. Maybe something to learn for me there
BEM
Yes/No Tarot doesn't work (?)
Hey Barley,
Thanks! You mentioned you don't answer thinks/feels questions. Just curious why. Maybe something to learn for me there
BEM
Barleywine
Hey Barley,
Thanks! You mentioned you don't answer thinks/feels questions. Just curious why. Maybe something to learn for me there
BEM
I consider it "mind reading," which I don't think tarot is especially good at where third parties are involved. Psychic readers may be able to do it, but I don't see that it's "in the cards." I view it as part of the "hijacking" of tarot by the Jungian crowd that started back in the late 1970s. How often do we see readings here that attempt to answer a practical question by sidestepping it completely and wandering off into psychological analysis? Trying to guess how someone thinks or feels opens the door wide for that, and human thoughts and feelings are notoriously ephemeral as targets for predictive diagnosis via tarot cards. I'd rather focus on how someone is likely to "act" (and maybe even "why"); I think that's more constructive than whether or not A "likes" B or "thinks about" her or him.
Brown Eyed Mystic
Barleywine
That would work. It's all in how the question is asked. That I can read from the cards with some confidence, and I think it gives the querent a more useful answer.
Amanda
<...I wonder what the correlation is between the different types of reasoning and the different types of questions that are asked of tarot...>
You don't have research already conducted and tucked away on that, do you?
Do you think thoughts/feelings may be justified by behavior... or still too inductive?
For instance:
Sitter: "Does he love me?"
Tarot: Yes, additional blah blah blah.
Facts: (After this Q&A) "He" sends a dozen roses to sitter's office and a card that displays 'With Love' above his signature even though he's never said it.
But maybe he's just trying to maintain his sex life with the sitter, so this behavior may not be absolute...? Even if he directly says the words 'Yes, I love you', it may not be absolute still, and the validity of the reading is only what is observably most true. What percentage of men just trying to maintain their sex life would send flowers with a card with the word 'love' on it to a person, you think?
What do you think? How do you account for deceit in behavior? Is it just not that common... or maybe deceit in behavior is so common we've evolved to a new model on how we deduce things...
The only thing I'm certain of is pretty much what you've already said. We can tell a sitter what is most-likely true based on our knowledge and understanding of a card and/or the interconnectedness of multiple cards in answer to the question. I'm not certain because my thoughts on this have only gone this far, really... but I don't believe that excludes any type of question... there's no such thing as 'absolute' when it comes to people (which tarot is heavily influenced by, all around). It just may be less gratifying (and therefore less interesting) to answer these types of questions for others because we are doing more for them, personally, by feeding their need to know or perhaps sharing our knowledge and skill of reading tarot while doing less for ourselves in terms of learning and understanding more about our own methods and level of accuracy.
dancing_moon
Hmm, that's what I do
BEM
I'm afraid you've lost me somewhere along the way.
Let's assume that an odd-numbered card is a 'yes', an even-numbered card is a 'no', and a Court is 'it depends'. Then if you ask any yes/no question, e.g. 'will they call today?', and get Ace of Cups, or 3 of Swords, or the Hermit, then it's a 'yes', etc. What's unclear about an answer like that?
Barleywine
<...I wonder what the correlation is between the different types of reasoning and the different types of questions that are asked of tarot...>
You don't have research already conducted and tucked away on that, do you?
Do you think thoughts/feelings may be justified by behavior... or still too inductive?
For instance:
Sitter: "Does he love me?"
Tarot: Yes, additional blah blah blah.
Facts: (After this Q&A) "He" sends a dozen roses to sitter's office and a card that displays 'With Love' above his signature even though he's never said it.
But maybe he's just trying to maintain his sex life with the sitter, so this behavior may not be absolute...? Even if he directly says the words 'Yes, I love you', it may not be absolute still, and the validity of the reading is only what is observably most true. What percentage of men just trying to maintain their sex life would send flowers with a card with the word 'love' on it to a person, you think?
What do you think? How do you account for deceit in behavior? Is it just not that common... or maybe deceit in behavior is so common we've evolved to a new model on how we deduce things...
The only thing I'm certain of is pretty much what you've already said. We can tell a sitter what is most-likely true based on our knowledge and understanding of a card and/or the interconnectedness of multiple cards in answer to the question. I'm not certain because my thoughts on this have only gone this far, really... but I don't believe that excludes any type of question... there's no such thing as 'absolute' when it comes to people (which tarot is heavily influenced by, all around). It just may be less gratifying (and therefore less interesting) to answer these types of questions for others because we are doing more for them, personally, by feeding their need to know or perhaps sharing our knowledge and skill of reading tarot while doing less for ourselves in terms of learning and understanding more about our own methods and level of accuracy.
Thanks for the thoughtful questions. Unless "self-justification" (the person trying to "walk the talk" - or in this case "thought") is the objective, I would turn that around and say thoughts and feeling are typically revealed by actions. You know the old cliche "Actions speak louder than words." I would add "thoughts and feelings" to that. How someone acts is usually (with a capital "U") how that person thinks and feels at the moment unless they're deliberately being deceitful for some private reason (in which case the actions are revealing that too but the cards may not be as obvious about it, requiring more nuanced interpretation). I would think, though, that a question about future actions is more likely to unearth possible deception than one about mental orientation. For me, if the querent stands to "receive" something from the other person (like a contact of some kind), what the reading says about that is likely to be more reliable than an impression of how the individual thinks or feels, simply because the querent is - or will be - actively engaged. Some people change their minds as often as they change their underwear (I won't be the one to say it's for the same reasons
). The "thinks/feels" stuff seems like a "security blanket" proposition to me. Nobody wants to say "No, that person hasn't thought about you in weeks" so we tend to "psychologize" our way around the answer.Amanda
Thanks for the thoughtful questions. Unless "self-justification" (the person trying to "walk the talk" - or in this case "thought") is the objective, I would turn that around and say thoughts and feeling are typically revealed by actions. You know the old cliche "Actions speak louder than words." I would add "thoughts and feelings" to that. How someone acts is usually (with a capital "U") how that person thinks and feels at the moment unless they're deliberately being deceitful for some private reason (in which case the actions are revealing that too but the cards may not be as obvious about it, requiring more nuanced interpretation). I would think, though, that a question about future actions is more likely to unearth possible deception than one about mental orientation. For me, if the querent stands to "receive" something from the other person (like a contact of some kind), what the reading says about that is likely to be more reliable than an impression of how the individual thinks or feels, simply because the querent is - or will be - actively engaged. Some people change their minds as often as they change their underwear (I won't be the one to say it's for the same reasons
You make perfect sense to me. I guess I'm not satisfied testing these boundaries yet to drop them. That may be in combination with the idea that questions may be poorly formulated by the person asking them, whereas the tarot will give an answer of value regardless based on that person's intent or need (in my opinion, anyway) which would only be derived later, once I'm more certain of what the answer is. Too backwards? I guess I trust the random shuffle, tarot itself and my method of reading it more than the person or the question!
I agree with this too, but because I don't "psychologize" I tend to do the opposite and piss people off. My motive is 'truth' -as far as I can see it, at least- and sometimes that just reads asshole to them, I guess... and if enough of my many contingencies built-in to my reading method don't line up to adequately formulate a solid opinion... then I don't say anything. There have been yes/no questions that I have walked away from because I did not feel that I could adequately answer them, or it was the wrong question, or whatever. I have read on thoughts/feelings where no findings could validate my opinion. Probably the worst question though may not be a yes/no or thoughts/feelings question -- it is the question that someone will ask of me over and over again, expecting a different answer. I may indulge maybe once or twice after it is asked the first time to be sure and find consistency (or not) between those draws to be supportive (or not) in validation, but after that it just becomes a waste of my time and energy. I would much rather read on yes/no or thoughts/feelings if it may provide a most-likely truth that could give someone the comfort they are looking for than a question that places me in a "Can you hear me now? -- How about now? -- Can you hear me now?" situation.
Girl Archer
I have experimented with Yes/No readings and they have worked out fabulously for me. But of late, I pull cards asking about the chances/odds of this thing happening/working out and based on it, I try to get a Yes or no out of it. That method also works
Like if you get all positives but the quint is Death, I would be inclined to think it might happen, but no, not right away. That kind of thing.danieljuk
I at one stage was asking a lot of yes /no questions. I noticed they were frivolous and I started to get a bit addicted, like asking them about everything! I try not to use them if possible, I think they are a little simplistic in how they use the tarot. Like Sulis I think the tarot has so much complex stuff to tell you, the beautiful images with the story unfolding. I do try to make my questions not end in yes or no. I try to avoid 'binary' everything in life because I think binary is too simplistic, there is far more there! You might as well just have a deck with black and white and yes and no printed on the different cards, 50% of each, there is a purpose to the pictures!
But does it work? I do use yes / no sometimes but I think you have to take it almost as a chance answer. I do like the whole story coming out and often people get an "upright card is yes, that is the answer", well what about the card name or image? If you want a serious answer, I think you have to go with more depth!
I saw on UK TV here though once, a guy who asked the tarot the most frivolous questions (it appalled me so much I ended up sort of admiring him for it ). He asked every day if his outfit for the day looked good? yes/ no! It's how it worked well for him
You might as well just have a deck with black and white and yes and no printed on the different cards, 50% of each, there is a purpose to the pictures!But does it work? I do use yes / no sometimes but I think you have to take it almost as a chance answer. I do like the whole story coming out and often people get an "upright card is yes, that is the answer", well what about the card name or image? If you want a serious answer, I think you have to go with more depth!
I saw on UK TV here though once, a guy who asked the tarot the most frivolous questions (it appalled me so much I ended up sort of admiring him for it
). He asked every day if his outfit for the day looked good? yes/ no! It's how it worked well for him 