Can the cards be "wrong?"

I used to be in the weather forecast biz, specifically marine forecasts off the east coast of Canada. We had a large moored buoy array so we could verify our forecasts, which were mainly wind speed and direction. Of course we spent vast amounts of time and energy talking with fishermen, usually through community centres or one of the fishermen's unions to find out what information they needed.

Here was the result: there needs to be considered the difference between 'accuracy' and 'precision'. And it isn't splitting hairs but revolves around what we came to term 'useful information'.

So, the forecast for George's Bank would be (say):

This morning winds from the southeast at 20 knots increasing and backing late this afternoon to northeast 40 gusting to 65 knots. Winds backing and diminishing to northwest 35 knots by (tomorrow) morning.

What actually happened (say): The 'backing and increasing didn't happen until midnight, and when the northwest came in, also delayed, they were say closer to 45 than 35, and more westerly than northwesterly.

So, in terms of 'precision', the forecast was incorrect on timing, speed and direction. In terms of useful content, 'accuracy', the forecast was very useful as it warned fishermen that a strong system would pass through this evening and overnight and that winds would be gusty and above Gale force.

I tend to look at tarot outcomes that way. Was the information useful, if not exactly 'precise'?

tarotbear said:

IMHO - with 20 years of Tarot behind me - I say the cards are not wrong; the question was wrong. I agree with GryffinSong 100%.

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100% agree with this. My experience is not considerable, just started reading cards few months ago, but I think what you ask, and the way you ask, makes a world of a difference.

I get that with a friend all the time. As starters she asks the cards every single day. While I respect her choice to do so, Thirteen once explained that we really do not need to consult the cards every single day, and he quoted an example : it would be like checking on a baby around the clock. Ok now he sleeps. Ok now he is crying. Ok now he needs a diaper change LOL instead of just focusing on : is the baby well taken care of or happy ? LOL I am not sure if you can see the point, sorry to relate this to motherhood but until recently that was my everyday experience ( I have a 3 year old who just dropped the diapers some months ago )

Second : she is not specific. She just asks : Ok what is going on with my situation ? of course she does not know if the answer relates to her, or her boss, or a third party, or her boyfriend etc. I have suggested to her to narrow her questions and make them as specific as possible. The very first reading I had months ago after years of not trying, the guy was very specific that if you wanted to be accurate, you needed to be specific and visualize. In that case he made a general reading to me but still was very specific in the positions of the spread he used, no room for getting confused. He lighted incense and really concentrated, it was so interesting / scary ( it was my first tarot reading and I was still terrified of the cards at that time LOL )

I also think that one needs to really study all the possible meanings and then run through intuition the possible meaning of each card. What I do is make a note of the card and later on when relaxed, search online all the meanings and I see different images from assorted decks. I let the card speak to me, then make notes on the meanings, then check with the rest of the cards for correlation with them. I open a word file with the card image and the possible interpretations, and it helps when reading the previous positions and the next positions to pinpoint the energy around them, and the right answer. I have to say I take my time and normally I only do e-mail readings, cause for personal ones I would need to already know by heart all the meanings of the cards... and I am still learning. I can still use my intuition, but until I learn more about meanings, I like to check them online, specially in this forum.

My friend sends me a pic of her spread and tells me : OK, I see this and that... and it is terrible, horrible !! what I am gonna do !! LOL she gets a little carried away. I take a look and see things very different... give some time to check again meanings, then give her my feedback. She gets reassured and then later on tells me : you were right... you are so much better than me at reading cards !! I tell her it is also related to the amount of time you dedicate to really understand the meaning. It cannot be rushed. You need to allow time to go through it. Rushing gives false interpretations all the time.

I also think that while it shows tendencies, energies, etc. we are the only ones who have power on what happens. No psychic, no tarot, no spiritual path can tell you what to do precisely. They can guide you but you can also use your free will. I think that free will is key to our future. I see tarot or psychic counseling as if you were getting psychological support, only on a more spiritual, deep, amazing way. I receive plenty of support from the spiritual thanks to Tarot, it is just amazing what they tell me and how right on they can be, it is mostly supportive. They can tell me that a challenge is coming and that I need to be strong, remind me of the spiritual strenght I found, tap into relaxation and meditation... and not necessarily tell me exactly what the challenge was, but I was well prepared to sail through it without wanting to cut my veins because of it LOL I am very sensitive and emotional and I guess sometimes having these "heads up" from the spiritual through Tarot has helped me a lot. I focus it on me, mostly, not really asking what the others are gonna do, but what I need to do to become a stronger person and what energies I should be made aware of, either working to help me or in opposition.

I also make short, weekly draws and I try to focus as much as possible. I pray before consulting them. I do meditation and grounding. I keep open to the signs and syncronicities later on, and can even confirm cards I was not very sure about in the next days.

I guess if you are sincere in your questions and you are specific, the cards will be sincere with you too. And I do agree it is more of a self reflection tool, cause really, only the Divine has the last word on what happens, and we have our free will as well even if the cards advise on stuff, the final decision is ours.

Blessings !
Firefly.

With predicting the future? Yes, in fact I don't believe anyone can read the future and be 100% sure their predictions are going to play out. The future is a fickle thing, every decision you make affects the outcome, along with every decision everyone who is involved is making.

At the moment you do the prediction, you're getting the most likely outcome... but who's to say that won't change? What if the predicted outcome relies on a mundane decision of whether you're choosing eggs or hash-browns for breakfast? What if it was expected of you to pick eggs but you went with hash-browns instead? BAM. Things are different now.

With situations that don't include predicting the future? No, I don't think the Tarot can be wrong, but I do think the Tarot isn't always going to answer the question you're asking.

I vividly remember asking my Mystic Faerie how I did on an interpretation and I was told to go to bed.
>_<
(I love that deck though)

I think yes/no questions are frequently wrong. Haven't found the prefect spread perhaps, but I just think that yes/no questions aren't the best type of questions for the Tarot.

Tiddles said:

I think yes/no questions are frequently wrong. Haven't found the prefect spread perhaps, but I just think that yes/no questions aren't the best type of questions for the Tarot.

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Personally, I would guess that yes/no questions are wrong about 50% of the time. Exactly the same as flipping a coin. I think yes/no questions are just about the worst thing you can attempt with tarot. Its really not suited for it, pardon the pun.

Eco74 said:

The future is yet to happen.


The cards often show us possibilities - not necessarily just absolutes.

Atleast that's how I see it.

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That is a great way of putting it! I have sometimes wondered this same thing but have come to feel that elements in the present can ALWAYS affect the future, and that future could be just an hour away or weeks, or months.

As mentioned above, I really don't think that right and wrong are the correct terms here.
From the elderly scamps that taught me the cards, I was brought to believe that sometimes they were simply "beyond me". In their readings (and I adopted this practice myself), if you laid out a card spread and it looked like completely unrelated gibberish, they would say, after serious contemplation: "I can't make heads or tails of this" - and simply start over with a new or possibly rephrased question.

I know this doesn't exactly fit the bill for the question posted, but I hope it will be helpful. I have always seen "card confusion" as a flag to my own shortcomings and tried to correct it by a little more study.

My unbidden $0.02's worth...

Michael

kmagdalena09 said:

Can the cards ever be wrong, or do you insist that it was your interpretation of them that was skewed?

I've had it happen a couple times where I did a spread, with silence in the room, concentrating on nothing but the cards and the question at hand, didn't play silly games where I pulled the cards until I heard what I wanted to hear....got differing opinions on it, wrote them all down, and then the events that followed seemed to be like nothing anyone predicted...they seemed completely contrary to the cards or any interpretation of them I got, from me or from other people (much more skilled than I). What gives? Times like those that make me question the legitimacy of what we're all doing.

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Tarot is simple a system of divination or understanding which uses symbolic language. That is all it is.

If the conditions are not right, if the question is not clear, and if the reader on any particular occasion doesn't 'know' enough to interpret all there is to see or is not 'in tune' with the situation, then you may not get an answer that seems 'right'.

You simply have to look at various readings and responses at Aeclectic in the various reading forums, and also at the various interpretations of the cards to see how different people can be in their understanding and use of tarot.

As human beings we are far from infallible and sometimes far from wise . Our use of tarot will reflect this.

But the more you practice, the more you develop as a person and as a reader, the better you will become. You are on a lovely journey

I'd like to add that tarot is not just predictive. In fact I rarely use it for those purposes.

The cards can actually give you another perspective which can be really useful, helpful and liberating.

So the answer to your question might need to take into account the purpose for which you read the cards.

Whether Tarot is predictive or not; whether the information comes from God or the inner or higher self; whatever you believe Tarot is, there is no doubt it can be wrong. Even very wrong. While the basic structure of the deck act as a certain map of the universe, trying to understand it may be next to impossible, as there are a million and one factors for every action and thought however minute, which serve at times to drastically change everything. Reading Tarot assumes the universe has a certain form or pattern which can be understood, even if one doesn't do predictive readings, but too many times this is simply not the case. Things happen for no reason and according to no set pattern.

All we can hope to do is our best to try to understand the world in our own small way; anything more than that is misguided.