Tarot and culture/belief

I just discussed with my friend about tarot today and she said in her culture, it's believed that the tarot reader can change the querant's fate. She explained that as the querent came asking, he/she had 2 paths/choices: one more positive than the other. Depending on the reading and the reader, the querent may be more inclined to choose one path which can be negative.

I mean my friend has a point. Most querents have faith and trust in the readers and if the readers lead them wrong, they can be making a wrong choice. But I don't think the actual reading or using tarot can have that big of an impact. What do you think? How do you respond to such belief? It seems tarot has some bad vibe in other cultures.

I think that regardless of any reading, everyone has a choice. It is that free will that eventually decides one's fate, as tempting as it may be to throw off responsibility and turn it over to the reader. After all, the whole point of a reading is to cause change, because if everything was completely deterministic then a reading would be a useless endeavor. Even if a reader says wrong, frightening or disturbing things the choice to act lies ultimately with the person being read for. It is their responsibility to make sure they treat Tarot as one source of information among many and not the only source. No one can conveniently take that away from them.

In a wider, more philosophical sense, it may very well be that a reader changes the future in some way. Maybe some things happen because a person left their original path in order to change something, which causes a whole chain reaction with the outcome very different from what was "supposed" to happen? However, since we cannot know what that original path was, all we can do, as readers and as people in general, is do our best, try to make the right choices and make the most of our circumstances, whatever they may be.

Can a Tarot reader 'change' a person's Fate? No. If you are a reader and the reading produces a choice that says 'future happiness down this path' and another that says 'future disaster down this path' it is up to the Querent to decide which path to take. All the Reader does is present the choices and the final choice is up to the Querent. the Reader does not 'make' either of them happen.

There are other discussions here where Querents (and some readers) believe that if 'disaster cards' appear in the reading then those disasters are now written in stone and going to happen no matter what. If that were true, then all decks would be comprised of 78 'The World' cards and nothing else.

We can point the way - but we do not have 'causality.'

I was taught somewhere that each of us has a choice of at least three paths: the Higher, Middle, and Lower.

The Middle is the path most "normal" people are on, and it requires only a small amount of effort to stay on that path. The Lower path is the path of least resistance and can be seen in those who choose to become (and, most importantly, remain) addicted, who choose anger over love, etc. The Higher path is the one to which we are called by Spirit. That one is a more difficult path than the Middle Path, as it often requires devotion and sacrifice and can be a lonely path to walk.

At any given time, we are at a point of choosing whether to remain on our current path, or to go a different way. A reader who is tuned into Spirit can indeed point the way to a different path, but that is not changing the querent's fate, it is only pointing out that in every moment, one has choices, and what those choices are. The querent then may choose to change his or her own path which of course could end up in that person's life going in a different direction and in that way, the querent changes his or her own fate or outcome.

I dont get it either .... if A says to B you can go left or right ... how is that 'changing' B's fate

Maybe she meant ; a tarot reader can influence one's decisions if you get a reading off them ?

I usually talk about the cards showing advice for a possible path. They are offering advice for you to listen to or not. Nothing is set in stone. But as many people come for readings because they aren't happy with their situation or have problems they usually already know what they want or need to do. My role is to guide them to make an informed decision by themselves, not because of anything I have dictated.

Hi Simple,

I don't personally believe in fate, or predestination. Even if the future as we perceive it is already happening, it seems plausible that it's constantly changing due to the causal nature of our current point in time, in relation to the "future."

The notion that a reader can change the querent's fate presupposes a traditionally religious worldview, which includes a belief in fate and predestination (the future has already been decided by God, but is unknowable); the kind which you might encounter in small towns or rural communities. This worldview probably regards divination and fortune telling poorly because it challenges the idea of the future being unknowable, as designed by God, and therefore somehow, anti-religous.

I'd personally respond to the notion that a reader can somehow negatively influence a querent's future or fate, as superstitious, and also dangerous. It puts an awful lot of power in the reader's hands, and the relationship between the reader and querent shouldn't be a power struggle.

Does that make sense? Did I read your question right?

A tarot reader could only change the person's fate if the person took their advice and didn't use their own free will at all! I find that quite dangerous personally. In tarot, astrology, religion, medicine, science and law, we can get advice but we have to actually take the final action and decision ourselves!

I think tarot readings can have a big impact in some situations if the person just follows them blindly. Someone on here posted a reading that looked like their lover was having an affair and they wanted to leave them immediately. So dangerous, the reading might have been wrong!

In my own tarot readings I notice that I often tell people what to do, "from this spread I think you should do this". I love the advice part of it! I am trying currently to stop that and to give options, if you do this, this might happen and if you choose this option, this might happen. It's better I think to give choices not to just say you should do this! I would hate to think anyone ever used my readings as absolute advice! we have to think and use free will

No Tarot does not change our fate. fate is determined by God if it is meant to be.


I think that by gettin a Tarot reading, we can have more insight into the situation and be able to know.
If it is our choice, different than fate.