Can Tarot really foretell the Future ?

ravenest said:

No ... nothing like the way I read tarot actually ... but since you have decided that is what I do ... and so you will never ask for one ... I suppose you will never know or understand the way I read, ... <shrug>
No ... I wouldnt do that because ; " monkeys have a very sticky electromagnetic field that causes the cards to come out in the wrong order."

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Hey, ravenest, don't get me wrong...you're the one who compared my sample weather report to a tarot reading...but hey, if you want to demonstrate that's not how you read, do feel free to do a reading for me anytime....

I wouldn't dismiss anyone's reading abilities without trying, no matter what their electromagnetic field is....not even monkeys'....who, by the way, are the closest beings to humans on this planet...and probably without the intellectual barriers which often cloud our perceptions....

You forgot already ?


Dont forgot to ... never ask ravenest for a tarot reading !

Nikita_ said:

Remind me not to ever ask you for one !!!

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EyeAmEye said:

I can give you a counter story regarding a similar situation. Years ago when I first started reading, the cards told me all flowers and roses about a woman I was very interested in at the time. It never happened.



That said, the events predicted in the cards actually occurred in exactly the manner described with someone else entirely.



Reader interpretation, in this case myself, saw a situation in the cards I WANTED to see with that specific woman but was meant to describe someone else.



How did that happen? The Queen of Wands card used to come up every time I tried reading. Since I wanted that to represent the woman I was originally interested in, I interpreted that card as her each time. Since I kept drawing that card with regularity, I thought it was telling me about her. It wasn't. I only thought it did. Misinterpretation.



The cards can't jump out at you and tell you stuff directly. You have to be able to glean their meaning. It's not an easy thing to do. There is a myriad of ways to misread.

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Did you ask specifically about her? Because if you asked specifically about this woman, then the cards were wrong. However, if you didn't specify ( though I imagine that you did) then I can see how the cards were " sort of right" and the error was due to human Error

Do I think it can tell the future? I think it can show what might be - if you stay on the same path. I mainly use my cards for advice in the here and now, not to predict where I may be.

I can't count the number of times, on and offline, as well as here on AT, I've had people come back and say my reading was right. I don't care who doesn't agree with me. I don't try to be "right" when I read. I just read what I see and then try to deliver the message in the best and most compassionate way possible. That's all a reader ever should do. Trying to be right and "accurate" a high percentage of the time doesn't really mean much. It works best when you just do your best to decipher the message and deliver it in a good way.

Oh, and coming back to answer the question---yes Tarot can and does tell the future. The reader being able to read it right sometimes varies (which includes me), but the cards are there with the answer every time you ask for it.

Lets say that taro is like prophecy for the future, and the prophecies has funny way to become true.

There is a meditation method with which you can dream the future. I practice it sometimes and i can tell you that even if you know what is going to happen, you can not alter it.

I do believe that taro present the future in the way with which your free choice is not taken away. Which means every prediction taking away the free choice of the querent will be wrong. Ifyou tell for example that he will be promoted in work, this will take his free choice to accept or not to accept the offer, however if you tell him that there is a opportunity to be promoted he will work hard and probably will have proposition for promotion. Taro just shows you future opportunities which the querent can take.

What is the "future"? Bear with me while I explore or "unpack the concept"...

So...I think of someone I haven't seen in a long time...the phone rings and it's them. Was I seeing a glimpse of what's to come or simply seeing what already IS?...because I don't know what the future looks like until after the fact, anyway. And if this person hadn't called, they would have just been a thought and nothing more.

I find that most people who come to the tarot are trying to read a chapter ahead of the one that they're actually living. It's constant negation of what IS in favour of a desired future (isn't that why people often ask the same question, ad nauseum - me included), one that will "one day" make them happy? The implication is that they think their life is written in stone - pre-determined, pre-written, pre-filmed - and they want a sneak preview...versus....those who come to the tarot looking for guidance and insight into personal tendencies, patterns or potentials, for example, which suggests that if they don't take certain actions, life will follow along in the familiar trajectory. This category includes people who use the Tarot as a tool for self-knowledge, as opposed to a pure literal reading of the "future."

YET, to me, Free Will and Determination CAN exist simultaneously. And yes, it's a paradox! How does the infinite exist within the finite? Man is the author and the authored, if we are both God and Man, for example. One part wrote the story and the other part is a character in it...

The reason I feel this is a difficult thing for people to wrap their heads around is because they're looking at it in a linear way...but we're talking about events that don't move in a linear fashion. It really doesn't matter if "I" believe that it's all predetermined, because I don't ever know what predetermined looks like, until I see the "outcome", until "after the fact", except this implies that there is a specific moment in time that remains static, which is not possible, therefore, it's out of time - Eternal. We can't grasp what it means to be "out of time." Just because I believe something was meant to be or was fated doesn't negate the fact that I made choices along the way (or that I am responsible and accountable for my actions), or that I practised free will. That opportunity is ALWAYS available to me. The outcome is always a reflection of my choices, so whatever the outcome is, IS exactly what IT IS - tragic or comic. I particularly like Spinoza...

I am more interested in the question, Can we tap into a vision Sub specie aeternitatis (under the aspect of Eternity)? As opposed to, through the aspect of Temporality, which is our default mode of perception.

Okay...I'm rambling...and haven't really answered the question...

Can tarot predict the future? Ah....I'm not sure...I don't know. Sometimes, these kinds of questions necessarily complicate the problem. It's a great way to explore. Thanks for letting me do that here, Nikita.

Nikita_ said:

OK, I'll give you a comprehensive answer by telling you a very simple story. Some time ago, I did a reading on the usual kind of story for a very good friend of mine. It was the classic relationship reading, where the cards were really fantastic, as clear as daylight, not ambiguous in any way, and pointed to a happy ending fairy-tale style. Although I am not an optimist by nature-actually, quite the opposite, friends often tell me I should be more positive !- I felt that, with those cards, I could definitely tell her that this relationship would go ahead smoothly, and possibly end up in a stable partnership. As time went by, however, things got complicated for her-nothing tragic ; essentially, they were not moving forward-and as I continued to see all rosey cards for her, and a happy ending despite some obstacles, I encouraged her to go and see the other 2 readers I mentioned, who I believe are very good, and certainly not the kind of readers who tell fairy-tales to their clients, without telling them about my readings. They told her the same. Too bad, the relationship ended tragically shortly after....and it doesn't matter why that happened, the point is, did we-me and the other 2 Readers-have a mass hallucination, all of a sudden ? Did we all misread the cards, on that particular occasion ? Or is there something else we are all missing about how it works ??

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I think the replies about probable futures have been good ones and are as about as sensible as we are going to get

And if we put sensible aside where are we going to go with it?

What we have here seems to be the assumption that a reading that should have turned out right didn't and that this calls for an explanation

Now I do grasp the problem here, I have my own basis for relating to it, but it is nothing I can package in to a nice rational response.

If tarot is directed by spiritual forces, it does not necessarily follow they are going to like you or that the same ones will always be responsible for your readings.

I have been warned by entities that I deal with that if I ever actively pursue tarot as a public service I will have a reoccurring problem with my predictions being good until somebody comes to count upon them and then at the most opportune moment for maximum emotional devastation the rug will get pulled from underneath and the answer will be dramatically and destructively wrong. This can be blamed on whatever forces I have managed to antagonize while winding my way on my spiritual path.

Or so they tell me...

Explanations about interference from forces outside should only be used as a last possible resort, you can lose your ability to ever interpret things rationally again if you become dependent on them.

I don't see where we can go with this discussion with out dealing with Factor X

But stuff that is this subjective won't get us terribly far

I've predicted the future with the tarot cards, and it turned out pretty accurate. Usually I just ask, "What would the situation be like if Jack went to fetch a pail of water?" and then I pull out other cards to say "And then what happens next?" and I keep on going. I look at it as a storyline. It's been useful to me.

But when I actually ask about the future itself, with a future position and all that, it's kind of confusing and vague sometimes, especially if I'm reading for another person. And that's just what I've noticed.

Placebo Scotsman said:

I think the replies about probable futures have been good ones and are as about as sensible as we are going to get

And if we put sensible aside where are we going to go with it?

What we have here seems to be the assumption that a reading that should have turned out right didn't and that this calls for an explanation

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For some , sensible has been put well aside! Reading some of the explanations sound like kiddies excuses as to why they messed up something. My two favourites are ; the cards are never wrong, the reader must have got the interpretation wrong .. and ... the cards are never wrong - the future changed, but the cards predicted what WAS GOING TO happen.