Hold On - You asked the cards WHAT?!

a_shikhs said:

I feel that by asking silly questions, you are dis-respecting tarot and playing with it. It is a serious divination tool and not a toy..

Click to expand...

Thanks for your interesting opinion but I am not sure to agree with this. Of course tarot can help us with the serious matters of life, and it is a tool of growth.
But it is a toy as well in my opinion. Tarot started as a game. It can be used for storytelling, inspiration for music and dance and so on. Some people here encourage us to practise by making spreads for "anyone", strangers, film-stars, pet animals, etc. That may be frivolous as well but it helped me lots to get familiar fast with certain decks. There is a jolly fool in every deck, and it has a reason Now when not depending too much on the answers I see no harm in asking "silly" questions as long as people keep thinking as well. I will now ask my Thoth if I shall have bread or cornflakes for breakfast, just to see how it handles my silly sense of humour
Blessings

Analogy: Some people like opera, some like rock-n-roll. Is opera more serious than rock-n-roll? By virtue of its definition, yes. Is opera more enlightening? No. Is opera "better" than rock-n-roll? No. Is rock-n-roll more appropos in today's world? No. (Feel free to answer "yes" to any of the above, you would be correct, too.) It is all a matter of perspective.

We had a French person visit us the other day. He took one look at my shrine and said (in a very sexy Parisian accent), "Oh, who play 'tarot?'" I didn't take offense just because he likened it to a card game (which it is in France). I just figured that was his perspective.

Am I going to ask whether or not I should wait to clean my cat box? Uh, no, I alreadyknow the answer to that! Am I going to ask her if I should buy that investment property in northern Florida? When I have enough energy to do a serious spread --Yes!

kilts_knave said:

Is opera more serious than rock-n-roll? By virtue of its definition, yes.

Click to expand...

I want to clarify this before someone goes off on a tangent.

Opera means, literally "great serious work." It was invented in Italy in the late 16th century by a group of men headed by a man named Mei (purportedly 150 years old) in response to the unmusical minstrelism of the day (the Renaissance version of Rock-n-Roll)...

Hi Rogan!

I like the points made about the question side of things -and I believe it comes down to (amongst other things, but mainly) 'Purpose and Intent' of the questioner.

and there are many stages through which a person goes when working with the Tarot, and I think this is one of them, but its not what Id view as 'wrong' or 'right', 'trivial' or 'disrespectful', - it just is - the Tarot will answer you regardless. And regardless of how trivial we think the question maybe - the Tarot is not.

Ive never had the deck spit on me, or walk off in a huff, for asking the 'wrong' question yet

What is trivial to one person is important to another - so be it - its not my question to judge, and there is always more than one question to make up an answer - say Before a card is even chosen you have to make the desicion about (1)To use the Tarot (2)Which deck to use. These are independent questions.

What deck should I use to find out what to order for dinner? Should it be delivered? Which store to buy it from? Should I use the landline or my mobile? Large Medium or small? Should I get prawns on it? What about a Garlic Bread? Should I get the Super Duper Dicount meal with the chocolate Bavarian? Will I eat it all? - theres alot of other questions regarding one pizza for dinner which we make without the Tarot

Then theres the thought also - what if you did ask about a pizza and your reading came up with the some cards which indicated a definate NO - because the prawns are off and you are about to be struck down with a bad case of food poisening which will put you in hospital for 3 weeks where you will get a Staf infection and need your leg amputated. You will loose your job as a sports coach, and be thrown into poverty? To me how much more respectful can the Tarot be?

So you have scrambled eggs on toast instead, or if the wheel of fortune was in there, the Hermit & the two of swords - I might think you'd go ahead and order Pizza anyway

The question is usually one aspect of a much bigger picture and set of circumstances - even over a pizza.

I dont think there are wrong questions Its possibly the questions we dont ask which are disrespectful to ourselves.

Just a slice of my thoughts (with pepperoni on top) to chew over

Blessings
Elven x

Rogan said:

Also - Don't get me wrong - I don't want to call them "silly" questions, "stupid" questions....

I just figure there are questions out there that you can easily answer on a day to day basis without the cards even coming into your head as an option...

Click to expand...

I agree somewhat to what you are trying to say here, Rogan, but also think there are no silly or stupid questions. Everything is valid. Tarot is not some superior divination form that requires only deep and profound questions to be answered,- ultimately the value of a question is highly subjective, personal and individual.
Asking the cards about "important" issues can be equally questionable if you rely only on their answers, by this line of thought..."Should I get a divorce/abortion/quit my job" for instance, should probably be decided by far deeper considerations than what the cards may or may not have to say...

I ask my cards about everything all the time....seemingly insignificant things, sometimes very important things...like everything else, it's simply another opinion, a different perspective, something to ponder...and I agree with Similia, sometimes they do have a good sense of humor and make me laugh as well. I don't think the cards always take them selves so seriously....

Yep - And Im gonna say it again - Im not calling them silly, or stupid - And yes, they ARE all valid questions...

Lets move it in this direction then: Can you be too dependant on the cards? Can it get to a stage where anyone else watching who didn't know what you were doing would think you've developed a serious co-dependence, even though you're doing it "for fun"...

Yes - Ask the cards for advice on whether you should take up a particular uni course... Sure - Ask the cards if he's the right guy... Absolutely - Ask the cards if you should be more careful with your money...

Do all that, great - And then ask the cards if you should go see Brokeback Mountain or Walk The Line? Doesn't that then put a dampener on the seriousness of what you've focused on previously?

Does anyone else think using the cards so frivilously might just as well mean your practice and opinion on the cards is just that - Frivilous?

In my readings for myself, if I didn't know how to chat with my cards about the "silly" questions, it's unlikely we'd be able to discuss the serious ones.

Daily life is made up of silly questions, with only a few serious issues cropping up now and then. Tarot is a friend - or a symbol of me befriending myself, and reaching out to the divine. I have conversations with my cards. In our interaction, we need all kinds of speeds and paces. I don't only delve into the meaning of life with my friends. I discuss politics, literature, movies, poetry. Sometimes we chat about cats and pizza. My cards, my unconscious and the divine are OK with all of that, in my experience.

So - pizza anybody? (oops, Elven, better make that a vegetarian! Ace of Pentacles, I think )

interesting thread

coming from an person who hates the question that alwasy come about love and relationship and if he or she loves me..
(simply because it been asked a lot eheh ) .

i can see a great value in askin mundane questions with the tarot..

in the case of the should i ship the dog/puppy or not, to me it is a great question for it a death, ten of swords, , perhaps tower cards pops up then by god i am not going to ship my puppy.

suppose one was using the tarot to build up their psychic development as a tool. i can see a great value to ask if i should see brokeback mountain over walk the line..
for the tarot could help the person see what their higherself would like them to see for the moment.
then they can go see the movie,, and see the other movie afterwards,, and use that as a test to see if it was accurate or not.

this is a method i dont' use myself , prefering to study the "higher aspects of the tarot" my own quotation marks but ,, what is the use of studying higher aspects of theories and systems if it can't be applied to the pratical ?.

OK - trivial experiment nr. 1: I have just asked my cards (mini Grimaud) if I should have pizza or meat for lunch.

Shuffle. 6 of Cups. My cards think I should go with what makes me feel happy, secure and pleased - though mind the kilos (6 being the number of Venus, who has a direct line to extra kilos).

So I guess I'll see what's on the menu and decide then. All this talk of pizza has rather given me a craving!

Wow, got to the bottom, and you changed the direction (I think...) of the question.

Ok, I can't answer for anyone but myself, and I'd never consider telling (or thinking) someone else, that the way they work with the tarot is the wrong way, or trivial in any manner, heck, I'm still learning myself....

So...

When working with the tarot, I usually try not to put any type of limitation on the cards.
The majority of my questions lean more towards 'tell me what you want me to know', 'tell me what you will'.

I'm also one of those people who draw a larger amount of Majors for my own readings, and have had many done by other's that seem to show this same pattern in the answers.

There are times, when I want to know something specific, and try to come up with a question that seems to be, what I want to ask about. These times are few and far between, as I would rather the cards not be limited to a certain question.

Now when reading for other's, I do not ask them to verbally state a question to me, I ask them to concentrate on what they want to know.

Then I do my best to relate to them, what I see in the cards.

Interestingly, somewhere amoungst the telling them of what I see, it answers their questions, sometimes it relates to other things going on in their life.

For myself, i do feel that the tarot is a very mystical, and insightful, a serious tool.

Sometimes, I may not know exactly what it may mean for me, when a specific question has been given, but most of those times, I might not be able to relate to the answer, then I either draw another card in relation to the confusion, for better understanding, sometimes this helps, sometimes i need to figure just a little harder, for the meanings.
Sometimes it hits me right then, sometimes it takes awhile.

Or, I give them and me a rest.

I do understand, I do believe what you mean by the first question.