Tarot for Revealing Magical Influences

[Tinevisce]

Hi All,

I don't know how many over here are also into Occult/Neo-Pagan practices, in conjunction with the Tarot, so I guess my question might have a fairly limited audience.

Anyway, has anyone here ever used the Tarot to try and find out about magical influences? I wanted to find out if there are any lingering traces of a working done on my friend, and if yes, how and where it manifests.

Another contact suggested scrying, but it's really not something I'm very familiar/comfortable with; the tarot, however is. That said, I'm totally stumped as to how go about using a deck for a question like this.

I could, of course, just try to pull a random set of cards; but I figured I'd ask around here first to see if there were any specific spreads anyone knew, or ideas

 

[Russ1964]

Hi All,

I don't know how many over here are also into Occult/Neo-Pagan practices, in conjunction with the Tarot, so I guess my question might have a fairly limited audience.

Anyway, has anyone here ever used the Tarot to try and find out about magical influences? I wanted to find out if there are any lingering traces of a working done on my friend, and if yes, how and where it manifests.

Another contact suggested scrying, but it's really not something I'm very familiar/comfortable with; the tarot, however is. That said, I'm totally stumped as to how go about using a deck for a question like this.

I could, of course, just try to pull a random set of cards; but I figured I'd ask around here first to see if there were any specific spreads anyone knew, or ideas

Hi Tinevisce,

Fascinating questions. I don't have a set answer for you, but my feelings are along these lines. Just as magic works best when you craft a spell, rather than taking one ready made from someone else....so I would devise a spread that asked the kind of questions that you felt were relevant to this subject and situation. I have not read of any specific magical workings meanings of certain cards, but I am sure that the cards can be interpreted for this subject in a not too dissimilar fashion to how you would if you were asking questions of your spiritual journey and direction. You would be looking for the basic energies of the cards. And there are plenty of ways in which you could interpret yes/no type of questions around magical workings and energies.

Kind regards
Russ

 

[Tinevisce]

Thanks for the reply...your answer did help spark off a few ideas. I'm thinking...why not use the major arcana attributions to chakras to pinpoint where the spell manifests the most strongly. Does that make sense?

 

[Russ1964]

Thanks for the reply...your answer did help spark off a few ideas. I'm thinking...why not use the major arcana attributions to chakras to pinpoint where the spell manifests the most strongly. Does that make sense?

Hiya,

Yes, that does make sense. I've also seen listings of minor and court cards attributed to the chakras as well, so perhaps not limit to the Major?

Kind regards
Russ

 

[MandMaud]

My feeling is that getting the question right would be very important, rather than the spread - not that the spread isn't, but being clear about what wants answering really matters. If it were me I'd probably ask What energies surround this person?, something like that, and depending on what that shows, go on to more detail about where it's coming from, etc.

I can't get my head around a straight yes/no with tarot, and from the sounds of it neither can you.(?)

You could also ask what to do about it... Given that you / the person concerned are thinking that traces of a working could be clinging, presumably the person is experiencing symptoms of some kind. Maybe the question needed isn't whether it's a working (or what effect the working's still having), but rather, what the cards can tell about those symptoms, their cause (if that's important) and particularly how to deal with them.

I'm no expert! I understand energies, but not ritual and that kind of approach, so others will have more knowledgeable input.

 

[Tinevisce]

Hiya,

Yes, that does make sense. I've also seen listings of minor and court cards attributed to the chakras as well, so perhaps not limit to the Major?

Kind regards
Russ

I could ask him to lay out all 78 cards in three rows (most to least affected) and then see the dominant chakra of each row.
If nothing else, it would be amazingly dramatic ;-)

 

[Tinevisce]

My feeling is that getting the question right would be very important, rather than the spread - not that the spread isn't, but being clear about what wants answering really matters. If it were me I'd probably ask What energies surround this person?, something like that, and depending on what that shows, go on to more detail about where it's coming from, etc.

I can't get my head around a straight yes/no with tarot, and from the sounds of it neither can you.(?)

You could also ask what to do about it... Given that you / the person concerned are thinking that traces of a working could be clinging, presumably the person is experiencing symptoms of some kind. Maybe the question needed isn't whether it's a working (or what effect the working's still having), but rather, what the cards can tell about those symptoms, their cause (if that's important) and particularly how to deal with them.

I'm no expert! I understand energies, but not ritual and that kind of approach, so others will have more knowledgeable input.

Oh yes, yes/no questions have traditionally not worked well for me- I just think there are too many influences and variables for such questions to be accurately answerable. That, or the deck could just be doing it out of sheer pique. "I'm the bloody window to the universe, and THIS is what you use me for?!"


Actually, yes, we aren't taking for granted that it IS a working- I'd actually meant to ask a general question, and use this as a specific example.
That said, I think it's a good idea, asking specifically the reasons for the symptoms and then going from there.
How to go about 'treating' it- well, my friend thinks simply ignoring it works best (giving such things too much importance only gives it power, is what his logic is) and I'm not doing a thing without his go ahead.
This has, however, turned into more of an intellectual exercise than anything else

 

[MandMaud]

Oh yes, yes/no questions have traditionally not worked well for me- I just think there are too many influences and variables for such questions to be accurately answerable. That, or the deck could just be doing it out of sheer pique. "I'm the bloody window to the universe, and THIS is what you use me for?!"


Actually, yes, we aren't taking for granted that it IS a working- I'd actually meant to ask a general question, and use this as a specific example.
That said, I think it's a good idea, asking specifically the reasons for the symptoms and then going from there.
How to go about 'treating' it- well, my friend thinks simply ignoring it works best (giving such things too much importance only gives it power, is what his logic is) and I'm not doing a thing without his go ahead.
This has, however, turned into more of an intellectual exercise than anything else

I see his point - and yours, definitely, I get you. Fun to think about though.
I'm interested in the ideas that turn up here.

 

[Tinevisce]

@Mand
Definitely interesting to think about- mostly why I'm spending so much time about it. Can you tell I have a huge thing for magical theory? :-D

 

[MandMaud]

@Mand
Definitely interesting to think about- mostly why I'm spending so much time about it. Can you tell I have a huge thing for magical theory? :-D

rotf