Tarot Reading [On how the heck they work]

[QuoVadisNation]

I'll admit it.. my sister and I were meandering around the French Quarter last night when it was raining. We were drinking, but that's not important. We stumbled across one of the many Voodoo shops in the area* and my sister, being more of a believer in tarot and Indian horoscope (not horoscopes!) than religion in general, asked for a tarot reading. After twenty minutes, she was very impressed and recommended I try a reading as well. Now, I normally do not believe this junk but I went along with it. I was able to ask two questions.

First question was on career: Spot-on. Everything about me was correct. She even assessed exactly what I had been thinking about for the past few months. In addition, she assessed "the kind of person I am" to other people as well.

Second question was on romance: Spot-on. Except for her prediction on my future relationships which I can or cannot claim as false.

Mind you.. I never gave much information away. At most, the only words I uttered asides from various flirtations with the young emo-gypsy lady were "I want to ask about my career" and "I want to ask about romance." I just kept my mouth shut about real information until she was finished.

^^^ That's my story.

Does anyone here know tarot cards actually work? Is it magik? It's magik, isn't it? I've read the archives, the Zenon_pt says the following..

For example, tarot is a simple matter of luck. For each card have a meaning of there own and by shuffling an individual, who wishes to know an answer to his question, can in fact give a proper "influence" of the decision.

Theory of probability = changes

The only problem with Zenon_pt's explanation is the baffling accuracy the "cards" have at times with myself and other people. And even with those people and myself, not all of us are so bland as it be encompassed in whatever cards get flipped over.

Any insightful stories, explanations, experiences, or personal Indian horoscopes or tarot readings would be awesome.


* right near to Pat O'Brains.
** http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=271875&highlight=tarot

 

[Snorrius]

The main key to scrying, in my opinion, is that right hemisphere of the human brain is capable to get a complete picture or build a prediction based on the incomplete information. Intuition is mostly based on right hemisphere (for average human - a minor part have hemispheres which are switched in functionality). How big are those capabilities is not really understood yet by modern science but it is used by esoteric and mystic traditions for centuries.

The main problem is how to get this information from right hemisphere, and here is we have two problems:

1) Left hemisphere (which is responsible for reasoning and logic) "like" to suppress messages from right
2) The other one is how to interpret messages from right: it theoretically can send messages as auditory hallucinations (that's why we have so much channelers and prophets who contact UFOs, aliens, gods, daemons and such; actually they are speaking with their right hemisphere) but it is gross and may lead to unwanted consequences for user. Another way is images, feelings and such. So one need to "catch" it (how often we listen to what our intuition tells us?) and interpret as right hemisphere prefer images and feelings.

Cards are used as tool to concentrate and stimulate right hemisphere (notice that Taro have vivid images which is feast for it), and help to interpret what it have came up with.

So Tarot do not have power by itself. It is merely a tool for fortuneteller to interpret what his own intuition (let's call it so) tells him.

 

[Bill3000]

Vague, vacuous interpretations, common enough to pretty much everyone, like any other type of reading? What exactly did she *say*?

 

[Perfection]

Well, you have to realize something, Tarot readers are professional tricksters, they are from extensive experience a slippery sort and can opportunistically get information and pick up on subtle cues. Since you couldn't recall everything that was happening and we can't put everything under a microscope it would not surprise me if she picked up on something that we couldn't figure out. So while discussing this can be a good thing, if we can't get a precise answer on how she knew "x" that is not a reasonable excuse to call her legit.

That said:
Vague interpretation can be one thing, like Bill said. But that's little more impressive then astrology or fortune cookies. Generally, tarot readers aren't about tarot cards it's about the "art" of [wiki]cold reading[/wiki].

(I highly recommend reading the article first and then we might get into more specifics if you like)

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

The main key to scrying, in my opinion, is that right hemisphere of the human brain is capable to get a complete picture or build a prediction based on the incomplete information. Intuition is mostly based on right hemisphere (for average human - a minor part have hemispheres which are switched in functionality). How big are those capabilities is not really understood yet by modern science but it is used by esoteric and mystic traditions for centuries.

The main problem is how to get this information from right hemisphere, and here is we have two problems:

1) Left hemisphere (which is responsible for reasoning and logic) "like" to suppress messages from right
2) The other one is how to interpret messages from right: it theoretically can send messages as auditory hallucinations (that's why we have so much channelers and prophets who contact UFOs, aliens, gods, daemons and such; actually they are speaking with their right hemisphere) but it is gross and may lead to unwanted consequences for user. Another way is images, feelings and such. So one need to "catch" it (how often we listen to what our intuition tells us?) and interpret as right hemisphere prefer images and feelings.

Cards are used as tool to concentrate and stimulate right hemisphere (notice that Taro have vivid images which is feast for it), and help to interpret what it have came up with.

So Tarot do not have power by itself. It is merely a tool for fortuneteller to interpret what his own intuition (let's call it so) tells him.

Most of the specifics of this post are mere assumptions. We have no idea if the two sides of the brain really "talk" to one another, much less the substance of that interaction. To say that something theoretical is concretely the cause for religion as well as any instance of people hearing "voices in their head" is complete . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

 

[Snorrius]

Most of the specifics of this post are mere assumptions. We have no idea if the two sides of the brain really "talk" to one another,
much less the substance of that interaction.

Well, they "talk" via corpus callosum (it is a main route, there are a couple of others, what's interesting, if corpus callosum severed, right hemisphere is still able to get information from left via other means so it shows that from the Nature viewpoint it is more important).

The areas of specialization and differences are also rather known.

To say that something theoretical is concretely the cause for religion as well as any instance of people hearing "voices in their head" is complete . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

I am a proponent of bicameral mind hypothesis. In short it states that previously (about 3-4 thousands years ago) people did not have modern subjective consciousness, i.e. they had not "I", instead it was right hemisphere which "ruled" over left using auditory hallucinations which people perceived as voices of god (which is how religion was born).

I will agree at this regard that this hypothesis may or may not be true (you can study pros and contras if you interested) but you should notice that my assumptions at least are much more rational and make more sense then say "Tarot work because it is magic" or "It is devil's toy, oh noes" and so on.

And seems like you have some other reasons for the cause for religion. What are those may I ask?

 

[emzie]

I am a proponent of bicameral mind hypothesis.

Are you a truther by chance?

 

[illram]

What Perfection said.

 

[El_Machinae]

It works the same way the Egyptian sorcerors were able to turn their staffs into snakes.

 

[.Shane.]

You fell victim to cold reading. Tarot cards are silly. No different than, say, horoscopes or reading your palm. If you look at it as cheap entertainment, I suppose you can find some amusement in it. If you take it seriously, you are being a dupe.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

I did a Tarot reading once with Magic cards. I said something like "Shuffle the deck, draw ten cards, not counting land, put them in a cross pattern with four in a row at the top and one on the side", making up both the pattern and the reading instructions on the spot. Two of my friends in attendance were spooked at how accurate it was, nonetheless.

So it seems as though such readings are similar to saying "The coin will either come up heads or tails" or "The die will roll a number between 1 and 6" (not counting tricks).

Tarot, like astrology, seems to me to have weak causality in addition to saying things that are usually right, so one anecdote where it was right doesn't really seem to support it. To convince me of its validity, you'd have to show me predictions that would be specifically wrong in a lot of cases, where the right answer couldn't have been snuck in by stage magic, including the cold reading mentioned already.

 

[Mowque]

Cold reading = Sherlock Holmes, House MD. stuff?

 

[.Shane.]

Cold reading = Sherlock Holmes, House MD. stuff?

Read this, good wiki overview.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Read this, good wiki overview.

And linked from that... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect

 

[Atticus]

What exactly did she *say*?

QuoVadisNation has been dissatisfied or frustrated in his job for some time now. He's feeling tired, and has worked much, but his current position doesn't acknowledge his talent and capabilities, and thus he's considering another place to work and/or waiting for promotion. However he's got now a steady job, and is worried about the insecure situation that might come.

He has been alone for some time now, he still misses his previous love, but is eager to find a new one and to move on with his life.

 

[Bill3000]

QuoVadisNation has been dissatisfied or frustrated in his job for some time now. He's feeling tired, and has worked much, but his current position doesn't acknowledge his talent and capabilities, and thus he's considering another place to work and/or waiting for promotion. However he's got now a steady job, and is worried about the insecure situation that might come.

He has been alone for some time now, he still misses his previous love, but is eager to find a new one and to move on with his life.

zehn

 

[Mirc]

You do realize this person has been talking personal things with your sister just moments before you?

 

[Ecofarm]

They don't work. People are just making crap up based on a "cold reading" (and warm reading as the session continues) of you.

You're being read, not the cards...

The cards are just props, m'kay?

 

[Tomoyo]

I will occasionally read Tarot cards for my friends. Apparently it runs in the family, because my dad's friends always ask him to read tea leaves and such. (And I didn't know about that until I had started Tarot-ing)

As for how they work, well, you ask them a question, lay them out, and read what it means. It's not much harder than that. I mean, it helps if your cards are pretty, or if you don't screw up any of the protocol (make sure you shuffle three times, in the right direction, etc.) but the underlying mechanism is pretty simple. It just... works.

The hard part about the Tarot is that if you're using a full deck, which you have to in order to get really accurate readings, there are a gabajillion possible layouts and they combine cards in billions of different ways and you have to account for neighboring cards, suit, and stuff like that. The interpreting part is hard, which is what separates the good readers from the quacks.

 

[Fifty]

Tarot cards are a window into the energy realm. The tarot reader is skilled at tapping into the energy realm. Her spiritual/psychic abilities allow her to draw the tarot cards in a way that forms a connection between the cards and your personal spiritual energy as it exists in the energy realm. So the cards themselves have no power, they are just a "bridge" that allows the tarot reader to "see" into your personal universe in the energy realm. The cards allow you to learn about yourself because the energy realm encompasses all of your spiritual energy from past, present, and future.