Just Had a Tarot Card Reading

[Elessar]

In case anyone's interested:

1. Five of Swords – down – the past
2. Nine of Wands – up - The present, the question in hand
3. Two of Pentacles – up – Hidden influences that need to be considered
4. Nine of Swords – up – The attitudes of other around you
5. Ace of Swords – up – the best action to take
6. Five of Pentacles – down – Obstacles in your path
7. Seven of cups – up – The final outcome

Some of it hits on what I would consider accurate, but... I think we have one or two folks interested in the Wiccan arts so, I mean no offense, but it seems like a crock. Every card's explanation in the book sounds like a generically positive piece of "Dr. Phil"-esque life-advice. It's all good advice, but it's all mutually inclusive... The explanations are so vague that many of them could be interpreted identically to each other.

Anyway, sorry, I just had to semi-rant about that.

Oh and YES I am working , this girl who works here did it over lunch.

[Aquarius]

Well, here's the thing...the book is a guide, a place to start. If the person reading them is just going by what the book says the cards mean, then you're not really getting a reading. The reader must interpret the cards, and sometimes a card won't mean what it's "supposed" to, depending on the context. There is a "spiritual adviser" component that was probably missing from your reading if the meanings were just coming out of a book. The reader is supposed to help guide you on an issue you're having in your life, and the cards are supposed to help the reader to focus, not do the job for the reader.

[Alelou]

Which, forgive me, doesn't really do anything to contradict Elessar's point at all. The more you know, the more you can tailor these vague generalities to someone's life -- which is exactly how your average con man "psychic" works. So even if it's sincere, how is it any different than just plain giving some advice to someone you know based on what you know about him?

I'm not saying there aren't real psychics, but I'm going to tend to be a Scully when it comes to this stuff.

[JadziaKathryn]

I'm not saying there aren't real psychics, but I'm going to tend to be a Scully when it comes to this stuff.

I agree. However, there's another thing. Provided there is an actual psychic and not a "call us for $3.99 a minute!" deal, I don't really think I want someone poking around my future. I've got enough to worry about today without someone saying, "Uh-oh. That's the Card of Misery." (Of course, my personal beliefs cover the long-term plan with Heaven, but that doesn't really change the point.)

[Aquarius]

Which, forgive me, doesn't really do anything to contradict Elessar's point at all. The more you know, the more you can tailor these vague generalities to someone's life -- which is exactly how your average con man "psychic" works. So even if it's sincere, how is it any different than just plain giving some advice to someone you know based on what you know about him?

I'm not saying there aren't real psychics, but I'm going to tend to be a Scully when it comes to this stuff.

Well, I never considered myself a "con man" or a fraud. All of my readings were free; I come from the school of thought that it's bad karma to profit from such a "gift", if you believe you have one. So no, you'll never see me working one of those psychic hotlines.

As far as how it's different from giving someone you know advice, I don't know if I can adequately answer that. I guess in an example, I had done a reading for my boss at a salon I used to work at. She was asking about her new boyfriend, but the card that came up clearly wanted to say something about her ex-husband. Sure enough, he popped up a couple of days later with some kind of crunked up bullshit, just like I said he would. You don't have to believe, I'm just telling you what happened.

Also, how could it be like giving advice to someone you know, if you're doing such a reading for a stranger?

[Elessar]

Well I think she's saying that if you were to "be a spiritual adviser" as you put it, in the course of giving someone a REAL and properly done reading, then it would be pretty similar to giving advice to a friend because in that short span of time you would come to understand their problems and their chief concerns of the moment. It's really not hard to read someone in that way, even the first time you meet someone, if it's a situation where you're talking about what they're worried about, like you would be if they were proposing an issue or a question.

I was asking her if it would work out with a girl I met recently (went on a sort of mini-date!) and based on my "reading", she said probably not ...

Good thing I think it's a crock then huh?

[Aquarius]

I'm probably not using the right words to communicate it. I've spent the night fighting with the ex some more and it's a little hard to be articulate through all the grief and trauma.

I really don't know how to describe what I'm trying to say, other than the reader uses the card to focus, the reader interprets the message, and if it were as simple as consulting the book for every card and every positon's meaning, you're not getting all you could out of a reading. I never just "gave advice" during a reading--I don't need cards to tell me to tell a friend "Oh, girl, that dude's a jackass, lose his number." It's more than that.

[Eian Flannagan]

Somewhere Patrick Jane is rolling over in laughter.

[Elessar]

I'm probably not using the right words to communicate it. I've spent the night fighting with the ex some more and it's a little hard to be articulate through all the grief and trauma.

I really don't know how to describe what I'm trying to say, other than the reader uses the card to focus, the reader interprets the message, and if it were as simple as consulting the book for every card and every positon's meaning, you're not getting all you could out of a reading. I never just "gave advice" during a reading--I don't need cards to tell me to tell a friend "Oh, girl, that dude's a jackass, lose his number." It's more than that.

I think I get what you're saying, it's just that the way I've always seen these things, through a kind of admittedly unfeeling pragmatism... the more noninvasive the advice, like the less "action-specific" in terms of "get a new job", "break up with this guy", "call your mother something bad's going to happen soon", etc... the less specific like that, the less distinguishable it is from just generic life advice that isn't specific to any one person's circumstances. But I've never had what you're talking about as a good reading so, I'm sort of speaking without experience, too.

[justTripn]

I had a friend (she is still my friend) who told me in all seriousness, that her horoscope seemed accurate, because "It said I tend to be superstitious, and I AM!"

I'm afraid this is a true story.

I just went back and read you had a fight with your boyfriend, Aquarius. Sorry. That sucks.

[justTripn]

In case anyone's interested:

1. Five of Swords – down – the past
2. Nine of Wands – up - The present, the question in hand
3. Two of Pentacles – up – Hidden influences that need to be considered
4. Nine of Swords – up – The attitudes of other around you
5. Ace of Swords – up – the best action to take
6. Five of Pentacles – down – Obstacles in your path
7. Seven of cups – up – The final outcome

OK, I'll take a stab at it. Here is your reading:

Stop buying so many guns.

Post the end of "Your Mom And Me III."

True love is right around the corner.

[Alelou]

[Elessar]

In case anyone's interested:

1. Five of Swords – down – the past
2. Nine of Wands – up - The present, the question in hand
3. Two of Pentacles – up – Hidden influences that need to be considered
4. Nine of Swords – up – The attitudes of other around you
5. Ace of Swords – up – the best action to take
6. Five of Pentacles – down – Obstacles in your path
7. Seven of cups – up – The final outcome

OK, I'll take a stab at it. Here is your reading:

Stop buying so many guns.

Post the end of "Your Mom And Me III."

True love is right around the corner.

I'll have you know I haven't bought a gun in like... a month! Seriously! 30 days of sobriety!

[Linda]

Well I only read for myself and occasionally for members of my family. The future is so changable, so many possibilities depending on your actions that predicting it cannot be very accurate. I use readings to work on problems I am having right now - to give me ideas of solutions and possibilities I have not thought of yet. Cards have multiple meanings and only YOU can know if any of them fit. A reading for me is like an intellectual puzzle I have laid out and I think about it to see if it can help me. I decide whether the reading fits for me or not, no one else can decide better than me so I don't have other people read for me. The person who determines my future is ME and it is very changeble depending on what decisions I make. You can work with a deity for support and advise but the responsibility for your decisions is yours, no matter how good or bad your decisions are. A reading can be a crock if you yourself don't put something of yourself into it.