| Apr. 12th, 2011 @ 02:19 pm Thoughts on Tarot Reading, Faith, and Free Will |
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As some of you know, I read tarot cards. And I can not tell you how many people say to me, with my cards on the table, "Do you really believe in these?"
I answer, "What? Do I believe the cards exist. Yes. They are tangible, in my hands."
"You know what I mean...do you believe they work?"
And then I go into a spiel..."What do you mean do I believe they work?" Define "work." Do I know for a fact that I can read the cards' meanings? Yes, I do."
"No. You know...can they tell the future?" The smirk. The hope behind the smirk.
"The cards don't speak. They're plastic.
Do I know that the cards can clarify information, offer choices and pathways, validate subconscious beliefs and draw awareness to old patterns, some that are effective and some that no longer serve the querent? Yes. I know this from my long experience working with the cards. It is not a question of belief so much as knowledge based on experience.
But do they tell the future like a magic eight ball? That presupposes the future is written in stone--and that we have no free will. I would not give my free will over to a deck of plastic cards or a plastic ball or anything or anyone else. That makes no sense to me. Does it to you?
Finally, there is a reason that it's called "divination." There is always the aspect of the Divine in a reading--information I do not always have access to without the cards. The cards allow me to access wisdom in a vivid pictorial way that I can then express to the querent in a way he or she can understand. Sometimes this wisdom is about the past, it is always about the present, and it is often about the future--as it stands now. It's an image of the present and what will occur if conditions remain as they are. But outer conditions can change. And humans can always change, as well, if they choose to do so.
And we always, always have the power over of our responses. To change or not to change. To see or not to see. To act or not to act. No matter what the external conditions are, we have control over how we choose to act or react."
People often want easy answers--"Will I meet my soul mate?" "Does he love me?" "Will I get the promotion?"
I don't like to answer those questions. I will reframe them: What can I do to meet my soul mate? What does the term soul mate mean to me? How will I recognize him/her?
Often I have to ask the question--what does the querent mean by the word love? Is this person committed to me? Does this person love me romantically? As a couple, are we compatible? Short-term? Long-term? What can I do to make the relationship better? And so on, as we find a way to get to the questions behind the questions.
Some people think it's insulting, even hubristic to reframe a question. The reason the querent comes to me for a reading is because I am an expert on reading the cards. Why should I withhold the benefit of my expertise? The querent is the expert on him or herself and I will NEVER try to impose my beliefs on him or her. But if a person doesn't believe in free will, only the power of "the cards" to dictate his or her future...I am not the reader they want to come to.
And I am not for everybody. Some people want a person to tell them what to do. A mystic cloaked in an air of perfection of prognostication. And I can understand the appeal of that. Who wouldn't want a real, live, infallible Magic 8 Ball?
However, I've never known a person--any person--who gets it right every time. And the readers who put out vibes of the all-knowing, all-wise seers lie to themselves and others. I think it's charlatanism and egotism.
I can't and won't pretend to be something I am not. I have magic, I have wisdom, I have compassion and I have the ability to give someone a life-changing reading...but I can't do it alone. It's a co-creative process.
I am not all-knowing, nor will I let ANYONE give me his or her power. I don't want it. (Okay, it's an ego boost when it is offered. But my higher self will never let me take it, no matter how often or how freely it is offered. And it's offered most by those who were initially skeptical. Sad, but true.)
Everyone wants to believe in magic...but they often don't realize that they are meant to be their own magicians.
The cards allow me to help people become their own magicians. I will not use the cards to be the only magician in the room. |
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