Fortune Reading with Tarot Cards
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Copyright 2011 by Paul Hurst
Smashwords Edition
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Table of contents
Chapter 2 - But isn't it all demonic, evil and the work of 'Old Nick'?
Chapter 4: Choosing a tarot deck
Chapter 8: Methods used to interpret tarot cards
Chapter 9: The meaning of each tarot card
Chapter 11: Giving a performance!
Chapter 12: How long will a reading take
Chapter 13: Where and when can you give a reading?
Chapter 1: Background
As a performer and entertainer, for over thirty years, I've not seen anything else that has been as popular - with a wide range of audiences. Even those who don't believe in it one little bit still want to have a reading, 'just for interest you understand.' This can be a bit annoying at times – as a musician I need to lug along a pile of expensive instruments and a few other performers as well. As a tarot reader, all I need is one pack of cards. And the money is usually a lot better!
It is probably also relevant to admit here to my own views on tarot reading and similar issues (although these will probably become clear anyway!). I do try and keep an open mind, My instinct is to look for a natural, simple and understandable reason for why things work. I’m happy to accept any valid evidence that things happen because of supernatural forces / sky fairies / little green men, but as both a close-up magician and student of psychology, I’ve so far yet to see or experience anything requiring such an exotic explanation.
I’ve included a ‘live’ table of contents above, so you can skip straight through to the ‘how to do it’ parts if you want. Otherwise, read on for some background info and a quick look at how it all works.
Game or fortune telling tool?
Did the cards start as a game, or as a way of reading fortunes? For me, they seem to have been designed to work better as a game, than as tool for divination. I find the picture cards have more impact in a reading (presumably why some layouts ignore the numbered cards, and why the Scapini deck works so well), so if the cards were designed for fortune telling, why not make them all picture cards?
A fourteenth century game called Tarocco has been recorded in Italy, and would seem to be the source of both the modern deck and name. It probably came, like so many other things, to Europe from the Muslim world. The current tarot deck seems to be a direct descendant from Taracco, which was in turn a development from the standard card game. It was then adopted for fortune telling, and is far more suitable for this than the standard deck.
The cards have always held a strong fascination - the rich and powerful designs, the sense of mystery and adventure, and the hope to uncover future secrets. Normally, the Inquirer, or Questor, shuffles/cuts the 78 cards first and then hands them to the Reader who lays them out in whatever pattern, 'spread' or layout they have chosen.
The Reader then uses one of several methods to predict the meaning of 'Life, The Universe and Everything' in relation to the Questor. Unfortunately, this tends to be large-scale stuff and generalities, rather than simple, immediately useful info such as 'what are the next winning lottery numbers?', or ‘where did I leave my mobile?’
Chapter 2: But isn't it all demonic, evil and the work of 'Old Nick'?
Only in only exactly the same way that Happy Families, Top Trumps and 'Snap' are! After all, the cards are only a standard pack of playing cards with another set of 26 added on. None of them require you to disembowel a chicken, run around naked at midnight or ravish a virgin. Yes, one of the cards is called The Devil, but then 'The Bible' mentions him a couple of times as well - even if only as a minor character.
"I play poker with tarot cards. One night, I got a full house and five people died!"
Chapter 3: How does it work?
The following quotation comes from The Complete Book of Fortune, a 1994 reprint of what appears to have been an out-of-copyright 19th Century publication. (ISBN 1 85891 117 6)
"...we shall content ourselves here with suggesting that in some way, which is a complete mystery even to advanced students of occult science, the vast psychic power that fills all space and time exerts a magnetic influence upon the nervous system and the fingers of the person who shuffles, cuts, chooses or arranges the cards (who thus becomes essentially a medium), and so opens wide - in all its marvellous clarity and significance for those who have eyes to read - the Book of Life and Fate."
And this sums up the whole debate. The believer will happily accept the concept of a universal psychic power that flows through everything. And because they believe, no further proof is required. But the sceptic will indeed require some kind of evidence, regarding the explanation above as all far to woolly and vague. 'vast psychic power?' they say, 'so it must be possible to give me even a tiny bit of proof'. But it never is - at least, not to date (Feb 2011).
$1,000,000.00 up for grabs...
The JREF (http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html) offers a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event. If you can do this, or know of anyone who can, just click on the link above and scoop up the cash. And can I have 10% please, for pointing you in the right direction in the first place!
But conflict is pointless as neither side will be able to convince the other, and the argument can go nowhere. So let's try another approach. Regardless of its ability or not to provide a rational justification for its existence, can a faith or belief system (including tarot) provide a practical one? And here, I think that the 'Believers' and the 'Brights' can find common ground.
As a species, our technical achievements have far outstripped physical development - by about 10,000 years or so. Although evolved to be hunter-gatherers, we largely no longer find ourselves brandishing spears and dressed in animal skins. And we are required to receive and process vast amounts of data - far more than the original choice to either 'eat it or run away'. Our lives can lack the former security and certainties of the tribe. Modern society can be bleak, sterile and seem to be increasingly controlled by others.