The tarot is most commonly viewed as a tool for divination. A traditional tarot reading involves a seeker - someone who is looking for answers to personal questions - and a reader - someone who knows how to interpret the cards. After the seeker has shuffled and cut the deck, the reader lays out the chosen cards in a pattern called a spread. Each position in the spread has a meaning, and each card has a meaning as well. The reader combines these two meanings to shed light on the seeker's question.
Some religions shun the cards, and the scientific establishment condemns them as symbols of unreason, a holdover from an unenlightened past. Let us set aside these shadowy images for now and consider the tarot simply for what it is - a deck of picture cards. The question becomes - what can we do with them?
The answer lies with the unconscious - that deep level of memory and awareness that resides within each of us, but outside our everyday experience. Even though we ignore the action of the unconscious most of the time, it profoundly affects everything we do. In his writings, Sigmund Freud stressed the irrational, primitive aspect of the unconscious. He thought that it was the home of our most unacceptable desires and urges. His contemporary Carl Jung emphasized the positive, creative aspect of the unconscious. He tried to show that it has a collective component that touches universal qualities.
We may never know the full range and power of the unconscious, but there are ways to explore its landscape. Many techniques have been developed for this purpose - psychotherapy, dream interpretation, visualization and meditation. The tarot is another such tool.
When we do a tarot reading, we select certain cards by shuffling, cutting and dealing the deck. Although this process seems random, we still assume the cards we pick are special. This is the point of a tarot reading after all - to choose the cards we are meant to see. Now, common sense tells us that cards chosen by chance can't hold any special meaning, or can they?
To answer this question, let's look at randomness more closely. Usually we say that an event is random when it appears to be the result of the chance interaction of mechanical forces. From a set of possible outcomes - all equally likely - one occurs, but for no particular reason.
First, no tarot reading is solely the product of mechanical forces. It is the result of a long series of conscious actions. We decide to study the tarot. We buy a deck and learn how to use it. We shuffle and cut the cards in a certain way at a certain point. Finally, we use our perceptions to interpret the cards.
At every step, we are actively involved. Why then are we tempted to say a reading is "the chance interaction of mechanical forces?" Because we can't explain just how our consciousness is involved. We know our card choices aren't deliberate, so we call them random. In fact, could there be a deeper mechanism at work, one connected to the power of our unconscious? Could our inner states be tied to outer events in a way that we don't yet fully understand? I hold this possibility out to you.
Taken from here.
Some say it all boils down to your subconscious mind. Arguably, how we perceive things relies heavily on our subconscious, and there are those who believe that with Tarot, the subconscious projects its own interpretations on the Tarot cards. As a person receiving a Tarot reading, your interpretation of the cards is a result of the factors in your life that shape who you are and what you are about. The questions you have about your life (usually the reason for consulting the Tarot in the first place) are projected onto the pictures, so you divine answers from what you see. In this way, the Tarot is useful in helping us to tap into our subconscious to find answers that we might never consciously think of.
Taken from here.
A psychic or tarot card reader should never tell you what decision to make. They should only read the options they feel might surround you and your situation. When you leave the session you should simply be feeling more empowered to make the decision for yourself, not compelled to follow their advice or be doomed. Most of all, listen to your instincts! Your gut will tell you when someone or something just doesn't feel right.
A Tarot Card Reader or Psychic should never tell you that you have a curse on you or some kind of dark sinister energy around you that only they can get rid of for a certain price. This is one of the biggest scams in the book and has caused thousands of people thousands of dollars. If you hear anything like this - run for the hills!
The same goes for telling you that you need to buy a certain good luck charm or that they can predict winning lottery numbers for you at a certain price. (Obviously, if they knew the lucky numbers they could simply play them for themselves and would not need your money.) It is perfectly fine if a Tarot Card Reader or Psychic has a display of lucky charms or healing crystals for you to peruse with the option to buy. As long as there is no sales pressure whatsoever by telling you it is something that you need to have.
Taken from here.
My thoughts,
One thing for sure, one should be clear that Tarot cards are never meant to make the decision for you. Every action we take NOW is going to change our future accordingly. That is one main thing I learned when I read a book about tarot years ago.
What a tarot spread really tells us is the outcome most likely to happen if every factor remains unchanged. That if, you believe that Tarot is another tool to tap into your subconscious mind and you didn’t do anything at all trying to change the outcome.
So, do I believe in tarot? I would say I am afraid of tarot. It is creepy to me when something seems to know yourself better than you do. You have no hidden secrets, exposed and vulnerable. I hate feeling that way. I still remember each card from the spread until this very day. Tarot has become my "master" instead of I being the one in control. I drew my line.
Is there a possibility that tarot is not a real tool to tap into our subconsciousness?
I don't know. Personally, I would say humans like to resort to every little advantage they could get and most of all, we have dreams and we are just too curious to say no to the extra “help”.
I have yet to come across many Tarot readers. There is one back in Kuala Lumpur and basically I would say that particular reader is tied up with so many rituals, tapping into the energy of crystals, angels, and worshiping multiple Gods. I was turned off when I realize that there is no casual chit-chatting allowed and all customers must make an appointment beforehand.
Well, I have never seen anyone in that little room before.
I always believe that no harm trying as long as you know where to draw the line. There are plenty of opportunists out there trying to prey on those who take their words as the only truth and future.
TAROT IS JUST ANOTHER TOOL USED TO PREDICT AND FORECAST THE FUTURE RATHER THAN REVEAL THE FUTURE.
Predict - Suggest what may happen based on available information.
Reveal - The speech act of making something evident.
There are a lot out there believes in fate. My definition of fate is, if I were to sit here and do nothing, what is fated to be mine is just going fall from sky or just come to me eventually. I believe that I still possess [at least] little control over the future that is able to change it according to my present action.
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