A Case for Tarot Divination (with Insights on Self-Reading)
AUTHOR’S NOTE: While reading Michael Snuffin’s The Thoth Companion, I encountered one of the most lucid explanations of the goals and methods as well as the advantages of performing divination with the tarot cards that I have ever seen in print. I’m summarizing it here since so much of it agrees with my own beliefs. In the interest of brevity I’m going to lightly edit his text (and interleave my own comments).
“The tarot is a set of symbols and images that may be used to obtain insight into personal issues and identify options for resolving them. As a problem-solving and informational tool, the tarot is very useful for bringing clarity and objectivity to confusing situations as well as for revealing hidden problems and solutions.”
(Next, I’m going off-script by only paraphrasing his assumptions about the “Divine intervention” through which tarot purportedly works.)
“Tarot divination uses the language of symbols” to connect the Self to the Universe. “Symbols bypass the censor of the conscious mind” (personally, I believe they “condition” the conscious mind to see things differently) “allowing us to receive information . . . without the interference of the ego. As tarot readers, we interpret the symbols of the tarot into meaningful information, insight and advice.
A tarot reading does not predict the future. The universe is an ever-changing and chaotic system, with too many variable to be predicted or controlled.” (As I see it, the best we can do is try to align our own speed and direction with it by using divination to chart its presumed course, after which we must take appropriate action.) “Therefore, it is important to understand that the outcome of a tarot reading is not set in stone. A tarot reading simply offers the most likely outcomes and options based on present data.” (I see it as tool for inner and outer navigation with a purpose similar to a dependable roadmap or, if you prefer, a mystical GPS.) “The person receiving the reading (the querent) may choose to take a different course of action, withdraw from the situation, or ignore the advice offered by the cards altogether.
“Because of the chaotic, nonlinear nature of the universe, the further into the future you look, the less reliable your information may be. A reading that examines how a situation will unfold over the next month will be more accurate and pertinent than a reading that examines the same situation over the course of the next year.” (I once wrote an essay on this very subject titled “The Nearsighted Tarot Reader.”)
“Tarot readings should be empowering, focusing on what the querent can do to change a situation or make something happen.” (But) “a tarot reading is not a substitute for proper (I condensed his list into “professional”) advice. The tarot can be a valuable tool in the decision-making process, but it should not be the only tool.” In my experience, querents may ask “leading” questions of a self-serving nature with the intent of having the reading reinforce their expectations, and are enlisting the reader as an accomplice. Rather than sticking your neck out too far as a counselor, Snuffin advises “In these cases it is always best to let the cards do the talking rather than to offer your personal advice. You will find that the cards usually tell these people what they need to hear and not what they want to hear.”
Which brings me to the second half of the title. Under the section headed “Reading Your Own Cards,” Snuffin observes “It can be difficult to maintain objectivity when you use divination to investigate an emotionally charged situation in which you are involved . . . it is best to go to another tarot reader for help, someone who is not involved in the situation and is therefore more objective” This caveat is usually handed to beginners as a given but I think it is one of the “myths” of tarot reading.
I’ve never understood the bias against self-reading since it’s the way almost everyone learns before loosing themselves on other people. We can decide to process the emotional content with a hefty helping of circumspection, and if our answers don’t ring true we can always just “take them under advisement.” As long as we don’t delude ourselves, I doubt that a disinterested Universe really cares what we’re feeling anyway; if we ask the right question, we’re going to get an adequate answer. The danger lies in pursuing something more, or something different.
I once fancifully called divination “running one’s mental fingers through the warp-and-woof of the fabric of objective reality in order to tease out threads of subjective truth” in the form of relevant insights. When approaching a reading in this serene manner, emotional dyspepsia is the least of my concerns. If one truly believes that the cards can open a channel to universal wisdom, and assuming that the client doesn’t have a “tin ear” for such enlightenment, the only thing that can derail the reliable delivery of that wisdom is the querent’s willful misapprehension of the message (letting the ol’ ego get in the way).
In other words, the distortion occurs on the receiving end when denial (or perhaps just “selective hearing”) kicks in. If we are capable of any kind of honest self-reflection, this should not be an irredeemable failing. What we must do is consciously back off a couple of steps from our distress, shifting our perspective away from any anguish we brought to the table (even a halfhearted effort in this regard will help since we will have at least recognized it for the debilitating emotional dead-end it is), and take a long, hard, impartial look at the “big picture” shown in the spread. A little rational forbearance will go a long way, and the trick is to not let our overheated imagination run roughshod over our reasoning faculties.
Every card offers layers of meaning, and it is always possible to pick our way through them to find constructive guidance (or at least it has never failed me in any important way). Only the most closed-minded of seekers will receive no benefit from this approach, but such people will most likely have already convinced themselves of their private take on the situation and are just wasting the reader’s time and their own looking for corroboration. This is the kind of querent for whom the term “confirmation bias” is perfectly suited: they will only hear what supports their preconceptions.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on March 19, 2024.
