Filtering Illusion: Countering Misinformation in Tarot Reading
AUTHOR’S NOTE: It’s no secret that I don’t condone purely intuitive tarot reading, particularly when it is performed remotely in the form of psychic guesswork using the cards as “props.” Here I’m exploring the premise of Eastern mysticism that “emotions are the stuff of illusion.”
My main problem is that intuition can deviate without apparent justification from long-standing precedent in the art of cartomancy. This doesn’t automatically make it wrong, just unsupported by knowledge and experience and thus vulnerable to factual error due to the reader’s subjective spin. Throw the client’s “confirmation bias” into the mix and a reading can stray far from the truth, although the misinformed seeker usually won’t realize it right away and only ask much later “How could the reader have been so wrong?”
There is a practice in Taoism known as the “Integral Taoist Meditation Concept (Hai Yang)” that can help counter this tendency:
Nature generates heart
Heart generates mind
Mind generates emotion
Emotion generates illusion
Return to emotion by filtering illusion
Return emotion to mind
Gather the mind to stabilize the heart
Return the heart to the place of nature.
The heart represents desire as an expression of what we hope will happen in the situation. (This is the “petri dish” of confirmation bias.)
The mind rationalizes why we believe it is achievable
The emotions fortify that rationalization by suppressing doubt.
Illusion is too often the result of this misapplication of the diviner’s skill in the service of “wishful thinking.”
The first step in rolling back this untenable posture is to filter out any illusions that threaten to creep into the narrative by “proofing” them against known qualities ascribed to the cards. This can be as simple as reining in our inclination toward visionary free-association from the images and returning to “first principles” in their analysis, then cautiously readmitting any freestyle impressions that don’t overtax our credulity. (I call this the “70/30 rule” of interpretation: 70% literal and 30% imaginative.)
It’s more efficient and effective to build confidently from the ground up than to tear down a shaky edifice and try to salvage a bad start. But of course this assumes that the reader has mastered the fundamentals and isn’t addicted to just winging it under the sway of “what feels right.” (Maybe there should be an “Intuitives Anonymous” recovery program to curtail such flagrant self-projection . . . hey, it’s a joke, don’t get your back up!)
Once the emotions have been “chastised” by this corrective adjustment, a more clear-eyed examination of the cards can proceed. Ideally, any unwarranted feelings of entitlement on the queren’s part will recede just enough to allow the mind to reassert control over expectations.
A more rational understanding of the projected outcome of the reading will “stabilize the heart” by reshaping our desires closer to the likely truth of the matter.
When this is accomplished, the reading can conclude on a more natural or organic note that isn’t forced into the specious mold created by subconscious predisposition
To me, it makes the most sense to just get on with reading the cards and avoid paying undue attention to any prefatory remarks made by the sitter that aim to steer the narrative (in fact, in keeping with Eden Gray’s recommendation, I don’t even want to know the details of the question in advance), and only engage in a dialogue about the specifics after the initial interpretation has been delivered. At that point, any “cut-to-fit” realignment would be explanatory for the most part rather than substantive.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on November 19, 2024.
