Tarot Reading as Truthful Fiction

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve just encountered the “five species of dream” derived from the Oneirocritica of 3rd-Century AD Graeco-Roman soothsayer (professional dream interpreter) Artemidorus, whose work was admired by Sigmund Freud. I’ve listed them below, but only the first three are germane to this essay.

Veridical Kinds (Coinciding with reality)
Somnium: Truths veiled in allegorical fiction.
Visio: Direct, literal previsions of the future.
Oraculum: Predictions or advice given by a credible dream-figure.

Useless Kinds (Of no value for prediction)
Insomnium: Reiteration of waking conditions such as routine work situations.
Visium: Phantom visions present during hypnagogia at the intersection of waking and sleeping

I don’t know about you, but when I engage in intuitive reading of the tarot cards, I often feel as if I’ve “entered the zone” akin to a form of trance or dissociative exclusion that amounts to being asleep with my eyes open. It is useless for my wife to talk to me when I’m in this internally-focused approximation of dreaming. Clinically, this is a type of waking reverie normally induced by brief episodes of micro-sleep that intrude into wakefulness. (Think of the last time you couldn’t recall a single detail of the drive from Point A to Point B; although you arrived safely, you were clearly on autopilot.) But in this case it is much more productive in that it resembles constructive daydreaming.

Somnium:

Returning to the subject of dreams, the idea of allegorical truths has direct utility for the diviner in that, along with metaphor and analogy, allegory is one of the storytelling tropes by which otherwise abstract insights can be “packaged” in a narrative style that average sitters can comprehend in practical terms. Gathering them often takes a diligent probe of the personal, communal and ancestral memory banks, one that mines the ore of shared social and cultural experience. Wrapping the yield around the “truths” within the scope of the reading is where the artistry of the creative imagination comes in. (As I understand it, this is the type of dream that psychologists find to be the most prevalent.)

Visio:

Prophetic dreams cover the same ground as spontaneous presentiments obtained using free-association from the imagery on the cards. Once again, the creative imagination takes generic anecdotal content and turns it into topic-specific guidance. This is obviously easier with decks sporting scenic vignettes on all the cards, but it can also be done with a little more ingenuity when using non-scenic or semi-scenic packs.

Oraculum:

Although I’m not much of a believer in their veracity, spirit guides and similar entities who may appear in the clairvoyant “mind’s eye” are welcomed as bearing inspired glimpses of the querent’s destiny, similar to the respected “oracles” who populate our dreams. Personally, I see this phenomenon as an objectification or personification of our own indwelling ethos, but some readers are more comfortable in trusting the information if it seems to come from the mouth of an exalted, external authority. (But hey, I’m a guy who often talks to himself, so what do I know!)

As discussed above, the type of premonitory dream described by Artemidorus in his first three “species” aligns quite well with the intuitive visions we as prognosticators are tasked with translating into probability for our querents. But I very rarely have dreams I can relate to the tarot. Most of my more vivid nocturnal fantasies are of the “Alice-going-down-the-rabbit-hole” kind that are surreal and seldom peopled with interesting or informative characters.

I’ve had a couple of spiritual junkets that I’ve written down and posted here, but for the most part they aren’t memorable either mundanely or metaphysically. There are exceptions of the “anxiety dream” variety that make your hair stand on end, the kind where you’re full of dread on a dark, deserted road in the middle of the night, and can’t seem to get your bicycle going (clumsily striving for balance and seeking mobility but getting only aborted “pedal-power”) in order to escape your fears. Maybe it’s just because I’m older than dirt and it’s a reminder that I’m being overtaken by the dark.

Last night the dream-world was intriguing for the diviner in me. I was in a room full of people who were all waiting for some information and I was the one they were expecting to provide it, but I had no idea where it would come from or when. All I could say was “You’ll know as soon as I do.” Talk about “imposter syndrome!”

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on December 3, 2024.