The Problem — and Power — of Projection
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve approached the topic of “subjective bias” in different ways over the years, most notably in my essay The Nature of the Evidence.
In The Way of Tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky observes that — despite vehement claims to the contrary — it is impossible for tarot readers to eliminate “projection” from their readings (that is, the act of projecting their personal assumptions and opinions onto the cards selected for a spread). Our deep understanding of the tarot and our intimate experience with it unavoidably impart subjective bias to our interpretations. This frankly prejudiced input originates in our accumulated inventory of past insights and is brought to bear on our uninformed view of the client’s private reality, one that isn’t necessarily aligned with their superior (although at that point subliminal) knowledge of the situation.
The shuffle-and-cut operation ideally performed by the querent imprints his or her subconscious awareness onto the spread, and it can become an exercise in verbal sparring (and hopefully not a tug-of-war) for reader and sitter to arrive at a mutually agreeable conclusion about the meaning of the “story in the cards.” The diviner’s hard-earned wisdom collides head-on with the querent’s innate suspicions about the matter, and this can result in a perceptual “train-wreck” that defies resolution. In my opinion, “agreeing to disagree” doesn’t provide satisfactory closure, and I won’t presume to override or devalue the individual’s “personal projection” about where the narrative should take us unless it makes absolutely no sense in light of the cards drawn. (If the “customer is always right” then they didn’t need to sit for a tarot reading in the first place.)
While I agree with Jodorowsky in principle, I’ve made my own peace with this dilemma. At the beginning of a reading I elect to receive as little information as possible about the specifics of the sitter’s concern or question. This dissuades me from trying to steer the reading according to my own preconceptions, while also freeing the cards from being “held hostage” by my opinions about what they should mean under the circumstances. They can then have a private conversation with the seeker’s subconscious during the shuffle while I endeavor to clear my own mind of conscious thought.
The cards that are pulled will speak their piece in symbolic language that I have learned to translate and I will annotate (but not embellish) their message with my own commentary; to be useful, any such augmentation must come from the sitter. By “just reading the cards” and not attempting to tap into the psychic atmosphere surrounding our shared experience of the event, I can give an unbiased perspective on what the spread is revealing and then have a dialogue with the querent about how the information can be rolled into the unspoken assumptions they brought to the table, which will slowly emerge as we proceed with the analysis. It’s a “cut-to-fit” proposition rather than a “cut-and-dried” one.
Jodorwosky’s approach to defusing this situation is to perform two three-card pulls using two different decks, one to be shuffled and laid by the reader and the other by the querent. The diviner interprets his or her own layout first and then reads the cards drawn by the client, after which they compare notes on whose “projection” sounds most like the truth and settle on that as the “answer.” Jodo also uses the bottom card of each deck to describe the underlying conditions affecting the matter, but I prefer to derive the “quintessence” card for each series to show the archetypal “environment” of the situation, which will be “overarching” and “interpenetrating” as well as “underlying.” This takes the outlook beyond the purely personal and into a more insightful “big picture” scenario.
Here is an example reading to illustrate this discussion. The client only told me in advance that his issue involved his job status over the next six months but, despite my not wanting to know any more, it wasn’t hard to tell that he was more concerned about continued employment than in the potential for gains in position or compensation. (I’m fond of quoting Aleister Crowley in this regard: “The fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent.”) But I didn’t jump to any conclusions.
My pull is at the bottom, and it is overloaded with instability. The 5 of Disks reversed suggests worry that has not yet boiled over into full-blown anxiety but it’s getting there. The 2 of Disks acknowledges that change is in the wind but it will take some time to “gather steam.” The Fool reversed is off-balance (the metaphorical “rug has been pulled out from under him”) and has me thinking that every employee may have to rebid on his or her job, a common practice when employers are trying to clear out the “deadwood” and put fresh faces into critical positions. (“Headed for a fall” sounds about right.) The Empress reversed as the “quintessence” implies that there will be no security anywhere below senior management when all is revealed. The numerous reversals indicate that much is invisible to those not directly involved in planning the changes, and my querent has not been privy to their activities.
Note that my usual practice with the quintessence calculation is to subtract the value of any reversed cards, which can give me the Fool as the “quint” (something that “Theosophical reduction” can’t produce without renumbering the Fool as “22”), while also — as here — allowing for a reversed quintessence, which can offer an undercurrent of subtlety and nuance to the interpretation.
The sitter’s pull is at the top, and it portends that low-grade irritation will attend his engagement with the prospects in front of him. The 10 of Swords shows that he has been receiving fragmented details of impending catastrophe that are more intense and unsettling than the dour implications of the 5 of Disks. The 2 of Wands advises that all he can do is “buck up” and stand fast in the changing environment. The 2 of Swords conveys the idea of stoic fatalism: “what will be will be.” (For me, the Twos always suggest a restless “pendulum-swing” in circumstances and it can be difficult to find the center.) Nothing can be done at the rank-and-file level, so there is little incentive to act. Temperance as “quint” gives the impression that an external “unionizing” initiative may be in the cards to shift the balance of power, or perhaps the National Labor Relations Board will become involved.
Both of these readings show that some kind of change in the sitter’s situation is inevitable, but the top one offers more hope for the situation being taken out of the employer’s hands and resolved equitably. The querent’s pull displays a more realistic near-term outcome while mine speaks to the larger dimensions. Although increasingly frustrated, he will probably be OK for the next six months and should sit tight. But he should keep his ear to the ground for any “seismic” perturbations that threaten the Fool’s precarious position, and think about dropping out before he gets dumped..
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on April 2, 2023.
