“Who’s Got the Button?” — Abusing the Privilege
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I was away from the public tarot scene for an extended period near the end of the last century, and when I returned in the middle of the online reading frenzy I was amazed at how many people won’t take “No” for an answer even when the Universe is telling them point-blank “I told you once, what part of ‘No’ don’t you understand?” They just keep right on asking the same question, hoping for a different result (analogous to the “definition of insanity”). In my opinion, as diviners we enjoy the privilege of requesting and receiving uncommon insights and we would be remiss to abuse it.
I’m a member of various internet tarot communities where people post self-readings and then ask for comments on their work or for assistance with interpretation. I spend a good deal of time there when I’m not writing for this blog, so I never fail to notice when someone waits a week and then performs another reading about the same subject, often two or three times running. They occasionally get called out on this, sometimes in a kindly way, other times not, but it obviously doesn’t faze them. They seem to be convinced that repetition will wear down the “Tarot Gods” and they will capitulate by coughing up the sought-after answer.
I recently responded to an observation about posing the same question over-and-over again with “If I want to ask a question again I’ll resort to other methods of divination. Then I can further amuse and baffle myself by playing ‘Who’s Got the Button?’ with the results.” There is some merit to changing gears and employing a different mode of prognostication, but with too many iterations there is always the risk of winding up with a “patchwork quilt” of conflicting meanings with no good way to sort and rank them in order of likelihood. It’s the same kind of mess that can arise from using “clarifying cards” in a single reading; rather than obtaining the desired clarification, all that is achieved is even greater confusion.
I think it comes down to a matter of self-honesty. If we set the intention of accepting whatever answer we receive on the first inquiry and just deal with it as best we can for the time being, we can step away from the temptation to tie ourselves up in knots with multiple forecasts. At the very least, we can wait a decent amount of time to see what becomes of the initial prediction before “going back to the well.” Such impediments to satisfaction may be more than a matter of diminishing returns, but rather one of jarring dissonance between readings that convinces us our efforts to explore the future are futile.
Taking the long view is essential in dealing with these situations to avoid beating ourselves up over discouraging outlooks that seem to endlessly rub our nose in negativity. We can take our less-than-ideal answer and compose ourselves to wait for a more promising chance at success. Even in time-limited matters like job applications, receiving an unequivocal “no” may turn out to be the ideal “big picture” conclusion since it could steer us toward another more-rewarding opportunity. As the saying goes, “Everything happens for a reason,” and trying to stack the deck in our favor by overloading the dealer is usually a recipe for disappointment.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on January 11, 2024.
