Answering the "10 Questions"

A little while back, James Bulls of Left-Hand Tarot posted his “10 Questions Every Tarot Reader Must Answer”.

If you're a Tarot reader, I encourage you to ask yourself these questions… precisely because these questions are designed to be threatening to shallow egos and to force specific answers on frequently vague subjects.

Lots of readers have taken up the challenge. I will, too. 😀

1. Were you mentored, or were you self-taught?

I’m self-taught, in as much as I read loads of books. The various authors were my mentors. There certainly was no one physically available to mentor me. I began working with Tarot almost 40 years ago. That’s about 14 years before the internet went public (god, I’m old). Now I still read books, but I’m also involved in various online Tarot communities as a means of developing my skill and sharing the love.

2. Are you a psychic or a Tarot reader?

I’m a Tarot reader. We’re all of us at least a bit psychic, and I have my moments, by I’m not “A Psychic”. I do believe I get nudges from, how shall I put it? - forces outside myself. Be they spirits, guides, my ancestors, Source,… I can’t say with any certainty. But I’m grateful for their assistance.

3. Are your predictions accurate, and is accuracy important to you?

Are my predictions accurate? No, not always. I’m of the opinion that the cards are always right. I just don’t necessarily read them right. But not all of my readings would be considered predictive. The bulk of them are introspective or instructive.

Is accuracy important to me? Yes. I don’t want to mislead or be misled. But divination is a subtle art. I believe the universe gives us the messages we’re meant to receive or convey, irrespective of the ultimate “correctness” of the details.

4. Is there anything you can't predict in a reading?

I don’t know. There are lots of things I’ve never tried to predict.

5. Do you use only Tarot, or are you multi-disciplinary?

“Multi-disciplinary” sounds so pretentious. Like saying "I practice various healing modalities”. Ugh. I use other types of cards besides Tarot. I also use runes and I Ching.

6. Is the message in the cards, or in your head?

Hmm… Both. The cards, with the help of Source, present the answer in picture form, and my head, with the help of Source, interprets the picture.

7. Are you a priest or a fortune-teller?

I’m a fortune-teller.

8. Are you a fixer or a looker?

I’m a looker. I’ll give you the information I’m given. I’ll pass on advice if it’s there in the cards. But it’s up to you to fix if fixing is required.

9. Do you read for free, or for fee?

For now, I read for free.

10. Is there anything you won't predict in a reading?

If you’re asking “Are there certain questions you won’t attempt to answer?”, then yes - anything that should be diagnosed by a doctor, handled by a solicitor, etc.

If you’re asking “Is there anything you won’t disclose should you see it in a reading?”, then no - it wouldn’t be there unless I was meant to see it*. But if it is potentially disturbing/distressing, I would be very circumspect as to how I passed the message on.
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Your turn.


*Update: Since I've been studying Sibilla in earnest I've come across the notion that sometimes cards will appear that reveal very negative aspects of the person you're reading for. They're not meant for sharing - "Ah, I see you're a psychopath" - but are intended as a warning to the reader to be careful with this person.

Elemental Correspondences - some thoughts

Carla of Rowan Tarot has posted an excellent (as always) article about her recent paradigm shift regarding elemental correspondences in tarot, i.e. which of the four classical Western elements, earth air fire and water, relates to which tarot suit and why.

This subject particularly caught my attention at this time because of my recent acquisition of a Thoth Tarot. I intend to learn the classic 15-Card Spread associated with it, which incorporates Elemental Dignities.

Here would be a good point at which to publicly declare my intention to use only the Thoth for the next 28 days at least. I did this with the Tarot Balbi a while back and it really helped in forging a strong connection with the deck. Maybe a bit too strong.

On to my perspective on the elements. I'm comfortable with the common suit/element combos as assigned by A. E. Waite to his tarot, the Rider-Waite Tarot (or Rider-Waite-Smith as I prefer to call it; there would be no deck without the art of Pamela Colman Smith), and all its subsequent offspring, eg.:

Wands - Fire

Coins (Pentacles) - Earth

Cups - Water

Swords - Air

This is certainly because my first deck was a RWS. This is how I learned it and it stuck. But there are other schools of thought on this. Luckily for me, Aleister Crowley, who roughly 30 years later designed his Thoth Tarot (images painted by Lady Frieda Harris), also stuck with these correspondences.

Carla's post generated a fair bit of discussion in the Tarot de Marseille in English group on Facebook, which brought up other types of correspondences, such as humours, seasons, compass directions, etc. Many differing alignments are proffered by various sources and I've spent quite a bit of time agonising over what my take is on the relationships. For the moment (and let's be honest, I may well discover yet another model which will make me reappraise my choices) I've settled on:

Wands - Fire - Spring - East - Sun

Coins - Earth - Summer - South - Earth

Cups - Water - Autumn - West - Moon

Swords - Air - Winter - North - Sky

As I come across additional quartets I expect I'll endeavour to slot them into this list as well.

But to what end? Do any of these extra correspondences really matter? Do we need to "know" which card mean winter, which card means east?

Well, if we want to know when something is likely to happen or where something is hiding, then yes, they can add practical details. But if you’re not into the “fortune-telling” aspects of tarot then it probably isn’t going to enhance your readings.

But perhaps you practice the type of magickal spell working that makes precise use of elemental correspondences. Then you would need to be able to identify your "ingredients". Personally, I tend to work with the cards' "energies" rather than the classical elements. But then I suppose my understanding of their energies is derived in great part from what I've internalised regarding their commonly designated correspondences.

At the end of the day, though, whether you make use of these correspondences or not, it's still interesting, and fun, to consider your own personal interrelationships. It just makes ya think! And that's always a good thing.

John Ballantrae on "When a Yes-No spread gives an incorrect answer"

Hooray! John Ballantrae is back posting YouTube videos again. And he's starting out with a bang. There's a lot to think about in this one.

"...You (the reader) are not the one with the problem, or the one who wants an answer... Sometimes the questioner... knows what the answer is, or knows... the best route... to follow to move them in the direction of which they want to go. I think some part of the questioner knows that, and... that's the answer you get in a Tarot spread... The reader is the messenger... of what the person already knows...

With a reading, it's the questioner talking to the questioner via the cards... So what's going on isn't always what seems to be going on. So we have to think to the whole question of being 'right' and 'wrong'..."

I personally love the fact that John honours the questioner's desire for a Yes-No answer, and doesn't try to get them to change their question to something more "open ended".

Who says?

An excerpt from my New Year's reading, "Marseille Tarot, Towards the Art of Reading", by Camelia Elias.

Now, some may be tempted to ask: "If it's oral transmission that you'll be referring to, how do we know that you're not making things up?" Indeed a legitimate question. To which I have this to say: There is no way of testing the veracity of whatever information gets passed down to us from the so-called "generation of readers", other than to point to what makes sense and what doesn't; what works and what doesn't; what's logical and what's not.

When?

The question of Timing, answering those pesky When queries, came up in a discussion group, specifically about the Pages of Shustah, but the issue spans all cards that have specific time period indicators, by astrological association, tradition, etc. The poster said they used the "timing energy" of a card, eg. Aries = soon, Libra = undecided, Pisces = whenever (LOL) with the comment that experienced readers probably had success applying the classic time periods, i.e. Aries = mid-March to mid-April.

Judy said,
I tend to use "timing energies", too - love that description, so stealing it. If I'm really pushed for a specific time point I'll throw out the standard meaning as a "could be". The 'intuitive' in me says "What does Spirit know or care about Time?" but the 'fortune teller' in me kinda thinks this is a cop-out, that if I actually committed to using timings I would eventually become attuned enough to get it right. Dilemma. :)

I'd love to open this discussion up to "my readers" (I can dream). What do you think and why?

Hexe Claire: "Who answers the cards?"

This explanation works for me. :)