Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Tarot Reading

As some of you know, I am a part-time tarot card reader. You may recall I was interviewed for a piece in the blog Cindy's Country Corner a while back, and one of the questions I was asked was about my readings. After this, Cindy asked me to do a reading for her, and asked if I would mind if she did another article, this time about the reading.

I agreed, and I am glad I did! The article has been published and it is very fair. Actually, I would expect nothing else, since Cindy was once a newspaper editor. I'd go even further and say I was thrilled with the article, since it provides a real-life demonstration of what I do, and an excellent critique of the reading itself.

If you have considered having a tarot reading, but are a little hesitant, please check the piece out. Even if you are just a little curious, I recommend it as an entertaining read.

A Tarot Reading (Cindy's Country Corner)

Tarot Readings by Foucault (My Tarot Website)

6 comments:

Traci said...

Hi Graham,

I've read Cindy's blog and found it interesting. I would like to ask though - how do you think the cards work, especially when you don't consider yourself to be psychic?

Graham said...

An excellent question @Traci! I do have my own ideas, of course, but I don't like to analyze it too deeply, because that's when they don't work for me!

Carl Jung had a lot to say on the subject of tarot, and I would say that a lot of what he says holds water.

Personally, I guess I believe the cards are simply tools to help the reader access and focus on things that are held in the subconscious.

But I may be completely wrong. What I do know is that they seem to work for me and the people I read for, and that's all that's important.

Cindy said...

Gosh!I don't know where to begin! I'm Cindy of the above mentioned article!

I had the reading because I thought it would be fun. Honestly, I didn't think Graham would be able to tell me anything I don't already know!

But, then he proceeded to outline a path with those cards that I could recognize as one of disaster for me.

If he had been shuffling and contemplating on a question you had asked that very night, would the same cards have come up? Who knows? Maybe so. If you had been dealt the exact same hand, would your answers be the same as mine?

I would think not.

That's the beauty of tarot!

Thank you Graham. for putting to rest a question that has been simmering for me for quite some time. I feel a huge relief!

This is something I will definitely do again!

Graham said...

You reminded me of an interesting point, @Cindy.

When people hear that I'm a tarot card reader, one of the questions they often ask me is "What do you do if the cards predict something awful is going to happen? Do you lie?"

The key to all this is what I tell each and every person I read for: I do not believe in a fate completely carved in stone. I believe we have choices. What I show in a reading is a possible outcome based on where you are right now.

It is up to you to decide whether or not you want to follow the path depicted in the reading.

I'm empowering, not predicting. That's why I love reading tarot.

Pazcual said...

Hi! Well...this is interesting. I'm very skeptical with this whole tarot, guess future deal. But at the same time I find it interesting someone can actually I don't know...guess what it's going to happen? I think I won't sit and do the whole reading deal, but I have the weird fascination on these topic...I think I will pay more attention about it. Who knows?

Greets,

Paz

Graham said...

Hi @Paz - thanks for your comments!

I used to be skeptical myself. Now I find it healthier to be more open-minded. There are definitely charlatans out there. Yet, I'm prepared to believe that there are more things out there than we are aware of. Things that don't (yet) fall into our realm of understanding.

Let's try this: Do you find it too big a stretch of the imagination to believe that when you meet someone, or have any kind of interaction with them, your subconscious gathers a whole bunch of information about that person? More than you can reasonably process. This information may come from body language, speech patterns, the words they use, and so on.

Divination systems, such as tarot, help the reader focus on their subconscious, and extract relevant information about the person they're reading for.

That's just one theory about how tarot works. It's not so far away from how I think it works, but as I said earlier, I try not to think about it too hard, otherwise it doesn't work!

The noted psychologist Carl Jung had a big interest in divination systems, such as tarot, and wrote about it extensively.

I understand you being skeptical, and I would invite you to try out what I do, risk free. My payment policy is this: you pay me what you think is appropriate, within your means, for the service you received. That means that if you don't believe the reading I gave you is worth anything to you, then you don't owe me a penny!