DJ Droood wrote:cursuswalker wrote:tarot: SMART predictions (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistc and Time-bounded). Measure outcomes made by trained practitioners compared to those made by them from random cards picked by a machine.
In defense of tarot, my experience with it is more of a "folk therapy" than a predictive tool...the cards act as a key to discussion and probing..."
cold reading" might be used by con artists, but I think it can also work as a way to encourage a person to talk about an issue that is bothering them...your subject has an upside-down Hierophant in the spread...you say..."oh, you are having trouble with your boss"...and the person opens up about their boss...of course, almost everyone has a problem with an a$$*ole boss (somewhere up the line...just keep subtly digging), so it isn't magic, but the card can stimulate conversation regarding an area where the person would like to unburden or get some advice....and my experiences with professional therapists is that a card reader's folk wisdom is usually about as useful as psychobabble. (and much less expensive)
I don't think tarot is even meant to be a predictive tool. In dutch we say "waarzeggerij", which translates as "truth saying".
I sometimes do blind spreads, leaving the cards face down, which initially makes quite an impression on the people who watch it
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It works just as well as regular spreads, but gives it you some insight in how the process works.
Instead of turning the cards over you try to 'sense' what card it is. And then you base your flow of consciousness on that. In the end you get a comprehensive story of your problem/answers/advice.
And then turn over the cards, and notice that you 'sensed' them all totally wrong (hahaha). Which doesn't matter at all, because it is the comprehensive picture that counts. Next step is to simply imagine the cards, which saves money, but then you miss the fun of realising how wrong and right you can be at the same time
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@Cursuswalker
Regarding those spirits. The biggest misunderstanding often seems to be that something Imaginative is the same as something bad. Ofcourse, all that stuff is Imaginative, so is orgasm (a veeery friendly tantrica told me that the other day
). So was everything that any human has ever created. Imagination is one of the greatest powers at our disposal, perhaps it should even be an imaginary god(ess). Unfortunately, his/her twin is Stupidity, and they are often hard to distinguish.
I imagine spirits, not when I'm at work (or supposed to be at work, like now), but like when I'm lost in the woods at night (that sometimes happens). And imaginary or not, I follow what I regard as signs and messages. An owl, a deer, a vague shape in the fog, the way a moonlit tree points. And you know what? I always end up somewhere based on that.
(the 'believers' make all this way too complicated)
