Okay, they are in the same broad category as a divining rod, ouija (WEE jee) board or a horoscope, but there is one thing that I found really interesting about them. If, when using tarot cards, you are seeking guidance on something that is really important to you and not being trivial or insincere about it, you can actually get insights into the nature of the problem and something even more important about the conflict or challenge you are experiencing. It is also interesting that you can't fool the cards and the cards will absolutely tell you what you want to know, it just might not be what you wanted to hear!

I had read a book about Tarot cards at about the same time I graduated from high school - about the right time to do something crazy like that, right? Well, I decided to try to read the cards for someone, a person that I didn't know. The instructions are for the person who is having the cards read for them to shuffle the cards while thinking about the question or problem for which they want to get and answer (no dangling participles here!). The person with the question does NOT tell the reader what the question is or what information they are seeking. I used the book while I was doing the reading and the person for whom I was doing the reading just listened. After I had finished, he told me that I brought up several factors that were actually in place and that I had given him a new and better understanding of the question and the forces impacting the answer to that question. The question was about the future of his relationship with his girlfriend, a relationship that he believed was getting to the quite serious stages. Of course, I never guessed or even tried to guess what the question was but only told him what the cards indicated about the answer to his question. Okay, that is kind of like the haggard gypsy woman telling her customer that she sees a handsome stranger in the crystal ball. It was like that, but on the complete opposite side of the scale. I have never duplicated that experience reading the cards for someone even though I have done a few and do have a deck of Tarot cards. It really has to be someone you don't know and you, and your seeker of higher knowledge, have to be on the level and actually serious about it. If not, the cards will tell you that too! The reading is disjointed and makes no sense at all.

I believe the "magic" in things like tarot cards is not magic at all, but just the unveiling of things we already know, but have resisted paying attention to or put off dealing with. (Oops, a dangler!) In some ways, it's like blogging during an IISME fellowship! I am finding out things about my teaching practice and about myself that require me to take good stock of myself and decide to take the plunge and try to make it better.

siliconjim

I don't know much about Tarot Cards. I think people figure things out in lots of different ways. I sometimes go to this site http://www.cherylrichardson.com/TwinkleStars_content.html which has "Angel Cards". I don't know that it actually helps, but the messages do make me smile. When you open the site, it has a night sky and you're supposed to think about a concern you have and then click one of the twinkling stars. Then a card comes up with a word and an angel on it. You contemplate the word and then click the card and another message comes up. It is usually a positive affirmation. Some people think that positive affirmations help bring positive interactions in a person's life. Law of Attraction kinda thing.