Does anyone here read cards or believe in psychics?

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I read cards as a hobby. Do you believe that people can predict the future or communicate with the dead?

One of the funniest things I get regularly is that the readings are "incredibly detailed". I guess when you're general thought process is more concretely focused, one is less inclined to give spiritual advice? And I have never liked Tarot - I collect decks because they're interesting or pretty but I hate reading with them. They're too feely and not predictive enough for my taste. I like older fortune telling style decks which are less common in the US.

I never found that the Tarot 'predicts' the future with any amazing degree of accuracy. What they do seem to do is indicate likely probabilities based on the situation at the time of the reading, which is always fluid and can change even after the reading is done. I do think they can provide insight into a situation by giving the querent an external perspective that they may not be considering themselves, simply out of mental myopia. I never ask what's on their mind so not to contaminate the information with personal attitudes or opinions, I leave it up to the client to get whatever they can out of my interpretation, I'm really not interested in their petty concerns anyway.

That said, I haven't picked up a deck in several years, I preffered the larger format Crowley Thoth Deck for sheer asthetics, but I have a Tarot program on my desktop that uses Rider Waite. The jury's still out on the reliability of computer Tarot. My gut tells me the process is ultimately based on telepathic and psychometric impulses, therefore the computer would render it sterile and meaningless.

Last edited by Willard on 14 Jul 2010, 5:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.

We aspies love to think outside the box. But, what I have found is fortune telling is often open ended enough to fill many situations. One could find many meanings from a reading. However, it is still fun to think about.

No. However we can anticipate certain events of the future and state the probability of them happening.

I do not believe in communication with the dead. I do not proclaim to know all about the universe and the nature of our being. In fact I'm quite certain I know very little. However it's my understanding that our mind is a dynamic process of communication between neurons. We are essentially a collection of signals who's nature is dependent on the physical structures from which they arise. The physical structure of our brain is the framework for which the information which defines us is contained.

When that structure deteriorates, so does the organization of the information and the ability of the dynamic process to continue, and with that, so do we.

However, if you can offer a hypothesis as to how this information (our consciousness, memories, etc) can continue to exist after death, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Yes, I have 8 decks of cards. To be honest I dont read the Ryder Waite ones at the moment, I get a little scared by the Death cards and some of the other sinister looking ones... I used to read them in my earlier 20s.

I love tarot cards though. i guess it is a sort of object love. Right now I have a few decks I read with: Osho Zen, Alcoholics Anonymous Deck (which is good for anyone going through any sort of addiction), Doreen {Someone}'s Ascended Masters, and Oracle of the Holy Grail.

I have also a realy scary south american deck which has really bizarre, fascinating pictures but the deck scares me a bit too much to use. I love the pictures though.

OP, you are ttalking about old American fortune telling decks. What ones would these be? I havent heard of them. They sound interesting.

Interesting, and I agree wholeheartedly regarding fluidity. A reading is more like a snapshot. I always have reminded people about free will, ect.

I hate computer programs that generate readings. They're very one-dimentional. I also can't stand people who also read arguing with me about my interpretation in comparison to "a reading they did for themselves". If you have the answers, why waste my time?

Thank you Willard.

That's partly why I disliked Tarot. I felt it was general, or at least the reading methods I'd learned were. I've known others whose methods were more direct than what I'd learned.

I also don't purport to know everything. I'm not sure if people can communicate with the dead either. I've had some odd experiences however and prefer to believe that I'm not insane

Energy is not created or destroyed, it changes form. We are energy and we generate energy. When we "die", that energy ceases existing in our physical and finite bodies. I don't believe that we cease to exist entirely. But I am not well versed in physics or biology either

I had wanted an Osho deck many years ago - the art was beautiful. The Devil card has always bothered me so I can understand where you're coming from regarding the death card.

The decks I use are European in origin. I use the Lenormand deck more than anything, but I really love the Ziguener cards and I'm trying to learn the Kipper cards. I also looked into the Italian Sibilla decks which are beautiful but I had trouble reading with them. I can post some links if you like. The other nice thing about these cards - they're usually less expensive than tarot if you can find them here. I would also love to learn to read playing cards, but it's too intimidating at the moment.

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Last edited by Wrackspurt on 15 Jul 2010, 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

And those physical structures arise from even smaller physical structures, but when you continue to split the particles, eventually you are left with only energy and force - in infinitesimally tiny amounts. What tells those impulses to collect themselves into structures in the first place? How does an atom know how many electrons it is allowed to have, or what to become when it has them? The odds of those forces randomly falling together, over and over and over to create the physical universe as we experience it is beyond astronomical. And if the cosmos is a living, intelligent being, then whatever we may be, our essence doesn't evaporate and disappear, it only changes form. Whether it retains any individual or collective identity is at this point undetermined.

We have only the wildest speculations about what existence in any other form of dimensional spacetime might be like, or whether time would even be a factor in such a place, or whether we could even conceive of it as 'space'. We can't even hop to the next planet yet, and have no idea whether our universe is the only one or whether there may be an infinite number. We're certain there must be life on other worlds, but can't successfully reproduce the conditions that caused life to arise here.

Point being, assume nothing. We are as little children. Extremely arrogant little children, pretending to know the outside world when we have never left our crib.

In two words: Akashic records.

I read tarot cards, too, and collect the decks that I find aesthetically pleasing. I've been studying them for about twenty years, now. (Has it been that long?! ) I find them most useful as tools for free-association meditations about things that are troubling me. Basically, I focus on what parts of the cards pop out when I look at them and what that means to me right now, rather than simply memorizing the traditional interpretations, although the traditional meanings are also useful for when nothing in particular comes to mind as an association. As a result, I sometimes end up with personal meanings that are somewhat at odds with the traditional meanings. (As an example, lately the five of swords has been coming up in ways that to me suggest communication issues -- as when two people are talking past each other and not really understanding what's being said -- rather than the traditional meaning of one-upmanship or ruthless competition.) This is something, though, that will happen with anyone who spends much time with something like this.

I've done a little tarot work for pay and have been told that I'm fairly accurate, but I don't generally prefer it. I'm no good at sugar-coating bad news and don't like it when people get upset. As usual, any predictions are open to change dependent upon changing circumstances, so should be taken as general trends, not definitive pronouncements. I don't ask what the querant wants to know, either; I just do a general layout and see what pops up unless they volunteer a direction for the reading on their own. I also don't often look at the person I'm reading for; I find it distracting. I usually use a basic Celtic Cross or a five-card layout (past, present, something that hasn't been considered, advice, outcome), if I'm using labeled positions. Otherwise, I'll just lay out three or five cards and see what pops -- what kinds of associations are made automatically.

Countess I know you only have positive intentions and so I don't mean to sound condescending. I find most people do not know what energy actually is, in the sense they perceive it as a vague, intangible concept, and in science it is actually very tangible and concrete.

There are two main types of energy. Potential energy and kinetic energy, and the two are conservative in an ideal case, meaning they only convert back and forth.

Potential energy: This is the potential to do work.
If you drop an egg off of a one story building on Earth, neglecting air resistance, it will hit the ground. If you drop an egg off a ten story building on Earth, neglecting air resistance, it will hit the ground harder because it had more time to accelerate.

So the egg at the top of the ten story building had more potential energy than the egg at the top of a one story building.

Kinetic energy: This is what potential energy becomes once the egg has been released.
The kinetic energy of the egg reaches a maximum when the eggs is moving the fastest, which is right below it hits the ground.

In a pendulum system, the pendulum is at maximum potential energy when it is at it's highest point and not moving (0 kinetic energy), and at it's maximum kinetic energy when it reaches it's lowest point and moving it's fastest (zero potential energy).

Most, if not all other forms of energy can be derived from these concepts or actually are these concepts.

We are a collection information like the sand arranged in a sand painting bottle, and once that bottle is broken the order of the sand breaks down and is free to be rearranged into an entirely different sand painting.

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Very Well Said


I grew up around psychics, tarot readers and astrologers. So I have been expose to the Tarot Cards as far back as I can remember. I have been reading Tarot Cards for myself, family and friends since I was a teenager. I began reading for profit in my mid-thirties, before I was placed on so much medication. At the present, I'm going off and have gone off some medication (from 15 different Rx to 9) so hopefully I can give readings with a clear mind again.

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I'm not at all afraid of any of the cards, especially any cards that are connected to death. Like Willard and Countess stated above, The Tarot Spread is a snap-shot, that's not written in stone and Death or related cards does not always mean someone is going to die.

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I also collect Tarot Decks like a lot of you. I own a variety and I especially like the Universal Waite Tarot Deck, drawn by Pamela Coleman Smith but recolored by Mary Hanson-Roberts. I have three of that same deck.

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Taupey

Taupey..

Re: The death card, I think it is great that you are not afraid of the decks, I wish I was brave enough to stick with it... unfortunately the experiences i have had with that seeing that card, people did die... or animals. I have been told that the Death card doesnt mean literally death but I dont know if i agree. I would be interested to know your experiences with this card.

I found the Devil card didnt bother me as much. I remember I had a bad relationship with this guy a few years ago and I kept getting the Devil card. It was very strange, like it was telling me that our relationship was wrong, and dark, and it turned out to be the case. It was a good thing we broke up.

Countess,

It would be great if you posted the links to some interesting cards you have mentioned. I might post a link to a few of the cards that i have, ifanyone is interested.

Rider waite:
http://www.learntarot.com/rwdesc.htm


http://www.oracleofthegrailcode.com/cards.htm


http://www.embraceart.com/padma-osho.htm


http://janetboyer.com/Ascended_Masters_ ... Cards.html


http://www.learntarot.com/ordesc.htm