Tarot Reading as a Spectrum of Social Interaction
nagasiva
comment on any portion welcomed in this thread.
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Tarot Reading as a Spectrum of Social Interaction
by nagasiva
INTRODUCTION TO READINGS
this thread's title has been with me a while and i want to
continue it with some speculation on "reading" and what a
Tarot reading may have in store or contain that i want or
do not want to learn about in any depth. my familiarity to
the phenomenon of occultism is broadening so as to begin
to include numerous aspects of how it manifests in society.
it incorporates part of the query by another as a seed:
#> ...what they feel tarot really is?
I don't proceed from feelings in order to engage such an
analysis, but must observe and reflect on what i am seeing
as i talk with and think with readers. therefore what Tarot
"really" is is, to me, what it can be observed to be, rather
than some superior or top-down description of how it "should
be". too often do i encounter this latter, and i struggle to
remain free from what i regard as a dogmatic impetus of this
kind so as in part to be a clearer channel for information.
as such, i am dividing up what people *take* Tarot to be,
especially in the context of readings (rather than ritual,
or spellwork, which are different categories of use and, to
me, supplemental to, if no less important than, readings).
=======================
READING AS PERFORMANCE
in general, some of the more ephemeral and superficial,
but no less skilled, types of readings are those which
include the expectation on the part of the querent of
being entertained and amused, surprised and baffled,
by the reader. in fact, during this entertainment what
is being 'read' is far less often the cards as such,
but moreso the querent themselves: their body language,
cues presented in their speech, or even, as part of
an enlarged stage magic presentation, such interesting
incidentals as the signals from accomplices, data from
a palmed piece of paper ostensibly handled as part of a
"psychometry" preparation, or secondary sheets behind
trick clipboards used to assist audience members in
preparation for the show (as for use by mentalists).
any divination system which becomes the focus of this
performance will be unimportant as to particulars and
its components may be discarded at any time in order
to engage in classic techniques of misdirection and
inference as they are commonly employed by performers
and scam artists to achieve their ends for purposes
of entertainment and fraudulence respectively (the
former are usually paid shows, the latter are under
severe scrutiny by law enforcement and laws may be
passed to protect the unsuspecting public from them).
more often than not the expression and actions taken
by the performer will be strategically engaged so as
to elicit personal data upon which they may capitalize.
in the case of Tarot, general and conventional signs
or symbols will be explicitly included or excluded so
as to help produce the desired effect. for this reason
we may find, for example, that certain cards may be
omitted (e.g. "Death", "Devil", in order to produce a
more crowd-pleasing, or client-pleasing result) or
forced (as when either of these cards, or some happy
news card like the 10 of Cups, or the Sun are made,
as within a magician's card trick, to appear in some
key position in layout or draw during the performance).
throughout the entirety of performance, reading cards
per se is secondary to the aim of the effect, and the
observation and reading of the audience (even with a
singular prospective observer) is far more important.
=======================
READING AS COUNSELLING
somewhat related to performance (insofar as the nature
of what is done is the performance of a service) is a
reading in which the querent hopes or expects, as a
result of engaging the reader, to be provided with
helpful advice on serious life issues. this may in
part be combined with a performance test to the reader,
as by making them (through presumed psychic ability,
or via careful and skillful observation and inference)
intuit or apprehend what the querent's issue is,
without stating it explicitly. alternatively, it
may be openly stated from the outset, the reader
functioning as a kind of interpretive guide for
the use of, and symbols within, the oracular tool.
here we leave all thought of nefarious motivation
(scamming) behind, and yet many aspects of reading
as performance may be integrated as part of dialogue
during the couselling session. the intuitive and
gifted reader's employment of a divinatory tool may
or may not approximate a conventional style, and,
in the case of Tarot, the cards may serve tactile,
moreso than interpretive aims.
readers may place variable emphases on card meanings,
may vary them from session to session, innovate to
a new and inspired standard, or cleave tightly to a
well-known standard serving as the structure by which
a helpful trouble-shooting service may be performed.
as with reading as entertainment, some of the same
kinds of preparations may be employed to facilitate
an expected counselling atmosphere or result, from
deck-exclusions to forced readings designed to help
the client maturely deal with their life-issues in
a manner conducive to the counselling skills of the
reader, and the appropriateness of the reading venue.
through the course of the counselling engagement,
there is no need for the apprehension or use of
conventional card interpretation methods. the cards
might, as above, serve as a tactile and/or attentive
bridge to assist those involved (usually a pair,
though there is no reason a counsellor could not use
a Tarot deck with a couple or a group in this manner).
as such, what is read might vary significantly, from
a reading of the client(s) alone, to some combination
of cards and client(s), to a strict reading of cards
as a conventional divinatory tool serving as focus
for an enveloping and, preferrably, helpful session.
=======================
ORACULAR CONSULTATION
incorporating myriad divinatory methodologies,
oracular consultation may be presumed to adhere
to conventions of device integrity (breaking
up the oracle seems counter-productive) and
interpretative standard (whether innovative
and unique or of predictable composition). to
adjust parameters accordingly the oracle as a
whole may be finely-tuned so as to maximize
client satisfaction, with supplemental or
softening advice on the part of the reader,
who functions, in the case of Tarot,
as a facilitator of its deep wisdoms.
since less emphasis may be placed on skills of
performance, a more tenuous relation may exist
betwixt reader and client, such that factors of
temporal and geographical distance pose no real
issue for the satisfaction of parties involved
(phone consults, email consults, are conventions).
instead, the skills contracted, as for pay or
gravity, would center on the skill in interpretative
facilitation, and, if the client cares, the specific
oracle so consulted. some do not want to receive
readings from certain Tarot decks, for example, and
may, if a reader offers alternatives, opt toward
one which they favour.
given that the focus is Tarot, rather than an
oracular *person* employing Tarot, the age, origin,
and artistic character of the deck are all likely
to be factors for those who are selective in their
choice of a reader. additionally, the relationship
*between* the reader and the deck/oracle (if the
two can truly be separated at all) might be finely
evaluated by those whose methods are scrupulous.
unlike reading for performance or for counselling,
the focus of reading itself is far more restricted
in the oracular consultation to the cards or deck.
the expert facilitator will be able to 'tone'
the presentation in such a way so as not to lay
undue emphasis on the particular character of the
oracular result (as with fore-ordained doom, or a
certain success whatever the querent's approach),
shifting instead to a reflection on potentiality
and the variety of choices which lay before them as
indicated or implied by the cards in their array.
=======================
CONCLUSION ON READING
as described above, Tarot reading spreads across a
vast spectrum of social interaction, employing
numerous methods and tools to produce as many more
expected and unexpected outcomes. more often than
not the quality of such reading depends on the
practice and study of the individual being
consulted as at least a bridge to the Tarot.
where the cards and decks themselves become the focus
of oracular consultation, this begins to emphasize an
extended familiarity with the cards, their images,
relations to one another, the layouts which may be
used, and the varying configurations of cards within
readings so presented.
quite beyond this, the expert facilitator will know
enough about people to be able to communicate to
querents the subtle and important cues which the
Tarot makes possible in response to queries or
issues that querents bring to oracular consultation.
ignoring negative motivations (scam artists and frauds),
the fact that the divination system is to performance
artists unimportant is a strong indicator of the limits
of value one may find at this pole of readings in Tarot.
the interplay of methods restricts the compatability
to entertainment and counselling where performance is
the standard. if sought to consult the oracle and the
reader was a performance artist, their activities might
get in the way of the oracle. their belief that the
divination tool was a mere artifice might interfere
with the throughput, as it were.
on the other hand, the conversant performer may well
facilitate counselling results in the receptive or
cooperative querent in which testing and concealment
on the part of the querent are not primary interests
and clear signals are being provided (because
performers typically integrate some measure of
psychology into their skillset and sometimes place
value on providing some kind of reflective result).
in fact there is a large sector of overlap for
potential results and success dependent upon aims.
it is only when the querent or audience begins to
seriously restrict hir purpose for engaging the
reader that she is likely to be disappointed if
she has consulted the opposite end of the spectrum.
the hopeful fan of legerdemain and card tricks is
likely to be disappointed with the facilitator of
the Tarot oracle. likewise, the querent seeking a
consultation with the oracle may well find a magic
performance in which the cards are a mere
contrivance to be incomplete or unfulfilling.
the perception and compassion of either the
performer or the oracular facilitator will come
into play when the querent is seeking a session
of psychological counselling. if they require a
test of client-reading, the facilitator of the
oracle is likely to disappoint, whereas if they
expect that the cards are transparently provided
interpretation, the performer for whom the cards
are an inessential tool will not be up to the task.
surely by fortune in happy coincidence exceptions
to these speculations might occur, though the clear
reading of cards per se favours the oracular guide
in terms of likelihood to suit reading as such.
nagasiva
luckymojo.com@nagasiva
(c) 2008
Meltdarok
>>>snippity<<<
> CONCLUSION ON READING
>
> as described above, Tarot reading spreads across a
> vast spectrum of social interaction, employing
> numerous methods and tools to produce as many more
> expected and unexpected outcomes. more often than
> not the quality of such reading depends on the
> practice and study of the individual being
> consulted as at least a bridge to the Tarot.
>
> where the cards and decks themselves become the focus
> of oracular consultation, this begins to emphasize an
> extended familiarity with the cards, their images,
> relations to one another, the layouts which may be
> used, and the varying configurations of cards within
> readings so presented.
>
> quite beyond this, the expert facilitator will know
> enough about people to be able to communicate to
> querents the subtle and important cues which the
> Tarot makes possible in response to queries or
> issues that querents bring to oracular consultation.
>
>>>snip-a-doodle<<<
> the perception and compassion {<<<---important concept!}
>
> surely by fortune in happy coincidence exceptions
> to these speculations might occur, though the clear
> reading of cards per se favours the oracular guide
> in terms of likelihood to suit reading as such.
>
> nagasiva
> luckymojo.com@nagasiva
> (c) 2008
The title here is right on the money.
The use of Tarot for divination is of secondary importance.
What is most important here is reading the pictorial exposition of the
relationship between Man with his/her consciousness, and
Ultimate Reality. The best deck that I've seen so far is the
standard Rider-Waite/Smith deck. The images of old Europe Christianity
in these cards suggest the move from the elite secret of Theophany,
(present in many cultures) to the dissemination of this information
to the general public through the media.
Your issue with Ultimate Reality nagasiva, is that you choose to follow
the centuries old position that Ultimate Reality is still merely
impersonal. This is a choice by many in this day and age where we prefer
to have mechanically detected documentation for *all* of our observations.
--
meltdarok
http://hometown.aol.com/meltdarok/
http://www.mediafire.com/?9bmgyggtlx7