Randomness

March 1, 2006

Yesterday afternoon I read the Tarot for a friend at work. While she was shuffling, cards literally began to fly out of the deck one at a time. When the first one leapt out I grabbed it and placed it on the table. I told her to keep shuffling and two more popped out the same way. I make it a practice to always make a note of cards that fly out of the deck while shuffling. Usually the cards are trying to get a message through to you when they do that. In this case, the young lady I was reading for has a very bright and intense energy of her own, so I was not surprised to see cards jumping from the deck. They did indeed speak to her inquiry, but their focus was on inward issues. Her question involved someone else, and the cards (as they often do) instead addressed issues that were occuring in her own psyche and her own reactions to that other person.

I’ve found that there is no one ‘right’ way to read the Tarot. I don’t have any set of rules or formulas that I rigidy follow. I have things that I usually do, but I’ve discovered it’s best to be adaptable. I stay open to the quick flash of an idea to do something a bit differently. The universe is always in flux, and if you are rigid you will not be able to access that which flowing around and through you.

The most important thing when learning to use Tarot is to “play”. There are tons of books and websites that lay out a system of rules for using the Tarot and detailed instructions for laying out and interpreting a spread. But once you begin to structure a system of rules for the Tarot you begin to take away it’s power. Tarot works by accessing the random patterns that are in constant flux around and through us. In this way we can divine how the past affects the present and the future. We can divine what is going on ‘behind the scenes’ by peering at these random patterns and making sense of them. Once you begin to structure rigid formulas for using the Tarot you eliminate some of that randomness. This defeats the whole purpose of this form of divination.

So when you are going to read for yourself or others, by all means have a ritual if you choose. Light a candle, face the East, and say a prayer. Whatever helps you to acheive the mental and emotional state you need. But don’t ever discount a flash of insight, a misspoken word or a flying card. Anything and everything that happens during a Tarot reading might just be part of the reading. It also may not be, but if you immediately discount it you’ll never know. You may be passing up an opportunity to gain real insight into whatever you are reading about.

Posted in Tarot Practice