Have predictions jumped the shark yet?
I've been saying it like a broken record for years: Tarot doesn't make predictions. Nothing can. You heard George Lucas' Yoda - the future is always in motion. Stephanie Myers was right on target with Alice in "Twilight" too - when someone changes their mind, the "vision" changes. I think Doctor Who said it best in the "Cold Earth" episode written by Chris Chibnall "The future turns around you, here, now, so do good".
Predictions do no good that I can see. A "prediction" seeds a specific idea that may or may not be for a person's highest good. It locks in the psychic's vision of the future...no the person who sought guidance in the first place. Predictions weaken choice and narrows vision. It can heap stress on an already stressful situation if the "prediction" is frightening or un-nerving in any way.
I believe that inutitive work of any kind...psychic readings, tarot, palms, tea leaves, anything... should do the exact opposite. Intuition should widen our vision, show other possibilities we've missed, give us more choices, ease stress and soothe emotions. "Accurate predictions" have no place in that. That's why I won't do readings like that, even though it has lost clients and money for me over the years.
I'm hoping 2013 is the year that REAL intuitive work comes into its own. Maybe with the whole rediculous December 21 doomsday thing behind us, and having survived the mellinium, asteroid fly-bys and the end of twinkies, maybe, just maybe we can all get over the idea of PREDICTING the future and get down to the work of CREATING a better future.
Sure, predictions are fun, especially at the New Year. Truth is, even the most choice-and-guidance oriented of us will indulge in making predictions for the New Year. It's a game, a plaything, an entertainment, as much for us as our readers. It stretches the mental muscles that help us do our more important work, just like playing a physical game can help your physical fitness.
This year I'm going to play a different game. Instead of indulging in the straight "cold reading" kind of thing, I'm going to do a "Four Seasons" reading for the year 2013. The "Four Seasons" is my home-made reading style that sticks with the idea of guidance, but still gives that 'look ahead' feeling that we naturally crave, that need to know that naturally drives humans to want to see the future in the first place. Each card isn't a prediction, but instead is a theme for the season, or an important idea / choice that may come to you during that time. Of course, this reading isn't going to match everyone. It's just for fun, but if it makes sense to you, or helps someone, somewhere along the way...all the better. Happy 2013!
General Pattern: three major arcana cards with only one minor arcana card suggest that we may be faced with more choices, changes, and in the first part of the year compared to the second part. Again, not a prediction, but pointing toward the way things are trending - like a compass needle points north. It doesn't predict what will happen or what people will do...just the direction things are headed.
Winter (Jan. - March ) - THE MOON: On the Rider-Waite deck, the Moon card shows dogs or cayotes looking / howling at the moon, with a lobster crawling out of the water onto a path that extends to the mountains in the distance. The phrases "howl at the moon" and "evolve" come to mind. The 'howl at the moon' part connects with the idea of authenticity...the advice here is to be true to yourself, be your truest self. This winter may ask us to be more honest with ourselves than ever before - and when we are more honest with ourselves, it leads to more honesty and open-ness with others. It is a difficult thing to do, and can cause us to lose some people we used to think were friends...but shines like a light to truer friendships, and helps us find our real community. When faced with a choice in this season, think about what you honestly want to happen not what you honestly think is the best thing for everyone ... not what you think is the expected answer. All of this also links with evolution...not the physical kind that makes so many people twitchy...the personal growth kind that shows we can learn, adapt, adopt new ideas, ideals, and find a better way to do things. My mind is drawn to the national debate about marriage rights. Perhaps it is time for the nation to 'evolve' on social issues en masse.
Sping (April - June) THE FOOL (INNOCENT): This is the very first card of the tarot deck. In very old calendars, the first of April was considered to be the beginning of the new year instead of January. Springtime is still the beginning of the year in some cultures. Urban legend has it that April Fools day started after the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calenday that switched the beginning of the year from April to January. Those that continued to celebrate the old way were teased as "April Fools" (www.snopes.com). The message here is that Spring 2013 will be a chance to relax and play and de-stress a little, as we look forward to new beginnings and fresh starts. Spring naturally carries a sense of renewal and optimism. My hunch is that we can make it larger, more pervasive than usual, like the phrase "renewed national optimism". I think this may extend to national policy and economy despite continued international policy and diplomacy concerns in the background. The advice here is to make the hopeful choices, and to avoid choices based in fear. "He who hesitates is lost". This does not feel like the time for ultra-conservatism, philosophically or politically.
Summer (July - Sept)-7 of Cups: Pendulums will swing. The 7 of cups is sometimes read as "delusion". In this case, the connotation would be more along the lines of "take care to see clearly". Don't get carried away with the spring's optimism. This is a season of pragmatism, practicality, watching, and carrying through with what was begun in spring. In spring, seeds are planted. In summer, we don't do much with those seeds except tend them...watch, water, weed, wait. It is a time to face what we can not control. What's done is done. Do what you can. This season teaches the comfort of seeing things as they are, and focusing on here and now.
Autumn (Oct. - Dec.) HIgh Priestess: And the pendulum comes full swing, and things go a full circle in a single, dizzying year. The feeling of watching the seeds grow changes to a feeling of springing into action for the harvest, and reaping what we've sown in spring - literally and figuratively. It feels like a busy time too, the lesson here is to "stop and smell the roses"...where the Moon card pointed to spiritual growth, the Priestess card points to the new destination...asks us to appreciate where we have grown TO. We've cleaned house, added on a room, planted a garden and stored the harvest for winter...this is the season for gratitude, to stop and survey what we've accomplished, and plan our next step. This season is a reminder to remember the spiritual side of things, as much as possible to experience the magic, mystery, and mystical side of life. After all the activity of spring planting and fall harvest, things start to fall back toward watching...this time watching the full moon through the trees, looking inward instead of outward.
General summary: This year will see full cycles compleated at a rapid pace. It will generally follow the cycles and pace of nature, perhaps more closely than society has for several years. I feel pushed to say the "rise of the nones" will continue...nones meaning those from the Pew survey who do not participate in any religion, yet maintaina robust spiritual life. Tolerance will evolve, and we begin to see a generational shift in the way we all look at the world. Letting us have a brightness andoptimism we haven't really seen in the past 10 -15 years. There is a feeling of Korea being in the news again, in a sunny season like spring or summer. I get the mental image of a knit hat in Jamaca's national colors and hear "rasta" and a feeling of fun...maybe a new popularity for Reggae or Reggae influenced music, like The Police in the 80s. Winter weather in the northeast feels crisp, cold and white...but not storms, just normal. There is a feeling of drought in the midwest again this summer, but in a smaller area than last year. Something about whales and the west coast...very large whales like blue or humpbacks, perhaps a rare and special sighting of some sort. Now I see the "time vortex" from the Doctor Who opening sequence...either the Doctor Who 50th anniversary season will be a gigantic hit in the US as much as all the Whovians are hoping, or people really will come to a new understanding of time, predictions, probablilities and all of that quantum theory can teach us. More confirmation of the Higgs boson from Cern perhaps. Overall, I feel upbeat and optimistic energy around 2013.
Ok, so I couldn't resist playing a little with that last paragraph...but why not? Play is a wonderful thing, but it isn't everything. Dessert is a wonderful thing, but we can't eat only sweets. Predictions are fun, but they are only a small, entertaining part of things.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous
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