Fancy Some Cartomancy?

People have been trying to predict the future and "tell their fortune", well, forever. Every culture has some sort of divination be it a special person within the society (shamen, priests witches, gypsies, the Pythia of Delphi, psychics, you name it). Just the same, there are all sorts of things, tools that anyone can use to do the same thing. Again, these "oracle tools" (as I like to call them) are ubiquitous and global: Tarot cards, palm lines, rune stones, scrying mirrors, tea leaves, bones, entrails, the list is enormous.

It's no surprise that modern items have been called into use, like our contemporary gaming cards. There are a lot of similarities between the minor arcana portion of the Tarot deck and the playing cards we've all used for poker, bridge and solitaire. After all, Tarot cards were originally a game too.

The fancy name for doing intuitive readings with regular playing cards is "cartomancy". Cartomancy has several advantages. It is an easy way to learn to use cards as a way to access the natural intuition that everyone has. Without the ornate artwork, or the complicated symbolism you see on Tarot cards, modern cards let you keep it all simple. Simplicity embraces all the possibilities. The simplicity of playing cards make them easy for beginners to use, at the same time it is unrestricted...it lifts the boundaries and lets an experienced reader shine too.

Simple is neutral. Modern cards don't have the emotional and cultural baggage that tarot cards can have. Some people are put off by Tarot's reputation of being "occult". Others find the religious imagery on older decks uncomfortable. Neither of these are a problem with playing cards, making them comfortable and accessible to a wide range of people.There are no scary pictures in the game deck, so they are nice for a first reading or anyone who is feeling timid about the whole reading process. I always keep a game deck on hand for anyone who would rather have a cartomancy reading instead of a tarot reading. Since I work only with entertainment and advice (never predictions) anyway, the two are completely interchangeable. Tarot went from game to oracle, and so have our modern playing cards.

If you would like to try a cartomancy reading for yourself, you can order one HERE

Little Nudge vs a Big Whack

I kinda like the 3 card yes/no readings. 


I know that is a direct contradiction to my philosophy about "predictions". Readings really are food for thought, a way to solve problems more creatively, a way to ease stressful emotions.


The problem with readings and "predictions" is how seriously you take them. Sure they are fun when you are trying to predict your favorite hockey team (the Pens) will win the Stanley Cup against all odds, or that you'll get a date with your latest crush, or hoping against hope that you'll get that dream job...it's all good, until we make big, serious decisions based on readings. It can really ridiculous really fast. 


But for just yucks and chuckles, why not?


As I see it, these small, fun "predictive" readings can have a place too. Sometimes we need serious food for thought to whack our lives in the right direction, or something a little out of the ordinary (like an on-target reading) to get our attention so we can learn important lessons.


Other times all we need is a little nudge in the right direction, or a small pat on the back. That's where the magic-8-ball-paper-fortune-teller-gypsy-at-the-fair kinds of readings come in handy. 


Readings can be deep inspiration and communion with your personal spiritual beliefs. Or it can be putting a quarter into the Great Rigatoni machine at the arcade. All kinds of readings have value...it is just a matter of matching the right reading with the right person and situation...which isn't easy. People hate it when I tell them their fate is up to them...the future is decided by their choices, their actions control what happens... when all they want is a pre-packaged, no-brainer, easy way out.  


When it comes to whacks and nudges, I tend to get Confucian about it.


I've heard that one time Confucius gave two totally different answers to two different students who had asked him pretty much the same question. One student he told to act immediately. The other he told only to act after getting advice and permission from his father. When asked why he gave such opposite answers, he answered that each student had very different needs. One was very shy, and overly-reticent - that's the guy he told to jump in. The other one was impulsive, even reckless. That's the one he told to cool it. It was based on the needs of the situation, and the needs of the individual, not slavish adherence to principle. Luckily, Confucius wasn't a fundamentalist.


So why do I rant against "predictions" yet still enjoy "predictive" yes or no readings?


If the Confucian reason is too boring, think of it as the candy bar principle. The old candy commercial said "sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't"...when it comes to psychic intuitive and tarot readings...sometimes you need a whack, sometimes you don't (and a fun little nudge in the right direction will do just fine instead).


Ok, now...raise your hand if you have that candy jingle stuck in your head... 

Tarot and a Bowl of jello

This is an over-simplification.

But analogies like this, I like to think, are what Einstein meant by "thought experiments". This is imperfect, certainly, but I think it gives a little insight to why psychic readings work the way they do, and why predictions are so un-helpful, and why I still love the way Stephanie Myers crafted the Alice Cullen character and how her visions change with choice...

Imagine, if you will:

Imagine a big clear bowl filled with cooled, set gelatin dessert. Imagine it being your favorite color and flavor - cool, light and inviting.

Now imagine putting one spoonful on one side of your plate, and a second spoonful on the opposite side of your plate.

The jello is a smooth, connected, integrated whole. Just like time and space is an integrated whole.

Imagine the first spoonful is a psychic reading, tarot card reading, or some other "fortune telling" method. The reading is a real experience...something you actually hear, see and do. It is a little spoonful of your life and experience.

Now imagine the second is a bit of your future...some real experience that you actually hear, see and do.

Both times and experiences are isolated bits of the wholeness of you life, your time, your space. They come from the same integrated source...both spoonfulls come from the same bowl of jello.

Because they are related, we can tell something of the one from the other. We can intuit what is PROBABLE about the second spoonful from trying to figure out a little about the first spoonful. We can't sense or examine the first spoonful in a lot of detail, but we can form impressions about it from color, smells etc...sort of like looking at it through sunglasses, but not able to touch or taste it...

Now here is where things get tricky...

Just because the first spoonful is cool, spoon-shaped and seems to be one thing....it doesn't mean that it is going to say that way.

Just because a reading sees one probability doesn't mean things are going to stay that way.

For example, by the time you turn your attention to the second spoonful of jello, things can change. There is no way to tell WHEN you will sample that second spoonful. The plate may sit out long enough that all the jello melts, and becomes very dissimilar to what was seen at the reading. The reading, our look at the jello before, is 100% correct for that spoonful at that point in time...but 100% wrong in later experience. You may act to change things...add to the second spoonful to make it larger, or you could drop the jello off the plate entirely. Your actions, or the actions of things beyond your control (like the heat in the room that melts the jello) can change your actual experience.

Melted or cold, jello is all jello, and a reading can give you insight how to accomplish what you want. If you don't like gelatin, you can act to scoop it back into the bowl. You can not act, and let it melt away. Or if you love this flavor of gelatin, then you can act to scoop out more for your plate.

Interconnectedness, wholeness makes intuition possible. We are part of the greater whole...and our thoughts, intents, actions, words, inactions...all impact that world, and our future.

Wishing you the insight to use your jello wisely, and a tasty, satisfying dessert in the process ;)

Baihu

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

Alice got it right. Twilight predicts the future...

…or more accurately tells what telling the future is like.

After getting some requests this fall to work at Twilight themes parties, I read the books just to see what all the buzz was about.

Today, finally saw the movie…

As an aspiring writer wannabe (nonfiction), I’m impressed with Ms. Myers skill. I full on expected to hate the books, and thought it was going to be some superficial bubble-gum teen angst romance. In some respects, it is. But I was sincerely impressed with her skill at using the first person. It creates enormous empathy with Bella, you experience everything with her. And the sudden shift to Jacob’s point of view has all the more impact because of it. Well done!!

Of course, being in this business, Alice is one of my favorite characters. She has it exactly right. Her visions change in response to choice and decision. What she sees now, might be totally wrong if someone changes their mind and intention later. She sees along the path of greatest probability, not some sort of fated certainty.

That is exactly how it works. At least in my experience. Asking Alice to see something isn’t a lock. Asking a psychic or tarot reader is even less of a certainty. The web of choice, decision, intention and change is even more complex, wavering and unstable than in the fictional world of twilight.

So hats off to Stephanie Myers for putting that idea into the mainstream. It’s going to make my life a LOT easier. It is true that fiction can tell more truth than reality. I can talk until blue in the face about how choice impacts future, how you can CREATE your own future by the CHOICES you make. Here this teen romance (with enough vampires and shape-shifters to keep it interesting for the rest of us) has make the idea real, and understandable.

Plus it is just a well – crafted, entertaining story, start to finish.

If you haven’t read it, I can recommend it for teen girls and women. Might be a little too high estrogen for the guys though. Although the vampire aspects did keep my attention and I would typically rather shove bamboo under my fingernails that watch sappy romantic dramas. I’m all about the action, sci fi, fantasy sort of fiction. You know, Dune, Harry Potter, Tara Harper, that sort of thing. So Twilight might be palatable for guys that like that sort of thing too.

Well there you have it…a fortune-teller sort of book review. FINALLY a book and movie that gets the psychic / tarot prediction thing right, in a simplified sort of way.

Bravo and thank you!

Baihu
www.modern-oracle-tarot.com