Tarot cards, divination, art, cold reading and other evil stuff related

[PetuniaBlueOrchid]

Some days ago a thread was posted about tarot and got interesting answers.
For some reasons the Original Poster deleted it.
So I'm reposting it again as the conversation is worth it and other threads are too old.

1/ Some tarot decks have really great art and can be used either for collection, either for playing games having nothing to do with divination, some can be used as personal development or know yourself deck.
Thing is today, number of deck is astronomical, demand has exploded. Even if most of them are poor cards quality.

I like to watch deck reviews, however I am annoyed when youtubers collects hundreds and hundreds of deck without using them at all. So it's just unboxing video after another, from most of the time, mass market cheap decks from Amazon (instead of buying from a real artist with top quality cards) and they are absolutely not able to tell about cards quality and how long they last, as they don't use it.

2/ I don't understand why people are afraid of it. I can understand the overall bad reputation as they are many scammers, but I don't get the terror some have arround it.

3/ Someone mentioned cold reading in the deleted thread (and older threads), however many readers do distance reading: they never see the person asking for a reading and the person remains anonymous, such as all readings you can find on Etsy for example.
How would cold reading work?

4/ We could do a social experience with readers willing to participate. They could read for someone here and we'll see how accurate it can be.

 

[RX-78]

What is the origin of the Tarot? I've heard everything from Egyptian dynasties all the way to gypsies.

 

[PST Stan Account]

What is the origin of the Tarot? I've heard everything from Egyptian dynasties all the way to gypsies.

Most believable explanation is thst it was a card game in Italy in the 14th century, and over the years occult meanings and symbolism were added. That reached its height with Crowley's Thoth Deck, which gets more meaningful the more Qabalah you study. That's the only deck I use seriously, but as far as modern decks go I like The Fountain a lot, the images have an odd, serious intention to them even if it's not classically symbolic all the time.

 

[keytar]

I have a couple of decks and I mainly use them as a knowing-yourself thing, or I do readings for friends/family for fun. I agree there's no point having hundreds of decks that you don't use, I like having fewer decks and forming 'connections' with them, e.g. I always take the same one with me travelling so now it's also a talisman of sorts.

I suppose some people are rightfully wary of anything with occult connections but imo there isn't much to fear about your average tarot deck, although they do have a lot of symbolism in them and can be good tools with the right mindset. I'm inclined towards the traditional decks, or any with particularly nice art, but if someone gets the most spiritually out of a holographic cat-themed deck then good for them lol I won't judge.

 

[thashell]

My mom hoards tarot decks. She has like almost 100, if not more decks, and she only uses maybe like 3 kek I kinda hope one day we can sell them all to make some quick cash and get rid of shit that we don't need.

I do enjoy reading Tarot from time to time for reasons that other Kiwis have mentioned above. Seconding The Fountain deck BTW, it's the only one I have though.

 

[RACISM]

This thread is going to be home to the craziest bitches on the farms.

 

[Athena Loves Kiwis]

This Lisa Frank Tarot Deck Will Bring Out Your Inner Fifth-Grade Mystic

In your future, I see ... lots of rainbow bears holding some sort of concert.

www.huffpost.com

Good concept but meh... Some else made a way better The Devil:

https://www.lookhuman.com/design/445187-90s-neon-rainbow-the-devil-tarot/

 

[PST Stan Account]

I think everyone can agree that if you're talking to someone who pronounces tarot as "tuh-ROW", you should just push them down a staircase.

 

[Uncle Sid]

What is the origin of the Tarot?

The Way of Tarot (link: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/24669b51/files/uploaded/The_Way_of_Tarot (1).pdf) posits that the first decks were educational, designed to teach young aristocrats about the major dynasties of Europe as well as the fundamental concepts in hermetic science. It's a great read, highly recommended.

For me, Tarot decks are a good source of hard-copy phonography for whenever the power/internet goes out. Having a few erotic decks on hand can really help the time pass faster.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

I can read tarot and i find it weirdly therapeutic. When you try to connect the dots you end up projecting a lot and it often leads to interesting insights, is like a creative exercise.

I have the jodorowsky deck (its just the marseille with an asterisk) and the rider waite.



I dont read to other people anymore. I have several stories with people crying and it always feels shitty, people lower their defenses and become really vulnerable, i am obviously not a kewl wizard that knows magic , every reading has an element of emotional manipulation.

 

[Foxymophandlemama]

I started studying a few months ago and I got this deck


I only do readings for myself as I don't feel secure enough to do for others. It's fun, like, I don't depend my life on it, but it has been accurate in a lot of points.

 

[Monkey Pink]

Don't we already have two threads in Community Watch about metaphysical spergery?

Don't get me wrong, divination does interest me. I once got a Tarot reading on Fiverr after a breakup and it was scarily on-point.

 

[PetuniaBlueOrchid]

What is the origin of the Tarot? I've heard everything from Egyptian dynasties all the way to gypsies.

Could be arround the same time than Chess.
It's more obvious in french but chess pieces have the same name as tarot cards:
Queens, Kings and knights. But also the others:
In french the fools are named the bishop in english (but there's also a bishop as 5th cards in marseille tarot, named hierophant in rider-waite), and the towers in french are the rooks in english.

My mom hoards tarot decks. She has like almost 100, if not more decks, and she only uses maybe like 3 kek I kinda hope one day we can sell them all to make some quick cash and get rid of shit that we don't need.

Some decks are not edited anymore, so they indeed worth a lot of money.

Don't we already have two threads in Community Watch about metaphysical spergery?

Don't get me wrong, divination does interest me. I once got a Tarot reading on Fiverr after a breakup and it was scarily on-point.

I only found the witches thread and the other about scams.

I dont read to other people anymore. I have several stories with people crying and it always feels shitty, people lower their defenses and become really vulnerable, i am obviously not a kewl wizard that knows magic , every reading has an element of emotional manipulation.

Thing is a lot of people want a reading just so they can be told about all the great things that will happen to them.
They rarely want to hear harsh truth, or good advice.

 

[Jason Wynn]

I'm the one who mentioned cold reading.

I used to read tarot, but I never put much stock into any metaphysical/supernatural element to it. I did use it to practice cold reading skills. I have a Thoth deck I've kept because I enjoy the artwork for it in particular.

You wanted an example of what cold reading is. I linked to this South Park clip which explains the basics perfectly, but at its core, its just emotional reading/manipulation. You take some broad facts that could be applied to any situation where its nigh-impossible to be wrong (money, relationships, personal doubts ect) and tell a story based on how the cards play out.

 

[PetuniaBlueOrchid]

I know what cold reading is. I was just saying it wouldn't work for distance reading: when the person asking for a reading give the fewest informations and when the reader never saw her/him and have no possibility to ask questions before the reading.

 

[ReasonablyRetarded]

I do readings for family and friends.
I never do cold reading because I genuinely believe that "divination" is a way to apply your human intuition in order to place the meaning of the cards into the recepients' life.

Accuracy/success rate this way is pretty fucking high. Cold readings, from my experience, don't work because having actual human contact and being able to size someone up in regards to how they come across, what kind of person they seem to be etc is very important.

 

[MAPK phosphatase]

4/ We could do a social experience with readers willing to participate. They could read for someone here and we'll see how accurate it can be.

The main problem I see with this is power-leveling. Either it's accurate and you give too much away by saying so, or the reading is so vague that it applies to anyone.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

I do gyromancy every weekend at the bar.

 

[PetuniaBlueOrchid]

I do readings for family and friends.
I never do cold reading because I genuinely believe that "divination" is a way to apply your human intuition in order to place the meaning of the cards into the recepients' life.

Do you get asked for readings a lot?
I've always thought it mainly attracts people who can't figure out things by themselves and want you to fix all of their problems.

The main problem I see with this is power-leveling. Either it's accurate and you give too much away by saying so, or the reading is so vague that it applies to anyone.

I think we all know about barnum effect.
Unlike other boards, we are not anonymous, so someone could go check all of our posts to have a general view of our personality.
That's why it would need to be something that couldn't be found here.

 

[ReasonablyRetarded]

Do you get asked for readings a lot?
I've always thought it mainly attracts people who can't figure out things by themselves and want you to fix all of their problems.

It kind of depends. I get asked a hand full of times a month.

Some friends and family members are way more open to it than others but most generally know that it won't fix anything, but that it merely points to certain areas where they should put their focus on.

I've been asked to do readings for friends-of-friends/family before and when I was just getting started I obliged, but after some negative experiences with people that would argue with me about the results as opposed to just discussing it, I stopped doing that. These are the kinds of people you mentioned and I try my best to stay away from those types.