The other day someone posted a question to a Tarot forum asking whether members preferred to do soul journey or predictive readings for clients. After reading the responses I was surprised to see that the majority of comments eschewed the predictive aspect of Tarot, preferring to take the soul journey approach. Not a problem when you have clients who are on the path to enlightenment and spiritual evolution. However, it has been my experience that the majority of people who want readings are seeking answers and insight, not so much a map of the soul’s travails. When clients want answers regarding their immediate circumstances, predictive work is inevitable. My clients expect predictions and forecasts and this is what I try to deliver. I would venture to say that my accuracy rate is hovering around 93% and that’s a conservative estimate. In my opinion, Tarot is one of the best predictive tools around. There is a saying “The cards never lie” and it has been my experience that this is certainly true. The problem lies in the interpretation of the cards. The message the cards provide may get lost in the process of translation. This is where psychic ability comes in to pick up the slack. Now some Tarot readers will argue that predictive work is futile or flawed because the future can be altered at any time. While this is certainly true, I am also a realist who understands that one’s past and deeply-ingrained behavioral and thought patterns will largely influence future events. Most people do not change their patterns overnight or simply because an unsatisfactory situation arises. This gives one who performs predictive readings some leverage. Do not mistake this for a cold reading since the Reader still must psychically “connect” with the client/querent and understand their predispositions, motivations, and limitations. This is when you can turn to the soul journey aspect of Tarot. For me personally, when it comes to soul journeys or a client’s spiritual evolution I prefer to use my astrological tools over Tarot. However, Tarot can still provide some valuable insight into where the client is in their journey.
Now there will be questions where one cannot simply rely on patterns and motivations such as “Will I get the job?” or “Will I pass my exam?” You would think with straightforward questions like these that the Tarot would provide a straight forward answer. Tarot has a funny way of giving you more information than what you have asked for, but the answer is somewhere in the midst of that information. It is up to the reader to pull the answer out of the details. The Devil WILL be in the details—no pun intended. The messages that Tarot gives are often cryptic and this is where the real predictive work begins.
When it comes to predictions, you gotta be willing to risk being wrong some of the time. It just goes with the territory. Usually my intuition will tell me when I am off track. It will come as a nagging feeling of insecurity or incompleteness. I may have a difficult time relaxing and getting in that “zone”. That’s when I know that my ego and/or left-brain are interfering with the cosmic flow. Sometimes I have to take time out and regroup because the information just is not coming through at the moment.
Regarding feedback, there have been so many times where a client is not happy with a prediction only to come back later and tell me that I was right after all. Some have even accused me of outright lying only for them to apologize later when my prediction manifests. This is not a case of braggadocio on my part. It is simply a testament of the efficacy of predictive work. One can become consistently accurate at predicting events and outcomes if one has the gift and knows how to use it. In this line of work you have to have a thick skin and you have to be willing to tell the client what they need to hear, not so much what they want to hear. Some people will get angry or upset with your predictions, but a Reader should not take it personal. Readers are simply conduits of information that is obtained on an etheric level.
Is Predictive work the same thing as Fortune Telling?
Here’s a definition from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
Fortune Teller: “a person who claims to use special powers to tell what will happen to someone in the future; a person who tells people’s fortunes”
According to the above definition, Fortune Telling is the same as predicting. Could this be why a lot of Readers shy away from the predictive side of Tarot? I must agree that the term “fortune teller” has been given a very negative connotation even more so than “psychic” or “forecaster”. Merriam-Webster provides a list of synonyms for a Fortune Teller:
AUGUR, DIVINER, FORECASTER, FORESEER, FORETELLER, FUTURIST, PROGNOSTICATOR, PROPHESIER, SEER, SOOTHSAYER, VISIONARY
All of these titles sound kind of kooky to me (the least of all is prognosticator—sounds important!), but of them all, fortune teller evokes a milieu of parlor tricks and carny sideshows. It conjures up images of a scarf or turban-wearing charlatan who scams desperate people out of their hard-earned money. With that being said, I can see why some Readers shy away from predictions if they associate it with fortune telling. They don’t want to be lumped in with those who are insincere and fraudulent. However, once you know better, you do better. As Readers are we here to serve the public or to serve ourselves? I also think that ego could prevent a Reader from treading the dangerous waters of predictive work because the ego hates to be wrong. I must admit that being wrong on a prediction is a crushing blow to the ego, but it’s not supposed to be about the ego is it? I think that some Readers play it too safe, preferring to err on the side of caution which is to provide abstractions of one’s soul journey. When you cling to this end of the Tarot spectrum, how can a client come back and tell you that you were wrong? They can’t. Soul Journey readings essentially become a fool-proof mechanism. Who is going to question what one’s Soul is dictating since it is such foreign terrain?
Most people in need of a reading are looking for more than philosophical or spiritual abstractions. They come to Tarot Readers primarily for answers, confirmations, insight and guidance; and in order to give the people what they want, a Reader has to be willing to stick his or her neck out. One last thing for all of those who are given the gift of prediction, prophesy, soothsaying, etc. It is important that one remain humble in the course of providing a glimpse into the future and refrain from using this gift for their own self-aggrandizement. Those who abuse the gift can certainly lose the gift.
References:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fortune-telling
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Readings by Rahbinah 