Do Tarot Readings Predict the Future Or Leave It Up to Chance?

Having been a dabbler in the art of Tarot as a morewatched, it behaves differently than when it is not,
benign divination tool than my first horrible experienceso say the physicists.
with an Ouija board, I've often wondered if the cardsSo the same cards, the same messages for two or
point to an advice, an event that is scripted tothree months? And still, I prefer to choose. Which
happen, or something that is considered fated orbrings me to the interesting point. The cards are
destined for the recipient.about possibilities for me. If I sit here at my desk
My mother used an Ouija board, read playing cards,and make no choice, I remain the hanged person.
and always knew when the phone was going toThe minute I choose something different, the reading
ring-really!changes. The cards are about choice.
For myself, at about age seven, I played with theSome people say the cards have helped them avoid
board with one of my only playmates on our blockdisasters, paths that shouldn't have been taken,
who was at least five years older than me. But still,warnings that were heeded. But for me, even with all
when I asked the board how old are you, and itthe remarkable and unexplainable readers I've known,
spelled out "dead," was that something athe cards have always been a summation of what
twelve-year-old would think of to say? It scared mewas true for me now, what my experience is at the
and gave me a healthy respect for dead things... andmoment.
that was the last of my divination attempts forWhich means they reveal neither destiny nor fate,
years.but simply choice. If I choose to believe this
The along came the Tarot. And to an artist, justmessage-say, the hanged person and the hermit; I'm
comparing the pictures from deck to deck was astalled and I desire a time for solitude, it becomes
delight. For years, I bought myself a new deck eachthe right and true choice for me. But maybe I don't
year on my birthday. One year, I lined the decks allwant some time of solitude; although all messages
up in rows and took photos-like a poster of imagesseem to be urging it, I move on. And guess what?
which supposedly all pointed to a singularThe cards change. The story is rewritten.
interpretation, or at least a similar interpretation.So, the real question I ask the cards is if this is my
Then, I met a few readers who actually "knew"choice, what is the story? And then I am grateful to
things. Someone who could tell me the details-fromthe Divine that gives me the ability to choose.
another state-of where I was sitting, in front of a bigMy favorite interpretation of this fall and winter
picture window, and that my parakeet was still in theseason has been that of the World; "If your
room with me. He had hung just to my right for eightmotivation is close to the will of the Divine, even if
years, and she had no idea I'd had a parakeet. Evenyou commit an error it will be turned to the greater
my friend who was basically one step up fromgood" (interpretation credit to Tarot.com).
homeless got things right often enough to surpriseThe best choice of all is the one that can do no
and amaze me. Like saying I'd have a red car. I neverharm, and isn't it nice to think that a force greater
wanted a red car, and it was another four yearsthan ourselves can use our choices for good? With all
before I got one because it was the last one on thethe change, and all the dismal headlines, I still long for
showroom floor. Still, I did eventually have a red car.that place or moment in time when all my choices
My talent was to be healing, not divining, but it wascan be the right choice. Choices blessed by the
still fun to do a reading-more fun still to haveDivine. That is what we all long for in our moments
someone divining, but it was still fun to do aof wanting so desperately to know, to see, to
reading-more fun still to have someone else do oneinterpret the future. That somehow, it will all turn the
for me. I'd rather spend my dollars on a TarotWheel to the greater good of all.
reading than a therapy session. You get to discussAnd so we use our intuition to discover our paths,
intimate issues with a complete stranger, they offerour point to meditate on today, our choice to go
advice, loosely based on the cards, and you walkforward with one idea and leave another, and we
away with new ideas of what to do, or whatuse the tools we feel good about to support our
someone else might be thinking or experiencing. A lotchoices. But really, isn't the point to choose, knowing
more fun than exploring the depths of your psychethat even if we choose wrongly we are free to
and/or your projections of your own issues ontochoose again?
someone else.I've long believed that any choice made with good
Then, over time, I started to notice something. Whatintent will ultimately bring good to the bearer. So
can only be actual messages from the cards. I'vefate, destiny, synchronicity, or Divine will isn't what
done readings on two different Web sites withcontrols the cards. What controls the cards is our
different decks and pulled the same cards,belief that we want to bring joy, love, and light into
repeatedly. I've seen the hanged man in two out ofour lives, and the lives of those around us. Sure, we
three readings for the past two months, and indeed,want to avoid chaos and discord, stagnation and
I am between jobs, indecisive, and wishing I couldenforced solitude, but the cards and life show us that
find another road to be on. Almost like the cardsthe reading changes, these things will pass. With
have an intelligence. Or like the cards are an objectnothing but our will and a belief in the Divine, we can
of quantum physics that relays a different outcomechoose again, and watch the story in the pictures
dependent upon being observed. When a particle ischange right before our eyes.