3 ms·

I was actually thinking that these are a lot like the way I use Tarot cards. They give you a set framework to interpret a situation through. Say I'm unhappy w

I was actually thinking that these are a lot like the way I use Tarot cards. They give you a set framework to interpret a situation through. Say I'm unhappy with my work life and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with the plans I have set out. I'm starting to think that I need to just stop fighting reality and switch to a career I'm very qualified for with guaranteed employment and excellent pay. Unfortunately that career is one that I'm very sure I won't enjoy. It will be a great source of income, but also a lot of stress. I pull a card that is associated with the long slog that it takes to achieve your goals. It's basically just an encouraging little passage that says that the path is hard, but hard work is how you get where you want to be. Looking at it rationally, it's so generic that you could make it apply to basically any situation. Shoot, I could even interpret it in a way that the hard work of the surefire job that I know I won't be happy at will eventually lead me to where I want to be. Instead, I use my knowledge of myself and my current situation and take it as a reminder that what I'm doing will eventually pay off. It helps me view the crappy spot that I'm in as an integral part of getting to where I need to be. It's a tool and a framework. It gives you another lens to view the situation through, which I've found to be incredibly helpful. These cards just seem like a simpler version of that.

mistermann 4y ago
Do you think tarot cards might counterintuitively provide the benefit (either by chance or maybe even by design) of overriding the minds tendency to form beliefs (premature conclusions, aka reality) based on heuristics and "facts"? In a sense, using one form of "mysticism" to cancel out another?
- msrenee 4y ago
  I think that's more or less what I mean. Not my normal vocab, but I think we're saying the same thing or something similar at least. It helps you take a second and reassess assumptions that you otherwise wouldn't have thought to question. There's so many different iterations and styles of Tarot developed by so many people over the last century, couple centuries, or millenia depending on what history you assign to them. It's hard to tell what the intentions were of the groups that originally popularized them. Rider-Waite was obviously the start of what I'd consider our modern Tarot ideas, but everything to do with Tarot has been piled over with so much esoterism and mysticism and general shrouding of the actual history that I don't even care to try to separate fact from narrative. They're useful to me and my deck is pretty and that's about as far as I care to go.

mistermann 4y ago

Do you think tarot cards might counterintuitively provide the benefit (either by chance or maybe even by design) of overriding the minds tendency to form beliefs (premature conclusions, aka reality) based on heuristics and "facts"? In a sense, using one form of "mysticism" to cancel out another?

msrenee 4y ago
I think that's more or less what I mean. Not my normal vocab, but I think we're saying the same thing or something similar at least. It helps you take a second and reassess assumptions that you otherwise wouldn't have thought to question. There's so many different iterations and styles of Tarot developed by so many people over the last century, couple centuries, or millenia depending on what history you assign to them. It's hard to tell what the intentions were of the groups that originally popularized them. Rider-Waite was obviously the start of what I'd consider our modern Tarot ideas, but everything to do with Tarot has been piled over with so much esoterism and mysticism and general shrouding of the actual history that I don't even care to try to separate fact from narrative. They're useful to me and my deck is pretty and that's about as far as I care to go.