By Jeanne Fiorini
A different article than this was prepared for the January Tarot Reflections column. But the official release of my new book was delayed and since the original article referenced key points from that book, a last-minute dash toward a new idea ensued.
So, here’s something I’ve been thinking about, a notion that sprouted from the question, “How accurate are you in your readings?” (Dontcha just love that one?)
We no longer have the luxury of a concrete reality toward which to strive….or within which to complacently live our daily lives. Much as we may rail against it, quantum physics teaches us this truth; creative visualization teaches it; intention, meditation, and goal-setting exercises teach it.
The Tarot can point us toward likely outcomes, or help us create desired outcomes, but it is not a failsafe system of predicting future realities. A reader may have a strong sense of specific possibilities, but if you’re looking for absolute outcomes, forget about it. As my friend Josephine says, “If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.”
I often think of the information and the story that appears on the Tarot table in terms of percentages. Mathematics and percentages tend to soothe the linear mind, even in the face of an uncertain future. I’m apt to make comments such as these during a Tarot session:
- “I’d give it about a 90% shot that a new job is coming for you in the next few months, so if I were you I’d be getting my resume in order.”
- “The likelihood of you getting pregnant this year is about 50/50, it looks like it could go either way. Try to stay calm, stay positive, and see what happens.”
- “The chances of your partner being able to work through his addiction is about 20%...I’m not saying he won’t, it just looks like a tough road.”
- “You could force the relationship with your sister, but the odds are slim that she’ll ever change her opinion of you. You may have to decide to take the relationship as is or to let it go.”
PS: My confidence in people’s ability to make positive changes and to move intentionally through their life is close to 100%. This confidence in the client is as important, in my mind, as is the conveyance of the information from the cards. How valuable is having a conversation with someone who truly believes that you can do and be whatever/whoever you choose? It’s worth the price of admission right there, even before you get to the good stuff from the cards.
OK, let’s get back to the topic at hand: monikers for readers. A Tarot reader’s job requires that they receive input from various sources and then transfer that information to the client. So, to quote George Costanza from Seinfeld, “I’m an importer/exporter.” Or you could call me a day-trader in the commodity of potentialities: in the stock market of life, potentialities are the resource that counts.
As is true for many of you, reading Tarot is my professional work and primary source of income, and so as a matter of course, people pay me for the service. People give me money to talk to them in terms of percentages, in terms of likely outcomes. The client is presented with options and makes choices of their own accord, but money changes hands regardless of the choices and the outcomes.
I think that makes me a bookie …a metaphysical bookie. I guess that’s OK, there are much worse professions in which to be engaged, as are drug dealers or puppy-mill owners, or unethical politicians.
If there was a storefront for your local Tarot-bookie (with a pinstriped awning dotted with Tarot cards and a disco ball floating in the window), their ad in the local Penny Saver might read something like this:
- Lay your bets on your future reality.
- What are the odds that you can accomplish your goals this year?
- What’s the spread between the experiences of 2010 and the potential of 2011?
- How much are you willing to gamble on a new reality?
Try this: do a reading with these questions in mind and see what you can import from the ethers and then export into your life. Happy trading!