How does the tarot work?

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performer
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How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » January 31st, 2020, 7:48 am

People either think I am stark raving mad or telling fibs when I state that I believe 100% in the power of Tarot cards. They know I have a history as a svengali deck hustler and a background in dealing with rogues and vagabonds of all descriptions so they assume wrongly that what I do as a psychic reader is all a sham. Well, it bloody well isn't! I have always stated that there are logical and common sense reasons that Tarot cards work and there is nothing whatsoever "supernatural" about it. I do not believe in Jung's theory of synchronicity even if I knew what the hell it was. I think it means that that the cards selected can only come up at that moment of space and time. I can't go along with that and I do believe the cards come up at random. However, it is not just the cards that are the important part. It is the individual reader who somehow fits the cards to the person he or she is reading.

I have always said that the same spread of cards can apply to Adolf Hitler just as well as it can apply to Mother Theresa. All too complicated to explain so I won't bother. However, I have lately come across a wonderful teacher of the Tarot by the name of Vincent Pitisci who has come up with a theory which is vaguely similar to my own as to why the Tarot REALLY works and is not a load of malarkey that some daft magicians who don't understand spiritual matters seem to think. He calls it "conceptual blending" which sounds suitably intellectual but really is another phrase for "common sense".

Anyway here you are. All explained in a 12 minute video that I suspect most of you won't watch to the very end. I think you should------you might learn something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EVS1nDlPjo

Anthony Vinson
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Anthony Vinson » January 31st, 2020, 12:37 pm

This cat really needs to consider scripting and rehearsal before filming. He could easily have condensed his thesis into seven minutes or fewer. That said, the Tarot as an intuitive thinking tool? I can get behind the idea. In fact, I used a Tarot deck once as a corporate training/thinking tool. The results were positive. No more positive than other methods, but the novelty of the Tarot lent a certain amount of fun to the exercise. Unfortunately, a problem child in the class later complained to HR that I was using satanic tools - seriously - and I was admonished to never use the Tarot again. I switched to a couple of Von Oech's marketed ideation decks and no one complained.

So, perhaps I intuitively intuited the intuitive possibilities of the Tarot?

Av

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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » January 31st, 2020, 1:24 pm

He is indeed long winded. However, if a mere 12 minutes teaches you something you can use for your entire life then why begrudge it? And presumably a large percentage of people who view the video want to know how to learn the tarot so the knowledge would indeed be valuable to them.

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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » January 31st, 2020, 6:52 pm

@Performer; how to proceed, open eye or shut eye?
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

Bob Coyne
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Bob Coyne » January 31st, 2020, 7:25 pm

Thanks for posting this. I always assumed this is how the Tarot worked. I think he's claiming something as a big discovery that's really sort of obvious. It would be more interesting/informative if he showed an example of how it worked (e.g. how readings can go this way or that based on the card configuration and intuitions about the subject) rather than just talking about it in general terms.

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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » January 31st, 2020, 10:52 pm

Oh, he does explain it in more detail. However, if you think the above video was long winded wait until you see this one! It will be an example of "be careful what you wish for"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srrDutnZIXI

I just purchased one of his books and oddly enough it is very succinct! It is called Stray Tarot and tells you how to make money with the tarot! (Now I think you know why I purchased it)

https://www.amazon.com/Stray-Tarot-How- ... 1983608327

I suspect Vincent has some interest in magic. Call it a psychic vibe if you like! I have seen him absent mindedly toy with the tarot in his videos and it looks like he is about to spring the cards from one hand to the other but changes his mind! And in one video I swear he was about to back palm a tarot card but decides not to bother! The final straw was when I saw this video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n9D5AGAiss

It is actually an expose of Poker Player's Picnic done with the tarot deck! I was greatly amused at his suggestion that instead of producing the 4 aces you produce four death cards! (three from other decks!). I think that would be even more effective for difficult spectators than my previously described banana trick! On second thoughts I had better resist temptation............

I have actually become a big fan of his work. He is an excellent teacher and his approach is different and indeed refreshing. I don't go along with everything he says and writes but he also says that no one system of reading is sacrosanct and that there are many different ways of reading and none of them are wrong.

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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » January 31st, 2020, 10:54 pm

Jonathan Townsend wrote:@Performer; how to proceed, open eye or shut eye?


One eye open, another eye shut..............

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chetday
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby chetday » February 1st, 2020, 3:30 pm

performer wrote:
Jonathan Townsend wrote:@Performer; how to proceed, open eye or shut eye?


One eye open, another eye shut..............

I believe that's called the Wink variation in certain circles.

On a serious note, my late wife was really good with reading a Tarot deck, and she stunned me on several occasions, especially when we were first married, with the insights she saw in the cards.

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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » February 1st, 2020, 9:28 pm

I quite believe you. A combination of intuition blended with whatever meanings you ascribe to the cards can be very powerful indeed. Here is another tarot expert I rather admire. Incidentally the young lady in the video is in showbusiness too as a singer songwriter and happens to be his niece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqRDs-yZgGc

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chetday
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby chetday » February 2nd, 2020, 11:12 am

Mark, thanks for the video links. I'm finding them all quite interesting, especially the latest one where you were on Spiritualize Me TV. I liked the way your comments to your niece combine good common sense advice for living (don't make decisions when you're angry or impulsive but instead make them when you're in a calm frame of mind) as well as both your intuition and your own life experiences from so many years of knowing what makes an audience (of one or of many) tick.

I guess what I'm saying here is that it's clear you use the same basic principles about understanding and playing to a specific audience for both your magic and psychic performances.

Good stuff. I've learned quite a bit from this thread, and I wish my wife was still alive because I know she'd find the videos very interesting, too. Maybe I'll contact her in the spirit world this afternoon and point her to the links... :)

Bob Farmer
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Bob Farmer » February 2nd, 2020, 4:44 pm

For more uses of the Tarot, please consult The Bammo Tarodiction Toolbox which has everything a satanic mechanic might need, including Aleister Crowley's last Tarot message. More info at Bammomagic@cogeco.ca

Incidentally, the I Ching is a good method for shaking your thought processes loose. It isn't necessary to use the cards: simply get an I Ching book and open it at random for ideas.

PressureFan
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby PressureFan » February 2nd, 2020, 5:51 pm

A recent Ouija session revealed the following spirit message from The Magician of the Golden Dawn;

Regarding tomes nonfiction,
There’s simply no contradiction.
Be you sane or manic,
Pious, satanic,
You really must read Tarodiction.

Jonathan Townsend
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » February 2nd, 2020, 5:58 pm

We interrupt our normal wanderings for this tranderivational search string;

...starting a search for meaning rather than being provocative. We don't find many decks with suits (minor arcana) of taxes, tumors, promises and medication, or major arcana depicting instant messages, elections, letters...

Anything not covered in Trance-formations?

Bob's ideas are useful - buy his items.

*okay back to getting ready for the game on TV.
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

performer
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » February 2nd, 2020, 8:27 pm

chetday wrote:
Good stuff. I've learned quite a bit from this thread, and I wish my wife was still alive because I know she'd find the videos very interesting, too. Maybe I'll contact her in the spirit world this afternoon and point her to the links... :)


Chet. I am sure you know that you don't have to contact the spirit world. You probably know perfectly well that she is still there. Someone can be in the next room ---you can't see them but you know they are there nevertheless. I think she probably looks in on you from time to time.

As for Tarotdiction that is a trick. No serious reader ever uses tricks in a reading. I would never under any circumstances use Tarot cards in any kind of trick. To me that is almost sacrilegious and disrespectful to both the cards and the client. I wouldn't use them in a non reading situation either. It is like a fundamentalist Christian doing anti gravity glasses or a book test with the New Testament.

As for the I Ching every time I do a one hour session I ALWAYS do the I Ching. I only do five minutes with it but it is the most important part of the reading. However, you can't just open it at random and pick phrases out. There is a ritual that you have to go through throwing coins (preferably Chinese ones) to address the concerns of the client and provide answers.

Anyway here is my website describing my services. It is not a very good website as I designed it myself which is a miracle in itself. However, it doesn't have to be a good website anyway. I am busy enough without one. Besides I am a spiritual advisor not a bloody computer geek.

www.marklewispsychic.com

Diego
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Diego » February 3rd, 2020, 1:37 am

The late T.A. Waters, also affirmed the validity/valid use of tarot cards. In discussions regarding readings, he would dismiss learning cold reading lines, and say why do all that? Just read the cards instead and share what they say. Instead of learning cold reading lines, learn the actual meanings of the tarot.

To some this sounds logical and to others following _____ belief/tradition is nonsense...but theirs makes perfect sense to them.

I can remember when T.A. was the Librarian at The Magic Castle, I overheard him and a friend laughing at a book by an evangelical christian magician who affirmed his beliefs...but less than an hour later, he was affirming to me his belief in the tarot Beliefs is like marriage: everyone thinks the OTHER person is nuts.

performer
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » February 3rd, 2020, 11:01 am

T A Waters was right. Some of the worst readers I have ever come across use "cold reading" lines.

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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » February 3rd, 2020, 7:47 pm

Diego wrote:... Instead of learning cold reading lines, learn the actual meanings of the tarot...
?? Meaning as in how to use an oracle or meaning as in standard script for card readings - aka Chinese room? Eyes open or eyes shut. Auspices or affirmations. Please choose wisely.

Apropos or appropriation? :D
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

Brad Henderson
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby Brad Henderson » February 3rd, 2020, 9:47 pm

Just learned that tonight’s mystery school tv webcast will be on the tarot.

http://virtual.magicalwisdom.com/tv

performer
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby performer » February 3rd, 2020, 9:53 pm

I made a comment on Vincent's card trick video showing him a link to me doing the svengali deck at a psychic fair. I was delighted to see him reply thus:

"Ha!!! Hi Mark!! I just watched your YouTube. You are great! Funny too and a good performer. I loved it. Im glad you like my work as well from one card reader to another! Best to you Mark – Vincent"

magicfish
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Re: How does the tarot work?

Postby magicfish » December 29th, 2020, 10:52 pm

I have all of Pitisci's books.
They are all excellent. If one has studied all his previous writings, his latest, Bare-Bones Tarot, may be his best yet.


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