What's Your Obligation to the Tarot?

People come to the Tarot for lots of reasons. They want answers. They want a glimpse of the future. They want a chat with a trusted friend. They want an opinion. They want options. They want to feel a connection with Something or Someone bigger than they are.

A Tarot deck can deliver any or all of this.

But what then?

Let's say you ask, "Why shouldn't I go steady with Martin?" Perhaps the Tarot replies "Eight of Swords," and you take that to mean, "Because doing so will make you feel hemmed in or restricted by your choices." You asked for an answer, and got one. Do you have any obligation to take it?

Or maybe you ask, "What happens in my relationship with Martin?" and the Tarot replies, "Ten of Cups." Given that glimpse of the future, do you do anything differently? Should you? Are you obligated to?

Or maybe you ask the Tarot, "Give me three options for improving my relationship with Martin." It replies: The Tower, the Six of Wands, the King of Coins. None of these options conform to your expectations, so you shuffle the cards and try again. Was there a message for you in that first draw? Were you obligated, in any way, to work it out?

Or perhaps you ask, "What is the lesson my relationship with Martin is designed to teach me?" and draw a card depicting a beardless man on a throne. You look at the picture, and an answer pops into your head. But you also notice the man's three-tiered hat, the strange gesture he makes with his right hand, the triple-bar cross he carries, the crossed keys on the floor before him, and two figures with odd haircuts kneeling at his feet.

You wonder, briefly, if these things mean something. Are they part of the card's message for you? Do you have any obligation to look them up, to figure them out, to work them into whatever answer you perceive?

When you pose a question, the Tarot dutifully generates answer after answer. It keeps the bargain. It fulfills its obligations.

Do you have any obligations to Tarot?

Do you keep them?

Four Suits of Social Media: Wands

At the day job, I work with social media for a big company. We talk a lot about our goals and intentions: what we want to do with social media, why we're doing it, and whether or not we're doing it well.

I'm delighted to see members of my Tarot tribe on Facebook, on Twitter, on Google+, blogging. Sometimes, though, I wonder if they've paused to ask, "What's my intention around all this interaction?" Or, in other words: "What's my goal here?"

Let's say you're posting a Card of the Day to Twitter. (Lots of Tarot people do.) Do you know *why* you're posting a card a day? Do you have a goal in mind -- something that posting a card a day will help you achieve? And -- more importantly, because this is *social* media, after all -- is your goal clear to us?

Are you posting links to cool Tarot related stuff? (We like that.) Are you relentlessly promoting your own appearances and readings and books and services? (We get a lot of that.) Are you making an effort to share something that only you can share -- something no one else has to offer? (We'll love you for it. And we'll tell our friends.)

Posting something is easy.

But knowing *why* you're posting it -- and making sure that all your posts are aligned with your intentions -- well, that's harder.