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?
4 comments:
Tarot is a tool. Is it possible to have an obligation to a tool? If you don't follow up, or follow through, what harm are you doing tarot? At most, you may be harming yourself, but you could do equal harm by overthinking.
Interesring questions/concept! To suppose we may have an obligation to the over-arching entity known as Tarot means, I would think, that we define what that is, right? To me it is almost like the collective unconscious than Jung writes of, or no, I guess the collective consciousness because it is layer after layer a summation of the thought and usage of countless people (including ourselves!) who through time have made it into an instrument to access the whole of human experience. So we do owe that some respect. Yes, we need to take in the answer we are given and if we don't get it or don't like what we get we need to live with it for a while until the answer emerges. In my old/new Tarot note book I have a quote from Rilke that seems appropriate to this. He said: "The point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day to the answer."
Tarot is a tool but its source is the Self. Plus possibly Mystery Factor X. So though I'm very light on ceremony, and will whip the cards out more or less anytime :) I feel I owe the Tarot my respectful attention. I may override the Tarot's advice, time will tell how rightly or wrongly. Even so, I will have been equipped with a hint for how to position myself in respect of a given situation. Forewarned is forearmed etc.
Since what the tarot cards have to tell you is from within you (in my view/opinion), if you don't listen, wish to hear/see the obvious or can't see it now it will come to you later. You'll have to learn somehow, either the "easy" way or the "hard" way.
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