Tarot cards for non-Tarot purposes

[Ghoti]

Ghoti:



Uh, I’m… not sure how to take this. I don’t play with Tarot cards… I gave it up after I realized that using playing cards to tell the future was a new level of dumb. I thought people only went to hell if they rejected Jesus’ mercy and refused to ask forgiveness for sins and turn away from doing evil? And… I thought that asking about it on the forums would be a good way to avoid doing evil? I mean… the general consensus was that it’s not a good idea to use the computer generated Tarot deck for my writing, so I’m sticking to more licit random storyline generators for inspiration.



I don’t know if I’m being terribly dense and missing the joke or if that was personally directed at me. I will withhold any judgement or any further comments until you’ve had a fair chance at a rebuttle.

:hypno:

Sorry…it was a joke. Totally tongue-in-cheek.

IMHO, “Catholic” and “Tarot” (the use of, anyway) are mutually exclusive. So, if you use the Tarot for divination, you’re committing mortal sin (I think we all agree on that). So it was just jokes on going to hell, inspired by the particular card (Wheel of Fortune, buy a vowel; Death, the wages of sin; The World, “What doth it profit…”; etc). The “punch line” was that The Devil, ironically, did not have to do with the real devil, but some namby-pamby felgercarb about self-enslavement etc – followed immediately by the standard malediction of “you’re going to hell”, anyway.

Sorry if my joke fell flat. It was not a judgement directed at you.

I bought a Tarot back in the day; it was the “Aquarian Tarot”. I may buy another. Nothing to do with magic or sorcery; it’s just that the whole deck is illustrated in my favourite design style, Art Deco.

As for using a tarot (online or otherwise) to generate story ideas, I see no problem if that’s all you use it for; one could easily use the I Ching for the same purpose. And as for leading someone else into temptation – as an author I believe you have the right to keep to yourself your inspiration/source for ideas.

Cheers.

 

[Scottgun]

Things have objective meaning whatever our subjective intent. It doesn’t matter if Tarot cards have any actual power or not. What does matter is that they have an undeniable connection to occult practice and playing with them no matter what one intends puts one in proximity to that.

I spoke to one Catholic who kept Tarot cards and rationalized that since he wan’t using them for divination, he just liked the pretty pictures, it was ok. I told him to try this test: Put a bunch of pictures of ex-girlfriends on his dresser. When the wife asks appropriately, “What the hell are you doing?” say that you don’t intend on doing anything with these women, you just like the pretty pictures. I told him to get back to me and tell me how that went (assuming he survived).

We are married to God, and running around with the various occult paraphenalia is like a husband running around with pics and mementos of other women, even if he never actually does anything with them. Thow out all that stuff. You can’t put a price on a clear conscience.

 

[adstrinity]

If they keep casting spells for money, how come they’re always hitting me up for cash?

Let’s look at this.

They cast spells for money.

You give them money, that is, they get money…

It seems like it’s working to me. I needs to learns me one o’ dem spells.

**X—The Wheel of Fortune: **Buy a vowel: Y__'r_ g__ng t_ h_ll.

O? Yor gong to holl?
U? Yur gung tu hull?
I? Yir ging ti hill?
E? Yer geng te hell?
A? Yar gang ta hall?
Sometimes Y? Yyr gyng ty hyll?

I’d like a y, please, Pat.

Some of my colleagues who were psychology interns referred to his stuff as “undifferentiated sexual-aggressive material”. I don’t think this was a compliment.

ROTFLOLOL!!! Wow, I don’t suppose you know why they categorized him as such? That seems heavy…and bad.

 

[tabsie3210]

Sorry…it was a joke. Totally tongue-in-cheek.

IMHO, “Catholic” and “Tarot” (the use of, anyway) are mutually exclusive. So, if you use the Tarot for divination, you’re committing mortal sin (I think we all agree on that). So it was just jokes on going to hell, inspired by the particular card (Wheel of Fortune, buy a vowel; Death, the wages of sin; The World, “What doth it profit…”; etc). The “punch line” was that The Devil, ironically, did not have to do with the real devil, but some namby-pamby felgercarb about self-enslavement etc – followed immediately by the standard malediction of “you’re going to hell”, anyway.

Sorry if my joke fell flat. It was not a judgement directed at you.

I bought a Tarot back in the day; it was the “Aquarian Tarot”. I may buy another. Nothing to do with magic or sorcery; it’s just that the whole deck is illustrated in my favourite design style, Art Deco.

As for using a tarot (online or otherwise) to generate story ideas, I see no problem if that’s all you use it for; one could easily use the I Ching for the same purpose. And as for leading someone else into temptation – as an author I believe you have the right to keep to yourself your inspiration/source for ideas.

Cheers.

EEP! I’m an idiot!

I’m sorry. Thank you for explaining - I was staring at the screen and thinking, “All my brain synapses fused at the same time!” Occasionally I can’t get a joke. I’m sorry! You’re a wonderful person and I ask your pardon for being such a blond (even though my hair is actually just below black…).

My fault. Sorry, sorry!

 

[Ghoti]

O? Yor gong to holl?
U? Yur gung tu hull?
I? Yir ging ti hill?
E? Yer geng te hell?
A? Yar gang ta hall?
Sometimes Y? Yyr gyng ty hyll?

I’d like a y, please, Pat.

Hmmm…thanx for pointing that out. I’ll fix that bit up before I try that joke again.

BTW, most of those that you did, if you read them aloud, sound like bad Scottish accents.

EEP! I’m an idiot!

I’m sorry. Thank you for explaining - I was staring at the screen and thinking, “All my brain synapses fused at the same time!” Occasionally I can’t get a joke. I’m sorry! You’re a wonderful person and I ask your pardon for being such a blond (even though my hair is actually just below black…).

My fault. Sorry, sorry!

Nah…no worries, mate!

Not your fault…I tend to try a lot of jokes, some do well, some…meh.

As for your synapses fusing…I’ve noticed I’ve had more than my fair share of my gears grinding to a halt. Today was one of those days it did not pay to get out of bed. Or at least my brain thought so, because I got up and went to work and I think my cerebrum stayed behind…yup, there it is, still on the pillow, right where I left it.

You think it’s bad now? Wait till your forty!

God bless.

 

[tarot_gamer]

Look, a stack of Tarot cards is pretty-painted paste board. They can’t tell the future, they can’t tell the past, they can’t read your mind, and they burn at 451 degress F like any other blob of paper.

Tarot started out as an Italian card game, and is where we get our regular playing cards from. They were just pretty because Italians like to doll up everything. (Yes, I’m proud of my Italian heritidge. )

Here’s a comment from a tarot game player. I think the title of the thread should really be “Tarot cards for non-divination purposes” Part of the problem is defining “tarot” as “divination” or “fortune telling” It’s a poor habit which I find stereotypes the card games which are still played especially in countries like France. Tarot game players are having their websites and other works mistakenly categorized as “occult” or “paranormal” based on the default assumption we have that tarot is fortune telling. It is correct that tarot, at least originally conceived, is a family of card games having nothing to do with occultism. However, we did not actually get our regular playing cards from tarot. It’s the other way around. The tarot was created in Italy as a variant of the then standard playing card deck.

Some good sources for tarot games still played would be
pagat.com/tarot
and
gameoftarot.com

 

[AntiTheist]

As people have already noted on this thread, Tarot cards are a bunch of pretty pictures on cardboard that have their origin as a game.

They don’t have any “powers,” and they can’t predict the future. No one, as far as anyone can tell, can predict the future.

The cards do have a number of other interesting uses. The OP cites a good one – using tarot cards to make up the background and plot arc of a character in a piece of fiction.

The cards can also be used – believe it or not – as a vehicle for self-knowledge. Once you get past all the “occult” mumbo jumbo, you realize that the layout of a tarot card reading is completely and totally random and has absolutely nothing to do with the future. However, what it does do is give you a set of symbols with more or less objective meanings through which you can reflect on situations in your life.

One of the problems we have in coming to decisions is that we’re a prisoner of our thought patterns. Doing a tarot reading forces you to look at a situation through different perspectives, ones you might not otherwise look through. Being able to do this is great training for your mind and will – ironically – give you a better perspective on the situations in your life, all without the occult, spiritual mumbo-jumbo.

 

[kenofken]

A lot of beliefs about tarot among both Christians and New Agers are pure bunk. As a pagan who sometimes (though not frequently) uses tarot and other oracles, I don’t lose a lot of sleep over whether people think it’s “licit” to do so, but I would offer a couple of morsels for thought. To the extent they are used as an oracle, tarot has nothing to do with “spirit guides” of any kind. People DO sometimes try to consult spirits, ancestor etc for guidance, but that’s a whole different area. Suffice it to say that A) not all spirits are terribly bright or worth consulting and B) linear time as we know it is sort of a foreign concept to most of them, so asking them to “tell your future” is rather pointless.

Back on the cards: when properly used, they also do not “tell your future.” Rather, they offer insight into the present. It’s nothing more than a symbolic picture language to help your unconscious mind, the non-verbal one, pay attention to and relate what is already at play in your life. It’s really no more “magical” or sinister than when a mathematician takes a derivative of a function on a graph. It won’t tell you the end all be all of what happens to your x-value way down the line, but it tells you where it’s heading on its current course. Is it trending up or down, or sideways?

In terms of oracles, this can also be done with any number of symbols or objects, even common ones laying around the house. Even a plain old poker deck of cards. It can be done without the aid of any tools at all. That’s all Tarot is in this sense, a tool. It’s a very elegant and versatile one because they symbols in traditional tarot systems have many many layers of symbolism with correspondences in Kaballah, numerology, color correspondences, alchemy etc. The whole story of creation and the fall of man is contained in that deck if you know how to look for it. It’s an absolutely stunning piece of artwork and symbolism and storytelling even if you never use it as an oracle.

That being the case, I think you’d be an absolute fool to discount it as a vehicle for your fiction writing. And I would make sure to study a real deck, not only some digital rendering. These cards have no inherent “occult” power beyond what you yourself possess, and it’s certainly your choice whether to exercise that power, whether or not you ever touch or even look at a tarot deck.

Please understand that I’m not trying to convert anyone or make small of your religious convictions. If you believe you’re bound not to do oracle work, don’t do it. But I have to say I’m somewhat bemused by the almost superstitious terror of anything outside of your experience which even has a whiff of “occult” about it. People seem to think that if your thoughts stray to ANYTHING exotic, it’s a spiral slide to Satan’s arms. That attitude really shortchanges your intelligence and quite frankly, the power of your own savior.

 

[edwest2]

Forget about the tarot cards.

If you need help building characters then just keep a few simple rules in mind.

1. Motivation. Good guy or bad guy, why does he do the things he does?
2. Object of his desire. Whatever the story is, the main character has a goal. He wants to be with a certain person, commit the perfect robbery, find someone or something. Or simply help people.
3. Flaws. Fear of certain things, people or places. Physical handicap.

Whether your character is a superhero, detective, soldier, or average guy, he is faced with some problem or situation that he wants to overcome or a problem he wants to solve. The hero/soldier needs to defeat the bad guys. The detective needs to solve the crime by finding clues and determining who did it. The average guy needs to find a way to deal with fear or rejection and other common life problems that your reader can identify with.

Learning how to write takes time, but tarot cards are just not a good avenue to explore building characters.

I suggest visiting your library and asking about books for writers, like Creating Characters by Howard Lauther.

Hope this helps,
Ed

 

[tarot_gamer]

Back on the cards: when properly used, they also do not “tell your future.” Rather, they offer insight into the present.

When tarot is properly used, it is used for a card game! There is no such thing as a proper non gaming use of tarot.

 

[Bookcat]

I would not touch such things…nor use them even for “normal games”…

any more than I would use an Ouija board as a tv-table-tray

 

[tarot_gamer]

I would not touch such things…nor use them even for “normal games”…

any more than I would use an Ouija board as a tv-table-tray

but tarot cards are not like Ouija boards. To use tarot cards for “normal” games is to actually use them for their original purpose. To use tarot for fortune telling is more comparable to using a Ouija board as a TV try.

gameoftarot.com

 

[tarot_gamer]

Tarot cards are really not much more different than playing cards.The key difference is in the marketing in countries like the US. Playing cards are sold for gaming while the tarot is sold only for fortune telling. Fortune tellers have also used regular playing cards for divination. So tarot and playing cards are both used for games and for divination.

In other countries like France and Austria, there are tarot cards sold for purposes of game playing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot,_tarock_and_tarocchi_games

 

[minion]

Sorry for the necro-bump

Just kind of confused…is there a final consensus on whether using Tarot for non-divination purposes is okay?

I used to use them for contemplation/meditative purposes, and own a few different decks because I followed certain artists/illustrators. I never saw the harm, because my grandmother used to use them for gambling & card games.

 

[Bookcat]

I would burn them (did many many years back)

Avoid anything of the occult

 

[minion]

Um, I’m not burning a tarot deck from an artist I’ve met, who was extremely kind to me.

That would be like her burning a Rosary I gave her because she’s not Catholic.