You Sir, Are a Space Too!

[Joan Marie]

This is kind of short for a Devil's Advocate post but here I go.

I saw this cartoon on twitter. It looks like its from the 50s or 60s.

Right away I thought you could replace "tarot card" for "abstract painting."

I agree with the sentiment here, that the symbolism is as alive as you are.
Even ancient symbols still speak to us directly - to our eyes and the way we experience life in 2022 - as individuals with unique perspectives.

For example, every body tells us the ouroboros symbolises eternity, or the eternal cycle. Okay, but what does that even mean really? How is that applied to the issue at hand in a reading.

Que sera sera?

Am I the only one who gets a slightly sick feeling when I see the ouroboros just stuck there forever with its tail in its mouth, hopelessly frozen for eternity because it can't break free of of this epic self-own?

Personally I believe that it's important, fun and endlessly interesting to learn about tarot and all the history, symbolism and influences associated with it. From that foundation a reader can find their own voice, and not just repeat the standard boiler plate "card meanings" and preconcieved notions of how things "should" work, how life is "supposed" to go.

Life is so much more complex and interesting and a tarot reading should make a person THINK not just give them answers.

What do you think of the importance of the what the reader brings to the the reading?
Do the cards have the right to look back at us with questions?

[Thelder]

Am I the only one who gets a slightly sick feeling when I see the ouroboros just stuck there forever with its tail in its mouth, hopelessly frozen for eternity because it can't break free of of this epic self-own?

When I see the ouroboros, I am reminded of Freud's 1920 essay, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, in which he postulates that just as there exists the desire to achieve pleasure, to create, and to achieve self-actualization, there also exists a death drive, which is the desire that all have (to some degree) to return to a state of nonexistence. Perhaps, the ouroboros could be interpreted as an expression of this desire to consume oneself and return to a former state of nonexistence or singularity (and perhaps perfection).

What do you think of the importance of the what the reader brings to the the reading?

For me, the answer to this question is not easy to articulate because there is (in my opinion) a very fine line between bringing too much or too little to the reading. The reader must bring just enough of their knowledge, intuition, and experience to benefit from the current message, but not bring so much past knowledge and experience that it interferes with understanding the message that the cards are currently trying to convey. I think Bruce Lee said it best:

“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless...shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.”

Do the cards have the right to look back at us with questions?

If the cards represent a vehicle by which some outside divine force can communicate with us, then that divine force has every right to ask questions of us. If, on the other hand, the cards represent a vehicle by which our own subconscious mind can communicate with us, I think any questions that are being asked are likely to be more subtle (and perhaps harder to understand) as they will require self-reflection, which is not always the most pleasant activity to engage in. I have known people who are so terrified of engaging in the act of self-reflection that they can't bear a single moment of silence and have to constantly have a radio or television playing wherever they are. Regardless of the true source of the questions that the cards might be asking, I agree that it is their ability to make us think that is the source of their true benefit. Once again, Bruce Lee has a quote that seems to apply:

“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”