Free Tarot Reading

Verde said:
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No feelings hurt for me, although I have known people who buy into that crap that may made some bad decisions accordingly.

Please note that Mr. Wollipot has never claimed any psychic ability, quite the opposite, in fact.

I would be happy join in with the results of the pattern of the tea-leaves in my morning cuppa. Or look at the shape of my dogs' morning turds (pictures not available).

Go play!

V.
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I appreciate your response. I understand that the OP claims no psychic ability. I have no problem with psychics or mentalists fooling around with guessing numbers in their parlors among friends, for fun. I have no problem with ESP threads on JREF, trying to beat the odds.

My complaint is that a very young, naive, impressionable new member comes here for the sole purpose of getting a reading on what he/she should do about a difficult situation in their life. They see the words "Free Tarot". Often it does not matter what the "seer" claims, even if he says "I have no powers", these marginal cases just do not pay attention.

How does the OP know that this person is not on the edge of madness, or a complete nutcase? The OP proceeds to advise this person to perform in a certain manner, albeit in a very subtle and non threatening way. Belief is a very powerful thing, and to take credit for instructing such life choices is not something to be taken lightly, unless one is just a total sociopath.

It doesn't matter whether it is Tarot, astrology or dog turds, there are people out there who really believe this stuff, and their lives are tightly woven around beliefs that have no substance or reality. If someone simply does not care, and wants to have some fun, well I guess no one can intervene in such a game in any meaningful way, even though it is being transmitted to unknown recipients.

However, having a discussion, telling someone that you disagree with his life choices, that he is headed in the wrong direction if he keeps doing drugs, or any number of unsavory activities is a totally different matter. You see the person's reaction, you care. You are not just lining up toys and making up stories that may affect this individual's life for years to come. You are acting like you care, but you don't. That's the problem.
 
Look, I appreciate your concern. But in the end, contemplating extreme cases isn't really all that constructive. I'm pretty sure the intent of the thread is clear.
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Maybe you could ask the question, "Is the intent of my thread clear?" and lay out some cards to see what they say ... :D
 
Olowkow said:
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My complaint is that a very young, naive, impressionable new member comes here for the sole purpose of getting a reading on what he/she should do about a difficult situation in their life. They see the words "Free Tarot". Often it does not matter what the "seer" claims, even if he says "I have no powers", these marginal cases just do not pay attention.

<snip>
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The sort of person you are describing is most probably going to be going to some source somewhere, anyhow.

In the unlikely instance that they were to end up here, in this thread, I have to think that would be a positive outcome in itself.

Finding themselves in the midst of the JREF Forum, participating in a thread (almost? :p) exclusively populated by skeptics of the paranormal, has got to be a better result than most of the other places they might end up.
 
Olowkow said:
My complaint is that a very young, naive, impressionable new member comes here for the sole purpose of getting a reading on what he/she should do about a difficult situation in their life. They see the words "Free Tarot". Often it does not matter what the "seer" claims, even if he says "I have no powers", these marginal cases just do not pay attention.

How does the OP know that this person is not on the edge of madness, or a complete nutcase? The OP proceeds to advise this person to perform in a certain manner, albeit in a very subtle and non threatening way. Belief is a very powerful thing, and to take credit for instructing such life choices is not something to be taken lightly, unless one is just a total sociopath.
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I understand your concern, I've noticed many on this forum who feel they're protecting people from themselves. However, your proposed negative effects are a bit exaggerated. I trust that the average person would know better than to decide an important life decision based solely on a tarot reading given in some random thread. And if they don't know better, then they've got worse problems to worry about.

Sure, I agree that something done on a lark can lead to a bad time. I once had someone who claimed to be a palm reader (she read one book on the topic) tell me I was going to get cancer. That's f'd up. I also agree that there are some sociopaths who do purposely take advantage of others by charging big bucks for nonsense. But for the most part, exercises in divination, such as these, are as harmless as those done in a college dormitory.
 
Thanks for the comments. I can't really argue with most of your viewpoints, but I still don't get why someone who does not believe in Tarot would ask for a reading from someone who does not believe in Tarot.

I am not trying to spoil your fun, but what exactly is the fun in that? What is the point? To see if there are any hits, by accident? If so, then so what?

Why not simply list a bunch of statements about the person requesting the reading that the reader has made up at random? Then ask if any are accurate. Why are the trappings of Tarot cards important at all if no one believes in them?


Maybe I'm missing something. :confused:
 
Well, the idea as I took it is to communicate how a cold reading runs. If Arthwollipot were to do a "tarot reading" for me, he would have no way of knowing if my answers were correct, and more importantly, I would have no way of knowing if he really did a tarot reading or if he's just making up random stuff.

He could call my bluff at any time.
 
Yes. I can't speak for anyone else, but part of my intent for this thread is to brush up on cold reading skills so that I can potentially demonstrate the process to others in the future. Also to brush up on Tarot, because I already have some experience with it from my neopagan days, and can use it as a tool for that purpose.

I have read Ian Rowland's book, once through, and I plan on studying it in more detail.

Sorry, forgot to do the next reading today. Was too busy Skyrimming...
 
I see it as an interesting experiment on how any form of prediction may work.

Here we know in advance that there is no claims of any kind of accuracy, so we know it is a simple case of interpretation of random media.

If there is any perceived accuracy, it is totally down to chance and the quirks of the reader and the victim... I mean subject :)

That's where the fun comes in.
 
And one other thing. It's an example of how tarot "works" (that is, "works" as in "functions", not "works" as in "predicts someone's future"). You can't really criticise something without a basic understanding of its principles, otherwise more than likely you're criticising a strawman, a caricature of what you think tarot is like, rather than what it actually is and what it does. Tarot cannot tell you your grandfather's middle name, for example. Although some people who claim to be psychics and also use tarot might claim that they can tell you that, it does not and cannot come from the tarot itself.
 
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