Common Tarot Myths

Tarot is often surrounded by an air of mystery and we grow up hearing about the evil in the cards. Is any of this true? Lets apply logic to common myths and see what we come up with…

Your first tarot deck must be gifted to you

The reasoning behind this myth varies widely, from karma to the ways the cards speak to you to initiation rites and practices. Whatever the reason the myth fails to adhere to my firm belief the cards are nothing but a tool. The same way a hammer is just a hammer until someone picks it up tarot cards are just paper and ink. Tarot cards are an inanimate object, they are not going to walk across the room, hit you over the head and tell you to wise up. You must pick them up, focus your own energy / intent and shuffle in order to get knocked upside the head by tarot.

Only gifted or psychic people can read tarot

This is absolutely false. Let’s go back to the hammer comparison… a three year old can pick up and use that hammer. Will you be able to tell the difference between that three year old’s work and a master carpenter’s work? Sure, however that holds no bearing on the fact the toddler was still able to pick up and use the tool.

Intuition is innate. We all have it regardless of our belief system. With study and a tiny bit of self-confidence, yes, anyone can read tarot or oracle cards. Start with the original card meanings and as you grow comfortable with your knowledge there begin reading the symbology intuitively.

Tarot tells the future

While a tarot reader may have other gifts nothing and no one tells the future. Psychics are wrong most of the time, not one exists with 100% accurate reads. Tarot provides guidance and probable outcomes. Every single decision you make changes the future just a bit. Every single decision those around you make also affects your future.

@newercreation

Answer to @slimsilkee Nothing in life is set in stone. ##prediction ##fortune ##tarot ##future ##fypシ

♬ A-O-K – Tai Verdes

Tarot cards are magic

Tarot cards are an inanimate object, ink and paper, they have no life of their own. Let the deck sit on a table overnight and their energy will be no different than a deck of Pokemon cards. It is the readers own energy that brings life to the reading and seemingly the cards themselves.

There are rules or rituals you must follow

Don’t spread the cards with your right hand, only with your left; you must never touch someone else’s cards; you must smudge your cards every x readings; you must cleanse your cards with crystals; you must wrap your deck with this or that material to protect it… these and many other rules and rituals make no sense. As established above, the cards are not magical, therefore outside influences (people’s touch, the environment, etc.) cannot possibly affect their perceived powers as they have no powers on their own. The energy comes from the reader and possibly the querent. The handling, shuffling and storing of your decks is completely up to you, however you are comfortable. Personally my cards go back in their original box after use, no silk cloths, no fancy boxes covered in symbols for me.

There are good and bad cards

A common misconception, no card is good or bad. Cards such as the devil, the tower and the death card are often misinterpreted as inherently bad or evil when this is not true. Change can save a life. Death is most often the ending of one chapter of life and the beginning of another. The devil represents the material world, attachments, addictions, not a literal devil.

The cards are a method of communication and can be read in a variety of ways. In any reading you receive, either by yourself or having a reading done professionally, what’s important is taking what resonates and applying it to your life in a way which brings about positive changes. The reading is never set in stone, the reading serves as guidance to get you to the best place the universe has for you.

Tarot readings are completely accurate

Rarely. You can have a reading with the highest rated tarot reader alive today and it will not be 100% accurate. This is due to the nature of tarot, the bias of the reader during interpretation and your own ability to change the outcome of any prediction made in your life by changing your decisions. Treat all readings as guidance and remember you always have free will, no one’s fate is set in stone.

In summary, tarot is what you make it. The cards are a tool, neither good nor evil. Let go of the rules / myths you have been taught and let your own intuition take you where it will, embrace your chaos and find your freedom.

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