PREDICTIVE TAROT VERSUS PROGRESSIVE TAROT

After last weeks escapade into Easter Eggs and how they find their way into tarot as well, I would like to dwell on a more serious topic today. There are two main ways of interpreting Tarot: In the following I will call these styles Predictive Tarot and Progressive Tarot.

Predictive Tarot

Some tarot readers interpret the cards as a clear and unchangeable prediction of the future or the current situation: "Will my husband leave me for another woman?" "Yes!". "Will I get the Job I am aiming for?" "No!" or even "Yes, but you will not like it".

While cards do give answers, depending on how the energies fall, this is not a very useful way of interpreting the cards. It is partly, because the questions are drafted in a not helpful way, giving the tarot reader the opportunity to be slightly lazy and not actually support the client.

A good tarot reader who wants to show the future, needs to allow for some choice explain to the client that questions must be drafted in a way that the unchangeable truth can still guide the client through life.  A tarot reader who believes in this first philosophy might prefer the answer "there are bad energies over your husband" and therefore still allow for some choice of the client, rather than a "yes" or "no" answer.

Progressive Tarot

There is in my honest opinion another and better way, which starts with asking a different type of question: "Where am I and my husband heading", or "Is this job good for me, if I take it?". Then, the answer can be  what I call "progressive". The cards can show an in-depth behavioural pattern, that, if followed, leads to a certain result. The psychic intuition of the reader is more challenged, because suddenly there are patterns that can be broken, interrupted, problems that can be solved. And just by asking the right kind of question, the client unblocks the problem mentally, and the reader can show a way out of the bad situation.

Effectively, the cards are being divided in current situation, and if the current pattern and attitudes are followed, how the future could look like. If there is a negative card, other cards will be drawn to give direct advise what should be changed. The spread is less fixed, because the "advise cards" can sit on top of negative cards.

It requires for the tarot reader to direct the client to the right questions, speak to the client and find out where the problem is and discuss the options with him/her. It makes for a far more intuitive and interesting reading.

However, sometimes, clear answers are simply required. The cards will give the right answers, even when there is no resolution. Sometimes, a simple "yes" or "no" is all it takes to unblock the situation by itself.

The purpose of tarot is not only to speak about the problems, but to offer solutions. This is only one way of adding value to a tarot session, and to allow the client to leave the session with a positive feeling and new energy to tackle the problems.

In my course, I speak about the different ways of reading tarot, and when they can be appropriate for the situation. Please leave comments!