Does The Tarot Teach That Your Thoughts Create Your Reality?

January 7

I found this quote last night by Dr. Wayne Dyer ~

"You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality."

On the table of The Magician's card are the wand (passion), cup (emotions), sword (thoughts) & pentacle (the physical realm).

My uneducated mind tells me yes, The Magician card points to that we are the creators of our reality and even being so the very 1st card of the Major Arcana.

But I really don't know. Or is the above quote just another example of new age gaslighting? Or is there something to it.

Can our thoughts create things? Is this what the tarot teaches?

My tarot books don't talk about this.

Rick-

Edited January 7 by RickInBakersfield
add sentence

January 7

I guess it depends on which deck you´re using 😊. I can´t help but show you this card from an old, German version of the TdM. This particular card does not indicate the power of one's mind, but rather the power of a delicious picnic 😁.

(This image is from the British museum, but I do not have a direct link at hand right now)

Edited January 7 by Raggydoll

January 7

In some of the schools related to Tarot(western view to Kabbalah etc.) there is the idea of Higher Mental(Mental Planes) and Lower Mental focus...

Higher Mental is like a framework all operates on. So the "paths" behind it all(or at least behind our local places).
Lower Mental are "thoughts" human ideas etc. If one digs into that(the old neurolinguistic studies can help a lot with that), we can see its entirely based on our language and pathways in the brain and other places.

If we know more then one language, these can be seen from more points of view.

Do our thoughts create our Universe... I don't think so. That combined with a lot of other stuff and interacting with larger "Domains" that flow through it, all together seem to do it. But in the way that happens, the influence of the place one is in(House - Place of Sitting etc.) seems to be stronger then their belief system for example.

One of the reasons in the East there is so much development in Feng Shui, Vastu and other similar studies(how the environment and place one is staying at affect their life), it seems that brings up the essence of the events that will happen, more then what we are thinking, yet our thoughts flow from that. But if we chance our thoughts, there is a limit to how much of the "house" we can fix.

Complex topics I guess... But in how our Universe manifest it seems the House we are in plays larger role then our thoughts. Thoughts are mostly reflection of outside events, they can't do much by themselves, other then change out body's response to things. That can be a lot, but it can't create events alone, it can just change how they are going.

Yet as they are mirrors of something, same as emotions are, that mirror can point to it and that could be changed, as it is part of our Universe to begin with. So they can be "used" to change stuff.

With that idea thoughts and emotions are more a response to events. They can change our bodys reactions, but they can't really create much. Yet similar to using a mirror to see something that isn't seen otherwise, one can use them to access stuff that isn't accessible otherwise. That can change events, but on whatever level that stuff is, thoughts are unlikely to be the main tool used in the change we seek.

January 7

1 hour ago, RickInBakersfield said:

Can our thoughts create things? Is this what the tarot teaches?

I'll leave the first question unattended.

Concerning the second one: No, the Tarot in itself does not teach such a thing - it is esoteric schools that do, alongside those who took a liking to the idea, schooled or not.

Those then took the Tarot and imposed their idea thereon, with varying levels of success.

The RWS itself is one such pack.

January 7

Our thoughts impact how we feel and how we behave. Our feelings and behaviors can have an impact on how people perceive us and how they behave towards us. So yes, our thoughts can definitely help shape our reality.

On a magical level, yes there are things we can alter with the help of our mind and our thoughts. There will always be limits, and those limitations will depend on circumstances. Certain individuals seem to have more success with this kind of magic than others, and I’m sure there are multiple reasons for this. Being more experienced and more skilled is an obvious factor. Being able to tap into forces outside of oneself (whether it’s nature energies or ancestral energies) in order to boost one’s mind, is also a factor.

January 7

5 hours ago, RickInBakersfield said:

I found this quote last night by Dr. Wayne Dyer ~

"You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality."

I find much "new Age" philosophy to be shallow. But it sells books and courses to a population that has largely abandoned Religion in the older sense--i.e. when everyone went to their Church , Temple, or Mosque.

As @Mister mentions,Tarot does NOT teach any sort of philosophy--New Age or otherwise. Has it been linked with philosophical traditions in its various iterations? Yes. Neoplanonism, Kabbalah, Astrology, Thelema, Theosophy, etc. But the symbolism in older decks like Tarocchi and TdM is different than GD or RWS or Thoth. TdM in particular has a whole school of thought that REJECTS philosophy and simply reads the cards.

4 hours ago, Deian said:

Do our thoughts create our Universe... I don't think so. That combined with a lot of other stuff and interacting with larger "Domains" that flow through it, all together seem to do it. But in the way that happens, the influence of the place one is in(House - Place of Sitting etc.) seems to be stronger then their belief system for example ... One of the reasons in the East there is so much development in Feng Shui, Vastu and other similar studies(how the environment and place one is staying at affect their life), ...

Interesting point. I'm quite sensitive to environment. And unless we;re architects, our thoughts don't design or build our houses. We occupy spaces that others have designed and built. As more or less conscious beings, we occupy a universe that Something and Its Helpers designed and built.

The pop spirituality idea that nothing is real and we're all living in a Simulation is interesting. It seems to recycle the Hindu idea of Maya [illusion of surface appearances vs. underlying reality] into tech bro language.

2 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

Our thoughts impact how we feel and how we behave. Our feelings and behaviors can have an impact on how people perceive us and how they behave towards us. So yes, our thoughts can definitely help shape our reality.

Yes, *help shape*. I would say our thoughts shape our Life Condition. I got into a dark place recently. Business was slow and sitting in my darkness hating life--no clients came. I felt even friends abandoned me. Then I made changes. Replaced the negative thoughts and behaviours with uplifing thoughts and behaviors--et voila. Business picked up . Friends reconnected. Generally speaking my life condition improved. But my REALITY remained the same. I still live in the same house, interact with the same group of humans, interact with the same technology, and the same group of physical possessions and tools, struggle with the same health challenges. Live under the same set of laws governed by the same sh*t show of politicians.

Discerning *reality* from *life condition* is perhaps mincing words, but the point is our thoughts seem to have a small, limited impact on our personal lives. Not a huge impact on the objective universe. It strikes me that Tarot is completely neutral on this topic. It is simply a tool we use according to our belief systems.

January 7

7 minutes ago, Misterei said:

It strikes me that Tarot is completely neutral on this topic. It is simply a tool we use according to our belief systems [which manage how we perceive reality].

3 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

Being able to tap into forces outside of oneself (whether it’s nature energies or ancestral energies) in order to boost one’s mind, is also a factor [influencing just how much our thoughts impact reality].

Combine the two quotes above, and you have the noble part of why there are so many decks flying around, namely in order to make the tool fit our belief.

As usual, the stuff in brackets is there for context.

January 7

Oh yeah, I'm going to think myself rich right now. Will let you know how long it takes for my bank account to swell to epic figures. 😏

January 7

31 minutes ago, Misterei said:

I find much "new Age" philosophy to be shallow. But it sells books and courses to a population that has largely abandoned Religion in the older sense--i.e. when everyone went to their Church , Temple, or Mosque.

Quite.

31 minutes ago, Misterei said:

Has it been linked with philosophical traditions in its various iterations? Yes. Neoplanonism, Kabbalah, Astrology, Thelema, Theosophy, etc. But the symbolism in older decks like Tarocchi and TdM is different than GD or RWS or Thoth. TdM in particular has a whole school of thought that REJECTS philosophy and simply reads the cards.

This too.

I don't see what Dr Wayne Dyer has to do with anything. A self-help guru who wanted to sell his books. Also a serious plagiarist - Ellis did not appreciate his work being rehashed and published under Dyer's name.

As for the thinking into happening guff - see under Law of Attraction - in which I enormously do not believe.

January 7

To me, thoughts are not the same as mind-magic. (And mind-magic is not the same as ’the secret’ or as positive affirmations etc). I’m not sure we’re all talking about the same thing here. Mind-magic has indeed altered my physical reality to a large degree over the years, and it is this kind of work that the Magician can represent. I do not believe that this is an inherent part of tarot, but it is an aspect that is implied in many of the newer decks.

Edited January 7 by Raggydoll

January 7

What I mean is - I don't think this guy knows anything about anything that relates to Tarot; he just plagiarised the work of others to make money.

Quote

"You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality."

If that's not the same as Law of Attraction, it's pretty close. I don't think he even came close to knowing about mind magic. How about another gem of his:

Quote

My beliefs are that the truth is a truth until you organize it, and then it becomes a lie.

I think - he was hokum while he lived and still is. I think - his views aren't really that relevant.

Edited January 7 by gregory

January 8

9 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

To me, thoughts are not the same as mind-magic. (And mind-magic is not the same as ’the secret’ or as positive affirmations etc). I

... Mind-magic has indeed altered my physical reality ... and it is this kind of work that the Magician can represent. ...

Interesting point. Yes, thoughts are just random at worst or intentional and directed at best. Whereas an actual *practce* of meditation or magic is a different magnitude of intent and purity.

For weeks I thought angry thoughts about my neighbors with trash all over their yard and wished they would clean it up. One day I sat down and did 108x mantra releasing my anger and asking the universe to give me good neighborly relations. I repeated this practice on day 2, and on day 3 the yard had been cleaned. Go figure.

January 8

2 hours ago, Misterei said:

Interesting point. Yes, thoughts are just random at worst or intentional and directed at best. Whereas an actual *practce* of meditation or magic is a different magnitude of intent and purity.

For weeks I thought angry thoughts about my neighbors with trash all over their yard and wished they would clean it up. One day I sat down and did 108x mantra releasing my anger and asking the universe to give me good neighborly relations. I repeated this practice on day 2, and on day 3 the yard had been cleaned. Go figure.

Indeed. And the RWS Magician knows this too. He’s not just ’setting intentions’; he creates ritual, channels power and supports himself with the four elements. His method is not the same as mind, because there is an obvious cultural difference, but the approach is similar. Mind-magic requires a force that goes beyond our thoughts. Some will use physical tools as part of the process of harnessing that force, just like the Magician does. Others use non-physical tools. But the point is that you need that ’something extra’, and you’ll need a method to get there.

January 8

May I put the discussion in a historical light?

The tarot deck emerged in the northern Italian peninsula c. 1425-1525. It took a little while until all 21 trump cards and the wild card, as we know them, were in place.

New Thought ideas emerged in the United States mid-19th century, initially proposed by Phineas Quimby (1802-1866), by merging ideas inherited from George Berkley (1685-1753), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) and Andrew Jackson Davies (1826-1910). Though Christian Science (founded by Mary Baker Eddy 1821-1910, and the members of which sometimes refuse conventional medical care) probably is the most well-known New Thought organisation today, and simplified versions of these ideas were propagated by Wayne Dyer (1940-2015) and Rhonda Byrne (b. 1951), the New Thought milieu is broader than this. Less extreme (and more sophisticated) versions of New Thought are held by other authors and organisations. One of my favourite authors, John Michael Greer (b. 1962), often makes snarky comments about Christian Science's, Dyer's and Byrne's ideas, but hold, that Burks L. Hamner proposed a much saner version of New Thought.

It is obvious, that tarot and New Thought emerged in quite different geographical regions at quite different periods of time. This doesn't stop anyone today from superimposing New Thought upon tarot if they so wish.

January 8

2 hours ago, Scandinavianhermit said:

It is obvious, that tarot and New Thought emerged in quite different geographical regions at quite different periods of time. This doesn't stop anyone today from superimposing New Thought upon tarot if they so wish.

My thoughts exactly!

January 8

16 hours ago, Misterei said:

Interesting point. I'm quite sensitive to environment. And unless we;re architects, our thoughts don't design or build our houses. We occupy spaces that others have designed and built. As more or less conscious beings, we occupy a universe that Something and Its Helpers designed and built.

The pop spirituality idea that nothing is real and we're all living in a Simulation is interesting. It seems to recycle the Hindu idea of Maya [illusion of surface appearances vs. underlying reality] into tech bro language.

I always thought that the PC and console games people play are same principle only projected downward. We create vehicles to gain experience and knowledge from, then take a "body"(that would be the main hero in the computer game, or book, movie or whatever) and from that perspective we go through some experiences, designed to provide us with something.

If that we call "simulation", then it makes sense I think.

At the end of the day, who knows... But makes sense, whatever principle one used to get here is a principle they will keep developing when here downwards(even more limited characters in a even more controlled settings).

5 hours ago, Misterei said:

For weeks I thought angry thoughts about my neighbors with trash all over their yard and wished they would clean it up. One day I sat down and did 108x mantra releasing my anger and asking the universe to give me good neighborly relations. I repeated this practice on day 2, and on day 3 the yard had been cleaned. Go figure.

In my humble view, the mantra here one can look as not exactly part of the natural thought process. Inner dialog etc. That seems to be mechanical in nature, but if we use it to align with stuff, for example using mantra to affect our emotions like hoponopono or like you said - repeating other type of mantra, that does seem to work. Very well, sometimes. But for stuff that is already here. Our relations with people around us are always present around us, we can affect them in many ways, more often then not with words as well(communication etc.).

I think mantras and stuff can be seen as example of using our thoughts to connect to something higher, for example desire for things to be better, or more balanced etc. But I think if we have the idea of "thoughts creating things", so creating something new, as manifesting "events" etc. that seem to follow other principles. We can repeat that we "win from the lottery" as much as we want, but that won't make it true. So I think we can affect what is already here with thoughts very easily, but we also can with words in many cases.

Yet what isn't already here, may need other vehicles to manifest, as it needs to align with stuff so it can come up. At the same time if it does align with other stuff, stopping it from manifesting is close to impossible as well. So its different, not about control, but about alignment if it hasn't manifested fully yet.

Either that or may need to go to its source, where it comes from to change how it will show up and if it will. But that still needs alignment afterwards.

Another way to say it, lets say we want to pass a law in a country, there are massive amount of things it will need to align on and to agree with, we shape it up more and more and in the end in arrives in a form that all affected by it agree on, similar to if we win a lottery that will change the lifes of a large amount of people, need their agreement to be able to do it, in my humble opinion.

I don't know, interesting topic, though. : )

January 8

17 hours ago, Misterei said:

As more or less conscious beings, we occupy a universe that Something and Its Helpers designed and built.

I love that choice of words. I've never seen this exact choice of words before. Am I allowed to borrow it? If I use the word "God", depending on subcultural and educational background, people assume, that I refer to either the Iron Age West Semitic version of Zeus or the post-Chalcedonian dispassionate but still semi-anthropomorphic Holy Trinity,* and, if I use the expression "Supreme Being", some persons doesn't understand what I'm talking about or otherwise associate to the beliefs of Maximilien Robespierre. "The Something" sounds less committed to any particular firm system of belief.

I'm in a hurry. I'll return later and write what I had planned to say about Stoicism as a means to rein in New Thought from becoming unreasonable.

* I admit, that Gregory Nazianzen, John of Damascus, Symeon the New Theologian and Meister Eckehart worked hard to remove anthropmorphic limitations on the Christian concept of God, but their thoughts are seldom heard from any pulpit today. Likewise, it's a great distance between Salafist Islam and the lofty abstract system of Ibn Arabi.

January 8

Strong opinions on this topic both for and against if you're thinking creates reality.

I started a thread at another website forum, a much bigger forum btw, which drew 224 posts on 8 pages on the same topic "Does Your Thinking Create Your Reality?"

Out of the 224 posts, I would say that it was 50% yes & 50% no. Lots of strong feelings and points of view expressed.

Mod edit: [edited out posts from another community]

You see, I got into this teaching thru Abraham Hicks right when their books became popular with The Secret and all that. I spent YEARS & YEARS trying to easy manifest those things the way Esther Hicks was teaching. This philosophy came out in my tarot readings too. To me, it was a simple and easy way to look at how life & how the Universe worked.

But it wasn't until I started putting ACTION to my thinking, then and it was only then, I started getting the results that I wanted to get.

As far as Wayne Dyer goes, I have seen him on a few PBS tv specials, and it sounded like some of the stuff Esther Hicks was teaching. I have never read any of his books. I just found the above quote at random while I was looking at another metaphysical teacher's quotes online and decided to use it in my OP to get the discussion going.

I read with the RWS deck only. And I am very happy with the way my readings turn out nowadays. I always tell my sitters that "faith without works is dead" (The Bible).

This "mind magic" you all are talking about; well, I don't know what that is frankly.

Rick-

January 8

Having returned from that brief but important appointment, I will try to continue what I began earlier this afternoon.

My thoughts on New Thought does not form a logical string or an argument. They are, rather, isolated observations, so I'll turn them into a list.

It's not unusual, that nurses and physicians observe, that patients with a strong will to survive have a greater probability to survive, and patients with a focus on recovering even recover faster or respond better to medical treatment. This observation is, however, anecdotal in nature. There is no good method to quantify "the will to survive". It's not a good idea to jump to far-reaching conclusions from this anecdotal observation.
A sense of entitlement doesn't equal a strong unified will.
Daydreaming doesn't equal a strong unified will.
Financial affluence doesn't necessarily equal happiness. A non-affluent pensioner living in a well-insulated flat with good ventilation and heated by a downhole heat exchanger or geothermal energy will worry less for heating, than a businessman living in an energy consuming villa dependent on fossil fuels. A low-income family living in a society with tax-funded healthcare, education, social welfare, libraries and recreation areas will worry less, than an affluent family living in a low-tax society with no publicly funded services or insurances. Finland, Denmark and Iceland rank as the happiest countries in the world for a reason.
Gratitude and/or contentedness is/are virtues which can be cultivated.
The Stoics warn against worrying for the future or invest too much hope in the future. Likewise, they advice against ruminating past suffering. The ability to conserve mental energy, to be spent on the present instead, can be cultivated.

Edited January 8 by Scandinavianhermit

January 8

@Scandinavianhermit

That are some sane observations there.

Aligning with the first point you noted, an addition. Before putting it here, I want to strongly emphasise the point you made:

"It's not a good idea to jump to far-reaching conclusions from this anecdotal observation."

So, now the observation: In cancer treatment, they have found the cells of cancer to posess the attribute of "immortality" (google cancer cell immortality).

Strangely enough, there is a fair number of cases where people were found cured after converting to christian faith.

They did report what they did, and they stated that, in order to strengthen their newfound faith, they prayed the Apostle's Creed over and over again.

That thing ends with "...and the live everlasting."

A revolting idea for a purely scientific mind, at least some ten years ago. Now go to "root cause therapy", and indeed, the principle is applicable.

However, the method is not!

Concerning thoughts (and the stoics, perchance), they are an indirect means where it comes to perception of our range of action/cognition.

An indirect means we can, to some degree, actively influence, thereby indeed shaping our perceived reality and either enlarging or shrinking our scope of action/cognition, for bad or for good, both directions serve a purpose.

January 8

deleted

Edited January 11 by Misterei

January 8

@RickInBakersfield I've edited out the other communities post text from your post. We have to be really careful about this with other internet places and it's unethical. We don't have permission from that communities owner or the people who originally posted those posts to have the text republished. I know the members here would be upset if someone republished their views and content elsewhere and they hadn't approved of that.

You've made your point replying to everyone as a summary and what you have learnt from it, the quoted other posts are not really needed. Thanks for your understanding on this.

January 9

20 hours ago, Misterei said:

We only feel that *Something* is out there.

Or not.

Plenty of people in the world, including myself, do not feel (or think) that.

Edited January 9 by geoxena

January 9

13 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I know the members here would be upset if someone republished their views and content elsewhere and they hadn't approved of that.

aaaand to get us back on topic

On 1/7/2025 at 2:01 PM, RickInBakersfield said:

Is this what the tarot teaches?

Different people will learn different things from tarot. It is a tool. But I do not think anyone can say that the historical tarot decks have inherent teachings on the power of our mind.

January 9

Does anyone else here watch Philomena Cunk ? (Yes I do know she takes the piss...!) Here's a good one that seems relevant.

Quote

Does the brain generate the consciousness or does the consciousness operate the brain ?

One answer she got from a prominent neurologist:

Quote

The brain generates the consciousness, but the consciousness gives us the ability to do things that we wouldn't be able to do if we weren't conscious.

I think you can slip this in here.

Does The Tarot Teach That Your Thoughts Create Your Reality?

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