Rayne Posted June 29 Posted June 29 Because the future is uncertain, I read that tarot cannot really foretell the future. Rather, it tells you about the present. Is this true?
JoyousGirl Posted June 29 Posted June 29 (edited) Hi Rayne I don't think it's as simple as that. Some people might dispute there is truth - something might be true now, but not at other times, or it may have been true at other times but not now. There's so many variables. Some people are sceptical there's the ability to foretell the future in the cards, and others are not. The cards have been around a long time, though, so there's something to them. It might be the natural gifts of the reader that are intuiting the future based on their experiences with the cards. The card in a position that represents the future would indicate a potential trajectory. That would be confirmed if the reader was accurate about the situation up to that point (if the sitter is in amazement with the rest of the reading is a good indicator of that). But free will cannot be discounted. If someone is told something is likely to happen they may change something using their free will. Last minute lightning strikes from spirit can't be ignored - we may have every intention of doing a thing up until that point. Edited June 29 by JoyousGirl
Chariot Posted June 29 Posted June 29 (edited) This is one of those questions that is difficult/impossible to answer—because we don't actually KNOW why, do we? How does the tarot work? Why does the tarot 'work'? I can't begin to say why it works, but I know that it does work. And yes, I have experienced the tarot forecasting certain future results in detail, when the querent's free will has no part to play in the outcome. One of those tenets I adhere to: if you can't accept what the tarot MIGHT tell you—don't use it! How much do we really want to know about what's going to happen in our lives? To the world in general? I think there are some instances where we do want to know, so we can plan ahead, or get something accomplished that needs doing, or change a behaviour that's gone wrong. But other times? We're happy to get a beneficial forecast ...but not so happy when the forecasted outcome isn't what we wanted, hoped for, or is even something we feared would happen. Obviously, if you're asking a question about your current love affair, you will have input into the result. A change of tactic or attitude on your part can alter the trajectory and change the forecasted outcome. But your free will isn't always going to change an outcome either. Sometimes you have no control whatsoever over the outcome. What you DO have control over is how you react to the outcome, and deal with the fallout. I ALWAYS include an 'advice' card in my spreads. When the tarot forecasts an outcome that is beyond our control, it's good to get the tarot's advice on how to personally deal with the outcome. For example, if your query is about an election result (in another country, where you can't vote) and the tarot accurately forecasts the result—yes, that has happened to me on several occasions—it is good to get advice on how best to handle the result. I can't influence the result in any way—free will doesn't change a thing—but I will need to deal with the fallout. That's where the tarot's 'advice' comes into its own, in my opinion. The tarot can focus its message on 'you,' the querent, but it won't always hold you responsible for whatever happens. Edited June 29 by Chariot
Raggydoll Posted June 29 Posted June 29 If I hadn’t thought that tarot could predict the future, I would not have bought a deck in the first place. And if I hadn’t found that tarot indeed can predict the future, I would not have kept using my decks for these past 30 years 😊
Moon-Hermit Posted June 29 Posted June 29 (edited) Depends. What are you looking for? All forms of divination, be it by any card system or some other form, have the capacity to look at the whole spectrum of any given event as it unfolds in a certain span of time. Having the capacity on its own doesn't mean you will get all the answers presented to you right off the bat. Again, what is it that you are really looking for? Readings can be performed to view a completed past event as if capturing that moment in a static portrait and gazing at it, to give a dynamic live snapshot of the present, or to predict a certain thing in the future; and they all work. Our senses of time are weaved together, just like we have grammatical tenses of past, present, future, progressive, perfect, etc. I tend to think of it as a big round chocolate cake. Based on what you want, you'll cut a slice from a certain position and put it on your plate to view. The cake pieces are the cards, and the cut represents how you read the bits and piece them together. Hope that helps. 🌼✨️ Edited June 29 by Moon-Hermit
Moon-Hermit Posted June 29 Posted June 29 (edited) Also, why would the future be uncertain? Certainly some events are uncertain, but things are not as resolute as in being totally unpredictable vs the opposite. We already predict things a whole lot in our daily lives, based on the patterns we are experiencing at the present moment. We use the words all the time. Our car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and we tell ourselves or whoever the driver is: "I saw it coming! I told you we should have taken it for a maintenance check." Or, we see our classmate studying really hard for an upcoming exam, and immediately we tell them: "Hey, you're gonna ace this one! I can already see it." Our best friend puts on their best clothes and makeup, and the moment we see them we go like: "You're gonna steal X's heart. It's a given." These are just a few examples I named off the top of my head. Life is more than that. Sometimes we predict something with absolute certainty, only to come to realize that it was all about our own illusions and projections when the time comes. I won't go into the discussion of fate and the things we are better off not knowing etc, as there's already plenty of ongoing debate in that area everywhere. But the whole certainty with which the phrase "Because the future is uncertain,..." is put just doesn't sound right to me. Edited June 29 by Moon-Hermit
Bronwyn Posted June 30 Posted June 30 I wouldn't say that the tarot can't be used to glimpse the future. The cards have predicted events in my future--they even predicted the death of my brother, which was hugely traumatic. Of course, I didn't get specifics. I just saw that a very traumatic event involving a male was in my future. A few weeks later, he died. I have been able to predict some short-term outcomes for people I've read for. I do think that we're allowed to glimpse *some* events, but not all. I do think that we're given warnings sometimes. I also think that the tarot can give people hope and encouragement where an outcome is concerned, as well. I agree that the future isn't always fixed. I imagine that there are certain events that are fixed and others that are more fluid, but who knows how it really works. All I can say is that yes, the tarot can be used to predict future events.
DanielJUK Posted June 30 Posted June 30 To answer this big philosophical tarot question, it depends if you believe in free will or if everything is destined / karmic / designed by the universe or spiritual entities. - If you believe everything is based on our decisions and actions / free will / everything is just chaos, then maybe tarot cannot predict the future as we make it ourselves. Divination can only advise us of our options and possible scenarios. - If you believe things in our lives (or at least some parts of it) are predetermined for us, then tarot and divination can predict the future as we are getting into what our destiny is. I think most tarot readers believe in a mixture of both ideas. We have a destiny or path long term but we have free will and can make choices for ourselves at a recent level. We can change our future from the readings we get. There was a similar older thread here which also was an interesting discussion....
EMarieHasADHD Posted June 30 Posted June 30 Yes, you can use Tarot (or any other divination method) to divine the future. However, the future is not set in stone as we have free will and every decision we make affects our future. Many readers use Tarot to tell seekers their most-likely future based on how things are looking *at that moment*. That future can change at any time and we always have the power to change it (and to change ourselves).
Rayne Posted June 30 Author Posted June 30 @DanielJUK Ah, this makes sense to me. I do believe in both destiny and free will. The interactions between the two are complex though. I do wonder how we can tell when destiny is at play.
Aeon418 Posted July 1 Posted July 1 18 hours ago, Rayne said: I do wonder how we can tell when destiny is at play. Maybe destiny is always at play. The key is recognizing this and actively working with it, instead of being unconsciously dragged along by it. The Tarot can be of some assistance here, or maybe not. By the very nature of things we are all too close to the question. And the vast majority of us are firmly convinced that we already know what is best for us. Good advice from the Tarot may fall upon deaf ears if it does not conform to preconceived notions. Irrespective of this life seems to unfold of its own accord anyway. However, it is deeply fulfilling to consciously work with the flow of life and destiny, thereby transmuting free will into True Will.
Misterei Posted July 2 Posted July 2 (edited) On 6/28/2025 at 5:49 PM, Rayne said: Because the future is uncertain, I read that tarot cannot really foretell the future. Rather, it tells you about the present. Is this true? Others have given wise answers to this question as tarot readers. I'm going to answer as a Science Fiction fan. How many sci fi stories do we have of people with time machines going to the future or the past? And before that, the fairy tales of someone getting lost in a realm where only one night passed there -- but 100 years passed in the *real world* or the many similar myths and tales of time distortion. As a Sci Fi fan I will say that, barring emotional interference, my tarot cards function as a pretty reliable time machine that helps me glimpse a past or future [why so many spreads have a Past and Future position imnsho]. On 6/30/2025 at 4:34 PM, Rayne said: Ah, this makes sense to me. I do believe in both destiny and free will. The interactions between the two are complex though. I do wonder how we can tell when destiny is at play. Vedic Astrology teaches 3 types of karma. Fixed, semi-fixed, mutable. They have sanskrit names which I won't go into here. I observe most humans live in a matrix of these 3 karmas. Some things are fixed / destined. Others can be changed, but only with sincere efforts or even great struggle. Others are easy to change. Often Trionfi and courts show fixed or semi-fixed karmas. The pips more often show mutable. But like all things tarot--every reading is different. Edited July 2 by Misterei
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