Is the reading correct or not? General discussion

[Saskia]

Hi all,

 

About reading tarot and using other divination methods and 'where to draw the line' with what to accept as 'the right answer.'

 

Recently I've been experimenting with coin tossing and online Yes/No button to predict. Unlike Tarot cards, these give strictly binary yes/no answers. However, I've noticed that often the answer doesn't fit, because the situation is ambiguous, for example:

 

Will it rain during my walk? NO.

 

There ended up being a slight drizzle but nothing so heavy I would have required an umbrella. So is this rain or not? Technically, it is rain, but the purpose of my question was do I need an umbrella.

 

Tarot often gives answers that are 'yes/no, but...', meaning that there's room for interpretation. Now, I'm wondering am I misusing this Yes/No method by even trying to get binary answers? Given that life is never binary - very rarely future is black or white. Or, am I misusing it by retrospectively accepting answers that are 'wrong', because the situation is ambiguous?

 

How have you solved the 'where to draw the line' question? How accurate does your tarot reading or prediction need to be before you are satisfied you got it right and didn't try to fit it in retrospectively?

 

[Guest snobchickenleg]

Great question, but I think getting an accurate answer depends on how accurate or how the question is delivered. For your question of will it rain, I guess you  an be more specific like, will it rain hard enough that I will to use an umbrella? But then I thought, how "hard" is raining hard for you that you need to use an umbrella? (I actually don't use umbrellas and rather get wet than take it out unless its "raining cats and dogs, lol!)

 

Based on personal experience, asking the same question (its essence, we can always ask the same issue and just change the way it was asked), only confuses the reading more. At one point, I got HP, which made me realize the tarot telling me "you already know the answer." Honestly, I felt the cards were mocking me then. It is really best to read on the same issue once a certain period has passed (at least a week, the longer the better). If the concern is about weather, I guess it can be donw regularly as it constantly changes. You just have to tailor your question properly. Just my thoughts.  :)

[Saskia]

snobchickenleg,

 

Your comments nail down something I should have added in my opening post.

 

It's definitely essential to formulate the question properly. I try not to ask yes/no questions from Tarot because I think it's a bit meaningless. The cards don't come with that kind of answers, but with more descriptive, contemplating or 'may be so, but have you thought of...' messages. The rain example is actually a perfect example for what's a 'bad' question. I could have asked: will I feel I should have taken an umbrella, or something more directly relating to whether the rain will be an issue. Will it rain or not - well, is it rain if it's a few drops? Yes. Is it an issue if it's a few drops? Most likely no.

 

I don't think I've necessarily learned much from my binary experience (my statistics showed btw that at least coin toss appears to be purely arbitrary), other than asking well-thought-through questions.

 

I thought of this because with cards its 'easier' to retrospectively interpret them, see things that you didn't first see. This is a blessing and a curse. Sometimes the message appears clear as day once you know what really happened. But, it's quite difficult to know what's in the category 'should have seen this' and what's in 'easy to plot the points now when I already know'.

[Avalon]

Slightly off topic...

 

Why did you ask 'Will it rain during my walk?' instead of 'Should I bring an umbrella/raincoat during my walk?"

 

I am just curious, there is nothing wrong with your question.  :)

[Raggydoll]

Slightly off topic...

 

Why did you ask 'Will it rain during my walk?' instead of 'Should I bring an umbrella/raincoat during my walk?"

 

I am just curious, there is nothing wrong with your question.  :)

 

Well then the deck actually has to decide/answer two things:

1. Will it rain

2. Will Saskia mind the amount of rain that awaits her? (Some people find it refreshing with small amounts of rain touching their face  ;) )

[Avalon]

Ahh...I see.  One more question :))

 

Do you find a Yes/No question has a higher probability of success rate if the question is active instead of passive?  i.e.  rain or not passive, bring an umbrella or not active

[Raggydoll]

Ahh...I see.  One more question :))

 

Do you find a Yes/No question has a higher probability of success rate if the question is active instead of passive?  i.e.  rain or not passive, bring an umbrella or not active

 

Very good question! You know what, if I’m being honest I rarely ask yes/no questions because it is so tricky to know exactly what you should be asking about and how you should phrase it. I much prefer to ask something like: “please tell me everything I need to know about this situation”. It just allows the cards to address basically anything that they feel could be of importance and they are not limited to trying to answer a specific question that may or may not be relevant in grand scheme of things. Hopefully someone else who really likes yes/no questions will pop in and answer your very interesting and potent question!

[Avalon]

Thank you for your answer.  I really was just curious and defaulted into how I would test the accuracy of any divination medium of choice.

 

Using the above example:

If I ask the computer generated binary divination medium "should I bring an umbrella during my walking?" everytime there is a forecast for rain for 6 months and I act based on the answer given, making the predictions 100% accurate.  Then I realize, I only need the umbrella 10% of the time or it rains 60% of the time when I don't have an umbrella.  I would choose another medium.

 

I can't be sure if the reading was correct if there are more variables to consider.  Such as:

1.  What is the definition of rain?

2.  Did I leave the house immediately after asking the question?

3.  Was my walk longer than expected?

 

This is just my thinking path, it is NOT the ONLY way to derive the correctness of a reading.  It is just me thinking out loud.  ;D

[gregory]

I have always had major issues with yes/no for anything other than a choice (as in the old "toss a coin and see if you are disappointed" thing.) But yes, formulating the question is key.  Mind you - it seems to me that in the OP, the question was binary, anyway. You wanted to know if you needed an umbrella. That's the question that was answered. That I find interesting....

[Saturn Celeste]

Hi all,

 

About reading tarot and using other divination methods and 'where to draw the line' with what to accept as 'the right answer.'

 

Recently I've been experimenting with coin tossing and online Yes/No button to predict. Unlike Tarot cards, these give strictly binary yes/no answers. However, I've noticed that often the answer doesn't fit, because the situation is ambiguous, for example:

 

Will it rain during my walk? NO.

 

There ended up being a slight drizzle but nothing so heavy I would have required an umbrella. So is this rain or not? Technically, it is rain, but the purpose of my question was do I need an umbrella.

 

Tarot often gives answers that are 'yes/no, but...', meaning that there's room for interpretation. Now, I'm wondering am I misusing this Yes/No method by even trying to get binary answers? Given that life is never binary - very rarely future is black or white. Or, am I misusing it by retrospectively accepting answers that are 'wrong', because the situation is ambiguous?

 

How have you solved the 'where to draw the line' question? How accurate does your tarot reading or prediction need to be before you are satisfied you got it right and didn't try to fit it in retrospectively?

 

So you're flipping a coin for a yes/no tarot question and then doing a reading?  I'm not sure I understand your technique.  I have 2 methods I usually use for yes/no questions and I rarely get an absolute yes or absolute no, there are usually varying answers.

[gregory]

No - I think she flipped a coin instead of reading.

[Saskia]

I'll reply better tomorrow but just to clarify, coin toss and tarot readings are separate. I didn't read and toss for the same question. But, coin toss made me think of the topics discussed here.

[Saskia]

Slightly off topic...

 

Why did you ask 'Will it rain during my walk?' instead of 'Should I bring an umbrella/raincoat during my walk?"

 

I am just curious, there is nothing wrong with your question.  :)

 

Because I thought it's an easy yes/no answer, either it will rain or it won't, and I was testing yes/no method :) Only afterwards I realised rain can be ambiguous, because yes it rained, but not heavily enough to really count as rain, so yes/no didn't properly apply.

[Saskia]

Slightly off topic...

 

Why did you ask 'Will it rain during my walk?' instead of 'Should I bring an umbrella/raincoat during my walk?"

 

I am just curious, there is nothing wrong with your question.  :)

 

Well then the deck actually has to decide/answer two things:

1. Will it rain

2. Will Saskia mind the amount of rain that awaits her? (Some people find it refreshing with small amounts of rain touching their face  ;) )

 

That's exactly what I learned, that answer to 1 is not necessarily answer to 2. With tarot cards, these kind of distinctions are more easily done than with coin toss, which doesn't give any extra details. It made me think - really illustrated the point - of how yes/no questions are often unanswerable, with cards or with other methods, because things simply are not black and white.

 

Often when we read cards, especially as beginners, some of the most common questions or yes/no ("does he still think of me...") - this is what I've noticed on forums and by doing readings to others for 5+ years. And yet, even with a method meant for yes/no it's not possible to get an answer to a simple question because the answer well may be 'both', or 'maybe'.

[Saskia]

I can't be sure if the reading was correct if there are more variables to consider.  Such as:

1.  What is the definition of rain?

2.  Did I leave the house immediately after asking the question?

3.  Was my walk longer than expected?

 

These are excellent points. When I did this yes/no reading, the settings were:

I was going for a walk with a friend at a set time, set location. I asked 'will it rain during our walk'. So, I had narrowed down some of the variables like leaving the house at a set time, going to a certain location. But, I didn't really think of definition of rain! And that's what made this exercise interesting to me. I usually try to ask questions like 'what do I need to know' or 'what to pay attention to', because they are far more fruitful than yes/no answers.

 

But because yes/no questions are so common ('will I get that job'...) I thought I'd experiment to see whether it is possible to get a track record of statistically likely answers. But, my statistics were immediately screwed by the fact that if the question is in any way 'off', or there's more than one variable, it's difficult to know whether the answer is correct or whether I'm trying to retrospectively fit it in.

[Saskia]

I have always had major issues with yes/no for anything other than a choice (as in the old "toss a coin and see if you are disappointed" thing.) But yes, formulating the question is key.  Mind you - it seems to me that in the OP, the question was binary, anyway. You wanted to know if you needed an umbrella. That's the question that was answered. That I find interesting....

 

Hmm, excellent point gregory! I agree with binary questions and I've answered elsewhere to why I did this.

 

But yes, my voiced question was, will it rain, whereas my real intention was to ask, do I need an umbrella. It rained, but I didn't need an umbrella. So the answer was correct.

[DanielJUK]

You have made me think with this thread Saska and it seems if you do a binary answer reading you have to be really specific or it won't be measurably "correct". I totally agree with you that life and many things we face are more than just black and white, life is just not that simplistic! When they do weather predictions, they don't say rain or not, they say chances and amount of rain at various times, it's more detailed than just a simple answer.

 

When I was a beginner reader, I was really obsessed with future yes /no tarot readings for myself. I wanted them as a comfort, some good news but like you said in one post here they are unanswerable. I saw people posting on AT a lot with questions like "does he still love me?" for an ex or "will I marry and have a family?". They are questions of comfort and security but not easy to answer. I mean what if the person marries someone but then divorces and marries 5 times more :) In my very early days as a reader, an old high school friend split up with his high school girlfriend. He found out I dabbled in tarot and phoned everyday to find out if she still loved him, he was desperate and it was so sad. Some days it said yes and some no, I was so confused, he was so confused! In the end I had to say please don't contact me! In the end they didn't get back together, they found other people and she married a long term husband who wasn't him. I look back now as a more experienced reader and I realise that her emotions towards him probably changed daily. Sometimes she missed him, some days he phoned her or turned up at her door and they had an argument and she felt angry and wanted him away. Other days she contacted him. So it probably was correct but emotions change daily, hourly, by the minute.

 

Yes / No predictions are such a quick way to addiction to prediction, I have learnt that it's better to phrase the question to give advice. Instead of "will I marry?" - "how can I meet new love interests?". At least that gives practical advice and not just giving a wishful answer. What do I need to know about the weather today? :)