fortune telling

#IAmAFortuneTeller (non) VR to Mary-Grace Fahrun

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Okay, so the Pagan Perspective is definitely on a holiday break.  So, I decided to do one of my (non)VRs today in place of a response to their regular videos.

One of my favorite content creators, Mary-Grace Fahrun, did a video on YouTube at the end of November about how she uses tarot and about the stigma behind the use of cartomancy for predictive readings. She included a tag for responses, and I very much enjoyed her video and wanted to do a response.

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Like Mary-Grace, I grew up with cartomancy. In my case it was Lenormand cards, then playing cards, and then tarot. In my experience, Lenormand in particular is all about handing you a roadmap of potholes along your path.

I don’t know where the judgement against predictive readings stemmed from, or why it is so prevalent among modern day readers, but it is very prevalent and highly frowned upon by a large majority of card readers out there.

Somewhere in my teens was when I ran into this issue.  I was told that 3rd party readings and predictive readings are ethically wrong, and for a while I fought against using the cards in that way… but honestly? I gave up on that rather quickly.

Interestingly, I am not as strong at reading the past as I am at reading the present and future.

Intuition is intuition, and that information is going to come through whether I want it to or not. So I had a good look at my own moral compass and values and decided that for me? Both 3rd party and predictive aspects are a part of it, or I don’t read cards… because it just comes naturally. And I sure as hell am not hanging up my decks!!

I honestly do not understand why it is considered taboo or why people look down their noses at readers that do fortune telling (predictive readings, telling the future, etc).  I’ve had people say it’s about clients seeing the predictions as written in stone, or taking away choice, etc.  But the fact is?   That is in the presentation, NOT in the predictive aspect.

Doing predictive readings requires the responsibility and sensitivity to make sure those you read for are aware of the fluidity of the future, and how even just having the reading can have the possibility of changing the results, because knowledge is power.  It requires empowering people, so that they can build the future that they want, and be prepared for what is coming.

Any tarot reader, no matter the type of readings they do, has the ability to take away people’s choices and diminish their power.  Not just during predictive readings.  You are tapping into their needs and wants, desires, fears, and the depths of their psyche.  And that requires sensitivity and respect and a sense of responsibility.

So yes… I am a fortuneteller.  I am not ashamed of that.  It’s how my intuition works and fighting against my intuition or ignoring my intuition’s voice is just… not the path for me.

 

Show and Tell – Heritage and Inheritance

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The Topic for the Week of 12/9 from the Pagan Perspective YouTube channel is not a question at all, but rather, it is an encouragement to “Show and Tell”.

I thought for this I would like to show what my mother gave to me when I went to visit her over the week of Thanksgiving.   She really took me by surprise and I was hugely honored to be given the gift that she gave to me while  I was there.

The box of cards pictured in this post are my great-great-grandmother’s divination cards.  Or, rather, the last set of divination cards she owned before she passed away.  In her lifetime, she had gone through a number of decks, but if I understand correctly, she always burned them when they were replaced by a new set.   This set was the set that she used in the decade or so before she passed.

Interestingly enough, there is a spell of some kind cast on this deck.   I could feel the energy of it when I held the box in my hands, and the shift of that magic in my sliding open of the box (which works like a drawer) and found the two cards concealed in the bottom.

I asked my mother what she knew about it, but she didn’t know anything.  She has never even opened the box. This means that my sense of that energy was correct and those cards slid underneath the box’s “drawer” are indeed a part of the spell cast upon them.

While going through the drawer where these cards were tucked away, my mother came across an old deck of the Gypsy Witch Fortune Cards.

Interestingly, she thought this deck was mine, as it was the first deck I was ever given.   But, I have my deck already.  And L has hers as well.   This mystery deck was tucked deep in the back of the drawer, under the box of my great-great-grandmother’s cards, and also contained a small lock of hair.    These were given to me as well.

I have brought both of them home with me and carefully wrapped them up (boxes and all) in a silk scarf that used to belong to my grandmother.  At the moment, that bundle is sitting on my altar in place of the hand mirror I had been using as a representation of my ancestors.   I feel extremely honored to have been given these gifts and I cherish them more than I can possibly express.

What is a Deck Interview Spread?

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently did a re-create on my personal deck interview spread. It’s a ten-card spread with room for jumper cards to add additional input when they show up. I’m so happy with it, in fact, that I’ve recently begun the process of re-interviewing all my decks. This, of course, is going to take a good deal of time.

In your reply, you asked me what a deck interview spread is, and it inspired me to make this post.

GypsyFirst, I have to explain what a “spread” is. Essentially, in the tarot (or any fortune telling that involves cards) there are two “basic” methods for using the cards. (I’m sure there are a variety of other more esoteric ways as well, but I’m only covering the two basic methods.)

There is the “free style” method, which involves having an inquiry in mind and drawing a card. Then, from the response of the card you then develop another related query that is brought forward and a new card is drawn. In this way, it is like having a conversation. You ask, the cards answer, and you continue the discussion until you feel it is time to stop. The “one card draw” is essentially of this ilk, as there is simply a single draw in response to one’s inquiry.

Then you have the second method, which is using a spread. This is a pre-planned pattern in which you put the cards down, like a seating chart. Each “seat” has a question, topic, or person assigned to it, and a card is drawn and placed in that spot, essentially then representing (or answering) whatever that spot is supposed to signify.

I use both of these methods, depending on what I’m using the cards for and my mood.

So, then we come to a Deck Interview spread.

This is a spread used to communicate directly with the deck to assist in getting familiar with the deck and its energy and personality.

DeckInterviewSpread

You can see the spread above, where I have positions 1 thru 10, plus secondary positions behind each card for if I come upon extra “jumper cards” in the process of pulling cards for the interview. These secondary positions are not necessary to fill, but are there more because some decks just have a lot to say and an extra card or two will “jump” out of the deck during a card pull in a demand to be included.

When doing an interview spread, you are bonding with your deck and “feeling it out” for how it feels and what types of tasks it will be happiest performing. The questions for my spread are…

  1. What is your most important characteristic?
    This may include the deck’s personality or energy, what makes it unique, or how the deck will deliver advice.
  2. What are you here to teach me?
    Provides insight into what to expect from the deck and what the deck can teach you through working with it.
  3. What kind of readings will you excel at?
    Indicates what type of readings the deck is most comfortable with.
  4. What is your greatest strength?
    Indicates what the deck is absolute best at.
  5. What other strengths would you like to share?
    Provides a more well-rounded understanding of the deck’s strengths as a whole.
  6. What is your greatest weakness?
    Indicates what the deck will be terrible at, or types of readings it can’t do.
  7. What other limitations would you like to share?
    Will provide a more well-rounded understanding of the deck’s limitations and weaknesses as a whole.
  8. How can I best learn from and collaborate with you?
    Provides guidance on how to best handle and work with the deck.
  9. What do you see as the potential outcome of our relationship?
  10. Is there any additional information you would like to share about yourself?

There are books that can be purchased that are filled with spreads to try, and many decks also come with a suggested spread or two in their “Little White Book” (or other guidebook). You can also find a multitude of spreads on the internet by doing simple searches.

Although I am the author of this specific Deck Interview spread, the practice of deck interview as a whole is not a new concept, and neither are the questions I’ve chosen to ask.

Gideon’s Challenge

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“Your life will be filled with struggle, strife, and woe.
There will be great love, and great pain.
There will be comfort, but not prosperity.
These troubles are lessons carried over from the life you left behind, and lessons needed for the life to come.”

Future Path

Pensive

At nine years old, a trusted friend with a remarkable gift did a tarot reading for me to get a picture of my future. That was the result, although it was not given to me until much later when asked for. There was more, of course, but that was the “theme” of my life that surfaced within the cards.

Ten years later, the same friend did the reading again. The cards were different, as were the words… but the theme was the same.

Over the years between that first reading and now, I’ve had my tarot read many times for many different reasons and with many goals in mind. I’ve done it for myself, and I’ve had others do it for me.

And whenever the question is about the “theme” of my life, the results are the same.

Next year, it will have been another ten years, and I will go back to that same friend again to have my tarot read regarding the theme of my life, just as I have in the last two decades prior.

I wonder, as I do with each reading, if the theme will change… or continue on as it has been.