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1. Fortune Telling Tools of Tarot cards and Playing cards
Playing cards use the deck of 52 cards. Although it is known as the Western deck of cards, and currently there is no document proving the origin of this deck, it is assumed that card playing began in China at an early date before they eventually arrived in the West. Later on, Western fortune-telling became one of the Eastern divination categories, considered superstitious.
Tarot reading uses the deck of 78 cards. Tarot cards are from Europe, originally used for entertainment. Then, the occult associations in England and France have discovered the symbols on the card and used it for the interpretation of fate and prophecy. In the West, Tarot reading is very popular, professional and recognized.
2. The Fortune Teller
The reader of playing cards is called a fortune-teller. The space used for fortune telling is often sacred and has a large and beautiful altar, or in a house that always burns incense and has Buddha and Bodhisattva statues. Fortune tellers frequently dress simply, unobtrusively, and the fortune-teller who has a difficult situation, austere or old, is considered to be a good one.
The fortune-teller of Tarot cards is called a Tarot reader. Tarot reading also has many schools, so each Tarot reader has a different feature. For example, people who follow the Bohemian School or spirituality usually offer a mysterious space to read cards and their style is quite polished, glossy, sometimes, a bit weird. Psychological followers usually offer a professional space and dress politely, the process of fortune telling takes place as a conversation with friends or a psychological counseling session.
3. The process of Fortune Telling by Playing cards and Tarot cards
Playing Cards
- The fortune-teller will ask you the year of birth or age (according to the lunar calendar), some fortune-tellers will ask for your full name;
- Then he/she holds the deck in hands, prays for your name and shuffles the cards (or not). After that, he/she will hand the deck for you to shuffle and split the deck (usually the male querent shuffles 7 times and female querent shuffles 9 times). He/she spreads the cards and tells you (to use your left or right hand) to pick up them;
- He/she turns the cards over and starts reading the card face and revealing your destiny (personality and current situation), then the work, relationship, finance, family circumstance, etc;
- Before the end of the matter, he/she asks whether you have any questions or not, at this time, both will talk in detail about the problems you have.
Thus, during the process of fortune-telling, the fortune-teller is proactive, the querent is passive. People who go to see the fortune-teller do not need to ask questions first.
Tarot Cards
- The reader will ask you the name and date of birth. In addition, they may not ask anything more than that;
- Next, the reader asks whether you have any questions or not. After you ask, he/she will shuffle the cards, some readers will let you shuffle and split the deck. He/she will spread cards and let you pick them up;
- Some readers do not need you to ask questions or shuffle the cards before letting you can ask your questions (this rarely happens is considered not right for the official fortune-telling process of Tarot);
- The reader turns the cards over and starts answering your questions. Then, you will ask another question, the process repeats until you run out of time or run out of questions.
Thus, during the process of reading Tarot, the querent is proactive, the Tarot reader is passive. However, this role is only relative. Most of both the querent and the reader will actively interact with each other.
4. What do Fortune Tellers say and what do Tarot Readers say?
Playing Cards
When turning the card face up and telling, most of the fortune-tellers reveal the querent’s personality based on cold reading (look at the querent’s appearance and way of talking). Other topics will be generalized, such as whether this month earns a lot of money or not, being careful to be arrested, stolen, family disharmony or do not travel far away, etc. Mostly tellers will talk about the future. When talking about emotional issues, they will rely on the compatibility of age and the Five basic elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth).
For example, people who were born in the seventh year of the 60-year cycle (1990 or 2050) with people who were born in the third year of the 60-year cycle (1986 or 2046): these two are in the group of three animal allies, the Tiger-the Horse-the Dog, also known as San He (three harmonies), in which this person carries the Fire element and the other carries the Earth element. According to Five elements in Chinese philosophy, Fire produces Earth, so these two people love each other, talk to each other easily and make a fortune together, especially great for the one with the Fire element. However, the one with the Fire element is quick-tempered and bossy while the other one with the Earth element is liberal and prefers to indulge in pleasures.
The method of fortune-telling with the playing cards is in accordance with Asian psychology who are quite reserved and like to know about the future and destiny to make the right choices.
Tarot Cards
When turning the card and reading, there are some Tarot readers that also use cold reading (or based on the information you just mentioned in the question and information about the Zodiac) to answer the original ideas, to create the first impression and build trust.
For example, the Pisces querent asked, “I just broke up with my lover, I want to see whether we can get back together?” The reader turns, looks at the card and says “I realize you have sadness and anxiety. You have wasted a lot of tears on this relationship. Sensitivity and too many thoughts make your feelings extremely tiring. Your partner feels troublesome because you depend on him/her too much, and you still cannot let go”.
Even the experienced reader sometimes makes this kind of mistake, but that is not a big problem if the reader only uses it as a guide. A good reader will analyze to show you the situation you encounter, the causes, the influencing factors; then come up with a solution, consider what might happen, what you can do or should/should not do, and point out the future trend of things.
Thus, the future in Tarot divination is unstable but relative because Tarot reading is a whole series of causes-actions-results. The results will change if your choices of action change. However, sometimes, with few serious and “predestined” things, when the Tarot spread gives results, you will not be able to change.
The method of fortune-telling with Tarot cards shows clearly the psychology of being proactive, loving to get to the bottom of the problem and to find out the direction and solution of Western people who do not like to be imposed and listen to non-logical things.
5. The accuracy of Playing cards and Tarot cards
Playing Cards
The querent who come to see the fortune-teller usually have two main reasons
- Because of curiosity and wanting to hear the fortune-teller speaks of their fate. For example, how old will they get married? Whether the husband is rich or poor, how many children do they have? Do they get rich or get promoted?
- Because there is something needs to be decided in the future without knowing whether it will be successful or not. For example, will the construction of a house in the following year match the age of the couple? Is it possible to get a job soon?
Since the fortune-telling with playing cards mainly uses spiritual elements, the accuracy of it depends greatly on the fortune-teller’s ability. Many fortune-tellers have mentors or use kobold and spell so results are very accurate.
Tarot Cards
The querent choose Tarot reading usually for the following reasons
- Because of curiosity (just as above), however, Tarot cards will not be able to fulfill their curiosity!;
- Because there are troubles at the present, querents want to know the cause of the incident, analyze the good and bad sides, identify future possibilities for adaptation and find ways to improve the current situation;
- Since there is something in the future that needs to be decided, querents want to know the results based on their choices, then consider and make decisions for themselves.
Since Tarot cards are only partially spiritual, their accuracy depends on a number of factors as follows.
For the reader, there should be:
- Competency (including knowledge of Tarot and related fields, intuition)
- Life experience
- Ability to express
For the querent side, there should be:
- Belief in the reader and the Tarot deck (those who go to see for fun and to satisfy their curiosity often get incorrect results)
- Concentration (ask questions but not concentrate during the draw also affects the reading results)
- Clear questions (avoid general questions which lack practicality, or tell the current situation incorrectly)
Thus, both Playing cards and Tarot cards are equally accurate if you find the right fortune-teller/Tarot reader. However, the most important thing is the purpose of fortune-telling, since these two types of fortune-telling follow two different directions, using them according to your own needs to bring the best results.
If you want to be revealed about future destiny (far/near), see fortune-telling to satisfy curiosity or just want to know the fixed answers, you should check the method of fortune-telling by playing cards.
If you want to see how to solve difficult problems at the present time, to understand the deep causes of the past, future orientation, and possible options, then you should check the method of fortune-telling by Tarot cards.
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