What do you think about tarot cards and things like that?

I don’t really believe in them, but my wife like to be “read” (although I don’t think she really believes in them either). I’ll tag along sometimes. It’s a fun curiosity.

That being said, I’m open to the idea that some people may be psychic to some degree. I just doubt it’s Madame Helga who puts out a shingle on Main Street.

Poppycock! I say.

Pretty strange artwork on em. But about as mystical as a box of rocks.

@NaturalMineralWater: There’s actually a ton of history behind the imagery, it’s interesting to learn about if you’re inclined.

@asmonet It is rather interesting indeed.

a load of bollox, aimed at naive idiots

@asmonet, there is also a lot of history behind the Kings and Queens of ordinary playing cards, but it doesn’t mean anything mystical. Defining someone’s future (or past or whatever) with a collection of paper cards makes about as much sense as the horoscopes in the local newspaper. They are so generic as to be meaningless.

@funkyprincess, As for psychics, these people aren’t special, they don’t have ‘powers’; what they are good at is reading human nature. I recently received a booklet from the folks at the magazine Skeptical Inquirer on how to become a psychic in ten easy steps. There’s nothing supernatural about it; its simply a matter of knowing your audience, and how to please them, and the fact that (1.) People want you to be right when you offer to ‘read’ them, and (2.) People are notorious for remembering the ‘hits’ and ignoring the ‘misses.’

I love and respect the art on them, it’s some of the most amazing and magical art I’ve ever seen (such as this set, my #1 favorite one). And there was a time, when I was a kid and before I lost all my innocence, where I wanted to believe that they worked. But I realized that by spreading out the cards and combining them with interpretations from books, that all I was really doing was getting into another pair of shoes and looking at my problem from a different point of view. Thus I appreciate tarot cards for their introspective properties as well as for their art, but I don’t pretend to believe that they actually WORK in any way.

I used to read Tarot cards when I was in high school. I thought I was totally awesome laying them out and reading stuff about people. In actuality I was crappy at it and I don’t think it really meant anything.

I found them recently and looked thru them. They are very beautiful and I gave them to my kids to play with.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Um, I never said they were mystical, I commented on the history of the imagery alone. That’s all. I offered no opinion on the use of the cards.

@knitfroggy: That’s the deck my mother has had since before I was born, I love those cards. I see them and I remember learning how to shuffle and hearing them make that fast thwickthwickthwick noise as she handled them.

I do, I go to get the tarot read once or twice a year, is like a route map when driving a rally car :D it tells you were you should not go and where you should be careful…

I think the “Heart and Soul Angel Cards” are just repackaged and rebranded so that Christianists who would scream bloody murder at actual Tarot cards will find them acceptable.

All right, here’s my belly, please don’t rip it open too badly.

I have a beautiful set of tarot cards that my mother bought for me. I do not believe they tell the future. I believe that what they do is highlight some things in the life of the person being read and then point in the general direction of where these choices/situations/etc. are leading. Then it is up to the person being read to do something or nothing at all. And just to head off the obvious comments that are coming up (and opening the door for even more belly-ripping) if either the reader or the person being read is not receptive or open to the idea of tarot, the results will not make sense and will not be accurate. Also, if you go to someone who is making money off you, the chances are pretty good that they’re motivation is making money, not necessarily giving you an accurate reading.

@asmonet I know you did, I wasn’t implying that you were enthralled about the mysticism of Tarot cards, forgive me if it seemed that way. Sometimes my thoughts run together.

I was simply stating that Tarot cards, like other mysticism and magical thinking, has no place in my world. If I accept that Tarot cards are real, then I have to accept that psychics are real, and that crystal energy has merit, or that my long-dead relatives are sending me messages from beyond the grave and before long, I’ll be seeing ‘signs’ of gods love for me in flat bread and water stains.

According to scientific controlled studies, the accuracy of psychic readings, like healing thru prayer, and ESP tests are no better than chance. Hardly anything to use to dictate my journey through life. But hey, if it works for other folks, good for them.

Short answer: It doesn’t matter what we think of the Heart and Soul Angel deck – it matters what the reader (you) thinks of the deck and intends to use it for.
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Long answer: I spent a number of years living in an area where a lot of people were really into mysticism, shamanism, the paranormal and what have you. This my take on tarot cards from all that I’ve read/seen/experienced.

Tarot card users tend to fall into three very general categories: scammers; those who use them like fun parlor tricks; and those who genuinely try to “read” the cards. One thing remains constant though: tarot cards, regardless of the deck or user, are nothing magical. They are just a tool.

Scammers use them to add false significance to a formula of vagaries and platitudes. These people use decks that they think will impress their audience – the deck is just part of the show.

The “parlor trickers” use whatever decks they think will add an appropriate air of mysticism to an evening’s entertainment.

Those who are actually able to “read” things from the cards just use them to focus their attention. The cards aren’t magically coming up with answers – the reader’s ability to “read” is within themselves, not the cards. They use decks that they have an affinity for – decks that they like on some level and are comfortable with.

Whether the Heart and Soul Angel deck (or any other) is any good depends entirely on you – what you like or don’t like, and what you want to use the deck for.
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I believe that the majority of “psychics” that we hear about are fakers. I also believe that some people are indeed “psychic” on some level. I don’t know how they do what they do, but some peoples’ abilities are difficult to explain with our current database of scientific information.

Although I’m largely skeptical, I think that just because we don’t have scientific proof of the existence of something (yet), it does not mean it doesn’t exist. After all, people used to think demons made them ill until we discovered things like bacteria and viruses. Now we know that demons didn’t make people sick. People were getting sick – we just didn’t understand why back then. It could be a similar situation with genuine psychics – they are picking up information somehow, we just don’t know how yet. A lack of scientific proof does not prove the non-existence of something any more than it proves its existence.

Although few minor personal experiences have led me to believe that there is more to the world around us than meets the eye, I still tend to be rather skeptical of “psychics” or paranormal claims because there are so many charlatans about and people ready to be duped by them. I’m looking forward to a time when we can understand the workings of paranormal events/abilities and are able to filter out the fake from the genuine.

@evelyns_pet_zebra – Accepting that Tarot cards are real does not require accepting that psychics are real or that crystal energy has merit or that the dead are speaking beyond the grave. That’s like saying that accepting that space travel exists means you have to believe that aliens visit Earth, or that acknowledging that biofeedback can help some people manage chronic pain means accepting people can use meditation to levitate their bodies. There may be vague connections between them, but they are not intrinsical.

@amanderveen well, it seems that if I am going to accept that one form of superstition or pseudoscience is real, why not assume the rest are real too?

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Because that’s like saying that a physicist must be really good at biology too because, after all, they both fall under the category of “hard science.”

@evelyns_pet_zebra – I’m certainly not proposing that there is anything anyone has to accept as real, but claiming that accepting one thing (whatever it may be) requires one to completely turn off turn off their mental filter sounds like feeble excuse for close-mindedness.