Sooooo... Tarot reading is something that's real and will let you know things needed to be known to the wondering minds of the unknown?

@BlueSkyKing Have you ever tried tarot cards or a reading?

@Whatawebsite I know it’s an actual game, popular in France. There’s 78 cards involved and positions matter. Lots of dealing patterns too. What makes them work? Is it the cardboard or the ink made from magic? I’ve seen some at the place where Uno cards are printed. Must be a great feeling to buy psychic ability.

@BlueSkyKing So have you ever tried tarot cards or a reading?

@Whatawebsite My adage is: If it’s not science, it’s superstition. I never had any type of "reading". Red dye on my hand once, but that doesn’t count.

@BlueSkyKing It’s a psychological tool. The images are archetypes that can illuminate issues the person is dealing with. It’s similar to seeing a counselor.

Nobody has used Tarot to predict the future for 300 years.

@LeopoldBloom There are people claiming similar things with astrology. I don’t buy it.

@BlueSkyKing I could do an in-person reading for you. Can't do it any other way, because you have to be the one to physically touch the cards. You have to shuffle and cut them, while focusing on a specific question.

The reason that works is that you're not really randomizing the cards. Your subconscious mind is arranging them in a specific order to tell you a story regarding your question.

@BlueSkyKing So you have never tried tarot cards or a reading?

@Whatawebsite I know, right? If he's so skeptical, why doesn't he just get himself a tarot deck and try it himself?

@Whatawebsite I wonder if the closed minded critic will ever answer you…

@Jeephikelove I will ask my tarot cards

@Whatawebsite If you can’t show it works and how it works, it doesn’t work. Randomness is the most alien concept for humans to accept and the basic theme of all divination.

@LordShadowfire You ask for objective evidence for religious claims, but bristle when it comes to this subject. Anecdotes are not evidence yet that is all you offer.

@BlueSkyKing I can't demonstrate how it works without being in front of you. I'm sorry. I'm not bristling at the request. It's something you literally have to test for yourself. Go down to the store, buy yourself a tarot deck, and follow the directions to do a reading.

@LordShadowfire Any deck? Are there standard instructions without variations? Where are the links? Wouldn’t the proper instructions be available online? Nope, it’s still anecdotal testimony. Evidence = detectable, measurable, testable, and falsifiable.

@BlueSkyKing Astrology is similar in that it also uses archetypes. It depends on the reader and the attitude of the person being analyzed. I personally prefer Tarot because the archetypes are right there in front of you and it doesn't require arcane mathematical manipulations.

The same critique could be leveled at psychotherapy.

The standard deck is the Rider-Waite-Smith which most subsequent decks were based on. The images were from the Golden Dawn society, but many of them go back to paintings by Giotto di Bondone and decks made for the Visconti-Sforza house of Renaissance Italy. The minor arcana (the number cards) are based on another Italian Renaissance deck, the Sola-Busca. The fortune-telling and other esoteric applications came a few centuries later with adaptations by Etteilla, Court de Gebelin, and others. In the early 20th century, Arthur Edward Waite, Aleister Crowley, and others created their own decks. Today there are more decks than you can even keep track of. It's more an art form than anything else.

Aside from Renaissance artists like Antonio Cicognara and Bonifacio Bembo, the only major artist to design a deck is Salvador Dali. His deck includes collage of existing art as well as his own original paintings.

If you want a basic deck, pick up a standard Rider-Waite-Smith and Rachel Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom or Mary Greer's Tarot for Your Self which are the best introductions to modern Tarot use.

My wife and I collect decks and have several hundred between us.

@BlueSkyKing There are some differences between decks. It's important to find one that you feel comfortable with.
Yes, but what part of "you need to touch the cards yourself for it to work" don't you understand? You have to shuffle and cut the cards in order to get a good reading. You can read all about how to do it on the internet, but the fact remains, you have to personally manipulate the cards to tell you what you want to know.
What the fuck do you want me to do, bring one of my tarot decks over to your house?
Yet you refuse to do what it takes to test and measure it.

@LeopoldBloom No debate on the artistic aspect, it’s just wishful thinking wanting it to "work".

@LordShadowfire Hey, I don’t understand the hostility. Have you ever checked out Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit? Think you can pass?

https://planetforlife.com/aboutpfl/baloney.html

@BlueSkyKing I'm getting annoyed because you don't appear to be listening to me. The way to test this system is for you to either obtain a tarot deck or find someone who has one, and physically test it out. Anything less than that would not be sufficient evidence.

As for hostility, any of that is in your mind.

@LordShadowfire Tests are models based on evidence. Tests don’t create evidence.

@BlueSkyKing Okay, don't do the one thing that would confirm or debunk it.

@LordShadowfire That’s why this subject is in the religion category.

@BlueSkyKing Why, because you won't conduct the experiment I suggested you try to conduct in order to confirm or debunk it? Because you're scared to actually try something that would prove or disprove it?

@LordShadowfire It’s not an experiment. No controls. No tools for detecting or measuring. No parameters of what constitutes a successful experiment. If you gave me a deck, I’ll toss it into the trash. Same with astrology. The emperor has no clothes.