After I bought that first deck and made the decision to "take apart" and study Tarot, I found and read many references on Tarot. I purchased several more decks, many books, and I studied and studied. I still understand more and more all the time.
Let me tell you more about what the Tarot is and how it works. The Tarot deck is a set of images, and each image represents some experience, feeling, or situation. When you use the cards, you begin to notice similarities between the cards and your life. You begin to see that most experiences have common grounds: they are of a type, and every human has (or will) experience this same feeling or situation in one way or another. Tarot can teach you the patterns of life.
After a while, you can see that your present situation is going to result in another situation of a different type. By applying the factors of your life to the situation types, you can usually figure out most of the details of the situation to come. This knowledge of changing situations and resulting situations comes from studying the cycles depicted in Tarot.
Predicting the outcome of situations is really no great feat. The science of psychology can also predict outcomes and the next situation. After enough study in psycology, you know the causes and effects of human emotions and actions. You can then predict how certain humans will react and what the next situation will be. However, psychology is missing the problem-solving methods inherent in Tarot.
Tarot is a tool to learn more about yourself. I don't try to "tell the future" with it. I discover the cycles of life, the levels of progress and climbing that a human goes through. Most of all, when I use the Tarot for more insight on a situation in my life, I am really simply applying right-brained problem solving skills to the problem. As you might know, the right-brain in a human is the artistic and emotional side, while the left-brain is very logical and reasoning.
The right-brain has terrific problem-solving abilities, but they go sadly undeveloped in today's society. We don't teach our children to brainstorm, to creatively apply new ideas to problems, to try to solve a problem backwards, or to use random words or pictures to "knock" their brains into different angles of looking at a problem. No, we teach them that 2 + 2 = 4, and that is the *only* right answer - and there is only *one* way to get the solution. This hard logic and black-and-white outlook on problem solving is well suited to the left- brain, but it entirely ignores the abilities and input from the right side of the brain. We are solving problems with only half our brain!
Let's look at this from another perspective. I like to improve myself. I'm always interested in books and methods that will improve my creativity and thinking power. In this vein, I read a book called "A Whack On The Side of The Head", by Roger von Oech. This book describes how people are always solving problems the same way. Roger states that really good, creative ideas come whenever the brain is somehow "whacked" out of the same old path. If your mind is somehow forced to look at a problem from a different angle, you can form great ideas and solutions. His book talks about ways you can train your brain to be more creative. He mentions taking a new way home from work or school every so often. He says "don't stop at the first right answer. Keep looking for others." He says "change the question your are asking" to get a different view. He says use random input for stimulus to the brain - open a dictionary and figure out how the first word you see relates to the problem. All of these techniques will help get you out of the "habit" of solving problems the same old way.
In essence, Tarot is using many of these ideas to help people get a new look at their situations and, hopefully, new solutions to their problems. First of all, when ever you do a Tarot spread to answer a question, you must clarify the question. This forces people to think about what they are really concerned about, and to classify their concerns into concise areas of missing information. Amazing how that alone can clear one's thinking! Once they know what they want to know, people have a path to follow to the solution.
Next, Tarot "turns on" the right-side of the brain. The images speak directly to the symbol-processing part of our brains, and that part of our brain becomes interested in the problem. However, in order for the dominant left-side of the brain to keep it's high-logic fingers out of the problem, it has to actually reject the problem and say, "I'm not going to deal with this. Go ahead, right-brain.". Tarot is not logical, it is not cut and dry, and therefore it is not something that the left-brain can process. This concept is from the excellent book "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain", by Betty Edwards. You see, the right-brain is very good at processing "fuzzy", non-logical information. You have to focus and relax to receive the input from the right-side of the brain, but it does come. And what a fast, brilliant problem-slover the right-brain is!
What else? Anytime someone sits down and actually spends ten minutes doing a Tarot spread, they are indicating that they are interested in the problem. Your mind won't turn all of its problem-solving power unless it knows for sure that you are truely interested. Spending the time and going through the movements of setting out the spread are enough to indicate the you are interested in this problem.
How about FOCUS. Something that is rather rare in today's world. Very few of us have the time or discipline to sit down and focus on one thing. We have to deal the the phone ringing, the kids talking, the TV, the time, how cluttered the room is, bills, and every other distraction you can think of. When we truely focus our energy on a problem, we can think up some great stuff! Tarot automatically forces you to focus on the problem by finding a quiet place and time to attack and process the problem.
Each card in a tarot spread will have different meaning according to its position in the spread. One position shows the history of the matter, another your attitude, still another the attitudes of loved ones. The process of reading a Tarot spread is one that causes you to look at the situation from many different angles - from your point of view, from other's point of view, from the "big picture" and from the past - as well as others. This helps your problem solving abilities immensely, and it incorporates the "knock your brain into a different line of thinking" technique.
The result? After a reading you feel that you have a much deeper understanding of the matter and where it is going. You feel that you know exactly what you must do to make everything right. And, of course, its true. You _do_ have a deeper understanding - you just finished analyzing the matter ten different ways while you were focused and in tune!
So, to briefly summarize the "scientific" factors that Tarot uses to help people solve problems, the are:
ΓÇó Classify & Define the problem (formulate specific questions)
ΓÇó Indicate true interest to your mind (set aside time to work just
on this problem, go through the effort of laying out a spread)
ΓÇó Focus and concentrate on the problem in a quiet place
ΓÇó Activate the right-brain with colors, pictures, & symbols
ΓÇó Keep the logical left-brain out of it: left-brain rejects the task
ΓÇó Analyze the situation from at least ten different viewpoints
I think you will agree that applying such factors in ANY setting - using any tool - will result in better solutions and a more enjoyable problem-solving process.
Many books are written on how to solve problems better and more creatively. People take workshops and courses to learn how to focus better, how to concentrate better. Isn't it fascinating that all this knowledge has been packed into a deck of pictures for thousands of years?
Now, lest I make this seem all over-simplified, I must say that there is much, much more to the Tarot than just being a great source of subtle (disguised?) problem-solving techniques. It also has much wisdom about human situations and psychology. It has knowledge of learning and growth cycles. The cycles of nature and life are represented the way we all can relate to them: in pictures. And it can be endlessly fascinating to explore the interrelationships of these life cycles and human behaviour. I have found it much easier to deal with life now that I know the cycles and processes. I can look at my current position and know where I must grow and master, and what I can leave behind. I know that I can expect to feel like a freshman in high school or a graduating senior, and when. I know when extra effort is going to be required to get over the next hump, and when I can skate on the current level for a while. All this means that I can pace myself and direct my energies in a smart, non-wasteful way.
A friend once told me that "stress is simply the difference between what you expect and what actually happens. The greater the difference, the greater the stress." Tarot teaches me what to expect, and that lowers my stress.
Another excellent author to read regarding thinking and problem solving is Edward DeBono. I think his book "DeBono's Five-Day Thinking Course" is the best (you can find it at your local library). His book "Creative Thinking" is a less concise version of many of the same thoughts and techniques.
DeBono also stresses ways to break out of the usual path or line of thinking. He proves in his books that many problems (involving the right-brain) are unsolvable or very poorly solved through our traditional thinking methods. His techniques for involving the right-brain and re-training your thinking are also expressed in the way Tarot works.
One more final book reference. Tarot has become more and more popular in the past few decade. In the 70's, Tarot was unseen by the public, and only heard about through gypsy stories and such. Suddenly, in the late 80's, Tarot decks are carried as regular inventory at Waldenbooks bookstores, among other large retail book chains. What is going on here?
John Naisbitt describes a concept called "High Tech-High Touch" in his book "MegaTrends". The theory is that humans naturally long for balance, and since our society is getting more and more logical, more and more technical, and more and more cold and electronic, people are looking for ways to balance that high-tech with high-touch. Religion participation is on the rise. Live music in nightclubs is more popular than ever. Why? People want human contact and socialization. They are finding avenues of human contact to balance out the high-tech that is invading their lives. Tarot is a "soft" science; it is a high-touch way to explore your problems and your life. It is also congruent with our lifestyle priorities of convenience and self-reliance. You can do Tarot anytime you want, anywhere you want. You don't need an appointment. You can share Tarot with friends. It's portable, artistic, and simple.
So you see, Tarot has a strong scientific base - even by today's standards. There are those that will always believe that every Tarot card is guided by some unseen evil force. There will always be those that believe that their path is the only right path, and anyone not on their path is wrong and hopelessly doomed. Those are not the people for whom I created this stack. Tarot can provide a new way to learn for those who are open and willing to explore it!
