Retro Tarot

I spent a little time today playing around with tarot cards. A few months ago I had quite a bit of success doing purely predictive readings for some clients, and it got me curious about how/whether tarot can actually be used for prediction. (The working assumption is, "I sincerely doubt it but that would be pretty cool if it could...") In any case, I broke today into a bunch of little chunks. At the beginning of each chunk I pulled a card and set it aside without looking at it; at the end of each chunk I tried to characterize the time in my mind and pick out the card I thought would best represent it. Then, I looked at the card I had set aside to see if the card matched my expectation.

I feel like, if nothing else, the exercise gave me some new ideas for how to apply different card meanings.

For example, during one chunk I was working on some homework and not getting anywhere with it. I was trying lots of different ideas, Googling around for help, and re-reading lecture materials. However...no progress. At the end of my chunk, I was just plain annoyed. I felt like the two of coins reversed, or five of wands, would have been a good representation of my feelings. However, I got Temperance.

Shortly into my next chunk, I made some good progress - and I realized it was mostly due to pulling together all the resources and ideas during the previous chunk. One interpretation of Temperance relies on the "mixing" of thoughts allegorically illustrated in the card. However, I was uncomfortable that the tarot and I were still coming from pretty different directions about the situation.

During another chunk I was hungry and cranky. I expected more cards about conflict or discomfort, but got Judgment. Judgment is all about seeing a situation for what it really is - I knew I was hungry and cranky, so I avoided getting into any confrontations or negative interactions - so again, it made sense in context but it went a couple levels deeper than my original thinking.

During another chunk I got the six of cups, which lined up well with that chunk's events.

So...I feel like it's hard to make any definitive statements after just one day, especially because it's so easy to rationalize cards and perspectives in hindsight. I certainly learned a little more about Temperance and Judgment, and have more examples I can pull on in readings when the cards come up - but I'd be happier if I had actually been able to guess the card that got pulled! (Of course, that would actually also be pretty creepy...)