Freewill vs. Destiny/Fate
It’s natural to have curiousity and desire insight into our futures. To know the future would be incredibly advantageous. Wouldn’t it be amazing to know the lotto numbers, when our perfect partner will walk past us on the street or how things will turn out for our children? The truthiest truth is that the accuracy of premonition/prediction is inherently flawed because of free will. Therefore, nothing is 100% set in stone in terms of future outcomes because free will plays such a strong influential role in how our lives are shaped.
I have shared intuitions with clients eager for information about what sort of future partners will enter their lives. I’ve described their traits, their astrological sign, and even sometimes…a loose timeline. But consider how KNOWING that this particular person could be your FOREVER partner would negatively influence your first encounters with them. Light “getting-to-know-you” talk is expected during first dates, not…”I already know you’re the one I’ve been waiting for. Let’s skip all this banal preamble.” That sort of pushiness could raise red flags and may cause any potential suitor to abandon a future with us. The free will of your suitors then takes precedence over any “plan” that fate may have had for you two to meet. In my opinion, you would have been better served by not knowing. Truly. Because in the end, the opposite of your core desire to find love, plays out. You end up alone. And confused…because…your psychic told you…this was your person…and now, they’re ghosting or aren’t interested…devastating.
As a result of the above, Tarot readers can teeter in the dangerous realm of what I call “Playing God.” The implications for both reader and client alike can be dark and stormy. After a steep learning curve over 30 years of reading Tarot, I have landed on this: I feel that my ethics as a reader compel me not to influence future events so much that I could remove the variable of fate making its magical way into your life.
Readings are like a snapshot. Your hairstyle, clothing, surroundings, and other people in the photo crystallized for that one moment. But as soon as the photo is captured, everyone moves. The next day, you may style your hair differently, wear new clothes and choose different people for your next picture. A photo is never re-creatable. Holding on to a reading expecting it to materialize verbatim is like expecting to create the same photo of your life over and over. It’s just purely impossible. All a reading can really be is a guide. Indicating to you: possible paths & outcomes, possible influences & directions. Ultimately, too many factors are at the mercy of free will and therefore change, marring any reliable exact accurate future prediction.
Knowledge=Power?
Recently, I had a call from a new client that inquired whether I could predict if there would be a 3rd death in her family this year. Oooffff! What a loaded question! My mind spun wildly as I tried to succinctly explain the following to Margaret:
1. How would knowing that information serve her? Would she not be in a constant state of dread? How could knowing the exact day/time that anyone including ourselves will die, help or hinder us?
This was such a philosophical conversation to have under these circumstances and definitely, one that had a whole host of potential landmines for a “quick chat” with someone I’ve never met and was hoping would hire me.
2. I never fully know what will come through in a reading until I’m doing it. I can direct questions to the cards however, Tarot is not a direct yes or no tool. It is an advisor, a methodology of metaphors.
Sidebar: I have long been known for my claims that I am NOT a medium and yet, sometimes and from a place that I know not, comes a message from a deceased loved one bubbling up through left field. There is no way to know if or when that may happen. Medium work requires a fair amount of spiritual responsibility and sensitivity. In my experience, true and gifted mediums are extraordinarily rare. Some “readers” claim that they have this gift to dupe people out of their money during an excruciatingly vulnerable time. Many clients are desperate to communicate with their deceased partner/parent/child or friend when the mire of grief lays heavy on their hearts. There is no governance or policing for those who claim they are psychic. It’s 100% buyer beware. Those in deep grief are particularly susceptible to being de-frauded because they don’t have the same access to their own intuition about whom can be trusted when entering the selection process of hiring a medium, psychic or healer.
I offered Margaret some time to think about whether I was the “right” reader for her and call me back. Did I secure the booking with her? Unfortunately, no I did not. I felt a greater responsibility to warn her that anyone who would tell her that her family member would definitely die this year may not have a good code of ethics as a reader. Furthermore, her question put her at risk of losing her benjamin franklins.
What if the family member does indeed pass this year, and the reader said they would not? Would Margaret then miss the opportunity to spend quality time with them? What about facilitating any heartfelt conversations that needed to happen if they felt that their family member was only Earth-bound for a short period of time?
Likely, this may be why some religions denounce Tarot & psychics as black magic. The tool itself is not dark, in fact, it can be healing, cathartic, encouraging, and uplifting. It is the tool in the hands of the person who reads it that dictates whether it’s used for positive purposes or not. Ashley Surowski said it so well in my (The Lilac) podcast interview with her: “The hammer can build a house or be used as a violent weapon. It all depends on the one who wields it.”
If not for predicting the Future, What is Tarot best used for?
I have studied my own hunches, inklings, and premonitions since my first tea leaf reading and obsession with ouija boards many moons ago. For me, intuition doesn’t always feel the same. Sometimes, it’s an in-your-face full frontal assault of the senses but just as often, it is a quiet, deep knowing. More guttural. Like when you first start feeling hungry. A deep rumbling. And sometimes still, it feels as wispy as a whisper. A tendril of an invitation to a premonition. And like many people, I have struggled to trust or even to change things in order to honour it. I’ve studied it for many years now and I have learned how to listen and understand it better.
Tarot is best used as the ultimate gut check litmus test. When I pull a card for a question I have or for the day to come, I’m essentially looking to see if it confirms what my hunch about it already was. So in essence, the Tarot is a gut-feeling, fact-checker for me to affirm that my intuition is en pointe; to check that I have reliable information within me and am not mistaking a fear, flawed core value, or worry/anxiety as an intuition. It helps me to affirm, confirm and proceed with more confidence in my inner knowings.
Often, I receive the feedback that someone’s reading really reflected back to them what they know in their hearts to be true. We are naturally pain avoidant as human beings, so denial is a coping mechanism that is often pierced through with a Tarot reading. Deep down we know what the cards are saying is true for us. i.e. We’ve outgrown our partner, we’re being overlooked at work, and that “friend” should not be trusted because they cannot help but gossip about our lives.
My best readings reinforce my clients' innate intuition about their lives by bringing the information to clarity. From the depths of your interiority, into the physical world. By giving a voice, to an inkling. Tarot is a tool best used to confirm what you already have a hunch about, but sometimes that knowledge is buried too deep inside and needs a helping hand to be lovingly unearthed.
Authored by: Sarah Mayes
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