Mystical Angels

Are tarot readings and other forms of divination paranormal?

Public Comments

1. Those who believe these things are real would probably tell you yes, it's paranormal. But like the rest of the paranormal, they cannot be shown to be real. That's part of the definition of paranormal. The most likely explanation is that Tarot is just a physical prop people use to lend some physical validity to spiritual/mystical ideas, and it just comes down to a lot of subjective interpretation of the cards that show up. Tarot can be effectively used together with cold reading to give a client a fake psychic reading.
2. there is no such thing as paranormal, you can call those things business where people get their money to feed themselves.
3. Personally, I don't believe so. I beleive a really good reader simply knows their cards. Though it is possible for someone with a psychic gift to use the cards to help them give a reading. In this instance, the cards are used to help them focus their gift.
4. they are more like gifts from the gods
5. I do professional Tarot readings, and no I don't belive its "paranormal" in nature. Each card has specific meaning that actually goes back to the 8th century. Together they encompass all possibilities of human existence. Then a question needs to be chosen, and a corresponding appropriate spread. Then the cards are shuffled, usually by the questioner. The concept is that the person doing the shuffling subconsciously puts them into the order needed to get the right answers. The cards are then spread and read. It doesn't have anything to do spirits or anything else paranormal. The myth that it is occult in nature and that you are contacting the devil or spirits is something the catholic church instigated in order to control the population. There isn't any truth in that. For the most part other forms of divination work the same way. Its all about interpreting symbols, positions etc. the only variation on that is mediums who connect with spirits specificially, but that's really a different thing from divination. I hope that helps.
6. Below is a link to just some types of divination. All of them depend not on predictability but of randomness, which few believers are willing to accept. Each one of these use a "prop" and due to randomness the events do not repeat themselves. The odds that a tarot card pattern repeating itself after fifteen minutes are higher than winning the lottery. Only a straight up psychic will use no props and there is no evidence that they do any better.
7. Well, that is what you will hear from the diviners and their believers, completely unsupported with evidence of course. Anyway, when it comes to tarot, i have a strong sceptical argument against it. Argument as follows: As the read of the cards is dependant on the order in which the cards are laid out, the order should be the same in every deck the reader would use during a specific read session, or after every shuffle of the cards, right? This is a yes/no question. Answer yes - means tarot is hoax, as the order of the cards will be different every time the deck is mixed (or if one should introduce another deck during a read session), thus resulting in different reads for the same person after every new shuffle of the cards (or after switching deck). Answer no - means the order of the cards is irrelevant thus making the use of cards unnecessary in the first place.