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CHANGING FORTUNES by Julie E Lewis
Many people believe that whatever is revealed in the cards is gospel truth
and nothing can be done to change it. This kind of thinking is not advisable
and it can also be dangerous.
If, for instance, you were to visit a tarot card reader who told you they
could see divorce in your cards when at the time you were happily married,
what effect might that have on your relationship with your spouse? Of
course, a reputable reader would not tell you something as direct as this,
but if you were unlucky enough to encounter a reader who did, or even
if you yourself were to think you could see divorce when reading your
own cards, you can no doubt imagine how this might affect your life and
your future. Just the simple act of worrying about the possibility of
divorce could be enough to set the wheels of marital destruction in motion.
If, on the other hand, the reader were to tell you that there was a possibility
of difficulties in the future as far as your marriage was concerned, this
would enable you to look deeper into the situation and discover where
the problems might arise. You could then take steps to improve matters,
or avoid trouble spots, thereby (hopefully) avoiding the risk of your
marriage breaking-up.
In other words, by taking the latter course you would retain control of
your life and your destiny and, in so doing, turn what could have been
a negative experience into a positive one. Using the cards in this way,
as a tool to improve your life, is the way they are meant to be used,
not as a means of creating forecasts full of doom and gloom that allow
no room for manoeuvre when it comes to improving your life.
Perhaps you are concerned about your finances and pick out The Devil.
If you were inexperienced in the Tarot, or consulting an inexperienced
reader, one look at this card would no doubt convince you that you were
on the brink of bankruptcy. However, if you were to look at the card positively
and see it as a warning against wasting money on non-essentials, you would
see that it is actually quite a helpful card to choose. It is telling
you that if you work out a budget and stick to it, and don't let yourself
be side-tracked by unnecessary purchases, your finances should eventually
become more stable.
What you need to bear in mind when consulting the Tarot is that the cards
are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Different readers will
interpret the same cards different ways and come to different conclusions,
but this does not mean that only one of those readers is correct. What
it means is that there are several different paths in front of you, each
one leading to a different destination, and it is up to you which path
you choose to walk down.
The cards will help you decide by telling you what is likely to happen
depending on which path you follow, but what eventually does happen is
up to you. Knowing what could happen gives you the chance to change certain
aspects of your life to avoid something you do not wish to experience
and it also gives you the chance to manipulate events so you can ensure
that something you would like to experience does occur.
Fate does, of course, play a part in all our lives and we could argue
that if something is meant to happen it will happen, regardless of what
we try to do to stop it. This may well be true, but who is to say that
the change you make in your life as a result of what the Tarot advises
wasn't meant to happen anyway, in order to lead you to that fateful experience?
Even if we feel that certain things cannot be avoided no matter what we
do, by being aware of the likelihood of them we can lessen their negative
impact, or heighten the pleasure of their positive effects. We can also
take steps to prepare ourselves for future changes if we are aware of
what those changes may be.
By all means consult the Tarot when you feel changes are due, or when
you want to know how a specific event is likely to turn out. Don't, however,
look at it in terms of finding out what is going to happen, but see it
as a way of discovering what might be going to happen. That way, if you
don't like the idea of what the cards seem to be leaning towards, you
can try to improve the situation. Then, when you consult the cards again,
you may find that, as a result of your actions, they are forecasting a
much more positive conclusion to your dilemma.
Seeing the Tarot in this way will be difficult if you view it as a fortune-telling
tool and nothing else, but those of you who realise that there is far
more to the cards than simply predicting the future will gain a great
deal more from their work with the Tarot by taking this approach. Many
people feel that if the cards show something that in the end doesn't happen
because they have done something to stop it due to being warned about
it by the cards, this means the cards are wrong. It doesn't. It means
the person's approach to the cards is wrong.
What the cards have done is give you a sneak preview of what is likely
to happen if you continue to behave in a certain way. If you ignore this
advice, then what they have 'predicted' will almost certainly take place.
However, if you do not wish your life to follow this route, you have the
opportunity to change it as a result of what the cards have revealed to
you. The cards are not making a mistake as they are not telling you that
something is definitely going to happen, only that it may be going to
happen. Whether it does or not is entirely up to you.
Remember, you are in control of your own destiny. No way can you leave
something that important to seventy-eight pieces of cardboard. Let the
Tarot cards guide you, advise you and help you, but do not let them run
your life.
© Julie E. Lewis
Tarot Corner