• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Tarot cards are really amazing at figuring out who's a sucker.

D

DarkKyo

Member
JettDash said:
Tarot and homeopathy are both ridiculous nonsense but they're not the same thing.
Click to expand...

I meant the way you baited us. Your topic was misleading in that it sounded like it was your opinion for the thread, or an actual question, but then once we get inside you're basically like "the people who believe this/use this are dumb."

Is that not what both threads are like?
 
J

JettDash

Junior Member
DarkKyo said:
I meant the way you baited us. Your topic was misleading in that it sounded like it was your opinion for the thread, or an actual question, but then once we get inside you're basically like "the people who believe this/use this are dumb."

Is that not what both threads are like?
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah, that was the intention. I thought it would be funny that way.
 
F

flagdaddy

Member
Its fun when you’re at a party and someone brings them to do readings for people. Of course I don’t actually believe what they say but it’s fun and makes you think about stuff. The alcohol probably helps
 
G

GifGafIsTheBestGaf

Member
Walter-Mercado-Tarot-Treasures1.jpg
 
M

mantidor

Member
As someone said it's kind like rorschach blots, the symbols are universal (in the western world) so readings are always fun. You OP sound "edgelord" like to be honest.

teiresias said:
I actually kind of collect Tarot decks because I find them interesting, and I've read a few good treatise on using them in the same vein as rorschach blots. Beyond that, I find different artistic interpretations of the cards and their traditional meanings (depending on the tarot system the deck adheres to) rather interesting which is the main reason I own a number of decks.

Since this is Neogaf, one of my favorite decks I own is the Yoshitaka Amano Tarot:


The art is stunning, but it's a pip deck, meaning only the major arcana and the court cards have full illustrations. Also, the card stock is garbage, but it's still one of my favorites to flip through. I've been thinking of cutting mattes and frame them to hang on the wall since it's a smaller number of cards not having the pip cards illustrated.
Click to expand...

God I need this.
 
B

Boney

Banned
They allow for introspection and interpretation through abstract symbols. People that use them don't automatically think they're magic.
 
M

marimorimo

Member
I collect Tarot cards, although not as much as I used to because I don't have enough space. Love the art on them. It's easy enough to memorize the main meaning of each card and start doing readings for fun and during parties. As others have said, they function very well as Roschach tests and since the images on the cards represent a wide view of the human condition they're very good at pinpointing issues from the past and the present.

However, having no psychic "gift" I've never been able to predict anything about the future with accuracy (and frankly I have no idea how so-called fortune tellers are able to claim very specific things as card meanings are very broad...like a card could both mean " a new car" and "an overbearing boss" and I could never tell which was which). Except for one instance which spooked the heebiejeebies out of me.

I was looking for people to practice tarot reading with and chose my grandma who had been staying with us for a few months. I reassured her that I always gave "happy" readings (which was true as majority of my readings up to that point only had positive cards for the "expected outcome" and if they weren't exactly positive, the meaning could easily be manipulated to show a positive message. Didn't want my hapless victims to be spooked.)

However when it came to her every.single.card was the worst, most negative cards in the deck. Like 3 of Swords, 9 of Swords, 10 of Swords. One has 3 swords piercing through a heart, Another a woman crying in bed as if she had nightmares, and another with 10 friggin' swords stuck onto a bloody man's back. Uhhh...ok...maybe the outcome after all this hardship is positive? I turn the final card over and it's friggin' DEATH. I spun a bullshit tale about staying positive and scrammed out. Death doesn't necessarily mean physical death in Tarot, but its appearance after all the other cards unnerved me.

My grandma was old and had been sick for as long as I can remember but she always managed to pull through surgeries and hospitalizations and bounce back no matter what so it was a genuine surprise for me when a month later she was hospitalized again and died.

I'm sure it was all coincidence but I stayed away from tarot cards for a long while after that.
 
P

Poppy

Member
i love tarot cards, i mean you're basically just making a story out of them right

my reading i did with my new rider deck was actually stunningly accurate to how i felt my position in life was. i only do face card readings though, a lot more impactful than divining what the smaller ones might mean
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
Tarot games are fun though. The showy decks everyone thinks of aren't really suitable for those, but they look cool at least.
 
1

1upsuper

Member
Yeah, the only thing you'll actually divine from tarot cards is who's the nearest superstitious sucker. But the history of the cards themselves is quite interesting, as is the general idea underlying the cards, namely that the ~21 major arcana are comprehensive and vague enough to be able to tell stories and describe events -- so long as you've got someone willing to fill in the gaps and (arbitrarily) assign each arcana to an event. Like your average daytime psychic lures people into doing.

They kinda remind me of of visual guides used sometimes in oral storytelling around the world where the images guide the storyteller and help them remember details. Except with tarot cards you're explicitly looking towards the "future" rather than the "past."
 
N

Nohar

Member
I don't do Tarot readings anymore.

Either people are spooked or blame me for my readings (well, I am devastated to have predicted something that was obviously going to happen in your life; seriously, it is not so much predicting the future but more trying to pull one's head out the sand - stop doing your ostrich, that would be much appreciated).

Either I stumble on something genuinely interesting, only for the consultant to be unhappy that I somehow "discovered" their dark secrets.

So, yeah, no more Tarot readings. It was fun for a while, but some people take it too seriously.
 
A

AlexBasch

Member
I like their designs so your topic name isn't really far off from my point of view.

Holy shit, is Walter Mercado still a thing? EDIT: IS HE FUCKING 85?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
 
B

Brakke

Banned
Theres three ways to go on tarot:

1) Get readings from ladies pretending to be gypsies in strip malls.
2) It's a fun mirror to hold up to yourself or others.
3) Be Aleister Crowley and actually do yes believe they're magic.

1) is lame and people who hate on 1) are also lame. Congrats on taking down the world's easiest mark.

2) is aight.

3) is that real shit though. 3) is the best.
 
M

Monochromaticx

Member
is this thead a jojo reference?!?!


teiresias said:
I actually kind of collect Tarot decks because I find them interesting, and I've read a few good treatise on using them in the same vein as rorschach blots. Beyond that, I find different artistic interpretations of the cards and their traditional meanings (depending on the tarot system the deck adheres to) rather interesting which is the main reason I own a number of decks.

Since this is Neogaf, one of my favorite decks I own is the Yoshitaka Amano Tarot:


The art is stunning, but it's a pip deck, meaning only the major arcana and the court cards have full illustrations. Also, the card stock is garbage, but it's still one of my favorites to flip through. I've been thinking of cutting mattes and frame them to hang on the wall since it's a smaller number of cards not having the pip cards illustrated.
Click to expand...

thats pretty cool. i want to frame them and put them on my wall
 
R

Ravelle

Member
The fact that spiritual mediums on TV is still a thing and isn't banned is even more bizarre if you ask me.

So called mediums on a hot line giving people life advise by contacting a deceased friend or relative etc. It's a disgusting scam and I don't know how people can't see that.
 
B

Billy_Pilgrim

Member
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.
Click to expand...

Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
ponpo said:
Is it so different than most religions. And obligatory

lLUb55K.gif
Click to expand...

this is... really not the type of person that is into Tarot cards, i don't get this.

also it's hilarious how many seem to have discovered it via anime. lol
 
n64coder

n64coder

Member
Javaman said:
I loved the fact that a fortune teller in my town had a out of business sign up for a while.
Click to expand...

We have one in my town which is one of the wealthier towns in the state and I wonder how they stay in business so long. They probably have been around for at least 10 years. I never see any cars in front of the shop so maybe they have some sort of internet presence. Or it could be a way to launder money.
 
Prax

Prax

Member
I love tarot cards! And occulty stuff in general. So cool.

It's hard to find a GOOD deck with illustrated pip cards that also is infused with "correct" or at least some kind of effortful esoteric symbolism. Wish I didn't have to settle for Rider-Waite or Thoth.. Both of which can bit kinda ugly (Thoth is pretty cool looking actually, but not my style).

Anyway, I think tarot readings can be really fun. It's kind of like astrology for me where it puts you into a meditative state so you search for patterns in your life and pluck them out. Like others have mentioned, a kind of spiritual Rosarch test.

I haven't done any readings in a long while. I used to do them for myself and write them down. I wonder if any had "come true" by now. lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Who Can Afford These Homes Anymore? USA/Costal States
2
58
3K
Vyse replied
Card game developer says it paid an 'AI artist' $90,000 to generate card art because 'no one comes close to the quality he delivers'
Drama Game Dev 2 3
119
8K
Caffeine replied
Ancient Roman figures brought to life via AI
Science 2 3
100
6K
Dirk Benedict replied
I find horror movies very hard to watch...
42
2K
Fart Knight replied
  • Locked
Gina Carano was going to get her own Star Wars spin-off before the internet mob got her fired
2
75
3K
ahtlas7 replied
Top Bottom