AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve never been convinced of the legitimacy of the “soul-mate” premise (as Aleister Crowley might have said, “One must first believe in a soul”), and the “twin-flame” concept seems even less credible as just being “old wine in new bottles” that once again attempts to put a gloss of spiritual respectability on romantic inclinations. I’ve often wondered whether it is only hypnosis of the kind employed by snake-charmers, and the extent to which it is mutual determines how close it comes to the ideal. Couples want it to be true so they try to make it a reality, and the prevalence of “Will my ‘ex’ come back?” questions posed to fortune-tellers reveals how well that plays out. Here is a lengthy article on “galvanism” or “animal magnetism” that offers considerable food for thought on the subject (although there is doubt concerning its historical accuracy).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_magnetism

Its relevance to the practice of tarot reading lies in the fact that “wishful thinking” drives many querents to put the question to the cards. Anyone who has watched the Prime documentary Desperately Seeking Soulmate (highly recommended) knows how this works in the realm of emotional manipulation. The only real problem I have with asking is that it presumes the hoped-for convergence will “just happen” rather than needing a favorable forecast as a nudge for the individual to go out and help it along. I think of this reluctance to engage as “hiding behind the tarot.”

The thought of exposing our feelings and then being slapped down is paralyzing, so the initiative never gets out of the gate. The “safe” way is to keep visiting diviners, hoping for an epiphany that shouts “This is the one!” Such galvanizing stimulus still doesn’t guarantee that we’re going to stick our neck out, but it encourages putting ourselves in the path of blissful serendipity a little more proactively. We’ve all seen how it goes: the hopeful seeker just happens to be “in the right place at the right time” to make their availability known. Whether the anticipated “spark” turns into a “flame” that results in a “blazing inferno” of shared passion is anybody’s guess, but it has to begin somewhere. Waiting for the Universe to deliver it without motivating ourselves due to fear of failure is almost always going to be a “non-starter.”