AUTHOR’S NOTE: Tarot clients sometimes ask for an extended life-reading (or, more precisely, a “life’s purpose” analysis) to help them decide what they should be doing or proactively “becoming” in their pursuit of lasting financial, professional or emotional stability. These requests are typically focused on employment or education but are occasionally aimed at spiritual or sentimental targets.
The problem I have with this kind of prognostication is that it is unrealistic to peg human aspirations and expectations of a highly volatile nature to a narrow frame-of-reference with a window of engagement that is longer than a few months and count on receiving credible insights about their eventual resolution.
The proper environment for long-range predictions is lateral and expansive, not vertical and exclusive (they should cast a wide net that eclipses single-pointed priorities). Personally, I would trust the Lenormand Grand Tableau over a tarot spread to give me a wide-angle view that covers a sizable duration.
It could be said that we are standing on “shifting sands” at any moment in time (which I suppose is better than sinking in quicksand). We can’t remain constant across all fronts because different responses are required of us at different times and in different situations, so we must adapt if we are to progress. Rather than being a straight shot from horizon-to-horizon, our path forward resembles a curving loop (or more accurately a series of interlaced loops with detours and double-backs).
But, unless we are able to “roll it forward” to a new strategic vantage point, we are all-too-often bound by conventional wisdom. We enter a loop at its ingress, circumnavigate the situation it represents like a laboratory rat on a treadmill and, as did Omar Khayyam, “come out by the same door where in we went,” ideally a little wiser, before moving on to the next link in the chain in pursuit of a happier verdict. We are merely “cycled,” not necessarily advanced by the experience, so we’re not much farther along in our mission than when we started.
Here I’m going to repackage Robert Anton Wilson’s quote from political and social activist Abbie Hoffman for my own purpose: “There are a lot of different realities going around these days.” The key part of that statement is “going around,” as in “what goes around comes around.” If we are unable or unwilling to alter our trajectory between existential episodes, we will wind up in a “do-loop” of repetitive habits.
If our approach to life is going to remain relevant to unique circumstances as they emerge, we must undertake T.S. Eliot’s “transvaluation” of our previous assumptions to embrace an updated vision at each fork in the road. Nothing should be left to chance. This requires perpetually keeping one eye on anticipated developments to judge their velocity and direction if we are to match speeds with them upon their arrival and capture their momentum for our own use.
Doing a life-reading with the intent of pinning our hopes on one protracted interlude of uncertain omen is a recipe for failure. Instead, facing an ongoing parade of likely occurrences, we can perform a prediction at each juncture to explore the best posture to adopt for the potential unfolding of events at that turning-point. If we can put together enough interim highlights, the totality will serve the same purpose as a comprehensive long-range forecast, just consumed in smaller bites.
One of the major pitfalls of the extended outlook is that of dubious long-term reliability. The farther out in time the expected denouement goes from the date of the reading, the more it is vulnerable to being derailed by unforeseen variables. It is impossible to say from the cards pulled: “Do this today and starting tomorrow you will be good for the rest of your life” (or even for the next year). Anything promised in that vein is only going to be a “feel-good” nostrum, and I’m not going to indulge in optimistic cheerleading of that magnitude.
It is better to examine the impersonal environment or atmosphere pertaining to the period itself rather than trying to place the querent’s private agenda within the envelope of conditional eventualities. Ask “Where will my most productive opportunities lie in the career area over the next six months?” not “What can I do to get that job I really want?” In other words, by taking a more open-ended “long view,” we can surmise that the upcoming interval looks favorable for a career change, a business venture, a cooperative partnership, a relationship offer, etc without personalizing it to the extent of telling the querent to go “all-in” on any one of them, and we can still have reasonable assurance of accuracy.
The individual can be counseled on random initiatives to watch out for in their topic area that might be conducive to jumping on and riding for all they’re worth. If they turn out to produce a continuous run of fortunate results, that will be a testament to the querent’s shrewdness and agility in making the right moves, not to the general excellence of a reading that only laid the groundwork in the form of an encouraging portent. I won’t take credit for the fruition of oracular prescience when it belongs elsewhere.
