Tradition or Intuition?
The card reading community as a whole is a fun place to hang out, however, I have noticed a theme over the last year or so that lends itself to an “us” versus “them” battle. The “Intuitives” versus “The Traditionalists” some would say. Scathing commenting from both sides leads to a less than rosy view of the card reading world – but who is right ? Is there a right versus wrong battle even? There is an additional layer of battle on this questioning the basis of a "traditional" system or method - for me, tradition has the basic meaning of:
Passed down from generation to generation ...
There are a lot of people in the world who will misuse this term for self promotion - I am not commenting or even entering into that discussion - as in any walk of life there are people who will "make stuff up" to better their position.
Today, I am simply going to dissect two sides of the cartomancy “dance off” and determine where I lay within the melange.
Those who know me well will have expected the above gif :)
Tradition
The Card Reader who sits on this side of the fence is a reader who has learned their craft, they have researched their area of expertise (system) and they are using methods that can be traced back centuries. Many T Readers have spent years looking into their chosen system and absorbing every piece of information available, trawling historical documents and the like to find their link to the “core” of said system. Through this learning and research and of course intense practice / testing their system, they have fallen in love with the roots of it and live and breathe its essence. What many fail to acknowledge is that they have, in this time, also honed their intuition to apply an extra layer on top of “what the cards say”. Placement, system of reading, core meanings and then applied intuition. The Science of the System
Intuitive
The Card Reader who sits mostly on the intuitive side of the fence is a reader who “feels” their chosen system. They may choose to disregard the instructions that come with the deck and rely solely on channelling and intuition for the base read, using the symbols and imagery on the cards to form the reading. They too have practiced their craft in that they have focused on their intuition and built on it. Placement etc do not fall into their reads as highly as what their gut feeling states is the correct reading. I Readers often opt for Oracle Cards where meanings are more fluid than the more “rigid” systems.
Now you can see the two sides of the fence and probably understand why one is irked by the other (from both sides!).
I am going to play mediator for a moment and explain why there is such a divide.
T Readers really are bothered by the lack of research they perceive in I Readers.
I Readers are irked by T Readers “lording” it over them with their superior attitude.
The two don’t mix well.
Imagine somebody who has been to University for 3 years, received their Bachelor of Arts and a friend comes along and says “I can do exactly what you do but I don’t need to learn it – I intuit it”. SMACK! You can surely understand why the T Reader is irked (if not downright insulted), years of research, years of practice, years of extreme testing of a system to dissect exactly what works and how.
Feel sorry for the T Reader yet? Probably only if you are one!
Now to the I Reader, the I Reader is peeved that a system reader could act so arrogantly, making sweeping comments that a system is the only way to read, after all, the I Reader has worked on their link to spirit and the art of channelling for many years usually and are convinced it is the best way to convey messages.
I Readers often believe that Divination is mostly a grey area, that anyone can divine anything, the T Readers probably do not dispute this statement, but believe that the systems that have been created to date should be honoured in order to perform a read that is both predictive and exact.
Every form of divination has a point of creation, a moment in time in which a diviner has created the system, the meanings to the symbols or the method of reading them. There is nothing to say that new systems and ways cannot be divined going forward, all the T Reader is asking is that the current systems are honoured to their creator, the rules are followed as given by the creator and then intuition added on top! If an actual point of conception cannot be found then the methods that have been passed down through generations should be considered and studied.
The I Reader is more or less creating their own system of reading and divining which falls more into the creator category than the researcher and they therefore feel that there are no base rules until you find what works for you – the creator, if you like. However, the tools they are using usually already have a tried and tested means of being read.
Who would you want to be reading for you?
I made it very clear in my book that throughout the years I have received many many reads from readers of all shapes and backgrounds and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind which side of the fence I would ask for a read – I am going to explain why too so don’t just jump in and burn me at the stake before I finish!
I would always trust the T Reader
I am not an I Reader type personality, the reads I see in Facebook groups really hurt me inside, and I mean so much so that I leave groups regularly. My whole body recoils in an "EEEEEK" what mumbo jumbo are they spouting? An I Reader, from my personal experience, is more about the spiritual and ethereal side of life, when I ask for a reading I have a specific question and I want a specific answer, I want to know timescales and when actually events are happening, I want to know in which month it will happen and in which scenario – I have yet to receive a clear predictive message from an I Reader (the challenge is on if you are up for it!) – i.e. Dates, Times; Detailed Descriptions etc – really nailing the real life information down. I do not want to know whether my chakras need to be aligned (I am quite capable of that information myself) or how my energies will react, I want to know when the postman will bring that package and at what time! Real life – real reads. I would also always trust an expert in their field, somebody who has studied for many years and uses methodology that has been tried and tested. If I have an ailment I go to a doctor, if I need a card read I go to an expert card reader (expert meaning - having or involving a great deal of knowledge or skill in a particular area".)
SO – Big finale, now many readers will be fed up of my blog and mentally signing out, but hear this please – I am not disrespecting any readers, on the contrary, many readers can perform a service that I don’t want to do, likewise, I perform a service that they don’t want to do, there is enough room for a trillion readers, there is enough room for both sides of the fence and a mix of the two, there are Querent’s out there for every reader, my style would not fit all Querents!
Just like my friend’s circle is not necessarily your friends circle – we don’t all have to be friends, we all have our own characters and our own roles and lives to live – stay true to yours but consider the routes of others as their choice.
The only thing I would ask is that ALL readers (no matter what side of the fence you sit) be honest in your abilities, if you have studied your system then be proud and wear it like a badge. If you haven't studied your system then be honest and wear it as your badge.
The most important thing is to love your craft (whatever that may be) and learn it!! Study hard and be the best you can be in your chosen field – don’t bug me for believing in traditional values and I won’t bug you for using intuition only – fair?
Have you figured out why I used I Reader and T Reader yet?
“Dot the i’s and cross the t’s”
I believe perfection comes when we do both – a healthy mix of learning and applying a methodology and a system coupled with a hint of intuition is the key to providing a good solid reading for a client.
If you do want to learn from experts in their fields ... I can recommend so many who would love to teach you!
