I like to challenge myself when doing predictive Tarot readings. I try to be as specific as possible and part of that challenge is to determine when an event will happen. Although most of this comes down to intuition, there are three really good techniques that can be used to help develop an intuitive sense of timing. Any of the techniques taught tend to vary from simple to complex, with astrological methods requiring the most background knowledge. Although I think astrology can be an excellent tool to use, I want to concentrate on some simple techniques that I use, that can be applied almost straight away.
1. Attention Seeking Tarot Card
Any card that seems to demand your attention, might be doing so for a reason. In these cases, I make a mental note of that card and if, during the course of the reading, I find myself returning to that card again and again, I will usually take that as very significant. These ‘attention demanding’ cards can indicate many things, but occasionally they might be hinting at the timing. Figuring out what these cards want is half the battle, they may have nothing to do with predicting the timing or they may do. In fact, they might even represent three or four different things. For this reason, this technique is the most intuitive, but can also turn out to be the most accurate.
Example of an attention demanding Tarot card
The other day I was doing a Tarot reading and the Eight of Cups kept grabbing my attention. Although this card was hinting at many different things, I felt it was also telling me the overall timing of the reading. I took the number Eight and said, this reading will cover the next eight months. There was no rational reason for me to intuit this; no complex system was used to validate my feelings.
However, there were other patterns and connections in place which also helped me arrive at my conclusions. For instance, the influence of the Moon was prevalent in the client’s reading which prompted me to see the reading within an Eight month time frame. I saw an image of cycles and phases which all helped me to arrive at my prediction, with the most important event happening in November (Death card – Scorpio).
Let’s look at this further
This technique is the most intuitive, and as I’ve said earlier, probably the best. The difficulty with describing such a technique is the difficulty of showing the reasoning process I went through for something which is essentially, irrational. When we use our intuition, we are using our imagination and the rational part of the mind is put to one side while the irrational is privileged. Each person’s irrational way of working with the Tarot will be unique to them. The most important thing you can do for yourself is trust the irrational. Do not try and rationalise the irrational way you have arrived at your prediction because, certainly if you don’t have much experience in this way of thinking, you may damage you’re enjoyment of Tarot.
This can happen in two ways. The first way, is to be overly rational about the whole thing. This kills the irrational and intuitive process which I’ve described and secondly, it can block further progress as your confidence could be affected.
This technique needs to be approached with an open, free, and unconcerned mind; unconcerned for the correctness of technique, or the correctness of approach.
What does all that mean?
If you choose to use your intuition to make predictions, you are entering into a relationship with your irrational mind. This may already be a well developed and close relationship, in which case you will have no trouble with the technique, or it may be a difficult or tense relationship, in which case, gentle steps would be advised when using this technique.
This technique does more that develop your intuition; it actually develops a trust between the hidden, dark and irrational areas of your mind.
2. The Tarot suits and timing
This technique gives a bit more structure to help with making timing predictions. It still relies on intuition but the rational mind can be kept occupied by thinking about it as an actual structured method, while the irrational mind can be left to make connections between the patterns of the suits.
The seasons
After you have dealt out the cards using your chosen Tarot spread, quickly scan the cards to determine which suit is more prominent than the others. Each suit can be thought of as representing a season, and the more prominent the suit, the more likely the event will happen within the season that that suit corresponds to. Here is a list of the associations that I use:
- Wands: Spring
- Cups: Summer
- Swords: Autumn
- Disks: Winter
Although this system is rather vague, it’s still very useful in certain circumstances, and certain questions. It’s also rather accurate.
Days, Weeks, Months and Years
Imagine the suit of Wands as representing events that happen quickly while the suit of Disks happens very slowly. In this way, we can draw an imaginary line, with Wands representing the fastest and Disks representing the slowest. The other two suits, that being the suit of Cups and the suit of Swords, are positioned somewhere in the middle of that imaginary line. With that in mind, we can make predictions based on the speed of the suit:
- Wands: Days
- Swords: Weeks
- Cups: Months
- Disks: Years
Common advice states that a Tarot reading loses its accuracy when the predicted events are beyond a year from the day of the reading. That means that questions that ask a Tarot reader to make predictions years into the future are not as reliable as questions that ask a Tarot reader to make predictions a few months into the future. Although I accept this point of view, there are always exceptions to the rule and I would advise you not to shy away from making those types of predictions. Experience, both good and bad, is always good.
3. Predicting the day
Although I said I wasn’t going to introduce Astrology, I have introduced this technique because it only requires you to know some basic associations of the Major Arcana or Trump cards which I will present below. This technique allows you to predict the day on which the event will happen.
- Sunday: The Sun card
- Monday: The High Priestess
- Tuesday: The Tower
- Wednesday: Magician
- Thursday: Wheel of Fortune
- Friday: Empress
- Saturday: The World
This list of associations is based on the astrological attributes that are used on some occult Tarot decks. It is surprising how handy this list of associations can be when clients want to know exactly what will happen on “Sunday of next week.”
These three simple techniques for predicting the timing of events are very powerful, and surprisingly accurate. I’d really like to hear more about the techniques that you use when predicting the timing of events in a Tarot card reading. Also, do you find that certain spreads lend themselves to different time frames?
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Great subject. First let me thank you for your #3 technique to determine the days of the week. I’ll have to try that. It’s simple, direct and requires no additional memorization for me.
Regarding the suits, I’m reminded of a technique Sasha Fenton has written about. I did not put into practice, because even she admitted it was hit or miss. I’ve used the four Aces to represent seasons though. There is at least one spread based on this, it involves counting through the deck and seeing how the aces fall. I’ve utilized which ace turns up first, for example. This was informal so I lack “hard data” in terms of verification.
The intuition approach makes the most sense to me. Even with my minimal practice in timing, it’s the route I go: what card is most indicative of timing to me, and how is that timed? For the majors I would look to the astrological associations. I like the way your example “randomly” picked out eight months with verification in another card.
The approach I’ve used the most is more direct: build timing into the question. “Will X happen soon?” “Is Y going to occur in the next six months?” Or state up front that this reading is valid for Z months. (When I first read playing cards I followed a technique where a reading is valid for a month).
A reader I know shared something she was taught about timing. The gist is that if you looked down at a traveling train, you could see the stops it has to make along the way, and where those are in relation to the destination; but you don’t know the exact times each stop will be visited. Only the order in which they will and must occur before getting to the end of the route. Timing is the same way, the sequence of events can be determined but it’s harder to pinpoint “when.”
This makes a lot of sense to me, especially for events further away in time. And I think this reflects the fact that intuition or the subconscious would be the best judge of time. If it can determine the events then perhaps it can make a best guess on how long each of those events will take, and add up to determine a final time, hence the standout timing card. I hope I’m making sense, because this comment is already a bit long!
Hi Jason,
I sometimes uses the four Aces to represent the seasons as well. I tend to use that method of prediction as a verification tool. For instance, if I feel something is going to take place in a certain month, I will look to the other cards for verification. If an Ace backs up that feeling then I’ll take that to be a good sign.
I use all these different methods as a source for verification. For instance, if I thought something was going to occur around Spring time, and the Emperor was also present, then I would take that to be a good indication that I’m on the right lines. However, there are times when my feelings on when something is going to happen can run counter to the cards present. In cases like these, I trust my intuition.
That’s a good use of the ‘question’. This can be a great technique, especially if the client is looking for accurate timing (of which there is no such thing – the best laid plans of mice and men – even the gods ran foul of fate). Timing is one of those things that’s hard to predict and it seems to go hand in hand with experience. There are times however, when I’ll just not get any sense of the timing from an intuitive perspective. In these cases I look to the suits, the Aces or the Princess/Pages and astrological associations. I also inform the client that I cannot be specific, but do my best to give them a general sense of when an event will occur.
Wow, what a great way of describing it. I couldn’t agree more.
Interesting point and I agree with it. However, and this is something I’ve been thinking about in connection with predictions; can the unconscious mind understand Time? I’ll be writing a post on this at some point but at the moment I’m on the fence. I think the unconscious mind can know ‘events’ will happen, and I think sometimes it might be able to know when. I wonder if there is a part of the mind that does not understand time; a kind of timelessness state, where events are known but the time is not? Unfortunately, I am presupposing Jung’s version of the mind which is problematic in itself. However, in practice, the mind seems to understand timing
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Good point about verification. Someone once compared in-reading verification to the astrology “rule of three:” if something shows up three time, or three ways, in a reading then it can be treated as highly probably. That would make sense for timing, I suppose.
Can the unconscious mind understand time? I think in some ways it must. People have used hypnosis to awaken themselves at a set time in the morning; or trust the unconscious mind to bring them out of a trance in a certain number of minutes. (I’ve done that myself in self-hypnosis.)
Are you by any chance familiar with NLP? “Presupposing” is a common term in that field. Just curious.
The concept of time fascinates me – the nature of the job I suppose
I’ve read about NLP, but not to any great depth. I tend to stay away from some of the modern stuff as I wonder about the validity of their techniques; or perhaps, what they claim the techniques will achieve.
I’ve used a method of predicted when something will happen by dealing out the cards starting from whichever month you are in and stopping when one card appears that happens to jump out as saying now this is it. But you do not go past 12 months, if no card appears within the 12 then it’s not likely to be happening in that year.
It seems to work and I have predicted accurately situations for a few people using this method.
Hi Helen, thank you for dropping by and sharing your technique
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I’ve never used this particular method before but I like any method that is simple to do and direct in its application; like the one you have presented.
WOW! I have never asked or been inclined to give a time frame for an event to occur. It usually comes to fruition in a pretty organic way during the “discussion” part of the reading. I am going to review this information again, practice it and amalgamate it into my bag of “tricks” so to speak.
Although I must say that, Spirit usually guides me during a reading. But if we have another way to communicate then I just might get more info……
Peace. Love. Light
astromama aka adiaha
Hi Astromama,
I’m glad you liked the post
I think it’s an excellent indication that you’re in tune with the Tarot when you feel “Spirit” guide your interpretation. In fact, allowing something to flow through you, in the sense that your conscious mind is not directly controlling the reading, is a very good sign that your unconscious is already communicating with you via the cards.
I’d love to hear how you get on with these techniques
Very helpful. Examining the in’s and out’s of timing in a Tarot reading’s becoming something I want to polish up on.
I’ve always had a hunch that “a Tarot reading loses its accuracy when the predicted events are beyond a year from the day of the reading” but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that in print or heard that from someone else, though I haven’t sat down with a professional Tarot reader and asked about determining time in a reading.
Nice to have that affirmed.
Hi Tabitha Dial,
I’m glad you liked the post
Timing events in a Tarot reading can be a difficult thing to become comfortable with. I plan on writing some future articles on using astrology as a bases for predictions within a Tarot reading, which I think might make things clearer
In my experience it is possible to time events accurately beyond the year mark. I’ve been fortunate in having clients return for follow up readings after their predictions came to pass 12 or even 18 months later. However, this isn’t common. I’m not sure if that’s because a lot of the readings done centre around short term events, or, if it’s more luck that accuracy when predicting for longer periods of time. As a general rule of thumb, I don’t shy away from long term predictions but I only make those predictions if I have a strong ‘feeling’ about their accuracy.
Good rule of thumb. That’s very cool about the clients who return, as well as your plans for incorporating astrology into your blog.
I find it interesting that you used the phrase “time events” instead of predict events. This captures well the nature of Tarot, which is to say, the nature of human experience. Things change. Always will. Just when? How? How greatly? It’s in the cards and in our ability to influence what we can.
I love this stuff.
Hi Tabitha Dial,
I agree!
It’s very important to remember the “free-will” component contained within a Tarot reading. Also, there is a “fate” component which can upset stable events just as easily.
Some of the stuff contained within Homers Illiad illustrates this tension between the gods, human free-will and fate. Each of these “forces” can impact and over rule the other. The plans of the gods are just as easily at the mercy of fate as human free-will. Likewise, human free-will can overturn the plans of the gods and fate. In fact, it’s much like the Wheel of Fortune in many ways. Each one of these “forces” is king for a day.
When we give Tarot readings, we’re looking at the most likely outcome – which is very subject to change, depending on the Will of the Gods, or the rule of Fate, or the impact of human “free-will”. All we can do is read the cards the best we can
Hi Douglas,
I’m having difficulty predicting timelines. I did find a book that suggests:
Wands are days to weeks
Cups are weeks to months
Swords are hours to days
Pentacles are Months to years
I have to agree with the swords being hours to days as I got a 3 of Swords as an outcome for my night on Halloween and it was exactly that..in 3 hours I was hurt deeply by “friends”. I’m also noticing that the cups are more weeks for me than months. The Wands are a little slower than Swords and Cups are for me. And Pentacles are like watching grass grow.
Sheri
Hi Sheri,
I think you’re doing a great job
You have found a system that is beginning to work for you. If you keep applying this system to your Tarot readings, you will start making more and more connections, you will start to notice subtitles in timing and…become much more comfortable with making predictions
Keep experimenting with this system for a couple of months and I’m sure you’ll start to feel more comfortable. I’d love to hear how you get on with this
Hi Douglas,
I have been experimenting alot with timelines and I’m finding that the swords definitely mean hours – for me anyway and for those I read for. when a card is reversed I’ve also found the time delayed for the swords to days. Waiting over 6 months to years for a prediction isn’t easy to track so I’m sticking to the short term only.
Thanks =)
Sheri
Hi Sheri,
That’s a great way to practice. If you can do readings on areas of your life that you know will conclude in a short time frame, then that allows you to monitor your progress in a much a faster way.
It’s great that you’re starting to build up your own associations for the Tarot cards. This is a great sign that you are truly connecting with the cards
Hi Douglas,
What happens when you are trying to interpret a time line and you get a card that has two astrology signs? It’s weird but I’ve found that the Empress card has two signs – Taurus for home and Libra for beauty. This isn’t the only card that has two signs in this reading. The Emperor does, too, Scorpio for power and Aries for drive.
I was reading your tutorial on “Why Reading Tarot Cards Like a Book Doesn’t Work” and thought I would try asking new questions based on the cards I drew…Emperor/Empress/Fool. I asked the Question Is so-and-so having so-an-so’s baby? Then I wanted to know when it was due. I already know that if she is pregnant it would be due in Oct./Nov., so, I was thinking I need to use the 2nd sign of the Empress and Emperor cards for the date. But here is something that keeps tugging at me…the Emperor and the Fool are both Aries. Should I toss out those signs? What if she has a miscarriage? A baby born in Mar./Apr. cannot survive. So, in this instance do I deal out more cards to confirm my dates?
Thanks,
Sheri
And this is why I like taroteon.com. Incredible posts.
Hi Karl,
I appreciate the kind words! Thanks for stopping by