The other day, a client emailed me to ask about how timing, fate and free will are related.

It is actually quite simple.

First of all, let’s get the whole fate vs free will thing out of the way.

We all have free will.

Because of this, very little is set in stone. 

But things happen that we have absolutely no control over. Natural disasters, accidents, other people meddling in our lives uninvited etc etc

How we react is still a matter of choice, of course. And through it all it is best if we can remain in a state of equanimity.

Fated events happen and often form the essence of our most important life lessons: Someone dies. A child is born into the family. Your home is destroyed in a freak mudslide. You win the Euromillions jackpot. A soul mate crosses paths with you etc…

Because most events are not set in stone, I have chosen to not look further into the future than 6-12 months, and generally prefer to set the time frame to cover the next 6-8 weeks.

When you look no more than a couple of months into the future, it’s easier to get an accurate prediction of the turn of events since they are extrapolated from current trends and energies.

In that way, a Tarot reading is not different to a weather forecast. Try forecasting the weather five years from now and you probably won’t have much luck…

Fated events are more like tectonic plate movements and can be predict more long term (such as the prophecies of Nostradamus). But I still think it’s healthy to stick to a maximum of 12 months in readings for individuals since many other variables, which cannot be predicted, will have changed in the meantime.

This could mean a complete shift in the Seeker’s own needs that far down the line, so it’s not certain the reading would be of much value even if the actual fated event comes true. Also, I question the point in predicting things that can’t be affected at all and this is why I have asked Spirit to not show me physical death in readings.

There are many ways of predicting timing in the Tarot. The key is to learn one system and stick to it. My personal favourite is to read timing in the astrological correspondences of the cards. This could narrow the window of an event down to a 10 day period and rarely is it possible to take a more accurate reading on timing than that.

I sometimes get the Moon show up to let me know that things will happen in a month’s time and the 8 of Wands to let me know that the event is imminent. Aces can also indicate ‘now’ or ‘very soon.’

The Hanged Man usually indicates a very long period of waiting and Death can mean ‘never ever.’

Because so few things are fated, you need to consider the fact that the reading itself can act as an agent of change. Please understand that if you are asking about passing your driving exam and the cards say that it looks likely you will does not mean that you should stop practicing!

The same goes for the ever popular question about meeting ‘the one.’ If a timing is given, please don’t lock yourself in your flat and wait for the poor guy to come knocking on your door. You still need to date and have a social life for the prediction to come true.

The stronger your sense of self and your belief in your ability to manifest your own destiny grows, the less likely you are to need or want predictive style readings. You will become more interested in using the Tarot to look at how to get from A to B.

There may still be a time when you need a predictive reading, but you won’t rely on them so much… The Tarot will become a tool in the process of co-creating your destiny instead of acting only as divination tool… How’s that for versatility in a pack of cards?!

Hope this has cleared a few things up!

 

 

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