Everyone wants to know what the future really is, but no one knows how future would develop precisely. People have kept finding ways to know their fortune from antiquity to the present. In case you didn’t notice, Tarot is the most mysterious way of fortune telling; nevertheless, it has a big data according to psychology.
Fanatics or Atheists of Tarot
Do you believe in destiny? Destiny is the hot issue that we always discuss. Either the Eastern or Western world has varieties of thoughts about destiny. The idea is that if one can take control of his destiny, then he can control his life.That’s whypeople are eager to know more about their destinies. Therefore, fortune-telling（算命）becomes a popular way to help people predict their destinies. Tarot（塔羅牌）is a way of divination which has numerous believers. However, some people are atheists（無神論者）. They believe their destinies are in their own hands, and there couldn’t be anyone who could decide their fate.
Szu-yi Chen（陳思妤）, who studies in Department of Public Policy and Management in Shih Hsin University, has some experiences in Tarot for about nine months. “I think Tarot is an expression of energy in our mind, and our mind set decides our destiny,” she regards Tarot as a media that can inspire inner most power. The results of cards you draw gives you direction to decide what you should do for a better future. Recently, Chen’s internship unit asked her join a camp in Green Island. She was very hesitant because she did not know whether she can learn from it, so she drew Tarot and the result told her she should accept it. In fact, she also wanted to try so she set out with expected and perturbed mood. After going through three days, she became different. It was a good experience and through the Tarot she found her way in the future and what she really wanted to do. Chen thanked Tarot’s signs for indicating her right direction. “To do or not to do, it is destined to happen. Tarot is a way to provide you some suggestions to be prepared for what is coming ahead,” she said.
However, more and more people believe in science and they think controlling the densities by themselves is more important than knowing them through any fortune-telling crafts. RuiQi（祁蕊）, a student who is an atheist studying in Journalism Department of Northwest University in Chinadoes not believe in any crafts of fortune-telling. “I know Tarot and some of my friends also test their destiny like how their romance might be by Tarot. But in my opinion, this pattern of testing doesn’t attract me. It doesn’t make sense and is just an entertainment,” Qi elaborates on her point of view succinctly. Perhaps the Tarot in China is not as popular as that in Taiwan, there are few people ever touching this area. She speculates the reason why Tarot is hot in Taiwan is that most of Taiwanese have girls’ innocent minds and the tradition of fortune-telling has been quite prevalent since ancient times. Though she refused Tarot, she has never tried to convince others who believe in Tarot not to be addicted to it and respected their faith. Anyway she suggested those who is addicted to Tarot that destiny cannot be manipulated by anyone.
Fortunetellers the Counselors and Mentors
“Tarot fortuneteller is like a Psychological counselor,” said Peter Winner（彼得威勒）, a professional Tarot fortuneteller for 13 years and now also an advisor of the astrology club in Shih Hsin University. He also explained “The faith we (fortunetellers) should keep in mind is to help people to solve their problems and to be better.”
The SHU Astrology club advisor also mentioned, “The Tarot card history can be traced back to the 15th century in Europe. Every card represents both of the ancient Greek mythology stories and other stories of the talented extraordinary people such as Newton and French kings.” It is said that Poker originated from the Tarot cards too, with knights, kings and queens in symbols of different classes.
The President of the Astrology club, Ren Yi（任樂宜）, shared her experience that being the “President” of this club is actually decided by “Tarots Fate.” “The advisor of the Tarot club uses Tarot to choose who is the suitable candidate for the presidency of next year, in order to be fair and correlate with the club spirit,” said Ren Yi. She also mentioned that Tarot can be divided into many different categories. In general, a Tarot deck is filled with 78 cards in total, with 22 “Major Arcana” which in short is being called “Big Cards” in Chinese, and 56 “Minor Arcana,” which in short is called “Small Cards” that symbolize different uses of the fortune telling. Usually “Big Cards” deal with spiritual and mindset fortune telling, while “Small Cards” deal with normal necessities in lives, for example, love, work or future plans. Ren Yi also stated that Tarot cards actually have its “Belief” that there is a spiritual god of cards, and most Tarot players must trust it. In this way, one can be more accurate when giving advice to others in fortune telling.
Moreover, she manifested that this club is more close to the Western Tarot fortune telling combining with 3 categories. The most basic is Tarot, and then getting harder with the Horoscope chart and Numerology, which nowadays are mostly called the spiritual talent number.
According to Tarots history, Etteilla was the first to issue a revised Tarot deck to argue that Tarots was specifically designed for occult purposes rather than game playing. In keeping with the belief that Tarot cards are derived from the Book of Thoth, Etteilla’s Tarot contained themes related to ancient Egypt.
Utilizing Tarot in Life with the Exotic Atmosphere
Nowadays, more and more people are interested in knowing what their future will be, and for this reason, they seek the advices from the Chinese or Western fortune-tellers who can predict things they really want to know. Jimmy Zhou（卓吉米） is the owner of a restaurant, which is located near Shida Night Market and named Masala House, and he not only sells the Indian food but also provides the fortune-telling service with the Tarot deck. With exotic dishes and mysterious augury, Masala House is different from other restaurants. Jimmy Zhuo explained that hiring a fortune-teller is a way to promote the business of restaurant. However, he doesn’t trust that divination can decide one’s future, the only faith he keeps in mind is planting one’s feet on solid ground.
From Zhuo’s observation, women are more likely to believe in Tarot than men. “Customers come here mainly for meals, few people come for Tarot divination,” Zhuo said, and he also said how to popularize Tarot divination would be the next step. As he took over his friend’s shop to sell special food for six years, Masala House will keep its mysterious colors down the alley continuously.
“It has already been a trend to provide hybrid service in restaurants like serving food and giving Tarot service ,” the fortune-teller Daniel Wang（王沛辰）who has delved into Tarot card for twelve years. He offers the fortune-telling service four times a week in the restaurant Masala House, which is in cooperation with him for half a year. There are two ways for Tarot fortune-tellers to make profits. The first one is to run a fortune-telling business on their own; the other one is to have a partnership with some coffee shops or exotic restaurants. Wang chose the latter to help people predict their future and make a profit in his fortune-telling career.
