OP, when I was studying psychology I read tarot for numerous people as I was fascinated by 'cognitive bias'. Friends, family and associates indulged my thesis. I told everyone it was a silly 'game' just for me and wasn't part of an ethically approved experiment or anything. Because it wasn't!
Still; People told me I had a 'gift' and was seeing their lives. That my 'game' had exposed my psychic abilities
I made it up. All of it. As a MH practitioner I think I can guess what is happening/what has happened for people from their reactions to questions/situations
I 'read' tarot cards (which really tell people reading what to say about the cards). Then added what I thought was obvious from the person in front of me and their reactions to what I said
I never said I was psychic or gifted - I said I didn't believe in it and was trying to prove how people use cognitive bias and their desire to believe in 'something bigger' or 'greater or unexplained'
Brilliant, fascinating post loveyou.
Your experience mirrors my own in many ways, although I didn't 'make it up' - I based my readings on what I 'know' about each card. That knowledge of course is founded on reading what others had written about the 'meaning' of each card. Nothing I do is is intuitive or 'psychic' and I personally bring nothing to the proceedings. I just read a lot and learned by rote, the 'meaning' of each card.
Like you I made it clear to everyone I read for that I have NO psychic ability. I have also referred to my own notes when doing readings, so I look things up at the table while they are sitting there, patiently waiting. 'Give me a minute while I look this up' and no one bats an eyelid. I don't charge and I do record every single 'reading' I do, so try and establish some kind of pattern or logic to what is on the face of it, completely illogical.
I too have had the same reaction as you. In one case, I was stopped in the street by someone who I had done a reading for a decade or so before who was just overwhelmed to see me and told me that everything I had said had 'come true'. I've had that moment when also when I've 'nailed it' in a reading and the person I'm reading for has the 'OMG' reaction, across the table but all I'm doing is 'reading' the cards they've chosen based upon the knowledge I've built up about each card. Of course, in amongst this is a lot of meaningless dross, and no one focuses on that - they just pick up on the things I've got 'right'.
I'm not impressed by any of this. I KNOW I don't have any psychic abilities but nevertheless, despite my cynicism and skepticism, I am still open minded to the possibility that maybe there is something else going on - scientific, psychological, law of averages, chance, gullibility, cognitive bias - I don't know and will continue to explore it - but in the meantime, it's easy to see how a skilled fraudster can use the Tarot to their advantage.
Despite all this, I find the Tarot itself fascinating. Mostly the artistry. The hand painted decks were works of art, but with the advent of computer design, the digitally produced decks bring a whole new dimension and that's what hooked me into all this in the first place. The images themselves.
