Election Roundup

Now that the Presidential election results are in, it's interesting to go back and see what a few Tarot-reading bloggers were predicting with their various spreads and decks.

Julia Gordon-Bramer, who drew the Emperor in response to "Who's going to be the next president of the U.S.?", declared without a doubt that McCain would win.

"Twilight" pulled three cards and felt they pointed to a Democratic win, but hedged her bets a bit by claiming they could point to either "a change of administration ... from Republican to Democrat" or "a change on the Democratic ticket."

Christine asserted her ten-card Celtic Cross "heavily suggest[ed] a McCain victory."

Margot the Marrakesh Mystic "stuck her neck out" and predicted a "very narrow popular win" for McCain ... and that "something would happen to McCain while in office," shifting Palin to the Presidency. But Madam Lichtenstein took a look at the very same cards and called the race for Obama!

TarotDame waited until election night, drew the Three of Cups and King of Cups, and declared Obama the winner.

Back in July, Coconut Grove psychic Sandra Richardson's pendulum pointed to the Ace of Cups, prompting her to name Obama as the winner. (In the same article, psychic Jill Dahne predicts Hillary Clinton will win the election with "Bill as her sidekick.")

Aurion Mission gave Obama the popular vote ... but identified McCain as the winner (as in "the Bush-Gore election").

With one breath, the proprietor of The Pagan Temple (on a page decidedly not safe to surf if you're at work) pulled a card to reveal "the outcome of the election" ... but with the next breath, declared the Three of Coins "by no means identifies the winner of the election." And while the card did "seem to suggest an Obama win," the reader also noted "a McCain victory is not out of the question."

"Vox" did a compicated reading that declared Obama the winner ... by a landslide ... or maybe not.

Carol St. James picked Obama, but 78 Friends did a group reading and picked McCain.

In the comments on this page, KiltedWitch predicted a McCain win.

THOUGHT QUESTION: If a reporter approached you today and asked, "Can Tarot cards accurately predict the outcome of an election?" ... what would you say?

Comments

[Kay Stopforth]

Oh dear. Perhaps this says more about the readers' interpretations than the cards themselves?

I'm not a big one for using the cards to predict the future, but I did do an election reading with the Quantum Tarot on my blog. It was very positive for Obama, but indicated some problems on election day which in the end didn't really materialise.

[TarotByArwen]

I'd say that Tarot can predict but that it is a better introspective tool. My personal unpublished reading was for an Obama win. But I am an avid Obama supporter so I don't doubt that my personal opinions influenced that reading.

What might be fun is to see some of the layouts WITHOUT knowing who did them and seeing what others read from the same layout.

[ThePaganTemple]

My drawing wasn't geared toward so much "predicting" WHO would win (though I tried) as it was in delineating what would be the most important factors toward deciding the election. My drawing suggested it was almost all about the economy, which of course is hardly a surprise.

Terrorism and national security were minor factors at best, though one could conceivably make the point that McCain's card-The Moon-hinted at that as a tactic for him in the negative sense. Mainly, I saw it as his appeal to voters latent fear of Obama's allegedly socialist tendencies. As we saw, it didn't work out for him.

Obama's card, the Six of Pentacles, seemed to fit with what I drew for the elections outcome, the Three of Pentacles.

McCain could not step out from the shadow of Bush, and that in combination with Obama's more positive populist message sunk him. But it was just impossible to foretell the outcome with a one hundred percent certainty.

[Balakirev]

I've never been able to get my tiny mind around the concept that someone can predict what hundreds of millions of people believe is important, or how they will act. The tarot isn't a polling device, though I can understand the attraction of making it one, since it the person who does so sells more books/cards/readings. Doesn't make it any more correct, but there it is.

[Archer]

Balakirev, I agree. Millions of people voted and unless we believe that each one of them had no free will to change their mind, then we have to say tarot can't predict the outcome.

The question is, why does it need to? I understand people pulling cards on the election for fun but really, we gain nothing from "predicting" who will win an election a few days or hours before the results are decided.

[ThePaganTemple]

Well, in all honesty, you can't really "predict" anything at all. If I used the term prediction, I should kick myself, because it is not an accurate term.

You can't really even predict anything regarding the future of one individual. Tarot actually isn't about making predictions, that's a misconception. It's about looking at trends and gauging likely outcomes based on past and current events, as a way of delineating the path you have been are are now on. Regardless, nothing is written in stone.

People can choose a different path, for good or bad. Tarot just helps you focus on the more likely path, and the probable outcome. A good tarot reader will not only focus on that, he or she will focus on ways to help the client make the correct path change or decision.

When I did my reading regarding the election, I looked at the prevailing trends in the polls, as well as what seemed to be the current national mood.

Bear in mind, I didn't concentrate on any one aspect in particular. Yet, when I did the reading, it seemed geared specifically towards the economy. That in itself, along with the specific cards I drew for the candidates and the election, loudly suggested to me an Obama win, but not with, to my mind, one hundred percent certainty.

[JennieLin]

I'm an advocate of using the tarot to explore possibilities for the querant - and the querant alone. Someone asked me to do a reading about the election, and I told them the only way I would feel right exploring the outcome is if I were conducting a reading for either Barack Obama or John McCain. And since neither of them are my clients :-) that wasn't going to happen!