Do You Believe in Weightlifting?

Every now and then someone is shocked to hear that I do tarot readings. It’s usually people who have known me for a long time. “You always seemed like a smart and rational person”—they say—”It’s not like you really believe in this kind of stuff, right?”.

Whenever I hear this question I want to ask in response “Well, do you believe in weightlifting? Crossfit? Long-distance running?”. Each of these sports has faithful followers who swear it’s the best thing on Earth, and the rest of us who tried it once or twice and couldn’t quite understand the appeal. But nobody really has to believe in crossfit or weightlifting. We can all give it a try and see how it works for ourselves.

There was a time when I went to the gym several times per week, focused primarily on heavy deadlifts and squats. I loved the thrill of becoming ever stronger, overcoming my weaknesses, and beating my personal records, not to mention the joy of watching the surprise on everyone’s faces after I took on a particularly heavy load. These days I’m much more interested in living in harmony with my body than in shaping it through sheer power of will, and I’ve given up on deadlifts since I discovered that yoga serves this purpose much better.

In Poland we sometimes say “wierzący niepraktykujący”—a non-practicing believer—to describe someone who says they believe in God but never attends the church or adheres to their rules. By this definition I might be a non-practicing believer in weightlifting. I know it’s effective and that doing a few reps every now and then could help my posture and overall strength. I just don’t care enough about it to ever find myself in the gym.

I do still practice tarot though. I don’t need to believe in it any more than in lifting weights. I’ve put enough hours into it to know how it works for me. And in my experience so far, it’s been incredible at helping me make better decisions and consider points of view I’d never have imagined before. It’s helped me get out of my head and in touch with my intuition. It’s helped me uncover unconscious stories I’ve been telling myself and reinterpret them in different light. It’s helped me change what I am capable of changing, and come to terms with the things I can’t. It’s helped me understand myself, other people, and life in general much better.

How exactly does it work? I honestly have no idea. Some people say it’s a Rorschach test, triggering the stuff in me that wants to be expressed anyway. Some others say the whole Universe is a single entity, and so stuff in the physical world arranges itself to reflect the inner world of the querent’s soul. I’m good either way, I don’t need to know how exactly the AI arrives at the pictures I asked it for, or how exactly a car engine works as long as it will reliably and safely take me to my destination. And for the last few years that I’ve practiced tarot, it’s been taking me to some fascinating places that would be difficult to reach on my own.

People often say tarot is unscientific, and what they usually mean is “not worth anyone’s time”. Poetry is unscientific too, and so is music and art, and I don’t think anyone would want to reject all of them this reason alone.

A more likely explanation is that most people are only familiar with the school canteen version of tarot, where a fortune-teller might tell them whether their ex will one day come back crying what a huge mistake she’s made. It’s certainly one kind of a question you could ask a tarot deck, but there are many others. In my experience so far, the questions that you ask are much more important than any answer you might get. The biggest value I got out of this practice is learning to ask better questions.

“Will I get the job at Booble?”
“What should I say during the interview at Booble so that I get the job?”
“What do I need to learn in order to get the job at Booble?”
“Will working at Booble make me feel happy and fulfilled?”
“What do I need to learn or realize in order to find a job that will make me feel fully satisfied?”
“What kind of a job will be best aligned with my values and the future I want to create for myself?”
“Who do I need to become in order to best serve the world with my unique talents, life experience, and skills?”

People who talk about believing in tarot usually have the first kind of question in mind, something that can have a simple yes or no answer to be used as a proof (or counterevidence) of how well the method works. But I don’t really care much about telling the future, I’d much rather explore ways of creating it. Instead of asking if something will happen, I’d much rather figure out how I can make it happen, or what’s the best possible thing that I could help make happen at any given time.

Does tarot really help with that, or is it all in my head? If you want to find out, let me know and we can give it a try.