Prior to the development of Jeet Kune Do, many martial art styles and techniques had been taught throughout Asia for hundreds of years. Bruce Lee was exposed to a number of these styles while growing up, but in his passion to be the best, he began to analyze these other styles, and he came to the realization that many inefficient and unnecessary techniques continued to be taught and practiced solely because they were part of venerated traditions that had been passed down from one generation to the next.
This realization led Bruce Lee to develop a new philosophy with basic tenets such as “Absorb what is useful; discard what is useless, and add what is specifically your own” and “Using no way as a way, having no limitation as limitation” (meaning do not be a slave to a particular tradition or style; however, this "no way as a way" quote does not mean that there are not certain basic techniques that should be practiced and mastered).
He named this new philosophy Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist), a name that was chosen to characterize the efficiency inherent in his philosophy in which offensive and defensive movements are combined into one motion to increase speed and efficiency. In a note to his students, Bruce Lee wrote the following: “The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply to simplify.” As a result, he created a martial arts system facilitating speed, power, and accuracy unlike anything that had been seen before.
So, what does all of this have to do with the tarot? I have come to believe that inefficient and unnecessary techniques also continue to be taught and practiced in the tarot community because they too seem to be part of a venerated tradition, espoused in some of the earliest books on tarot. I also believe that the tarot community could benefit from applying a Jeet Kune Do-like philosophy to tarot reading.
There may be an author (or vlogger) in the tarot community who has already addressed this issue; however, I am not aware of such an individual. Should such a person exist, I would appreciate it if someone could post that author's name or book titles. If there is not currently such a person, I am hoping that this post might inspire some ambitious and enterprising individual to develop a complete Jeet Kune Do-like philosophy for the tarot reading community and do for it what Bruce Lee did for the martial arts community.
I would like to offer the following suggestions for such a person to consider and perhaps adopt into his or her philosophy:
- The use of a significator (sometimes called a signifier) is unnecessary and should be eliminated. On the one hand, by reading the tarot, we are demonstrating our belief that some power (either the divine or the subconscious) is so intelligent that it can take 78 random cards and arrange them in the correct order to convey a meaningful message, and yet on the other hand, by using a significator, we are demonstrating our belief that the same power that we are calling upon is not intelligent enough to recognize the subject of the reading (the querent or their energy) unless we choose a court card matching the gender, approximate age, and hair color of the querent. These two beliefs are contradictory, with the latter seeming to demonstrate a lack of faith. Also, by removing a card from the deck, we are depriving the “powers that be” the opportunity to use that card elsewhere in the spread if so desired.
- Cutting the deck after it has been thoroughly shuffled is unnecessary and can jeopardize the accuracy of the reading due to variations in card stock; as such, cutting the deck should be eliminated. The following quote is an excerpt from a previous post of mine that deals specifically with this subject in greater detail:
This entire post titled “To Cut or Not to Cut...,” can be read at the following link:If we are to believe that some force (either the divine or the subconscious) has the ability to place the cards in the right order to convey a particular message, then we must also believe that same force could order the cards correctly even if cutting were eliminated, as long as that method were decided on beforehand. By cutting the deck after shuffling, are we not introducing an additional step that is unnecessary and which lends itself to error?
viewtopic.php?f=143&t=4114
- For the greatest accuracy, the querent should be the one to shuffle the cards and should review the order of the cards before shuffling. The latter part of this suggestion is offered as an insurance policy to cover all contingencies. Should some outside (divine) intelligence be the guiding force behind ensuring that the cards come out in the right order after being shuffled, then this step is unnecessary; however, if the subconscious mind of the querent is the guiding force, then knowing the order of the cards prior to shuffling will greatly improve the efficiency and ability of the subconscious to reorder the cards during shuffling.
This brings up the challenge associated with long-distant readings. I had an experience recently in which a reader gave a series of online readings to thank me and others for our support. I know from personal discussions with the reader that there was a lot of negativity and emotion turmoil going on in the reader's life at that time, and it just so happened that every one of the many readings that person did was extremely negative. So, was it just a coincidence that every reading was negative, or did the lack of the querent being present to shuffle the cards allow for the reader's own negative personal situation to influence the ordering of the cards? In any event, the reader's use of a significator with each reading did nothing to prevent this from occurring.
If a querent is in the habit of receiving frequent long-distant readings over the phone or internet, then the querent should invest in a tarot deck so that he or she can view, shuffle, and select the cards. The querent can then relay the card order to the reader who can lay out those same cards from his or her own deck in whatever spread formation the reader wishes to use.
Yes, this will require some additional effort, and some who derive their income by reading for others might be afraid to empower their clients to this extent, but giving advice to others is such a solemn responsibility that everyone who reads professionally has a moral obligation (in my opinion) to use whatever tools or techniques are available in order to be as accurate as possible, even if it means deviating from long-established traditions or techniques used in the past, and even if those past techniques seem to have been moderately successful.
- Daily reflective one-card draws done at the end of the day should be used to increase card knowledge by associating the drawn card with the events of the day.
- Daily predictive one-card draws done at the beginning of the day should be avoided by anyone engaged in manifestation activity. Just to clarify, the type of manifestation activity I am referring to is of the Neville Goddard, Joseph Murphy, or Esther Hick variety (just to name a few). Successful manifestation is best facilitated by maintaining a particular mental (or vibrational) state and focus. Daily predictive card draws are too variable and can create ongoing distractions that can impede the manifestation process. This is just my recommendation based on personal experience; unfortunately, this post is already too long for me to go into the nuances of manifestation.
- Those who fall under the Myers-Briggs personality profile of INFJ should avoid reading with tarot (or oracle) cards that have photos of people on them. Because many within the INFJ personality profile are able to acquire information from images of people, they may receive information about the human model used in the photograph which has nothing to do with the message of the cards as a whole. This erroneous information could jeopardize the accuracy of the reading. For more on Myers-Briggs personality designations see the following link:
https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-per ... ti-basics/
- Beginners should be encouraged to learn and master a few basic spreads rather than continually trying different ones (searching for a magic bullet). I think the following quote by Bruce Lee will clarify this:
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
The number of spreads used by beginners should not only be kept to a minimum to facilitate mastery but also to facilitate communication. How many times has someone written to the forum with a request for help interpreting a series of cards, but with no clear indication of which spread they used or the card position therein? Would it not be possible to encourage (or require) those seeking assistance on the forum to use one of a few predetermined spreads (templates) posted at the top of that thread in order to facilitate clearer communication with other forum members, or would this discourage people from seeking help at all? This is for others to contemplate and decide.
- Preemptive Learning.
This one is more of a question than a suggestion (a question without an answer possibly). The question has to do with how to address the issue of people who wait until they are in the midst of some major emotional event before they turn to the tarot for the first time seeking help?
Running out to buy a tarot book and deck to read for the first time because one is desperate and in the midst of an emotionally traumatic event (like a failing relationship for example) is tantamount to trying to read a book on self-defense for the first time while one is being punched during a fight. It is a shame that they don't put a warning on the boxes of tarot decks in the same way they put a warning on the boxes of cigarettes, something like the following: WARNING - Learn to read it before you need it.
In closing, I would like to leave you with an excerpt of one of Bruce Lee's quotes that seems custom-made for the art of tarot reading:
“If nothing within you stays rigid,
outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless...shapeless, like water.
If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle.
You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.”
outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless...shapeless, like water.
If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle.
You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.”
Bruce Lee
(1940-1973)
(1940-1973)
and say that I really think that the whole concept of Meyers Briggs serves no useful purpose in Tarot at all. I'm not sure where it does. 