Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Psychics are the New Psychologists (Bonus Video)

This week's What's The New What will be Psychics are the New Psychologists, and as a treat we've prepared this story extras featuring Rabbit, the psychic in our story.

In this episode of WTNW Video Rabbit shares a brief history of one of the Tarot Deck.

[Viddler videos might take a moment to load, but the image quality is worth it. Enjoy!]



14 comments:

Mollie Jensen said...

Rabbit's the COOLEST!

Love You,
Suzanne & Mollie

Anonymous said...

Rabbit you ROCK as per usual ;)

LUMI,

Angie

Anonymous said...

She is correct that people do play card games with Tarot. As a game, Tarot is like Spades or Sheepshead. Tarot and playing cards are more diverse than what the video shows. There are Tarot decks with the suit signs of the Poker deck and they are used to play a French card game. Also there are Spanish playing cards with the same suit signs as the Minor Arcana.

Anonymous said...

Alyssa, that is a really good article. Check out Current Events, Conservative Outcomes by Freiman. It was written with young people in mind and the future of the US. GA Freiman is a psychic who predicts future events in the US. Check out conservativeoutcomes.com for contact info.

jennybach said...

How wonderful to be getting recognition as the "real deal."

sydneyleung said...

Rabbit - you are the best!

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately she doesn't tell people anything about where tarot comes from. It's like she wants those cards to appear ancient or mysterious. This is what I do not like about some tarot readers. Too many of them do not want the whole truth about tarot cards to be revealed. The origins of tarot are not mysterious any more. We know that the first tarot cards appeared during the 15th century in northern Italy and they were used to play a card game similar to modern bridge. They would not be used for fortune telling until the 18th century when French occultists published their mistaken beliefs that those cards are related to Egypt and Kabbalah.
NPR should have done a better job on the topic of tarot.

Anonymous said...

I dont think the point of the piece was to describe the history of the tarot- the purpose was to explain why some people are taking it more seriously as a form of counsel than before. The video and the background of the tarot was to fill people who didnt know in on some of the blanks. I dont think this piece or NPR was attempting a piece on the history of the tarot. The topic was not the tarot- but how people are using it now. YOu might have done a better job on the topic of the piece. NPR doesn't do pieces- people do, and it sounds like you seem to know a lot about the tarot, maybe you would like to produce one? are you a disgruntled psychiatrist?

Anonymous said...

I was addressing the video. She made it appear like the origins are mysterious. We know where the cards come from as I've stated in my previous post. Also, as a previous poster stated, she wasn't accurate about the suits of the minor arcana. Tarot really doesn't have its own suit system as implied by the video. The ones usually used for divination have Italian/Spanish suits and the modern ones for games have the French suit signs like a poker/bridge deck. I am not a psychiatrist, disgruntled or otherwise. I know a lot about tarot cards because I personally have played card games with them. I do like that she admitted people have played games with the tarot which is better than most tarot reports in the mainstream media. However I think she oversimplified things and appeared reluctant to reveal too much information about the topic. I thought I would fill in some of the missing information.

skepchick said...

Lynn:
"The video and the background of the tarot was to fill people who didnt know in on some of the blanks."

That's just what dave was doing. The woman in the video was giving a completely false history of tarot cards, and dave helpfully gave the correct information.

This video and the piece it accompanied are stunningly misinformed about history, psychology, and "psychic powers," which are really no more than educated guessing and cold reading.

Gullibility is the new therapy?

Anonymous said...

Because most Americans already associate Tarot cards with psychics, your report might be seen as yesterday’s news. I don’t think Tarot readers are evil or Satanic but the use of Tarot cards by psychics has already been covered numerous times in the mainstream press.

In a culture in which the old Steven Wright joke about playing Poker with Tarot cards can still get a laugh, it might be more newsworthy or “man bites dog” material to report that people really are playing actual card games with a Tarot deck! The Europeans, especially the French, have played Tarot card games for years and it now appears that a growing number of Americans are taking up this pastime. This development has the potential to radically transform the way our culture perceives Tarot cards. I dare say a Tarot revolution might be in the making here.

While doing my Tarot research on the internet, I often encounter small independent groups of Tarot players being formed here in the US.

I think it would interest your listeners if you would investigate this phenomenon and interview some of these Tarot players. I think the report would also be good for video because the Tarot cards normally used for the game are quite different from those normally used in divination. I’ve brought some of these French gaming Tarot decks to work with me and they’ve become quite a topic for conversation.

Contact me at my blog and I can provide information on how to contact the Tarot players

Anonymous said...

A word from Rabbit:

I think the young people who put
this piece together did a great job of forming an argument, backing it up with evidence, and presenting an solid opinion about their own experiences with the tarot.

In the video, I mentioned many of the MYTHS about tarot, as well as some modern interpretations of the suits and arcana. Obviously, one video segment is not nearly enough time to fully explain the facts of the tarot's origin or current uses. But anyone is free to come in to my shop and ask me or our staff questions, and we will be happy to help you. Also, some great information can be found here in a fascinating and well-researched document by some of today's leading authorities on tarot history.
http://www.tarothermit.com/infosheet.htm

And a great free online tutorial about using the cards may be found here: http://www.learntarot.com/

I'd like to extend my thanks to Alyssa, Nate, Roach, and all the folks at NPR Youth Radio who took the time to come and put this wonderful piece together. May your talents and gifts in the media arts flourish and may you always find the answers you are looking for. Blessed be.

Anonymous said...

You've mentioned the myths and that there is no proof of them but you never indicated the actual origins. The website www.tarothermit.com is a good source of information but the website
http://www.learntarot.com/ is misleading because it does not teach the rules of tarot card games. What does it mean to "learn tarot?" They should teach the rules of tarot. Why do you assume that everyone wants to learn to read tarot cards when they were originally made for games? A previous poster had the right idea. Psychic tarot reading has already been covered in the media. NPR should cover tarot gamers for a change if they really want to be cutting edge. This is a very biased piece on tarot cards. Not only should have more on tarot gaming but they should also have offered a skeptical point of view of psychics. NPR could have and should have done a better job.
For those who really want to learn tarot I would recommend these websites because they give the rules for the games the cards were really made for.
http://www.pagat.com/tarot/
http://www.tarocchino.com/

Anonymous said...

looks cool!!