Confessions Of A Tarot Card Skeptic 

by Bob Olson

I must confess that I as I sit here and write, I can’t help but to ask myself, “What has become of my life?” Life used to be so simple and predictable. I knew what was real and what was fantasy. I knew what to believe and what not to believe. And I was smart enough not to be fooled by charlatans and schemers claiming to have abilities of supernatural design. Of course, they were all phonies in my mind, so it was easy to protect myself from their frauds.

Oh how I miss those days when I had all the answers. My ignorance was truly bliss. For today I am confronted with a knowing that is not fit for a man who grew up on large doses of Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood and Sly Stalone. Revenge was the code back then, not love and forgiveness. An eye for an eye and every man for himself was the macho mentality, not oneness and peace and helping your neighbor. Life used to be so much easier to categorize when everything was either black or white. But things aren’t so simple today. There are gray areas of which I wasn’t aware.

Where I was once a brave young deer hunter, today I catch insects in my house and gently place them outside. Rather than shoot my bullets at pheasants and ducks, I now shoot my camera to capture their beauty. Yes, times are a changing, and I’ve changed a great deal along with them.

Having once been a proud skeptic of all things paranormal, today I have spent three years researching the subject of spirit communication. Those have been three incredibly enlightening years. Yet I continue to remain skeptical about certain practices, and until recently, tarot card reading was one of those practices I refused to swallow. So wouldn’t you know, as I recently verbalized this skepticism to a friend, a tarot card reader showed up in my life to confront my disbelief.

“Hey, I’m open to new possibilities,” I said to my wife, Melissa—although deep within me I knew I had made up my mind on this subject. “Why not, I’m going to give it a try,” I told her. If for no other reason, I felt I owed it to myself to at least rule tarot out as a legitimate source for spiritual guidance. Melissa said she felt bad for Caera, the tarot reader I was going to put to the test. But I warned Caera that I held some doubts in this area, and she was unaffected by my admission. She told me that she trusts in the cards and her guides who assist her. So we began the reading.

I told Caera that I had never had a tarot reading before, but I later remembered that I’ve had a couple. Both were as phony as a bad toupee, so I now realize why I’ve always considered the craft a mere parlor trick. To me, tarot readers were psychic wanna-bes who used the cards as a substitute for a genuine gift. So you can imagine my surprise when Caera’s first few words were dead-on accurate.

Using a Celtic tarot deck known as the Arthurian Legend, Caera gave me a reading that revealed the inner details of my higher guides, my inner guide, my past, my near future, my abilities and strengths, my current influences, my hopes and fears, and the final outcome of my current issues. Even more incredible than the accuracy of what she told me is the fact that every card’s messages revealed exactly the same messages given to me by three different psychic mediums, two different astrologers and one palm reader. I have written about this uncanny coincidence when I got the palm reading, but this did not lighten the impact it had on me this time.

Only a few years ago, I would have accused anyone telling me this same story of being a naïve believer. But having experienced Caera’s reading myself, and knowing that I did not fit square-pegged generalities into the round-holed details of my life, I stand corrected in my past skepticism of tarot cards.

What I find most convincing is that not one of the practitioners I have seen—the three mediums, the two astrologers, the palm reader or Caera—beat around the bush while throwing out possible insights as bait and waiting for me to bite. No, each practitioner jumped quickly to the point. Bam! This is your story. Bam! This is your past. Bam! This is your future. Caera even read my cards over the phone, never giving her the luxury of reading my facial expressions or body language along with the cards.

Caera slam-dunked message after message about the private elements of my life. Her style for interpreting the cards was simple to understand and interesting to hear. With each card she turned, Caera told me the story of King Arthur and his knights that was depicted on the individual card. These stories served to further explain her interpretation and improve my memory of the reading. Nothing improves memory retention like a good story to nail down the message.

Caera initially invited me to think of a question or issue to which I sought answers; but I chose to trust in Spirit, allowing what was supposed to come through to find its way without my controlling it. This proved to be a good choice, as the most important issues of my life were identified and given insight. I must say that I was surprised that Caera streamlined directly to these issues, because she could have concentrated on so many other areas including my health, relationships and overall emotional well-being. But I wasn’t dealing with issues in any of these areas; I had one thing on my mind and Caera addressed it with every card.

“How did you know to address this one area of my life?” I asked Caera. Caera said she simply reads the cards; it is up to one’s individual beliefs to determine how or why the cards fall the way they do.

“Then what happens when you do two different spreads for the same person? You must get two completely different readings, right?” I asked.

“No,” Caera said, “I usually get the same cards. It’s even hard for me to believe sometimes, but the same issue or issues repeat if readings are done more than once in a short period of time.”

Interestingly, the same is true for psychic mediums, astrologers and even palm readers. Go to two different practitioners and you will still get similar readings if the practitioners are both skilled and/or gifted. If there is an issue you need to deal with in your life, it’s going to show up until you deal with it. As much as we might wish we could, we can’t just ignore the messages we are given and go to another practitioner for better messages. If we go to genuinely gifted and reputable practitioners, we simply cannot hide from the Universal wisdom these ancient tools or spiritual gifts provide us.

Tarot readings were last in line in my hierarchy of practices to endorse. Yet I must humbly admit to you that my experience with Caera has opened my eyes to the legitimacy of tarot readings, although I still feel a little embarrassed to admit it. However, based on my three years of research and experience with spiritual phenomena, Caera has provided me with enough evidence to conclude that tarot is a justifiable source for guidance and insight. For all you nay-sayers out there, I’m here to encourage you to experience this for yourself.

I now know that the reason I had lousy readings in the past was because I went to lousy tarot readers. Anyone with five bucks in their pocket can buy a tarot deck. Not anyone can read tarot cards with the skill and accuracy of practitioners like Caera. Hence, if you are curious enough to discover what tarot cards can reveal to you, I strongly urge you to use care in choosing a tarot reader with a good reputation.

I also believe that a certain amount of psychic ability is necessary to accurately interpret tarot cards. Each card can be interpreted several ways, and the practitioner determines which interpretation he or she will make. Caera’s psychic instincts were excellent. Several times she told me that a card could mean two or three different things, and then she gave me her interpretation based on the psychic insight she was getting from her guides. While this might sound over-the-top for some people, she always chose the only meaning that could possibly fit my life. Maybe she was just lucky; but it happened several times throughout my reading. If she is that lucky, she should put down her tarot cards and take up Blackjack.

Being the editor of a holistic magazine has its perks, the greatest being that I get to test practitioners for any given practice, even if I am skeptical about its legitimacy. This is often how I am led to discovering practitioners like Caera whom I write about. I have been to genuine mediums and phony mediums, gifted astrologers and not-so-gifted astrologers, and legitimate tarot readers and lacking tarot readers. I have put this tarot reader to the test, and she scored brilliantly while opening my mind to the potential and value of tarot readings. I recommend that anyone interested give it a try and see for yourself what possibilities tarot offers for guidance, insight and entertainment.

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Bob Olson is a former private investigator and skeptic who began using his investigation skills to research psychics, mediums and the afterlife in 1999. This research led him to establish OfSpirit.com Magazine (2000), BestPsychicMediums.com (2001) and BestPsychicDirectory.com (2007), three of the most trusted and influential sources for understanding and locating trustworthy psychics and mediums.

Today Bob Olson has tested hundreds of psychics and mediums around the world and has become a leading authority on the subject with TV, movie and documentary producers, journalists, book publishers, event promoters, as well as law enforcement agencies and private investigators. Bob’s achievements in psychic and medium investigation and testing has further allowed him to evaluate and isolate the key components that set apart the best psychic medium readings from the mediocre—leading him to create his famous (although secret) 15-point test.

Bob has documented his findings in a multitude of articles. He has authored the Forewords for three books: The Complete Idiot's Guide To Communicating With Spirits, Consult Your Inner Psychic and The Complete Idiot's Guide To Divining The Future. Bob has also been quoted as an expert in How To Get A Good Reading By A Psychic Medium and Empowering Your Life With Angels. He is also the author of Win The Battle and How To Beat Depression.