Have you ever used Tarot Cards? You know, the kind that Madam [Insert Gypsy Cliche here] uses to tell you how to find your true love! Well, I can honestly say I have had my “fortune” read through the use of taro cards, and I believe there is validity to the nonsense.

Much like any fortune telling, taro cards and their meanings are all very ambiguous. This is great, since it leaves most (if not all) of the fortune telling up to interpretation. They are designed for you to construct your own story using ambiguous language and symbolism.

This is where most of us engineering school grads like to undermine the true purpose of “fortune telling” by quoting some science. Obviously I have to agree with the science, as these cards aren’t going to work magic upon your life. They have no power over you or your future, much to the discontent of your pocketbook!

Considering you are fabricating meaning from the cards based on your own subjective experiences means the entire telling is subjective to begin with. Ah, but here in lies the validity of the taro card readings.

By having your life foretold by magic cards, you are putting your mind in a new space to consider your current life path. The fortune teller will say things and ask things that have the potential to spark some inner thoughts you may have never considered before, or had never had the chance to think of. Now these “magical” cards have caused you to reevaluate parts of your own very real life.

Obviously the cards have done very little, they are but a tool for you mind to work its own magic.