ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT TAROT

HOW DO THE CARDS WORK?
Good question…
Each card has a central concept pictured symbolically. The cards are shuffled and laid out in a pattern in which each position has a specific meaning. There are two possible explanations why this works that I feel are plausible: first, although the shuffling seems to be random, the unconscious mind of the person knows where each card is and allows the appropriate cards to turn up, and second, the principle of synchronicity is at work, where unconnected events are linked in meaning. The cards seem to accurately reflect the current conditions from which the future events will unfold.
Readings seem to work best when you have something specific as a focus. A well-phrased question gives much better results than just nonchalantly throwing down some cards to see what happens. The question seems to hold within itself the answer. It is up to the reader to pull out the answer through the symbols in the cards. Sometimes only one specific symbol in a card may impact me as being important to interpret, and this may not be the usual interpretation for the card as a whole. The language the unconscious mind uses is symbols - just like in dreams - and the unconscious is where psychic ability is tapped, and each card has many symbols making a whole picture, allowing for a rich assortment of possible interpretations.

IS THE FUTURE WRITTEN IN STONE ?
Heavens no!
You can always change it by using your Free-Will. The problem is that people don’t think of their life as a series of choices. Out of habit or lack of imagination, many of us feel like our life carries us along and we can’t direct it. It’s a lot like being in a rowboat without realizing we should just pick up the oars (Free-Will) to steer in a specific direction.

CAN THE CARDS PREDICT DEATH?
Not reliably, since the soul can choose any time and circumstance to withdraw.
Death is not a matter of fate, because a soul uses free choice in timing. Life is a terminal condition, and it is just a matter of when and how, not if. Souls often choose to withdraw only when certain life tasks are finished, and that will depend on the person's own agenda and free will. The Death card is not usually the one to show up for physical death, but usually the 10 of Swords will.
It is best to be careful in one's wording when seeing a death in the cards...We usually phrase it as a "loss of someone's love" or a "sorrowful experience" instead. Many people are afraid to get a reading because they fear this kind of bad news, so it is best to be respectful and "spoon feed" the truth.

WHY DO SOME RELIGIOUS PEOPLE SAY THE CARDS ARE EVIL?
The Bible's Old Testament has some references to avoiding seers.
These references, usually included in the various laws Moses gave, seem to fall into the category of not worshipping graven images. The Hebrews were instructed to worship only the One God and believe only those prophets from their own midst. So it was not prophesying the future that was sinful, but believing the diviners from other nations who were advising the Hebrews' enemies. For a people who were mostly unable to read or discriminate, the law made perfect sense.
In addition, because gypsies often use the cards, many people associate the two. The gypsies most likely carried the cards with them in their travels through Europe, which would have helped spread the popularity of the Tarot to many other cultures and countries. Since the gypsies were often feared and thought of as sacriligious, a kind of superstitious taboo arose around the cards to God-fearing folks.

ARE THE TAROT CARDS PART OF WITCHCRAFT ?
No, but people who study Wicca often use the Tarot.
The Tarot symbolism has rather ancient origins that cannot be historically verified, and there is quite a bit of debate on this point. Probably much older than witchcraft or the pagan Wicca, some of the Tarot 's basic concepts most likely came down through the ages from Egyptian Mystery Schools of Initiation. There were Hebrew, Egyptian and Christian-Latin symbols added to the cards. Tarot decks as we see them today were unknown before the Middle Ages, but the symbolism and concepts (specifically of the Major Arcana cards) are very likely from ancient sources.