Phenomena such as tarot card readings and various divination techniques are not the hokum some people make out. There is a logic and rational system behind clairvoyance and similarly unexplained abilities. What critics fail to recognise is that there is no connection between the beliefs of psychics and magic. Psychic literally means ‘of the mind’ and has no connection with a belief in sinister or unnatural forces. Indeed the psychic proposes that their abilities are perfectly natural rather than supernatural or miraculous in nature.Key to understanding psychic readings is the idea that information can be gained that is not perceivable through normal senses, but can be read through a hitherto unrecognised sense that is more developed in some individuals than others. These abilities need to be seen as an aspect of reality we don’t fully understand rather than a ‘spooky’ mystery. Although some psychics use a prop or focus when conducting a reading, the psychic does not believe that these objects are ‘magic’: foci are mundane objects that hold no ‘power’, but allow the reader to abstract themselves and lay themselves open to a state of mind that more easily facilitates the reading. There is nothing special or enchanted about the deck used in tarot card readings, but it helps the psychic conduct a reading.
Whilst sceptics may deride this notion, it is not as irrational as they make out. None of the principals informing psychic readings actually contradicts science, in fact psychic abilities have been the subject of much scientific study and the jury’s still out as far as the scientific community is concerned. Just because we don’t understand these phenomena doesn’t mean they are a fantasy, it merely highlights that they are worthy of scientific interrogation. We can’t sense magnetism or radiation but we know they exist because their effects have been studied with sufficient rigour. In the future when clairvoyance, telekinesis and other mental powers have been scrutinised more thoroughly we may view such forces as natural and commonplace as electricity and gravity.
