What a great question!
Tarot Elements friend, Jennifer Mitchell, recently asked this question. I thought this deserved some real discussion and with Jennifer’s permission, brought the debate over to the blog.
This is what Jennifer asked:
Does knowing the outcome of a Tarot reading change the outcome of the subject of the reading? Generally, does knowing the future unavoidably change it?
Ok, maybe I should elucidate a bit… Until you get a Tarot reading you don’t necessarily know what the outcome of a situation is, that’s why you ask the cards after all. But then the reading shows you an effect to your cause.Knowledge changes people, and so does knowing the outcome to something change your attitude, behaviour, motivation to that situation (whether consciously or sub/unconsciously) enough for you to change the outcome of that situation, intentionally or unintentionally?
Quantum Phsyics and the Tarot
Now while I’m no physicist, I have read about cause and effect, parallel universes, moving through time etc. I recently listened to Quantum Healer, David Hamilton on a Past Lives radio show that discussed quantum physics and explored not just changing futures, but changing the past too, which, in effect, also changed the future again. Confusing? Of course it is – but it’s also mindbogglingly interesting.
So how does it all work? Well, as I said, I’m no physicist, but my understanding from that show, is that as we are headed in a direction, and we make decisions to go in a different one, we have altered the course of our future. Because we have altered the course of our future from a certain past, we have also changed that past. Rather like rewriting history, which could be good, or bad. There are also multiple or parallel universes to consider. It’s thought that there’s an infinite number though what’s not clear is how many we may be interacting with and how closely.
This also makes me wonder how many times I’ve been convinced I’ve said or heard something only to find out I was wrong when I was absolutely certain I was right. Also with events and actions, I’ve been convinced they were on a certain date, or location only to be proved wrong. I’ve always put it down to my memory not being very good but what if there’s nothing wrong with my memory at all and I’m just very sensitive to the changes in the fabric of time and therefore multiple universes interweaving leaving their imprints in me?
So, back to Jennifer’s question
Can you change the future just by finding out about it? As I understand her question, it wasn’t about changing it through choice and action, but rather by just knowing about it. At any one time we have a myriad of possibilities before us, directions, paths, answers. Is the future so free and flexible that just by knowing about one of those likely outcomes means that we have literally turned our rudder and are steering toward that future unwittingly? Is this the power of quantum physics or the mind, or both? Is this the secret to magick and the Law of Attraction?
What do you think? Can you change the future just by being aware of it? Can you change the past just by changing your course in the present? Does it bring the reliability of our memories into question? Or are we simply ‘skipping into other universes’ with the same imprint as the one we just found out about? Has Jennifer discovered the secret of magick and the Law of Attraction? And the biggie – is anything really real??
