Semiotic ideologies of the Tarot card reading practice

Abstract

This paper attempts to describe the main semiotic ideologies (interpretation systems) of the Tarot card reading, to identify what determines the choice of an interpretation system by a practioner. Based on the results of semi-structured interviews and participant observation, the author was able to distinguish two modes of the Tarot card reading: divination based on meanings and divination in the state of Flow. The Tarot card reading in the state of the Flow involves the synthesis of intuition and meanings based on intuition, building a narrative and immersion in a trance state. On the basis of ethnographic material, three main semiotic ideologies of the Tarot card reading were also identified and described: occult (spiritual), esoteric, and psychotherapeutic. They differ on the basis of two criteria: reflection on the nature of the practice (the definition of the Tarot card reading as a magical, religious or psychotherapeutic practice) and reflection on transcendental sources of information (what is perceived as a source of information in the process of divination: deities/spirits, the unconscious, Tarot egregor, information field). The initial hypothesis that the difference between the semiotic ideologies of the Tarot card reading lies in the different level of agency attributed by tarot readers to themselves has not been confirmed. An analysis of the interviews and the results of the experiment showed that most practioners attribute to themselves a high level of agency, that is, they perceive themselves as responsible for the results of their predictions. The choice of a semiotic ideology may depend on the situation of divination: when divining oneself, one is most often guided by psychotherapeutic semiotic ideology, while divining by others – spiritual or esoteric.