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A sneak peek
into the future
Cards of fate
A sneak peek
into the future Liaquat Hussain sports several beaded necklaces over an
orange red T-shirt in one of his pictures in a traditional jogi style. He
lives in an affluent locality in Karachi, and calls himself a ‘tarot card
reader, a personal coach and counsellor’ with the nick of ‘Jogi Tarot’.
His mission? To help people who are searching for answers – answers not
only from the past or present but related to the future. Hussain is one of the many tarot card readers who are now
doing business in Karachi, catering to the upper class middle-aged group of
Karachiites. Tarot card reading, which has its roots back in the 15th century
in Europe, has reached the urban metropolis as well, thriving for more than a
decade. Hussain recalls the emergence of the trend in the city, which he
credits to a Parsi lady. But there are signs that it has been thriving in the
region from ancient times. Afficianados even claim that findings from
Mohenjodaro reveal some cemented biscuits with the same symbols and signs
carried by the current cards. Hussain also shared the fact that Mamluk cards, also
called Muluk Wa-Nuwwab (meaning kings and viceroys), comprising three
unfinished decks, are placed in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul which have
come from the northern Africa. “It is said that those cards are reminiscent
of the earliest Italian tarots,” disclosed Hussain. He explains how a tarot card stack has 78 cards, which
are further divided into two sub-groups, called the Major Arcana and the
Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana reveals the ‘unchangeable events of one’s
life’ while Minor Arcana involves the events which are in a person’s
control. “Only 28 per cent of your luck is unchangeable, we call it kismet,
the rest can be controlled by timely action,” explained Hussain firmly. The
understanding can make one more aware of the potential results of your
present thoughts, words, and behaviour. Seven years back, Hussain learnt this art from his
teacher and mentor, Kaukab Yousuf, who has had regular appearances on
television shows as well. The art is complex and each tarot card reader’s
interpretation of a symbol and its colour may vary. “One card may be read
in 20 different ways, depending on the customer and the tarot card reader’s
perceptions,” he says. People generally ask questions pertaining to their
financial conditions, love life, relationships, career and education. “But
customers have increased over the years,” he says, “the reason being
frustration in the society”. Having dealt with several age groups and their issues of
concern, Hussain confirmed that the youth are more interested in proposals
and weddings, whereas the middle-aged seek solutions for their unhappy
relationships. However, much reluctance is found amongst the old. “They
don’t seem to have any belief in things like tarot card reading,” claimed
Hussain. He further claims that
99 per cent of his customers are women in trouble, most with problems in
relationships. When a customer walks into the room of a tarot card
reader, he is first asked to sit and relax. Then he is provided with a card
stack and asked to shuffle it. It is then spread on a table, and for each
question asked one card is picked up, read and interpreted. The three chosen
cards reveal: the basic issue, the solution and the outcome. Khalid is another tarot card reader who has been in the
business for the past 18 years. A Karachiite for many years, Khalid currently
resides in the quiet town of Mirpur Sakro in the interior of Sindh. When
asked about his understanding of tarot card reading, he reveals: “It is a
method to peek into the future, and things may not change even after one
gains the relevant knowledge”. The procedure for tarot card reading varies from reader
to reader. Also the reader has the authority to change the design of the
cards, adding more elements to them including numbers, dates etc. “I have
made up my cards by adding changes such as numbers and symbols and also I
have derived my own way of splitting the cards,” highlighted Hussain. Khalid has a different method of reading cards as well,
and when a customer contacts him. “I just ask him to sit, while I do the
rest.” He follows the traditional method of reading tarot, which
involves reading 12 cards, one for each month, and predicting how money, love
and luck will affect an individual each month. It was learnt that a person
may look up a year’s prediction at most at one time. When questioned about the correctness of his predictions,
he laughs and says his customers can tell that better. “It’s a complex
art, and maturity in predictions comes with time, regular reading and
studying”. With more experience in tarot card reading, Khalid has
catered to clients from the age of 20 and above with their main areas of
concern being careers and marriages. However, at 62 years of age, he has chosen retirement,
and only gives special appointments to some of his oldest customers who call
him up and ask him for help.
An interesting fact revealed was that a tarot card reader
cannot read his own cards but can take help from a counterpart. “It is
better to ask someone else to read the cards instead of reading it oneself. I
get it done by my daughter, Parsa who enjoys it as her hobby,” said Hussain.
Confessions of
a tarot fanatic He felt it was the hardest strike ever on his heart. He
could not believe the words reaching his ears. The split second was the
toughest of his life when he learnt the fact that the love of his life could
never be his ultimate destination. He will soon no longer be with her, he
realised instantly, as soon as the figure in front of him revealed the fact
to Malik, an ardent follower of the reading of tarot cards. Malik was heartbroken when his regular visits to this
tarot card reader turned downbeat for the first time. “Those few minutes
with him changed my life completely. I never thought that my years-long
relationship would end up nowhere,” said the inconsolable Malik. Certain
events in his relationship had made Malik curious to consult the tarot card
reader regarding his love life. Malik’s first visit to the reader was not so
awe-inspiring compared to today. He only gradually acquired his current firm
belief in this approach to fortune telling above all others. Initially, he
was sceptical and thought it to be absolute rubbish. His interest in tarot card reading developed when he
desperately wanted to know about his fortune. Malik’s venture into the art
appeared to be an unplanned visit, when one of his aunts took his elder
sister to a tarot card reader in a local mall. “I don’t mind experiments
and thus I decided to explore further,” informed the overwhelmed Malik. Coming from a religious family, tarot card reading was
something that both Malik and his sister did not approve of but gave it a try
out of curiosity and interest to be acquainted with predictions about the
future. “I volunteered when one of our family friends asked my sister to
accompany her to a tarot card reader. My sister was unsure about some
personal issue and wanted to resolve it,” shared Malik. Being adventurous in nature, after his sister’s session
Malik gave it a try too after paying Rs 350 for a half-hour session.
The first few minutes of the session were not so revealing, but the
end had him won over. Consequently, Malik became more interested in tarot
card reading and other forms of fortune telling. “Initially, I rubbished
the idea, but as long as the session of play of cards continued, I was
persuaded,” replied the convinced Malik. The session began with the shuffling of a deck of 21
cards among which Malik was asked to pick one. The chosen one indicated his
present while the other four cards that he pulled out explained his future.
“This procedure takes place when one is, in general, inquisitive about
one’s future. However, if one asks a particular question such as related to
studies, relationships, career etc., the tarot card reader shuffles the card,
splitting it into two decks, asking the client to pick out seven cards among
the 21,” Malik explained the procedure that he experienced. Malik’s quest to know about the future continued
through other kinds of fortune telling, including astrology, palmistry but
nothing pleased Malik more than tarot. “My curiosity regarding my future
made me experience different ways of fortune telling. Although the
information received through different methods is roughly the same, the most
convincing one for me was through tarot card reading,” Malik recounted his
experiences in testing different modes of fortune telling. There have been instances when Malik visited a tarot card
reader on different occasions, the major one being his decision to switch his
educational institute. Being a student of Bachelors of Product Design, Malik
decided to switch to a Bachelors of Design in jewellery after consulting his
tarot card reader, who gave him approval for this major change in his life.
“This was an important decision, as my entire career was at stake but after
playing my tarot cards, I gained enough confidence to make a move,” Malik
confessed. In general, people consult psychologists, psychiatrists
or other field experts for their personal counseling. However, Malik plays
tarot cards whenever he finds himself in despair. According to him, the signs
and symbols are only indicators that make one aware of the future and do not
provide solutions to the problems. He treats it as a therapy for himself.
“Physiologically it is very effective and has a calming effect on me
whenever I feel low.”
Cards of fate The Emperor The Emperor is the fourth trump. Sitting on his throne,
holding a scepter, accompanied by the heraldic eagle of the Holy Roman The Empress The Empress is the third trump in traditional tarot
decks. The Empress sits on a throne wearing a starry crown, holding a scepter
in one hand. The scepter is representative of her power over life, her crown
has twelve stars representing her dominance over the year, and her throne is
in the midst of a field of grain, representative of her dominion over growing
things. The Empress symbolises a strong woman who has a strong grip over her home, family and job, known for taking balance and independent decisions. Sometimes the empress might get ego problems. But she never allows her ego to come in the way of wise and moral decisions.
The Fool is one of the 78 cards in a deck. The fool is
unnumbered. The Fool means
‘the madman’ or ‘the beggar’. The card usually shows a person in
colorful motley clothes, a pack tied to a staff, a small dog, a cliff.
The symbol in the card is of infinite possibilities. The bag on the
staff indicates that he has all he needs to do or be anything he wants, he
has only to stop and unpack. He is on his way to a brand new beginning.But
the card carries a little hint of warning as well. While it’s wonderful to
be enthralled with all around you, excited by all life has to offer, you
still need to watch your step, lest you fall and end up looking the fool.
The Tower The Tower is the most common modern name is the sixteenth
trump. This card follows immediately after ‘The Devil’ in all tarots that
contain it, and is considered an ill omen.
Strength
The Strength card was originally named Fortitude, and
accompanies two of the other cardinal virtues in the major arcana: temperance
and justice. The meaning of fortitude was different from the interpretation
of the card. It meant moderation in attitudes toward pain and danger, with
neither being avoided at all costs, nor actively wanted. The older decks had two competing symbolisms: one
featured a woman holding or breaking a stone pillar, and the other featured a
person, either male or female, subduing a lion.
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Empire is the symbol showing in the card. The Emperor symbolises the desire
to rule over one’s surroundings, and its appearance in a reading often
suggests that the subject needs to accept that some things may not be
controllable.
A
variety of explanations for the images depicted on the card have been
attempted. For example, it may be a reference to the biblical story of the
Tower of Babel, where God destroys a tower built by mankind to reach heaven.
Alternatively, the Harrowing of Hell was a frequent subject in late medieval
liturgical drama, and Hell could be depicted as a great gate knocked asunder
by Jesus Christ, with accompanying pyrotechnics. The Minchiate version of the
deck may represent Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden.