Tarot reading research

Tarot Reading Research

Treat Tarot as a historical-cultural interpretive system. Card meanings and readings are symbolic traditions, not established causal predictors. Never make medical, legal, financial, safety, fertility, employment, or relationship decisions for a user.

Runtime: Python 3.10+

The bundled helper requires Python 3.10+ and only the Python standard library. It is deterministic and does not make network requests.

Workflow

1. Identify the deck tradition and edition; record creator, date, language, medium, and licence.
2. Read historical-corpus.md before making an origin claim. Do not project a modern occult system backward onto fifteenth-century playing cards.
3. Separate card imagery, historical claims, divinatory convention, and reflective interpretation. Read deck-systems.md before transferring a meaning between deck families.
4. Record the question, spread positions, draw order, orientation rule, and whether the draw was user-supplied or simulated. Never fabricate a random draw. Store the resulting record using tarot-record.schema.json.
5. Apply reading-logic.md: card observation first, spread function second, tradition third, user reflection last.
6. Compare at least two interpretive traditions when meanings differ. Make the reading reflective and conditional, with concrete next questions.
7. Finish with a reality check: what can be observed, what is metaphor, what professional or consent boundary applies, and what evidence would challenge the interpretation.

Tools and references

Use Python 3.10+ standard library only. Run python3 scripts/transparent_spread.py --seed <visible-seed> --spread three-card-reflection for a reproducible draw. The output includes the algorithm version, deck-catalog SHA-256, source ids, positions, and reversal policy. For a physical draw, use --mode physical --cards 'The Fool|Ace of Cups|Justice'; this records the user's cards and does not simulate them. Read learning-path.md, knowledge-model.md, source-registry.md, and evaluation.md before discussing accuracy.

Calculation and interpretation rules

For Tarot, distinguish card imagery, deck-specific iconography, divinatory convention, and reader projection. Use open questions rather than deterministic claims.

Quality questions

• Is every card identifier tied to a named edition, catalogue digest, and source registry entry?
• Are historical facts separated from modern esoteric practice?
• Is a visible image being described rather than a stock meaning being projected onto it?
• Does the reading preserve ambiguity instead of manufacturing certainty?
• Could a user mistake the output for professional advice or a scientific result?

If asked about “success rate,” explain that symbolic usefulness and predictive accuracy are different hypotheses. Propose a preregistered, blinded, outcome-based test for empirical evaluation; do not invent a percentage.

Read sources.md when source selection or deck history matters. Do not invoke astronomy, birth data, zodiac, or planetary positions in this Skill: those belong to the separate Western astrology Skill.