Many people wonder what the Tarot, or the I Ching, or astrology tells us about free will. If the cards can predict what we will do, does that mean free will does not really exist?

The question arises from a misunderstanding of free will itself; we think of it as something simple and independent of the past. At any moment, we think, we are free to do whatever we want. But our supposedly free choices are governed by our past actions. If we do not understand ourselves, how can we expect to make a free choice? Only by seeing and accepting the past can we free ourselves from it.

Many people look on the question of free will as an absolute. Either we make constant choices or we act according to destiny. Do we do what we do as a deliberate choice at that moment, or as a result of a lifetime( or many lifetimes) of conditioning?

These problems become easier if we give up the absolute all-or-nothing approach to the question. Then we can say yes, we always retain free will, but we rarely use it.

It is not enough just to forsee a likely outcome for us to change or prevent that event. We must understand why it is coming, and we must work on the causes within ourselves for the things we do and the ways we react. Free will certainly exists. We just do not know how to use it. The most important thing we can learn from Tarot readings is just how little we exercise our freedom.

‘Nothing can save you but yourself’- Emerson

Note: this post has been inspired by the book ‘ Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom’ by Rachel Pollack