oh god I don't know what I'm doing

You get an Oblique-Swimming Tripplefin

Expand on that, king (genuinely curious)

I feel like…

okay, so it’s a lot like conceptual art, or like introspective meditation, at the risk of sounding pretentious

Like. It’s not so much about “the cards are a portal to a higher wisdom that knows more than me” thing- it’s more of a, “given the symbols drawn, could I interpret them posing a question or possibility or suggestion?” Followed by, “is this applicable to my current context? COULD it be?”

Like.

I don’t lay out á tarot hand and say “ah yes, the devil and the tower, I am about to be betrayed”

But I MAY lay out a hand and say, “okay, devil and the tower. Something treacherous and danger. Am I approaching a treacherous or risky situation in my life? What might be a tipping factor? Am I being deliberately reckless? Maybe I should spend some more time working on X project I’ e been thinking of before spending money on it” or “you know what, I HAVE been kind of uncomfortable with X thing, I should say something” or “yeah okay I KNOW Tom from work sucks to work with, I KNOW, yeah maybe I should consider ways of handling that”

Less of a magic oracle, more of a tool for doing literary analysis on real life. Like simplifying everything and laying it out flat so I can gain some distance to untangle my problems without in-your-head crap like projected feelings and social obligation getting in the way and muddying the waters.

So like. I don’t think tarot cards can legit tell the future, but I DO think that self-reflection, mindfulness, and consideration sometimes allow us to predict and calculate our own circumstances.

So, IMO- It’s not real. But it works

I'm direct, by that I mean, I don't like couching things in "I know you're trying to help, and I so appreciate that about you, but next time can you X instead of Y?" I say "Hey, I don't like when you X to me. Please don't." It's clear, it's unambiguous, and I think dancing around an issue is confusing or even insulting.

Because I am a woman, I have been told BY OTHER WOMEN, this makes me aggressive and this is bad. I think we can safely say my example is fairly neutral, not outrageously aggressive. I'm not sure how you would make that unambiguously aggressive. Maybe "Stop doing X or I'll punch you," idk.

"You should join your union.

Statistically you are underpaid"