Aeon,

Hi there.  In my use of the Tarot cards I have seen/felt the same thing you are talking about.  I just can't believe the cards are what the woman in the store said but I have heard that theory and much MUCH worse around my own small community.  I'm not saying it's impossible for the cards to become a portal for daemons/spirits or whatever else is out there, I'm just saying that wasn't their original use.  After all, I'm not even sure if I believe in daemons and such the way others do.  Are they completely separate entities or merely fabrications of our own making?  Hypnogogia and the hypnogogic state are very relevant to making any decision there, I think.  Are there beings out there that use our devices to communicate with us?  Sure!  Yes.  BUT just because you pick up a scrying mirror, tarot deck, pendulum, ouija board, etc does not mean that you are inviting some evil daemon into your life so it can lead you to self-destruction---humans will self-destruct all on their own.  If there are daemons/evil spirits out there they don't need to waste their time on making us do "bad" because if given the chance and the right set of opportunities some humans will do "bad" anyway.  Then you have to consider the reality vs. perception idea, too.  What is "bad" and what is "good"?  The answer is all in the perceiving, how you judge good and bad which relates right back to what you were taught when you were a child.

To quote from Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune:
From the view of infinity, any defined long-term is actually short-term... or words to that effect...

Does anyone out there still class Tarot as a system of fortune/future-telling?

Certainly here the Tarot community I am involved with here in Australia doesn't view it that way. I didn't think anyone held that view anymore - except for those detractors who have no knowledge or experience with it.

I think everyone's theories presented thus far all makes sense, and I think for the most part we are all agreeing with each other - its just that we can't express it in words, or can't even pinpoint what or why exactly.... perhaps that's it; perhaps its all about the mystery....?!

To quote Terence McKenna:
If the Truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed!

Sometimes I get clients who loudly and immediately make it known their scepticism - I often wonder why they are coming to see a Tarot reader if they don't believe it to work, or think I'm some kind of fraud...
They always - without fail - quiz me on how the Tarot works. For the most part, I tell them this:

That there are 78 cards, and any of these could be applied to some aspect of their lives and hold true - they "randomly" pick one, and we focus on that aspect of their lives which that card represents. After all, the whole Tarot is meant to summarise universal human truths, which everyone experiences some time in their lives, regardless of race, creed, or class.

The mystery lies herein: why is it that you picked that card out of all the others? And why is it that particular issue was foremost on your mind at this time?

And then I point out that I don't have the answers to such questions, and that I let faith and wonder take over from here. All other cards from here on are really just helping to further flesh out the picture being drawn and offer possible advice/approaches to resolving the issue.

The ancient Oracles always answered the querent's questions with another question - its meant to make them start thinking for themselves and stop them from bothering the Oracles....    why else would Delphi have the inscription at the front door "Mankind, Know Thyself" ?!

p

I agree with your explanation of the tarot cards.  I have often thought this myself.  They are used as a tool to access the unconscious part of our thinking.