AUTHOR’S NOTE: Not long ago a new acquaintance, upon hearing that I read tarot cards, asked whether I do readings for business-related questions. I responded that I have yet to do so in a professional capacity but I certainly could, and I have in fact created quite a few experimental spreads for just that purpose. I hold a BSM degree and come from a 30-year background in corporate business management (although my tarot journey began more than a decade earlier) so I have a good idea where to look.
This started me thinking about how the subject might be tackled, and I realized that a tarot reading would be an ideal complement to a “SWOT” (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. From an “organizational health” angle, corporate culture, infrastructure, staffing, management style, ethical posture, financial status and other cross-cutting factors are fair game due to their broad purview, but I think I would steer clear of any legal affairs that have their own rigorous (and often Byzantine) strictures. I would also be uncomfortable looking into high-risk investment strategies and other such speculative brinkmanship that newly-minted MBAs are so eager to pursue; far be it from me to encroach on their turf.
The most obvious single-topic opportunities involve employment-related matters (hiring, firing, promoting, demoting, transferring, etc); positioning and launching a new product line; administration of in-house projects; and the impact of proposed managerial schemes such as “right-sizing” (a nasty euphemism for lay-offs), asset liquidation, affiliate mergers or subsidiary spin-offs. The first case could entail character analysis and personality profiling; the second, customer expectations and anticipated behaviors; the third, internal dynamics ranging from executive vision to employee buy-in; and the fourth, larger market forces and commercial logistics affecting the entire industry.
Asking “just the right questions” would be particularly critical when working in the organizational rather than personal field, since there are many environmental variables that don’t appear in an individual setting. (Ideally, we will propose different scenarios and pose different questions to our clients than they would come up with on their own.) The inquiry must be thorough enough to encompass as many of these volatile aspects as possible without becoming too generic (and therefore too shallow) in its thrust. When scoping a comprehensive system-health reading, whether or not as part of a SWOT activity, the mental punch-list should consider parallels between what upper management is thinking, how successful middle management is at translating those thoughts into action plans, and how well the workforce is able to execute those aims at the hands-on level. Think of it as a metaphysical process-control audit that assesses “intangible assets.”
When involved in personnel staffing or optimization efforts, rather than simply asking “Is this the right person for this position?” we could phrase the question as “What will this individual bring to the job beyond merely showing up?” It goes without saying that this line of interrogation will uncover both pluses and minuses that a yes-or-no answer will miss. In any event, to be fair to all candidates it’s advisable to custom-design a spread for the specific occasion rather than relying on an all-purpose layout like the Celtic Cross (unless it happens to be a perfect fit).
New-product development arcs are often rife with vague conjecture. Is there a stable market with reliable demand? Is there a large enough customer base? Is there a demonstrated track record with similar products? Is the timing right to introduce an innovation? How will the competition respond? Of course, any use of the tarot for this investigation should ride on the coattails of available “hard data” and not just be an intuitive “shot in the dark.” If the numbers say one thing and the prediction another, the latter should be “taken under advisement” rather than being trusted implicitly or rejected out-of-hand. An even-handed reading that validates the conventional wisdom while also offering cautionary side-notes would be the best possible “deliverable” for a prudent client.
Project-management leadership already enjoys the benefit of a wide range of analytical tools for the identification and organization of contributing ideas, such as brainstorming, mind-mapping, SWOT analysis and carefully-compiled informational charts and graphs (Ishikawa or “fishbone” diagrams are [or were when I was in management] a common fact-gathering model, along with traditional “cause-and-effect” projections). Practical divination falls right in line with these measures in that it offers another notional viewpoint that is only slightly more offbeat (OK, let’s be honest and say “peculiar”) than some of the established decision-making methods that employ a psychological or human-factors perspective.
As a case in point, I vividly recall a company decree that – to combat occupational stress – our entire 400-member workforce had to go into a darkened room in small groups, lie down on the floor, close our eyes and meditate silently for fifteen minutes on company time . . . and this was in a government-regulated, high-visibility technological industry, no less. You probably wouldn’t have felt safe at the time if you knew which one it was. Personally, I was convinced that we were all paid so well that job-related stress should have been the least of our worries (I know it wasn’t a concern of mine), but our senior executives were suckers for any entrepreneurial pitch that touted human-performance improvements. (They never knew they had an astrologer and cartomancer in the ranks.)
Perhaps the most intimidating prognoses are those involving major corporate transitions, for which the employees who are most likely to ask the question have the least reliable understanding of the likely outcome. Scenarios can range from the “rats deserting a sinking ship” overreaction to the “sit tight and see what happens” mode of hopeful resignation (the mythical “boiling a frog” metaphor). I’m strongly reminded of the “Cold War” practice drills they used to conduct in US public schools for a postulated nuclear missile attack: go into the hallway, sit with your back against the wall, lower your head and cover it with your hands. The wiseguys among us called it “sit down, put your head between your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye.” Most of the time, the best a diviner can accomplish under these conditions is to spot long-term developments that victims might be able to leverage once the dust settles. In these situations it would be naive to expect a “white knight” corporate savior to step in before the hammer comes down, so impact mitigation is the order of the day.
To be perfectly honest, no act of divination should be viewed as a “magic bullet” that will speak convincingly to all facets of a management challenge; it should be only one component in a multi-part equation that includes more orthodox inputs like performance history, cost/benefit analysis, demonstrated level of competence and technical practicability. However, managers who enlist the services of a diviner are often at a loss about where to turn next and thus may be unusually susceptible to suggestions that sound good but have nothing more than the diviner’s non-business-related knowledge, experience, common sense and good will to recommend them. It is incumbent upon the reader to avoid letting expectations get out of hand, and upon seekers to rein in any unabashed enthusiasm that could foster hasty conclusions.
As sympathetic as we might be to the querent’s dilemma, an institutional forecast is no place to get too folksy or anecdotal with our storytelling ardor, which can only lead to misapprehension and possibly to false hopes and fears or, even worse, inappropriate actions. In these situations I strongly advocate choosing a narrowly-focused diagnostic style rather than a more open-ended, mystical or intuitive form of interpretation since we are most likely talking to a seasoned pro and not to a credulous tyro. I would also spruce up my “terms and conditions of service” and make sure they are understood and accepted. No business professional would fault us for taking that precaution.
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 
This is so interesting!
LikeLiked by 1 person