Is a good Tarot reader psychic?
According to Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, there are seven types of intelligence:
(1) Verbal/linguistic;
(2) Musical;
(3) Logical/mathematical;
(4) Spatial;
(5) Body-kinesthetic;
(6) Intrapersonal (e.g., insight, metacognition);
(7) Interpersonal (e.g., social skills).
Maybe the expert Tarot reader is simply more intelligent than the rest of us in the "intrapersonal/metacognition" area, in reading little clues — picking up on things, so to speak. In other words, he takes the subtle clues found hidden in the artwork of the cards themselves, and ties them in with the information he gets from the Querent (the Querent's words and his nonverbal signals), and as a result, the Querent gets what he needs: insight and advice about his own situation.
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Are we disappointed that this explanation doesn't involve the supernatural? Well, maybe it does, in a way. It is a "natural" ability that's raised to "super" levels.
It's similar to what the FBI profilers do: they take small bits of information and put them together in ways that nobody else can, and bingo: there's the full, detailed description of the serial killer ("Look for a white male age 25-30, lives with his parents, works part-time, watches lots of James Bond movies, can speak Portuguese, but has trouble with subjunctive clauses and irregular verbs").
