Scorpios are primarily associated with the cycle of life and death especially reproduction. This sign tends to exude a powerful magnetism towards the opposite gender. In addition the Tarot cards of the Rider-Waite deck that correspond to this sign are the suit of cups in the minor arcana and the Death card in the major arcane.

The Astrological symbol for this sign is the Scorpio’s stinger attached to the human reproductive organs which resembles the letter M with a tail. This is very fitting seeing as the 8th house is the ruler of reproduction. Interestingly enough this symbol also represented the mythical phoenix in ancient times. This bird would rise from its own ashes after it was consumed in flames symbolic of the Scorpio’s true nature as the ruler of life and death.

Intense and emotionally perceptive, Scorpios tend to pick up on the unspoken word such as body language. This sign is very deep and mysterious longing for a close intimate connection. However if scorpions get hurt beware of their barbed stingers they really pack a punch!

Those born under this sign seem to be on a serious mission to learn about humanity. This sign tends to be all business avoiding idle chatter and zeroing in on the meat and potatoes of the conversation to pick up on implied meanings in the verbal content.

Traveling in a black and white world leaves little room for compromise with Scorpios. The intimate nature of this sign is closely matched by their curious inquisitive nature. They tend to unearth answers and secrets from seemingly insignificant bits of information that others may over look.

Possessing remarkable regenerative power along with the ability to move forward and persevere allows Scorpios to achieve high levels of success. These attributes make this sign a strong foe or invaluable ally. However, do not pry to deep into their secrets if you are seeking friendship as this may chase them away.

The fixed nature of this sign makes them stubborn and willful. Often times plowing forward towards their goals not caring who gets left in their wake. At the risk of life and limb this sign will use all of the resources available to achieve success.

Being a water sign many of their decisions are based on emotion rather than logic. Scorpios tend to make few friends and tend to be loners mainly due to their lack of trust for others. Their incredibly sensitive nature makes them apt to be hurt so often they have many secrets as well.

Overall this sign is one of the most mysterious and profound of the zodiac. Being good with money, in love, and full of cosmic knowledge this sign is concerned primarily with attaining and maintaining power. Exerting power over their environment, others, and their lives so that one day they can sit back and admire their success. Lastly, remember that life and death are the cornerstones of the Scorpio’s being and define the ultimate motivation for their destiny.

Although, the standard playing cards migrated to Europe in the late 14th century with the Mamelukes of Egypt, it is a stretch to say they invented the Tarot deck, card games, or divinatory practices associated with it. In fact the modern Tarot deck as we know it today is a collection of images and symbols from a wide variety of cultures, from ancient Greece, Romania, Norway, India, Egypt, Italy, and France.

Some people speculate that Pythagoras, one of the first gurus of modern day esoteric philosophy and practices, may have invented the precursors to Tarot through his work with mathematics, music, tetractys, and Numerology.

According to the most accurate historical data available modern day Tarot cards originated in Northern Italy. The oldest surviving Tarot cards, called the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck, were created in the mid 15th century. This sixty-six card deck based on the "carte da trionfi" or triumph cards were designed and painted for the Visconti family the rulers of Milan and one of the most prestigious families in Italy.

These cards were designed to be played as a trick based card playing game with trumps called Tarrochi. This game spread slowly across Italy and mostly in the upper stratum of society. This was because pre-printing press hand manufactured cards were quite expensive and news traveled fairly slowly in those days.

It appears that in 1450 there was an Italian jubilee year with many festivities and pilgrims which brought the game into the public eye on a broad scale. In addition in the 1460’s the introduction of Gutenberg’s printing press to Italy made mass manufacturing books and cards possible. From this innocuous game of Tarrochi (called Tarrock in German/Austrian, or Tarot in France) it was not long before these cards aided by the wide spread use of the printing press became a medium for fortune telling and parlor tricks.

From Italy tarot cards migrated into Southern France and the "Tarot de Marseilles" is one of the most famous decks from that country originating around 1499 when France conquered northern Italy. The English Tarot deck is often called the Rider-Waite deck and is the one we are most familiar with in the modern day English speaking countries. It consists of 78 cards 56 minor arcana and 22 major arcana or what would have been the trump cards in the game of Tarrochi. It was created in 1909 by artist Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur Edward Waite. It was published by the Rider company and now is copyrighted by U.S. Games.

In addition it is no surprise that Tarot cards were under condemnation from their very conception by the religious authorities of the time. They were frowned upon by the Roman Catholic Church especially as a form of idolatry.

Interestingly enough science was much kinder to the Tarot deck than religion. For example, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud subscribed to tarot beliefs. Carl Jung attached symbolic importance to The Tarot cards attributing the cards with inkblot type properties. These enabled the psychologist to form evaluative inferences about an individual’s archetypal characteristics. The cards helped identify characteristics that represent the subconscious symbolic and pre-symbolic attributes that affect how they view themselves, others, and their environment.

However, most modern psychologists frown on the notion of using Tarot cards in therapeutic settings for archetypal analysis. These methods of archetypal analysis are relegated to the fringes of the clinical practices.

Unearthing the true origins of Tarot cards may never occur with empirical certainty. But, one thing is for certain these divinatory aids of the occult are certain to continue on through the ages as a mystical tool for ascertaining answers to questions on past, present, and future events.

However, over the years claims of spiritualism and psychic powers have been so widespread and the reports of its effects so numerous and impressive that it was inevitable that scientists would be attracted to the alleged phenomena. Parapsychology the science that studies these phenomena focused on many areas including telepathy, clairvoyance, hypnotism, spirits, spiritualism, and the history of spiritual manifestations.

Although Parapsychology is still considered a fringe science by many scientists it still merits the attention of renowned educational institutions such as Princeton University and Berkley. Princeton offers the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) degree and the University of Berkley in California awarded the only American accredited degree in Parapsychology to Jeffery Mishlove in 1980. But in saying this I am putting the cart before the horse.

The pioneers of modern Parapsychology began using the experimental approach to psychic phenomena at Duke University in the 1930s under the direction of Joseph Rhine. Subsequently Karl Zener one of J.Rhines associates developed the world renowned Zener card test for testing ESP abilities using the scientific method. These ESP tests were conducted at Duke University in one of the first Pavlovian conditioning laboratories.

Parapsychology progressed throughout the 20th century and adopted current technology as it became available. The use of more sophisticated methods of paranormal investigation advanced as technology did. In modern times advanced electronic equipment is often used to test for psychic phenomena. This is because paranormal events reportedly cause energy disturbances across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Some speculate that energy is drawn from the surrounding environment to power psychic events. Modern day paranormal investigators monitor these environmental energy changes with a variety of modern instruments including EMF detectors, temperature sensors, static electricity detectors, ionization detectors, motion detectors, EVP recording devices, RF detectors, and radiation monitors.

So, whether you believe in psychics, paranormal activity, or spiritualism the fact of the matter is there is currently hard scientific data documenting the anomalous psychic events which occur in the everyday world around us. In addition for thousands of years unexplained phenomena have been documented throughout history. Are millions of people crazy? I think not. I assure you that the spiritual realm does exist and I am not alone in that belief. Many scientists, layman, and spiritualists share the same views about our universe. Even some world renowned physicists speculate the need for more than one dimension to explain life as we know it.

My best advice is to try to keep an open mind and an objective outlook about things that we do not fully understand. that is unless you believe the sole criterion of reality is our limited human ability to quantify, tag, and label it. After all we can not see the wind but we do see the affect it has on the leaves as they blow about. Does this mean wind does not exist just because we cannot see it?

In closing I leave it up to you the reader to decide for your self the answer to the question at hand. But, know this my answer to the question "are psychics real?" is yes. Psychics, psychic abilities, spirits, and ESP are real whether you believe in them or not.

Psychics that do not emphasize the need for individuals to work their path towards their hopes, dreams, and aspirations are akin to sailors throwing ropes into the water with no flotation devices attached. This is why a good psychic reading should encourage spiritual growth and the means to attain it.

Below is an excellent example of an expert psychic reading:

Life often slides curve balls our way however the most important thing to remember is that you may get knocked out of the batters box this inning but you may hit one out of the park next. Keep your chin up and resolve to never give up on your hopes dreams and aspirations.

As they say Rome was not built in a day and so is life. Set out to accomplish one positive thing in your life every day and truly see what it means over time to achieve your full potential. In a sigmoid fashion building on an ever increasing support base watch as your hopes and dreams are achieved.

The small daily satisfaction of accomplishing short term goals is sure to give you the strength to carry on and help you hit that home run some day. Also remember that baseball like life is a team sport and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link so surround your self with positive like minded goal oriented people to truly see your dreams come to fulfillment.

Once you start seeing the positive impact your short term goals have on your life and the benefits your supportive positive minded team mates provide drop that excess baggage and weigh anchor to ports unknown the skies the limit. Only you limit your potential and you can have as much or as little as you want out of life.

Most importantly enjoy life. Every breath, every second, minute, hour, and make the most of them because you only have that split second in time once and then it’s gone. Reservation and inaction lead to complacency and an unsatisfying life never stop learning stop growing reach for the brass ring and are victorious as your ultimate goal co-evolves and changes as your level of insight introspective ability and enlightenment grow.

Be fulfilled with never being fulfilled never settle for less than what you are worth because you are invaluable unique in the universe the only you there will ever be.

This type of psychic advice framework truly benefits individuals by giving them solid spiritual solutions and a means to attain them. Thus, providing a road map for the individual based on their current spiritual path choices to attain their short and long term hopes, dreams, and aspirations.