Fact Checker

From the Morgan Greer Tarot, the Page of Pentacles; from the Celtic Book of the Dead, the Island of Recognition:

There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. The scientist... must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ―J. Robert Oppenheimer

This Page of Pentacles, often known as the student, doesn't just focus on books. He looks up and outward, checking to see if what he has studied and learned fits with real life. Like the rest of his clan, he is grounded and practical, preferring what is useful and beneficial to what is fanciful. He'd rather not just take someone's word but prefers to test things out himself. The voyagers arrived at the Island of Recognition only to be pelted with nuts by its residents. It seems the islanders thought they resembled an enemy of the past and assumed they were exactly the same people. This card asks us to check our assumptions rather than rolling with our emotional reactions. Unfortunately, as Andy Rooney stated, "People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."