Not meant to read tarot

Do you believe some people simply aren't meant to work with tarot cards, no matter how hard they try?

I know, i know. We must have patience, study, learn from our mistakes, read good, then leave the books behind, and everything. I've done it all. Seriously. I've read different books and approaches and methods, then i've left them behind (the books, not what i have learnt) and started to read using one deck only, in order to learn said deck better. I've done readings for strangers, and for friends, and for the dog, and everyone. I'm journaling. Result: I still suck (i know i could have used a better word, but this is how i feel ).

I'm a bad tarot reader. I'm realizing i probably suck as most readings. No matter the deck, no matter the person. If i did one bad reading and five nice ones after that, it'd be fine. However, lately (and by lately i mean the last six months), i do one so-so reading and five confusing and bad ones.

I love tarot. I've been studing it since i was 13, i'm 20 now, so it's been with me in a huge and important part of my life. But maybe i'm one of these people we mention in those can anyone read tarot? threads that CAN'T read tarot. Maybe i just can't. I can collect, i can read books and enjoy it, but i suck as a reader.

Once i even thought about making tarot a more professional thing, now this just sounds laughable. I bet even my dog deslikes my readings, if she cares about them at all. Lol.

Many will tell me i should take a break, quit tarot for a while and then return. Fine. I've been doing that the last entire year. I take three months of break, start again, one month later i feel so bad i need to take another break. Maybe i should stop fooling myself and make the vacations definitive, right?


Do you feel it possible? To be completely unable to read tarot? I'm starting to think it is...

I wouldn't suggest a break...I would suggest a new approach, and to not take it so seriously!

I don't believe that there are bad readers out there.

The only bad readers are the ones that don't try...

and you obviously are trying...so you CAN'T be a bad reader!

I have had hundreds of so so readings in my career...and yes...some bad ones too.
Sometimes things just get so confusing, and you have to write everything down, and look at it later with a different perspective.

Sometimes you just have to be thrown into a situation, where all you do it read for strangers for a whole night...

and sometimes you have to forget everything you think you know and just look at the pictures and tell a story about them.

You are not a bad reader Marina.

You are just going through a phase where you have doubts, and maybe a lack of confidence in your abilities.

I have been there too.

Don't give up yet!

Don't get discouraged. First thing that came to mind when I read what you wrote was to find a deck that speaks to YOU. Not the popular ones you think you should own. For instance, I look at a Thoth deck and....nothing. It just doesn't make sense or the Fantastic Menagerie, once again...nada, but the deck speaks to a lot of people on the forum. I also agree with Chronata. You should just relax when you look at the cards and then before you know it, the deck will speak to you. But most of all, DON'T GIVE UP!

I agree. Perhaps you just haven't found the way that works for you. We are all different and we all learn in different ways.

I think to, that at your age, this is nothing to worry about. There is enough going on in your head right now. You are still getting to know yourself and working out your own beliefs. There is nothing to worry about it if you are having trouble also grasping how tarot fits into your life.

That's exactly how I believe it is. The tarot tells the story of my life, of yours, of everyone's. And how can one be sure what it means to others if one is still not sure what it means to oneself? And even then, as I grow older and change, so does my view of tarot.

There is no need to feel inadequate, and I do not mean to suggest that there is anything wrong with your age. It's just that our 20's can be really difficult so give yourself a break! You will know it when you are meant to know and not a moment before then. It is that way with all of us.

Just do what feels right. If you want to take a break then take one, if you want to just collect, than do that. But the only thing that can keep you from reading tarot is your belief that you cannot.

Don't feel bad. I often doubt my own abilities and I've been studying Tarot for over 2 decades and reading for more than 1. My own lack of confidence usually shows up in being afraid of giving a bad reading! Well, the good thing about reading for strangers is that you may never see them again. The good thing about reading for friends is that if they're good enough friends they'll cut you the slack you need and help encourage you. (Just stay away from those casual acquaintances whom you have to interact with regularly! )

You may just be in that situation: hamstrung by your insecurity. It's akin to stage fright. Have you had occasion to swap readings with a friend, or have a mini-workshop with a group of friends? That may help you. Good luck.

The suggestion from here is to find the belief that is interfering with your Tarot talents . How?? by asking . something like , What do I believe about my tarot talents. Keep asking the same question with feeling , the belief will pop up.The feelings will flow, willingly feel the problem, then the problem will dissolve. By refusing to feel the problem it will persist, deal with it. Happy hunting.

I must agree with Sinduction on this because at the age of twenty i hardly even knew what the Tarot was, let alone its capabilities.
If you consult a couple of 'professional' readers i think this will fire your imagination into new and very different levels of understanding and ways of thinking. This has worked for me in the past in times when i've felt either very depressed or highly elated. It could be that others may suggest taking a break or attempting different avenues of research and study rather than a complete break.

My first thoughts on reading your post, are that you are so young. Maybe you are supposed to be doing something else with the spiritual knowledge you have. I believe we all have gifts, and not all of us are tarot readers by profession. Maybe you would enjoy healing or some other aspect of spirituality. I got so bored with tarot for a while, b/c for myself well, there are only so many things you can ask about and after while it becomes boring. Then I began to read, I read about Jung, Sylvia Browne, etc, and many other things. I decided that tarot would just be a hobby.
I feel like you are pushing too hard to force yourself to be a reader. Not everyone is a reader. some of us are empathic and thus can help heal, and some of us are just psychics and not into tarot at all.
Erma Bombeck , a writer I adored, used to say" don't sweat the small stuff".
You have so many years in your life to go. So much time. Don't force yourself to do something now that you do not feel in to. Look into other aspects of spirituality.
the good news, there is so much time to find your path. and Sinduction is very correct, the 20's can be a very rocky time. We have things we must accomplish in our 20's. Be kind - unwind.

You know, I'll probably get a lot of flak for this because AT is all about helping and encouraging, etc., but I think a lot of your problem may simply just come down to your having a lack of life experience. At 20, and if you haven't experienced anything similar, perhaps you just can't describe a scenario that is sitting right there in the spread because you have no personal foundation to draw from...no pertinent vocabulary to be able to state what is there in the cards.

That said, I do encourage you not to give up, but, instead to live your own life to its fullest. The more experience you have to draw from, the more easily you may be able to see things in the cards and find the words to describe them to your sitter in terms that will resonate with her.

Do you think it's the variety of decks you are trying?

I think I was talking to a friendly collector and I remember the encouragement and idea to do the In Depth Study with one tarot had advantages because it was easier to track progress.

Maybe you are spreading yourself to thin across an array of decks--there's only so much time. Think of time as butter on a knife... and if you are studying so many decks, there's hardly enough time/butter to spread around on those toasty tarot decks. You might be only collecting some crumbs from so many different pieces!

It's kind of hard to focus on one or two tarots in a week...but I found if I can take one oracle, one tarot...stay with them a week or two...try to continue...I can see short-term progress. And it may take me a month or two to circulate back on the deck--but I can see progress in certain aspects of my relationship with the deck and reading with it.

Maybe you are frustrated because you are learning and reading for others and
the bad readings come when you are exhausted mentally or just tired...and pacing yourself might be problem? If you think you just gave a bad reading, you might want to 'make up for it' and plunge into more reading...and you might just need to enjoy working with one deck for yourself a bit?

Or you might just need to balance between a favorite oracle and a tarot deck? I'm not certain if my balance this month will be runes or a small oracle deck I just picked up...but it helps refresh me to have more than just a tarot deck to play with...

Best wishes,

Cerulean