I'm feeling you today..maybe not.

I'm kneeling and begging for AT-ers to share their wisdom with me.
Certain days i feel like doing reading, and some days i don't.
It's been months since i did it or even touch my decks.
Anyone have this problem before?
Please give me some tricks to keep the flame burning with tarot, what did you guys do to keep the interest alive on days where you just feel BLAH or simply forgot about them?
I like tarot i do, and i like to do reading, but really, the days where i feel like i'm into them are just too few.
Help me keep the sparks on
Thanks!

Ah, how to keep the love alive... this is a question that many of us ask, and not only about tarot!

Just as between two people who marry, simply doing the same old thing every day with tarot is a guarantee of boredom. Dissatisfaction is not far round the corner if we do not spice up our tarot love life a little.

Here is what works for me - some in the past, some today:


- reading on all sorts of different subjects, like news items, fiction characters, plotlines, etc.

- making up writing games with my cards

- making my own cards (I'm a very bad artist, so these were really just for me!)

- studying tarot history and getting interested in historical decks

- reading about the mythological figures and stories associated with the cards

- reading FOR the mythological figures and stories associated with the cards. E.g a reading for Thoth, for Isis, for the Earth Mother, etc.

- reading with Majors only; with Minors only. Reading FOR a card or for a relationship between two cards - nothing like reading for a relationship between the Hanged Man and the Queen of Wands to give yourself a change of perspective!

- reading for other people - your friends, friends of friends, etc.

- journalling a reading over several days or weeks - you go in very deep and learn a lot not just about the cards, but about yourself (which is the whole point, of course)

- participate in exchanges on this forum

- participate in tarot games & fun on this forum

- follow the creation of a tarot deck in Tarot Creation

And so on...

I'm not suggesting you do all that in one go, but a mix of one or other, varied over time, will keep the interest going and the love alive

I just posted a reply to KPisces' post - 'They just don't make sense!' that may be appropriate here.

When you're learning something new, there are times of intense study (peaks), times for digestion (valleys) & periods of feeling like you've completely wasted your time & are spinning your wheels (plateaus). Although you might feel like you're now on a plateau, going nowhere, & that's a normal place to be since you can't always be on top of the mountain, your brain is still absorbing what you've learned, tossing it around, putting it in its proper brain space to be accessed later. A good analogy is falling in love & that euphoric feeling that slowly diminishes, hopefully to return at a later date, albeit sporadically. Doesn't mean you're still not in love. Don't try to force yourself to pick up your cards because that'll make it a chore, & that's a bad thing with reading tarot. The fact that you're even posting here shows that you still care! heehee It'll return, when it's ready. Then you'll probably be on another episode of growing in leaps & bounds, only to repeat the cycle later. Just recognizing it's a normal part of the learning process helps immensely, I think.

I kind of have a similar take on this issue as canid had. For me there is always a right time and a right place for a reading. There are special times when I can feel that the time is right for a reading and in these occasions I'm usually very focused and can attune into it properly. On these days or times I also feel more intuitively aware of what's going on around me. There is also a period prior to the actual reading (days or even a couple of weeks before) when I feel that I will soon be able to carry out a profound reading. I simply wait for the right time and never panic or question my interest in Tarot just because I'm not readily prepared to do readings several times a day. Also, I usually feel before these 'significant' readings which deck will be the most appropriate for that particular reading. So my advice is that you should not panic and instead you should let your reading time naturally come to you instead of forcing yourself to do a reading.Trust me you will get more out of a focused reading that is done with a hunger and a greater intuitive awareness.

Cenz said:

It's been months since i did it or even touch my decks.
Anyone have this problem before?
Please give me some tricks to keep the flame burning with tarot, what did you guys do to keep the interest alive on days where you just feel BLAH or simply forgot about them?

Click to expand...

Tarot doesn't have to be a 24/7 thing. It doesn't have to be even a once-a-week thing. It so happens, in areas like this, you'll find that because we're all Tarot-focussed people, we probably pull out our decks more often than Tarot-users in the general population, but that's not a problem.

when I had a Tarot-hostile partner, I wrapped my decks up, boxed them, and put them in the back of a cupboard for a couple of years. Took me a while to pull them out afterwards.

If you don't want to touch them or forget about touching them, that's okay. don't force yourself - forcing yourself to do anything is the quickest way I know of to lose all the joy in it.

Five or six years ago I joined an Internet art community - and I haven't picked up a paintbrush for two years. I still chat away there. No one has been judgemental, no one has commented that it's been ages since I uploaded an image, no one has said that if I'm currently not producing in the field I have no right to comment on other people's work. I'm still accepted as a part of the community, and I know I'll paint when I want to. The same applies to you and Tarot.

I wouldn't bother (or consider it a 'problem'). Life is short and there are a million things to do and see and learn about. Put it aside for a while, pursue your other interests, and when you're ready again you'll come back to it in a natural way.

The podcasts might bring a new outlook on the cards;

http://tarotconnection.net/category/regular-guests/dan-pelletier/


There is an interesting thread on here ( sorry I can't find it at the moment) about someone asking what they can do with the cards on a Tarot Meet Up Group. That thread might give you some possbilities to kep the love alive.

Fudugazi--

Great advice! I'm adding those to my bag of inspiration tricks!!

And all this time, I just thought it was because I was a Gemini--and ADHD--or BOTH!

My interest ebbs and flows but I go through it too, Cenz. I'm really glad you asked about it because I thought it was just ME!

Whenever I feel my interest wane I buy a new deck or something new for my reading table. Doing a party also works for me.

I think we all have moments when we aren't as "on" or connecting with the cards and that's ok. I have found that taking a bit of time off can be beneficial in that you see the cards with almost fresh eyes and are more inclined to read them intuitively rather than fall back on book or traditional meanings.