Where's my mojo???

So I started off all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about tarot… I was drawing daily cards, I had a routine, I was finding insight and learning meanings like a sponge.
Now the strained, anxious, stressed-out period in which I turned to the cards for guidance and comfort seems to be waning and I want to keep reading, but what do I read about? It seems like every time I do a reading nothing comes to me, my intuition tells me that these cards are right for the situation, it's not that i wasn't focused enough on the question as i shuffled or not grounded enough when i started, the answer is there. but i can't find it in myself. i end up running to the forums and to Joan Bunning's "Learn Tarot" site for individual card meanings, but things don't seem to fit, i get seemingly negative weird cards in positive positions, and I get bummed out and annoyed.
Furthermore, because of feeling bummed out and annoyed, I've dropped the daily card draw… I had a system set up where I'd draw the card, then save a picture of the card on my ipod touch, along with the individual page from LearnTarot.com into my tarot notebook on Evernote. then over the course of the day i'd take notes on my ipod about how i felt the card was relating to my day, etc. i have a feeling that that daily practice was doing a hell of a lot for my tarot study, but it did take up a lot of time and my life is hectic…
What is missing here? I mislike the idea that my tarot practice only works when I'm unhappy or upset or worried, but that's what I seem to be getting. I feel like my learning has stalled. Without understanding the cards better, I don't want to read for other people as practice even though I think the stalling has to do with me being a boring subject after a while But I don't know any exercises to do with the cards that aren't spreads to help me get more familiar with them! And then I think, oh! There's the tarot games forum here on Aeclectic! I could play there! And then I remember, oh wait… I'm a newbie, I don't know anything, I'm going to annoy people and get it all wrong and ruin the game for everyone. Sadsack Isis.
So I'm going crazy here! What else am I to do with my evenings when I don't want to do homework???? How do I get my beginner's mojo back? Are annoying dumb newbies allowed to play tarot games in the forums? What exercises can I do with the cards? What can I do besides daily draws and big readings to learn the cards? Help please!!

have you looked at mary greers workbook? i found that a brillient book to work through when i first started and I am going to work through it again soon to see how ive changed and what ive learnt, i really enjoyed that book and it taught me loads not just about tarot but also about myself! so i'd really recommend that.

also why not do reading here on the exchange, its great to get feedback and it makes learning the cards more fun because you are actually putting it into practice, there is also all the reading circles here, the intuative one might give you something different to focus on for instance.

Regardless of your experiance you would really benefit from these and they are fun and really supportive.. I know nothing about lenormand or fairies oracle but got the decks and signed up for the circles and am really enjoying them, this is a great interactive place to learn and being rigid about learning takes away the fun and spontinatiy so why not give these a whirl

i haven't had a chance to look at 21 ways yet, i live in the sticks of upstate new york and the closest barnes & noble doesn't carry it normally. i've heard enough good things about it that i think i'm going to try and have b&n order it so i can pick it up in-store. thanks for the bump though!
i wish i could do readings on the exchange, but i'm not a subscriber and i can't really afford to be one maybe i'll save up my pennies and subscribe in a few weeks…
i didn't know about the reading circles, i'll look into those and see whether i can participate without subscribing. and you're right, of course, NikkiB… making things rigid and all about the rules takes away the fun! comes with the territory of being a Virgo, hahaha

21 ways is great, i am trying to find the time to work through it but the one i meant was a workbook for personal transformation

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tarot-Your-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301008470&sr=8-1

I really enjoyed working through this book and as a beginner it taught me a lot but also with a lot of practical application, I will buy another one soon and work through it again...

Dont think you can do the reading exchange without being a subscriber, you can the oracle one i think... or why not have a go at helping people interpreting thier readings with an objective eye in the your readings section, dont think thats subscriber only....

also why not get some friends as guinea pigs

I agree with NikkiB that maybe there was just too much formality and effort involved with your routine before, and that can seem like a chore after the honeymoon period wears off. Don't feel the pressure to lay out spreads or learn keywords for your cards or take pictures or whatever if that's not what you feel like doing with them.

Probably only 10% of the time I spend with my cards is doing readings - I write about them, look for instances of repeated imagery and other patterns within them, free associate with them, play big games of Memory on the floor with them, imagine that the image on the card is only one half of a larger image and draw a picture of what I imagine the other half of the scene would look like (I got this idea from the Tarot of the New Vision), write little dialogue scripts between the characters on the cards and amuse my dogs by doing puppet theater with them, etc. Whatever I do with my cards, I'm determined to enjoy it, dammit!

ETA: I also enjoy grabbing a few different-sized decks and randomly drawing cards from them to build card houses. When you get to use bigger cards for the bottom levels it's easier to build the upper levels, and if you leave the images facing out they can look quite striking. It's fun and kind of meditative, and if you want you can read them as sort of a 3D spread.

NikkiB said:

why not have a go at helping people interpreting thier readings with an objective eye in the your readings section, dont think thats subscriber only....

also why not get some friends as guinea pigs

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YES, THIS!!!

Eury, I get the feeling from your post that being a newcomer to Tarot makes you uncertain about your confidence in doing readings and about whether or not your input would be welcome on the boards. Please don't be afraid to take the plunge and do readings on the public "Your Readings" forum. No one is here to judge you, criticize you or belittle you - or anyone else. We're ALL here to learn from each other, whether we've got 55 posts or 55,000 posts, whether we're young or not-so-young, or whether we're new to Tarot or have been working with it for years.

Ultimately, the only way to increase confidence in one's readings is to DO readings. You're doing yourself (and others) a great disservice if you don't give yourself permission to contribute, to share and to offer your own unique perspective on the cards. Your opinions and points of view matter as much as anyone else's and deserve a place in this community.

Don't make the mistake of selling yourself short because you are new to Tarot. As far as I'm concerned, we're all new to the Tarot every damn time we shuffle and turn over those cards because we never know what fresh insight we might glean from them. That's why Tarot is a never-ending journey. Who knows where it will take you?

Now get on those boards and get crackin'!

do either of you (or anyone else who might be lurking, lol) think that maybe a new deck might help? or am i making excuses for buying another deck when i don't really *know* either of the decks i own that well? I have the Universal and Enchanted, btw, but I'm sorely tempted by the Legacy of the Divine and Paulina decks………
but i mean, you're both probably right. i was making too much of a fuss and it wasn't fun anymore. i'd like to get back into doing a daily draw as a morning meditation kind of thing, so maybe just doing that without attaching any kind of "assignment" other than making a quick note would be a good thing…?
Oink, I'm intrigued… how do you play Memory with the cards, unless you turn it into a matching majors to minors or something? do you play with 2 decks? i could see either one being a terrific way to learn (but i feel like one of these over-achiever moms who says (with a manic gleam in her eye), oh yes, bathtime is such an *educational* time for darling Robbie! we go over letters and review the species of his bath toys and he is just such a little scholar!) hahahahahaha

There's always, "What do I most need to know today?" I find it most helpful.

eurydicesdreams said:

do either of you (or anyone else who might be lurking, lol) think that maybe a new deck might help

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Uhh, I always think a new deck might help! I'm a really visually stimulated person, and I tremendously enjoy comparative study between different decks (comparing 5-10 different decks' versions of the same card, generally), so I'm always up for some new pictures to look at.

eurydicesdreams said:

Oink, I'm intrigued… how do you play Memory with the cards, unless you turn it into a matching majors to minors or something? do you play with 2 decks?

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I have backups for some of my favorite decks, so sometimes I do use two decks and match the same exact card or yes, other times I'll do majors to minors. Sometimes I do it "elemental dignity-ish" using minors only with fire and air matching and water and earth matching. Sometimes if I'm focusing on imagery I'll pick out a set of cards where each pair contains a symbol in common.

Sometimes rather than matching cards, I'll shuffle them and lay some out face-down in an arc around me. I make it my goal to memorize their order and position in the arc, which I go about by building a narrative that strings along between them. This reinforces considering a bunch of different possibilities about how the cards can connect to and interact with each other, and it gives me insight into what sorts of things and types of interactions I find the most compelling (memorable).

I find academic-style study of the cards to be very rewarding but somewhat stifling if done in excess, so I make sure to balance it out with plenty of "creative tarot play". It's the latter that seems more effective in implanting the images in my head so that I can very easily recall them in all their detail later, which is a great help when I'm doing the former and reading a book about them. This stuff also improves my ability to think of the cards as a set and make associations between them rather than the "each card is it's own unique snowflake" thinking that I tend towards.

eurydicesdreams said:

i could see either one being a terrific way to learn (but i feel like one of these over-achiever moms who says (with a manic gleam in her eye), oh yes, bathtime is such an *educational* time for darling Robbie! we go over letters and review the species of his bath toys and he is just such a little scholar!) hahahahahaha

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I don't know you, but I already love you for this mental image!

Oh, and while we're on the subject of new decks and creative tarot activities, have you seen this thread?
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=155198

It's a good excuse to get a new deck, learn about the symbolism of the colors (or come up with your own scheme), and participate in another thread on AT, all at once!