Are you still amazed?

I'm progressing slowly as a reader, hindered mostly by lack of opportunity to practice (I find it difficult to find guinea pigs). So far I've done three charity events, one party and probably 20 individual readings. I'm pretty comfortable with the cards now, and I'm happy with my reading ability so far, but I still feel very much like a student. I suppose we all are perpetual students when it comes to Tarot. The deeper you dig for answers, all you seem to find are more questions. It's like peeling a giant onion. I like it.

My question is, are you still amazed at how the cards work every time you use them? I find my inner skeptic just as present as it ever was, just as present as that of a client who has never tried Tarot cards or any of that "psychic crap" before. I'm still as astounded by its mechanisms and its accuracy as I was the first time. Does that ever go away? Do you ever get to a point where you are NOT surprised?

Okay, so I've seen it enough now that it doesn't really surprise me, but that inner skeptic is still there, still looking for the chinks in the armour and saying "Oh come ON! There's got to be a mirror around here someplace. A trap door or something. It's a MIND TRICK! It's just BS!" That skeptic is useful. My Queen of Swords BS filter. But sometimes it keeps me from progressing, especially in something like this.

This is going to be hard to describe because it's a very right-brained all-in-one concept, but I'll try. I get the impression that you are either in or out with the Tarot. Being 'out' means being friendly with them, but not fully adopted, kin, blood-tied family with them. It means you can use them, you can be familiar with them, you can even be really great friends with them, but they are still...separate from you. If you are 'in' with them, they no longer surprise you, they come to you as naturally as breathing, and they connect you to the Universe in a more permanent way. I'm not trying to mystify the cards - they are, after all, pieces of pretty cardboard. The cards are just a tool. It's the feeling of permanent connection, an ease with the machinery of the Universe, a full acceptance of "The Way Things Are" and the "All That Is". I mean an acceptance as easy and natural as an animal's, when they look at you like you're crazy for marveling at their faith in their intuition and their instincts. Almost as if they are saying, "Didn't you know this? And you think we're the dumb animals..." This is the connection I'm trying to find, and I don't think I'll ever fully embrace it with Ms. Queen of Swords, wet blanket supreme, tagging along for the ride. Have any of you accomplished this? Do you still have doubts or questions?

I'm not sure it's an either-or, though. As an analogy, I bet even the most accomplished writer is still surprised when the plot and characters of another book or story fall into place, even if the writer knows s/he is a master of the craft.

I have been laughing at myself lately along a similar line of thought... a bit of background to explain why. Since joining AT, I have been trying to be more consistent in my practice, by which I mean doing things like Deck of the Week, offering readings, joining a circle or two, and so on, as opposed to just sporadically picking up my go-to deck now and again and reading for myself and family. So, I committed to a new deck, and thought... Oh no, this deck was a mistake, pretty but I probably won't be able to read with it. But I started and it was WONDERFUL to read with. Then the next week I picked up another, very different deck, and again... Oh no, it's so pretty but how will I ever read with it. And you can guess, right? I started reading with it, and it was WONDERFUL to read with, although in a different way from the first one. And now I'm feeling a certain amount of reluctance to pick up the next one on my list, as it's quite dark, but... I reckon it too will be WONDERFUL.

Am I still amazed? Hells yeah. I think I might be a little sad if the amazement ever went away.

(NB: I don't pretend to be a master, but I've been reading on and off for a few decades, so I'd call myself a journeyman...)

intuition897 said:

If you are 'in' with them, they no longer surprise you, they come to you as naturally as breathing, and they connect you to the Universe in a more permanent way.

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I must be this. I have to say, I don't really swoon over how accurate they are all the time because I don't really feel they are. They are a part of my life, I cannot imagine life without them. However, I think it helps to expect nothing. I certainly don't think OMG they're so spot on and collapse into a fainting fit.

I think the best approach - for me - is to expect very lttle, yet feel them deeply, sometimes be surprised and sometimes not. Somedays I really listen to what they say, other days less so. Tarot fulfils me as far as I need it to on any given day. But I love the decks. I never tire of going through my decks and not necessarily reading with them.

No, I have no doubts left. I've seen enough not to doubt and be a skeptic anymore. My doubts, if I have them, run more along the lines of whether or not I'm actually a good reader. Or AS good as the next person.

intuition897 said:

My question is, are you still amazed at how the cards work every time you use them?

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Yes, I still get amazed with the accuracy of the cards. It is not every time I work with them, sadly, but often! I am often amazed with how accurate all my divination skills are--not just the tarot, and not saying that I am 100% accurate 100% all the time But, it sure is cool when it is accurate. And, I am not 'a master' of any form of divination either. Though, I do not believe anyone can be honestly.

Does that ever go away?

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God, I hope not! I love that feeling when it is accurate. I love the look in my clients faces when I've hit on something that I shouldn't have known, couldn't have known. I also love it when I am receiving the reading and the reader gives me information that they couldn't possibly have known! such as readings telling me that my daughter would soon become pregnant and have a baby girl. I have many such stories that have been told via tarot cards, that is amazing.

Do you ever get to a point where you are NOT surprised?

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again, I hope not. If I do get to that point, it means the magic of it all has disappeared and then reading the cards will become just another job. I want the magic in it. I want to look forward to going to work to read the cards for people. If it ever loses it magic, I'm not sure I could put my heart and soul into it anymore.

I'm glad to hear that the sense of amazement is normal. And that it lasts. I guess I have...intermittent feelings of certainty and "knowing". It's cool when that happens. I lose the nervousness and start to sound like I know what I'm talking about, I stop thinking about what I sound like to the sitter, and I start to trust what's coming to me. The best readings I give are when I'm relaxed, rested and fresh. That party I did a while back? With about 10 half-hour readings in a row? First reading was bang-on. By the last one, I was probably talking about purple ducks and flying monkeys. Lesson learned.

I guess I need to stop overthinking stuff and just let it be what it is. And in the in-between, practice and study.

intuition897 said:

but I still feel very much like a student. I suppose we all are perpetual students when it comes to Tarot. The deeper you dig for answers, all you seem to find are more questions. It's like peeling a giant onion. I like it.

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<smile>

My question is, are you still amazed at how the cards work every time you use them? I find my inner skeptic just as present as it ever was, just as present as that of a client who has never tried Tarot cards or any of that "psychic crap" before. I'm still as astounded by its mechanisms and its accuracy as I was the first time. Does that ever go away? Do you ever get to a point where you are NOT surprised?

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<slightly puzzled> I don't think I was ever surprised. Pleased and delighted, yes, and that stays with you through the years, but never surprised. See, I don't think anything that Tarot does is unlikely, so there's not a lot to be surprised at.

nisaba said:

<slightly puzzled> I don't think I was ever surprised. Pleased and delighted, yes, and that stays with you through the years, but never surprised. See, I don't think anything that Tarot does is unlikely, so there's not a lot to be surprised at.

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I guess it sounds like I want that to go away. I don't. I just dislike the doubt that still creeps in from time to time. It's just me listening to the rest of the world telling me what to think. I'm still trying to get my head and my heart to kiss and make up but more often than not they just can't see eye to eye and neither one can let it go, LOL.

Hello all Hope I'm not intruding. But this thread sparked by attention!

I haven't been reading for very long (I started in September), but I have had my own visits with professional tarot readers/psychics.

I personally have a hard time sometimes when the cards (or a psychic for that matter) end up drawing the wrong conclusions. It makes me feel sometimes as if the cards do not have any magical substance. Does that make sense?

I don't know...it's disheartening sometimes when I find out a reading I did for someone was completely inaccurate, or when I go to a professional and they as well get inaccurate results. It makes me wonder....how do you ever know if the cards are misleading you? Sometimes I feel foolish for putting so much faith into them.

How can you ever truly tell if what the cards are showing you is indeed the honest future? I guess there really is no way to tell...but I do think some people are mostly accurate 99% of the time. I wish i could figure out their secret

Actually, I am still amazed at the Tarot decks, even if they supposedly are just derivatives of RWS ...

I started with RWS and decided to study it in a more disciplined way. When my RWS became incomplete, I had the Liber T which took from the Book of Thoth. I ignored the Liber T at first because I found the artwork odd... one day, I tried it and opened the Crowley book, and lo and behold! I became fascinated with the Thoth and Crowley and told myself that this was the deck for me ... and then I bought another deck - the Golden Tarot of Klimt, and then the Etruscan Tarot which propelled me to research on Etruscan history which I found fascinating ... and then I got another deck, and another deck, and some people gave me more decks to study this Christmas ...

Now I am soooo filled with decks that I don't know which one to pick up first and study. hehehe But at any rate, I realized something when you posed the question: my skepticism has vanished in terms of seeing the tarot as "too standard" or "same old same old" , or you've studied one, you've seen them all" .. Different decks hold different levels of fascination for me.

The Etruscan tarot transported me through time on to a different era where I learned about a group of people who supposedly no longer exists but whose legacy is seen in Greeks and today's Tuscany residents ...

The Wizards' Tarot is stimulating my imagination and creative juices so that I see a totally different world in my mind and get to enjoy every minute of it ...

Yes, I am still fascinated and amazed with the Tarot -- and as for accuracy, I notice they have different levels or styles, depending on how I read the cards. I do know that even if I do get the same cards in different readings, the interpretation changes because of the context and other factors.