Been out of tarot for awhile as a necessity, will this affect me when I get back?

I've had to put down the cards the last two months while finishing up school and getting through some grief. I'm worried that once school ends (Wednesday, yes!) and I pick the cards back up that I'll have fallen behind somehow. Has anyone else HAD to put them down for awhile? What was your experience going back to them?

I will note that I did one reading between papers two weeks ago. When I picked up my trusty Paulina deck I had a feeling surge through me like "hello old friend, I've missed you!" I hope it's like that when I get back into the thick of things! I'm planning on working my way through Tarot for Your Self this summer, so yay!

if you memorized the meanings of cards then yeah, you will forget something... If you do tarot intuitively then no need to worry... it will come right back to you after couple readings...

when i had breaks between readings, my readings actually improved since i took time to digest and understand some messages cards told me before.. i was more experienced and it reflected in readings too..

Hello

I also believe that sometimes a 'time of distance' can be helpful to see the cards with new eyes

Greetings


Kangiska

I don't understand the concept of hiatuses wiping the mind clean. They aren't lobotomies. Several people here, including me, have taken multiple-year hiatuses from all things tarot, for a variety of reasons, and we were able to fall right back into it without a problem.

And not only did my hiatus not harm me, it made me all the more enthused and active in jumping back in to something that I know I will always have a passion for, even when that passion has to spend some time on the backburner.

Granted, I had a firm grounding in tarot--several years of learning different systems and reading for public events and individual querents-- before I took my hiatus. But I should think as long as one was already comfortably reading with at least one deck/system before they took their hiatus, it would be like getting right back onto that bicycle when they later returned to tarot.

One can't force an engagement with tarot or anything else in life if it isn't "the time" for one. As with all things, there are seasons of tarot and seasons without. If you try to force yourself to squeeze tarot into your daily life out of a sense of obligation or guilt, you will lose organic desire for it. That would be regrettable.

newlillith said:

I've had to put down the cards the last two months while finishing up school and getting through some grief. I'm worried that once school ends (Wednesday, yes!) and I pick the cards back up that I'll have fallen behind somehow. Has anyone else HAD to put them down for awhile? What was your experience going back to them?

I will note that I did one reading between papers two weeks ago. When I picked up my trusty Paulina deck I had a feeling surge through me like "hello old friend, I've missed you!" I hope it's like that when I get back into the thick of things! I'm planning on working my way through Tarot for Your Self this summer, so yay!

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I'm sorry about your loss. As for your question, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You probably at least thought about the cards in the meantime, & I've found that when you pick them back up, you've got your verve back & very often some things have been ruminating in the back of your mind to make you a bit more intuitive. As far as your memory goes, it'll be back in a snap.

Thanks guys, it's nice to hear about others experiences! I have only been at it since last August, but hopefully the quantity of time I have this summer helps me remember and then learn more.

Hi Lilith

It will never be quantity that helps, it's always quality ;-)

Kangiska

Me too, me too!

newlillith said:

Has anyone else HAD to put them down for awhile? What was your experience going back to them?

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I've been longing to talk about this! I got into tarot quite seriously in college b/c of some lovely pagan friends, and studied Pollack, Greer, etc., and gave many readings to friends and strangers. I read both intuitively and with the established meanings. Then I started graduate school and became so consumed with work and the new world it presented that tarot was left on the wayside ... even though I could have really used it for my sanity.

Now 6 years later, I'm back. And back *partially*. I'm reading the forums again, listening to the wonderful Tarot Connection podcast (which was ongoing while I was in grad school and has ended since, sadly!), reading Eden Gray, who I never considered reading before, Gail Fairfield, making my way slowly through "Tarot for Yourself," etc. I bought a bunch of new decks, trimmed some old ones, knitted tons of pouches for them. BUT I've yet to read regularly for myself—only a handful of daily draws—and I've only done one reading from a friend, via email.

It was my first proxy reading, and it did *not* go so well. It was incredibly negative—lots of reversals in Waite-Smith—and I didn't know how to handle that. Ugh. We talked it over and she, generously, would still like for me to read for her. But I'm shy about it now. Gail Fairfield's "Choice-Centred Tarot" inspires me to read reversals and pips in a way I'm eager to try, and I guess now is the time.

I feel readier and more empowered, because I'm older and wiser, AS WELL AS more confused by the variety of different systems of reading and feeling rusty. Stakes are much higher when you're in your 30s than they were in the 20s, and readings feel more serious now. Any advice would be welcome, LOL.

Two months or six years - that's a drop in the bucket~! Knowledge DOES NOT go away! It may slumber, but it re-awakens very quickly. Remember, I have been 'doing' Tarot since the early 1990s and I'm still learning! Embrace your Tarot deck and move forward!

Narwhallove said:

I've been longing to talk about this! I got into tarot quite seriously in college b/c of some lovely pagan friends, and studied Pollack, Greer, etc., and gave many readings to friends and strangers. I read both intuitively and with the established meanings. Then I started graduate school and became so consumed with work and the new world it presented that tarot was left on the wayside ... even though I could have really used it for my sanity.

Now 6 years later, I'm back. And back *partially*. I'm reading the forums again, listening to the wonderful Tarot Connection podcast (which was ongoing while I was in grad school and has ended since, sadly!), reading Eden Gray, who I never considered reading before, Gail Fairfield, making my way slowly through "Tarot for Yourself," etc. I bought a bunch of new decks, trimmed some old ones, knitted tons of pouches for them. BUT I've yet to read regularly for myself—only a handful of daily draws—and I've only done one reading from a friend, via email.

It was my first proxy reading, and it did *not* go so well. It was incredibly negative—lots of reversals in Waite-Smith—and I didn't know how to handle that. Ugh. We talked it over and she, generously, would still like for me to read for her. But I'm shy about it now. Gail Fairfield's "Choice-Centred Tarot" inspires me to read reversals and pips in a way I'm eager to try, and I guess now is the time.

I feel readier and more empowered, because I'm older and wiser, AS WELL AS more confused by the variety of different systems of reading and feeling rusty. Stakes are much higher when you're in your 30s than they were in the 20s, and readings feel more serious now. Any advice would be welcome, LOL.

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Yes! I'm in grad school too and tarot would really help me relax a little, but the stress just makes it impossible. I wonder if the negativity in the reading was a reflection of your anxiety? Though that IS a little scary! I think I would feel really shy about reading after that too. I'll have to check out some of the books you mention. Thanks!