Tarot fatigue?

I have been studying tarot for a little over a year, though not vigorously. I have noticed that many times when I use my cards, I get this feeling of exhaustion (though not necessarily physical) so it has prevented me from being able to use them all of the time. It seems as though when I do a reading, I get overwhelmed by this undefinable feeling of epiphany and it completely drains me of a particular energy. It almost feels like I am in a perpetual daze. I sometimes can't even work with the cards when this happens because I cant seem to concentrate. What is this??? It seems to have improved, but does anyone know maybe how I can prevent this from occurring?

How to prevent this - perhaps lower your expectations a bit. Could it be that you are just trying too hard to connect the cards, to form the story?
I would try smaller spreads, 2 cards perhaps, just to see the interaction of the cards, establish a foundation and a connection to the images and go from there.
Also one simple thing is to always write down the question first, on a piece of paper, lay out the cards and right away note them too on the paper as a reference. It anchors the reading in the here and now.
I hope some of it can help a little :-D

"Tarot Fatique" ~ I like that!

IMHO - it means you have befallen into the illness inherent in our profession - the need to do Tarot every waking minute.

Stop
Relax
Chill out
Ground yourself if necessary

Yea I have heard a lot about grounding and centering from various sources, such as StarHawk, but I am not 100% sure what this means. Could you give me an example of how you ground?

http://www.witchscauldron.net/cauldron/center.htm

Anyway, sorry if my advice was not good enough.

Wow I have never found such an in-depth step by step process on grounding and centering! Thank you so much!!

"Grounding and centering" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so you may have to try different things - or even combine different things to find what works best for you.

In general terms, when you feel sluggish, drained, or as you describe 'in a perpetual daze,' you are dealing with energy either building up that needs to be released, or draining out and needs to be replenished - in either situation you need to find what is your sense of equilibrium.

The simplest G&S exercise is to go outside and walk barefoot through some grass, visualizing all stresses and negativity draining out through the soles of your feet into the Earth where they are neutralized. OR you sit quietly in a chair and visualize roots growing through your feet going down through the floor or floors, thru the bsement, pavement, etc., and reaching down into the Earth. There the energy and negativity grounds itself out and your 'roots' bring you refreshment, calming, and peace. OR - take a shower and visualize the excess energy and negativity washing off you like dirt, washing down the drain and away from you, leaving you cleaned and refreshed. I am sure other posters will also add their favorite G & S practice for you.

The other idea you may work with is that you are attracting excess energy to you, or something is pulling your energy out of you ~ and need to create a 'shield' to protect you. You can do many things to 'erect' a shield around you from the simple burning of incense, to lighting several candles around you, to building psychic shields and structures such as the LBRP ("Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram"). All of these require you to visualise either a sphere of protection, a cloud of protection, or actual mental walls to contain your energy or deflect outside energy. Try the simplest ones first.

Anyone have more suggestions?

I do the tree meditation but imagine my roots find a cavern full of fire. I drop all my anxiety and excess nervous energy into the fire, then draw up the energy from the fire into my body. This might help with your feelings of exhaustion if it seems comfortable to you. To me, fire represents spiritual energy so it helps when I feel tired like you : ) Good luck!

If you're into crystals, you may want to keep a protective stone in your pocket or on the table. I have a lovely large rutilated smokey quartz that I put on the table when I read. A friend of mine had a HUGE hematite ball that weighed several pounds! He always put that on the table for readings.

Just a thought!

Grounding to me means "don't get so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good". In other words, don't get so mystical about it that you can't stay in the reality of it all and just use the cards as your tools, which they are. Just remember they're not possessed of some kind of mystical power. The power is with you, not the cards. You can use them as a part of your spiritual practice or as a reading tool or both, to a powerful effect in your life, but it's whatever you make of them. They're just paper and ink. Thus, staying grounded means just being realistic about what they are and what they can be used for without making more of them than they really are.