How/When/Why did you start reading Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Jan 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

amyel	29 Jan 2002
I was talking with a colleague a few days ago, and she asked me how long I'd been reading tarot, and what drew me to it. It got me thinking how/when/why the folks on this forum got started in Tarot. I didn't start reading until someone read for me about 15 years ago. Didn't even know what Tarot was until then. I was going through a particularly horrid time of my life, and a friend asked a guy in her apt building to read for me. This was the same friend who bought me the deck I still use to this day. Once I started, I was hooked! So, who introduced you to Tarot? How old were you when you started reading? What drew you to the Tarot? Questions, questions, questions....

tarotbear	30 Jan 2002
A long , long time ago...in the last century... :P Just kidding! I got into Tarot using the deck for spellwork, reading Janina Renee's Tarot Spells. I must have had the deck for over two years (I bartered it from the bookstore; when the book was written the deck had not been printed yet. I traded the owner a robe for the deck) before I sat down and started to look at the cards as something other than casting spells with. This was about 14 years ago. I got into tarot very slowly until I was 'instructed' by someone much more psychic than I to go through a definate, planned 3-month, in-depth study of the cards. I have been hooked ever since.

catlin	30 Jan 2002
I started with tarot when I was about 13, 14 years old. My first deck was a selfmade one (cut out from a magazine and only consisting of the Major Arcana but it worked great). I got a Marseilles from Avignon when I was 17 and at around 20 I switched to the RW. At 25 I bought my still fav first collectors deck, the Legend Arthurian Tarot. At first I only did readings for me but when I started doing readings for others I stopped reading for myself for fear I might get mixed up. I started rereading for myself at 25. Last year, I had my public coming out from the broom closet as a solitary witch and tarot reader. I started with public readings in bookshops, esoteric shops and cafés. I also started a tarot circle in the city where I live. At the moment, I am planning tarot classes and I am working on a book project.

Kalin	31 Jan 2002
I began studying tarot about five years ago. One of the members of my critique group started bringing her deck to meetings. After we finished critique work, she'd read for us. I bought myself a deck shortly thereafter and have been on the learning journey ever since. Kalin

lilmystic	01 Feb 2002
Started when I was 14 with Robin Wood, but really, it began when I was about 7/8. I'd seen the Angel Tarot in some store and was absolutely fascinated, but I wasn't sure what my family would think. I read in secret for about 3 years; this year it's out and now my mom likes me to read for her.

truthsayer	01 Feb 2002
the art of divination fascinated from early childhood. i think i started playing w/ numerology, edgar caycem reincarnation, playing cards, dice, the bible as a pendulum and other Bible divination, pendulum, etc. studying the occult just came as natural to me as breathing. when i was 13 i did a presentation at school on numerology. my teacher asked me if if i had a tarot deck. i didn't know so she told me. after that i had to have a deck or break hell wide open. after a long search i ordered one out of a jc penney catalogue. it's been love ever since. but i do think the strong objection from the parents of friends egged me on. i felt like i had to spite them and show them i would read tarot no matter what they said. this was my teen rebellion. along the way of rebellion i became addicted to tarot and has become part of who i am and my spirituality. there's worse addictions i think!

The How/When/Why did you start reading Tarot? thread was originally posted on 29 Jan 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.