Are there consequences for not reading enough?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 11 Aug 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Dark Inquisitor	11 Aug 2002
If you have ever stopped reading for a long time, or cut your reading schedule to a bare minimum,have you noticed any effects? Is there such a thing as excess psychic buildup from not using this gift? If so, how does it manifest? If you start using your psychic gifts, do you lose the ability to bury them again if you should want to? Tarotphelia

Starfish	11 Aug 2002
These are intriguing questions. I haven't been reading Tarot long enough to answer them myself, but I do look forward to reading the responses. :T10C Starfish

Mateo06	11 Aug 2002
Well, when i started tarot, i found my intuition of surroundings went up a bit. I could tell how ppl felt and just weird happenings like thinking wat someone is saying went up too. I think tarot is just one of those many keys to the psychic door, it can help open it, but there are other ways too, and once its open it can stay open without the help of tarot. but i think its a little more difficult!

Laurel	11 Aug 2002
Having been someone who's taken 4-5 of those long breaks in the 18 years I've been reading tarot, I can say that I think there are some negative effects. At least, when a long break (by which I mean 3+ months) is accompanied by a general break from spiritual/meditative practices that always seem to be more energized and enhanced when I'm working dilligently with tarot. I watch too much tv, play too many RPGs and my sense of both self-awareness and self-esteeme plummet. Energy wanes and I start packing on the pounds. When I return to tarot (and all the positive spiritual activity that surround it), its very hard to start reading again because there's some relearning involved. Laurel

lunalafey	11 Aug 2002
Tarot aids in psychic focus. I think the only drawback to NOT reading is not having that little bit of added insight into a situation. We go about lifes issues and not do readings about them (are you going to read for a trip to the market?), they happen as they happen and I don't think that the difference would be something noticable, there is nothing to compare had you read or not read. But that is just the cards alone. Who's to say what psychic ability stems from where. I personally have not noticed any change during my spells of tarot hibernation. I think sometimes it it's a neccesity to put the cards away for a while. With that one can tune in using other psychic means. I don't see NOT reading creating a build up, then again if the first reading in months is extreamly intense, well then, it's all perception. Turning the ability off and on? that's a tough one. Unless one is incredibly familiar with thier ability, they may be able to do this. I have heard of those that are just constantly bombarded with info(ie-"crazy" people)and can't handle/understand it. For me, things come out of the blue, sometimes it's there, sometimes not. I don't focus/ask, I have no control, info is 'given', even things I really would not care to know.

zorya	11 Aug 2002
as someone who has read off and on for many years, i have noticed a definite lessening of intuition when not reading. part of this may be that you are not reminded to listen. you become less aware and attentive. i also think it's a bit like a muscle. use it or lose it. imho. i don't believe there is any kind of psychic build up if you quit reading. if you stop channeling it. it doesn't just enter you anyway and sit there. as a child, i became frightened and angry with my gifts. so i turned it off. shut it out. years later i wanted them back, but that was not nearly as easy as shutting them out. it has taken me many, many years to get where i was as a child. having said all this, i don't believe that if you feel you need a short break. it would do much or any damage. but, i would still continue some other way of connecting with the universe or powers that be.

VGimlet	11 Aug 2002
The only bad effect I ever noticed from not reading for awhile (and over almost 30 years there have been a few) is that when I start again it sometimes takes a few practice throws before I feel comfortable reading. I agree with zorya though, I've noticed my intuition is not as sharp when I'm taking a break from the cards, usually because I was busy with other interests/projects/etc.

Sullanciri2002	12 Aug 2002
I've never had any problems when I decided to hold off from reading at times ... although one always forgets those little extra's about certain cards. The most important thing I have to say on this - is that's likely better not to read if that's how you feel, than to force yourself to read when you just don't feel like it. If your heart and soul aren't in it, there's little point in reading the cards ... so why not lay them aside for some time and feel your way back when the cards "call".

Minderwiz	12 Aug 2002
I've not been reading Tarot long enough to comment on that but I did take a very long break from reading horoscopes and when I tried to take it up again I felt that I couldn't really see any pictures at all. I decided to restart and to do things in a more structured fashion and it worked my intuition came back and I began to see the 'picture' of the meaning. Minderwiz

napaea	12 Aug 2002
i totally agree with sullan-long-name person. it's better to not read if you are feeling questionable about it. i went for quite a while without reading frequently. like, i might have done one reading every 4 months or something. personally i don't remember if i "lost" any intuition or psychic stuff, but once i got back to doing readings i was like, "ahhhhh. i forgot how great this is". i also had the same experience as zorya; had no support as a child and just shut off my antennae as much as i could. (still couldn't shut stuff out of my dreams though). and it is taking me a while to get back into a natural flow of information, or to understand the stuff i'm getting saturday while driving on the highway i kept having the inclination to drive into a guard rail at 80 mph. it happend the whole time on the highway. i was thinking of a celebrity at one point, and finally decided i was getting information about someone having a car crash or dying. found out yesterday that an actor was in a car crash while racing a vehicle. but i was totally freaked on the freeway trying to tell myself i didn't want to die yet!! i'm just still not familiar with how my intuition works in my body/mind. now i wish i had kept the channels open all my life.

Sullanciri2002	13 Aug 2002
Okay, so it's not furthering this topic, but I couldn't resist. The word "sullanciri" comes from the books of Michael A. Stackpole, a very good sci-fi and fantasy novelist, specifically in his "Dragoncrown-cycle". Sullanciri are "dark lancers" - the evil henchmen of the evil queen herself - they are former heroes and nobles seduced by the lure of power and changed into powerfull, but somewhat less than human warriors. But I confess that "sullan-long-name" doesn't sound bad either - grin. Thanks, Napaea, needed a good laugh this morning.

Umbrae	13 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Laurel I watch too much tv, play too many RPGs and my sense of both self-awareness and self-esteeme plummet. I find that when I get into one of these cycles, my self-esteem plummets and I stop reading. Increasingly I feel that TV creates a festering in the mind, encourages passive behavior, causes us to make excuses, and take no responsibility. I am further convinced that all remote controls have the numerals 666 stamped somewhere inside…

Keslynn	13 Aug 2002
Umbrae, you're absolutely right. I do a lot more and read a lot better with no TV around. I haven't watched in months and I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Back to the subject of not reading and the consequences... I do feel (like the others) that you will only lose a certain level of proficiency. I don't believe that not reading will harm you physically, but I do believe it can help. I hadn't read in a while because I was feeling sick with my usual sinus problems. The other night, I finally picked up one of my decks to do a daily reading because I missed it so much... and wham! I could feel the energy flowing through me from my forehead down to my toes. My sinuses actually felt a little better too. It was weird but the reading was definitely one of my better ones. I got tons of impressions and ideas all from 1 card! I think it had a lot to do with actually using that energy flow rather than just letting it happen or trying to dam it up. I think if you don't use the energy, it might go dormant or just stay there. Can you tell I don't have a developed theory about it? ;) But using it for something is definitely beneficial. Hope that made sense... :TQS Kes

raeanne	13 Aug 2002
I agree that not reading for a while might make you a bit rusty but otherwise won’t hurt anything. Periodic breaks from reading can actually be beneficial since you can look at the cards again from a fresh perspective. (BTW Keslynn, have you tried papaya enzyme for your sinus? Papaya thins the mucus fluid, which helps your sinuses drain naturally. The doctor recommended papaya tablets when my mother was dying of cancer because she was having trouble swallowing. It helped her so I started taking it for my sinuses. It may take a couple of months before you notice a difference but I went from 1-2 sinus headaches a month to 1-2 a year! Big improvement!)

lupo138	14 Aug 2002
hi, I think if you do not read for a while the worst thing that can happen is, that you forget some details you knew - on the other hand, your insight into the meaning of a card for you can grow. I personally believe that one or two readings a week a absolutely enough - if you do them with the accuracy that it needs.

renard	18 Aug 2002
Hmmm. I have had that floaty, disassociated feeling -- as if the world around me was breaking up into pixels -- but never while reading the cards. And thinking about driving into guardrails -- well, what's a daytrip without thoughts of sudden, violent death? But any insight I have into the logic of real psychic phenomena is through the testimony of a friend. She gave up painting -- she's an awesome graphic designer and businesswoman -- because to paint she had to live out in the desert by herself and people and things were coming to her all day and all night. This was a problem, she says, only because she also really values social life -- fun and good conversation. She'd go out with friends to a bar and just hang out after a week with the spirits (or whatever they are) and the contrast was too extreme to handle. So she's moved into a more structured, populated way of life, but she says that she'd never shut her gift off completely -- told it to go away and not come back -- because of something one of her aunts told her. (The gift runs in her family.) Her aunt said that she, also, had had various troubles because she saw and knew things, and that, consequently, she turned her back on all that. She told my friend not to shut it down -- she herself had never been happy since. For what it's worth. Namaste!

The Are there consequences for not reading enough? thread was originally posted on 11 Aug 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.