has tarot changed you?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 Oct 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Logiatrix	21 Oct 2002
(my apologies if this question is somehow redundant of others previously posted.) the thought came up for me when a long-time friend noted that i have changed since i began studying tarot--for the better, fortunately! i have to agree that, indeed, tarot has changed me into a more open-minded person. i'm no longer so "prudish", for example, about nudity or sexuality. yes, i'm a recovering prude! i'm much more aware and understanding of other belief systems. i also think i am better able to convey tolerance when i strongly disagree with another opinion, though i've not yet been seriously tested on that one--yet. perhaps that just means i'm more flexible, and the challenge is no longer necessary. i think tarot has changed me in the above ways simply because it comes from so many different directions in theme, theory and practitioners. just by participating in aeclectic, one is exposed to numerous and various walks-of-life, so the barriers either have to come down, or the seeker moves on. i'm SO GLAD i didn't move on! :)

wavebreaker	21 Oct 2002
Congratulations, metaz! :) And yes, tarot has definitely changed me too! It has given me a lot of insight about myself and, more importantly, helped me change. Because some of those insight weren't exactly new, but I just never knew what to do with them, how to change things. I can't really say though how exactly tarot has helped me finally change them, it's as if it just happened... ;) It changed the way I see myself (I'm much more confident about myself) and how I see my life (I'm not that easily upset anymore when things don't go the way I planned them; when something unexpected happens, I now consider it a new chance). And friends have told me how much have changed, so it's not just something that I'm experiencing. Tarot has also taught me about my beliefs and, through Aeclectic, about other belief systems. So I think I too have become more open-minded about belief and religion.

rota	21 Oct 2002
I guess you could say Tarot has changed me... I regard it as part of the larger spectrum of disciplines I've been involved in (Aikido when I was younger, then Theosophical thought for the past 30 years or so, and Tarot for about 5 years, and all that combined with the ongoing effort to learn drawing and filmmaking). And I'll bet everybody here will have something similar to cite - a series of searching efforts in various directions, of which Tarot is one.

mirja crimson	21 Oct 2002
I know this may sound silly, but Tarot finally gave me something to do. I've been searching for some hobby, sport, club, or interest that I could really get into. And I finally found Tarot! It's filled this voice in my head that has been constantly telling me that I "can't do anything" that there's nothing I "can do well." Finally I can say, well, hey, I'm learning Tarot aren't I? Also, it has made me more open-minded too. That's an effect of Tarot that I love! It's given me a reason to take personal time and think... about a recent spread! It really has opened a lot of doors for me. For example, it led me to this site, and I am so grateful! I am learning more on here than ever before in my spiritual searching. I love this place!

ihcoyc	21 Oct 2002
It would be hard for me to say a specific way that tarot has changed me, if only because I've been using it for almost thirty years, and I've changed in so many ways over that period that it's hard for me to pick out changes that tarot can be blamed for specifically. Tarot has made many changes I have made better, though. Just for instance, I wasn't a Christian 30 years ago. Having read tarot and feeling comfortable with it made me a better Christian when I became one. I hope at least that I'm more tolerant and more forgiving than the kind of Christians you hear about too often. Tarot is one of the things definitely responsible. I wasn't working thirty years ago, and tarot often gives me insight into people I wouldn't get otherwise, and makes humans somewhat easier to cope with.

Mystica	21 Oct 2002
Tarot has changed me in so many ways. The first thing that comes to mind is that it has helped me to accept change. I've always had a hard time accepting major change, moving on, whatever. Studying tarot has helped me to understand how things are connected in our universe. And that change can be an opportunity, a new begining, rather than just an end.

Alex	21 Oct 2002
an allien: "Tarot makes humans easier to cope with". I'm still learning so I don't know yet if the Tarot has changed something in myself. It has given me some relief from the boredom of completing my thesis. I also think the cards have been very "supportive" of me; when humans behave like selfish jerks I can always do a reading and feel like there's someone nice beside me. Alex. Quote: Originally posted by ihcoyc I wasn't working thirty years ago, and tarot often gives me insight into people I wouldn't get otherwise, and makes humans somewhat easier to cope with.

nina	21 Oct 2002
Hello, Now that my study of tarot is getting a little more intense, I can feel it changing me every day, sometimes it makes me a little uneasy. My dreams have become more vivid, I feel like I'm thinking more clearly, even in my interpersonal relations I have more patience and understanding. I'm either benefitting greatly from my studies or I'm soon to have some sort of nervous breakdown- who can say? I know it sounds like I'm attributing too much to the cards, but I just feel I'm being pulled down a more peaceful and insightful path and it's been both calming and disturbing. Of course, there's always the problem of realizing that I believe inanimate objects are giving me messages, but everyone has their quirks. -Nina

Zhritza	22 Oct 2002
For various reasons relating to bad, violatory personal experiences in my past, I have ongoing feelings of being weak, and sometimes I am disgusted with myself for anything even remotely resembling vulnerability, or lack of perfect control over myself and the physical space immediately surrounding me. This disgust used to be nearly constant, and many decisions that I made were ways of running pell-mell away from what I perceived at a given moment as "weakness." Working with tarot has brought me to an awareness of how the subconscious works, and has helped me build trust in my ability to be a strong human being overall, which frees me up to be vulnerable and let my guard down sometimes. Also, I have come to realize that because our subconsciousnesses are so wonderfully and fascinatingly intricate, we will never be fully aware of our intents or feelings at any given time, and therefore, there is no way to fully control emotion; part of being human is having our hearts run away with us here and there. I no longer feel that I must watch myself mercilessly for any evidence of imperfections in my armor, and this has been inestimably freeing. There is massive strength in the freedom to be vulnerable.

Mojo	22 Oct 2002
I find myself talking in a really tacky eastern european accent and giving people the evil eye a lot. And there's also that really weird craving for goulash.

Sinta	22 Oct 2002
Has tarot changed me? I do believe a bit. I guess, before I started studying Tarot, i was quite closed to its workings. Sure I respected those who did it, but i didn't want to touch the cards, fearing that an evil manifestation will stain my being. But after my sweetheart started working on it, he showed me that is was many images calling up thoughts and such from the subconcious ;) I have become open and now do my own spreads. It has taught me not to judge anything without studying it fully. I feel so silly, because I've been studying other religions and respect them highly. But something like a tool, i have missed. Also i have become more steadfast in my beliefs and more confident as well. Strange really, when christianity (base of my belief) condemns it. But then there is no religion.. just a way of life. And to me it's the sea. And strangely.. after all this, i do not worry about calling it that anymore ;)

Maan	22 Oct 2002
It changed me probebly in moer ways than i can discribe. The most important to me is that tarot let me see that live isn't passive....i mean tarot lets you sene what you can do, how you can change a situation or something about yourself ect. I'm not passve to live..i can create my live! Somethings ofcourse happen even if you don't want them to. But its up to me how i look at the situation and i can choose to learn from it! It also helped me to live more consius. I'm living a more grounded live know ;) Tarot rules ;)

Alexander	22 Oct 2002
Tarot helped me not to "fear the Reaper" :) - defeat, ruin, oppression and etc.

anjocoxo	22 Oct 2002
I have to say that I feel really changed, but I wouldn't say that it was 100% because of tarot. I used to be a real Leo - a bit arrogant, always judging others (especially if they were inferior), really impatient, stressing with everything and everyone.... but now i´m different. the thing is that I also started to have yoga classes, and i believe that those classes really changed my behaviour, while the tarot changed my way of seeing things... I became more calm, more easy going, you know? I don't stress out for nothing, because it doesn't bring me any good, right? And believe me, yoga is one of the best things i've done in my life, and i'm just sorry i didn't started earlier (just like tarot, although I read cards for 3/4 years)... Anyway, I'm feeling much better now, feeling much more fulfilled and happy with my life.

Kazz	22 Oct 2002
The changes are many, but one that sticks out above the rest is... I have come to know the REAL me! ( OOOH I'm not so bad after all:D)......The questions I used to ask myself like, 'Why do I do that' and 'What on earth was i thinking' I used to say alot, but through the tarot I now have more of an understanding of who I am and why I am......actually I am a much better person I think. As far as the religious side of things go, I too wasn't familiar with all the different beliefs, so after coming in here I also have more of an open mind on that subject. Cheers Kazz :TQC

rostie	22 Oct 2002
definatly but it's through tarot but also and especcially through oracles, that said, it have changed my way of looking at things and at myself, i'm more aware of myself of what is happening, i'm living more passionatly now, i mean with every cell of my body, i think more about what is happening and why, i see everything in a much bigger perspective...and so much more...it was the beginning of my real exploration of life, of myself, of who i am, what the meaning is of life...and it has reconnect me with spirituality, with the divine, trusting life, heaven and earth, not being so pessimistic anymore, unhappy...only looking at my own missery and giving the fault to others, now i see it's me who have it in my own hands, it'm me who know or choose what way to go and if i'm misserable, it's my own fault, lol...i learned a lot from it, it saved me! ;) and like kazz, i have found my true ME and not the me others wanted, it made me respect myself as who i am and not what others expect me to be or that i think they want me to be... :D through this ofcourse i began to become an addict, lol, an addict of tarot and oracles, but it's a good addiction...it has helped me a lot... sara...

faunabay	22 Oct 2002
I think it's a bit of both for me......I had changed myself therefore was open to tarot like I'd never been before. Once that happened tarot has indeed changed me. Given me much more confidence in listening to my intuition and the universe in general. I have MUCH more control over my life and what I want in it since I started with tarot. I think that's a result of the both though. Me allowing myself to evolve before I even got into tarot, then tarot itself!!! ***I reread what I'd wrote yesterday and realized "More Control" is not exactly what I meant. A better word would be responsiblity!! I'm much more responsible for my own life. Using the cards have allowed me to take responsiblity for my own actions and not blame others!

ihcoyc	22 Oct 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Mojo I find myself talking in a really tacky eastern european accent and giving people the evil eye a lot. And there's also that really weird craving for goulash. So where do you buy your bead curtains? })

New River	23 Oct 2002
i picked up my first tarot cards about 8 yrs. ago and i still like to say i was led to them as i really couldn't say why i wanted them. my life has changed so much during that time. as with others, i cannot give all the credit to the tarot, altho they proved to be an excellent tool for effecting change. they brought me closer to my spirit guides and have helped me learn trust. they let me know what direction a situation is heading so i can change it before it gets there, if i want to. i no longer feel so alone and misunderstood. (part of that came from being on aeclectic and sharing with so many diverse people) the cards are never static and that has helped me learn more about the cycle of life. they have taught me to make better decisions using my heart instead of my head. sometimes logic does not apply. and they have helped me scare off a few ppl who i was better off without! (good use for the thick accent, crystal ball and beaded curtain) LOL just kidding...... love and blessings, New River

ChrisTheObscure	23 Oct 2002
Tarot has changed me in a couple of ways. First off, I believe it's helped me to face things that are difficult to deal with. You lay out the cards and they don't lie; sometimes the answers haven't been what I've wanted to hear, but they've helped me deal with/accept the things in my life that I've feared. Also, I believe in a collective unconscious, a Spiritus Mundi as Yeats called it. Tarot helps one to focus in on and tap into that unconscious on a deeper level. As a result, since using the cards I've become a great deal more empathic. I've always been sensitive to what's going on around me in other people, but since using Tarot I feel like a veil has been removed to the emotions, motives, etc. of people around me. Alongside that, I've had several supernatural experiences since working with Tarot. In the past six months, I've 1) been contacted with a spirit guide; 2) had two dreams come true; and 3) encountered my dead cousin, who stood before me as real as another person would and chilled the whole room. I wouldn't call myself a magnet for psychic phenomena by any means, but my exposure to, or maybe more apropos, my awareness of it, has increased exponentially. C. C.

cyan	23 Oct 2002
I think it was Robin Wood who said she regards Tarot as a focus and I think that is how it has changed my life. Tarot allows me to ask questions when I feel stuck and shows me the paths I need to follow. At first I was stunned/amazed/delighted by the accuracy of the cards I picked even when they told me my main problem is that I am lazy. I had always known in my head that there is magic in the world but in my heart I didn't believe because I had been unable to connect with it in any way I could understand. If that seems backwards it is because I am an aquarian and I find it easy to believe 6 (at least) impossible things before breakfast, but my heart seems to be from Missouri. Anyway, my life has become so much easier to cope with now that I have Tarot to help me when I get bogged down. It has also made me more tolerant and less impatient. I now know I can do things, learn things, it just takes me more time than it takes many people. Because I was entranced with Tarot I presevered and after 7 months I am actually beginning to be able to read the cards a bit, without consulting the books! If I can do that with Tarot, I am begining to believe I can do it with other things, so I feel more confident and willing to try to do more in other areas of my life. It has also helped me to fully enter into my religion. I am a pagan and it is sort of hard to really get into that, at least I found it hard, if you have trouble believing in magic. Well, now I do believe in magic and Tarot is my path into my faith. I think for the first time in my life I am no longer searching, reaching for something... what I did not know... just that something essential was missing from my life. Now l can finally relax and enjoy my life.

Kiama	24 Oct 2002
Gosh yes it has! It has, like Mirja, given me something to do, and as such, I have thrown myself headlong into it, and it is really the only thing I can claim to have seriously studied for any length of time. It has, through this, helped me with revision and study skills for school. It has helped me become a better teacher. I often find myself unofficially teaching people how to use and read the cards, and as such I find I cn express myself better and get across ideas more eloquently, aswell as accept that not everyone understands about Tarot in the way people on the forum do. Reaidng for others has given me confidence, and I can easily talk to strangers now, aswell as tell people what is on my ind instead of hiding it all. I have come out of my shell immensely, and whereas before I would just hide in a corner at a pub or party, I actually find myself migling and beomcing teh life and soul of it all! Tarot has really helpd me in getting over my social phobia. The study of the symbolism within the cards never served a better purpose than when I did my English A-level and GCSE... Trying to analyse poetry, esp. the Romantic and Metaphysical poets, without knowing the meaning of symbols is difficult! Spiritually, whenever something bad or difficult happens, I find the Major Arcana have lessons to teach me from those hard times... For instance, I may be going through a destructive patch involving lots of break-ups, but then the Tower crd will come to mind, and instead of seeing the event as totally bad, I see it as liberating... I understand myself more aswell. Don't know why, it just happened gradually as I became more familiar with Tarot! Kiama

catlin	24 Oct 2002
Yes, it gave me AECLECTIC.NET! Do I have to add more?

LadyShallot	24 Oct 2002
Tarot has been such a wonderful tool for me to look at my emotions and inner processes. I can just block the intuitive side and deal with issues by intellectualizing them. Tarot opens me up to looking beyond the rational, logical side to the part of me that understands at a level beyond words. I am much more open to the intuitive side when I am actively using my cards. Using Tarot has been healing for me. When confronted with painful situations, I have used the images of Tarot to help me see where I need to go to heal that situation. Tarot has been a tool for quieting the noise of my mind in visualization or meditation. My study of tarot has brought me contact with many amazing people walking a diversity of spiritual paths. The blending of Catholicism and Tarot has been challenging for me. (To pagan for the Christians and too Christian for the pagans). I would not give up Tarot for all it has meant to me and continues to mean to me on my journey.

faunabay	24 Oct 2002
Quote: Originally posted by catlin Yes, it gave me AECLECTIC.NET! Do I have to add more? How could we have missed that one catlin?? I agree! I think this is the greatest gift tarot has given me!!!!! Actually this is very true for me!! I thank the universe daily for pointing me in the direction of aeclectic and all of you!!!!! :* :* :*

WolfSpirit	26 Oct 2002
First I have to agree with faunabay and catlin of course :) Furthermore I think tarot taught me to cope better with adversities: if things don't work out the way you planned you can try another approach, if things fall apart then that's also the possibility of something new arising... And it taught me to take responsibility, you can't control everything but you can decide yourself how you react: stay passive or take action and better your situation. And of course it taught me to be more economical so I can buy more decks. I still haven't learnt to make a wish list and suppress the urge to order a new deck ;)

truthsayer	26 Oct 2002
tarot has affected my life profoundly and helped me become the person i am today. w/o the internet and aeclecitc, i would have made friends world wide or have experienced so many wonderful decks. i wouldn't even know where to begin on how tarot has effected me spiritually. but the most important thing is that through out my spiritual explorations, i've never agreed to get too deep into any belief system that was intolerant to my use of tarot. i tend to take tarot so personally that if you insult tarot then i feel insulted, too! tarot isn't my religion but it has tremendous spiritual significance.

Dark Artemis	27 Oct 2002
I have always been profoundly intuitive, but working with the Tarot has acutely honed my ability to sense what lies beyond the immediately tangible. Despite long possessing intuitive abilities, I had been cautious about giving myself over to something that seemed to defy any sort of logical or rational thought. The first time a friend offered to do a tarot reading for me (about ten years ago) I approached the experience with a considerable degree of scepticism...... That encounter was not the amusing lark I had originally thought it would be...rather it became something of an initiation, and I began to develop a deep respect for Tarot. At some level, I began to appreciate the interconnectedness of universal energies, and I began to understand that some things do exist beyond the realm of human understanding. So the Tarot has impacted me in a fundamentally spiritual way.

napaea	27 Oct 2002
i have to say "ditto" to what Dark Artemis just said. i have had "feelings" or intuition all my life, and either didn't recognize it, was uncomfortable with it, or just didn't know what to do with it. i would say what i felt needed to be said to someone, like if i was "prompted" to bring something up, but i just didn't know what was going on. once i started working with the tarot, it's like a lightbulb went off in my head (well it helps that i read a book about psychics and realized i fell into the category) but tarot has really helped me open up a door that i didn't know i could open, and i've seen it really help people. i feel so grateful that something i love to do can actually help someone else on their path in life...

Kiama	04 Aug 2003
I'm bumping this thread for M-Press, since the subject it deals with was kind of touched upon in a recent thread, and I thought it might be interesting to get this thread alive again. :D Kiama

Mimers	04 Aug 2003
You are right Kiama, this is a great thread to bump up! Learning about Tarot has made me more at ease with life. Much more calm when things don't go as planned. I also have become much more of a creative thinker due to doing readings. Studying Tarot has also led to other things, like meditation and spirituality. My friends and family say I am much calmer and peaceful.

Logiatrix	05 Aug 2003
Ditto on everything I said before--it's all still in working order, far as I can tell! It's kind of cool to see how much better I type now. Just those seven-or-so months ago, I couldn't type much with my left hand due to disability, but now I can type with both hands and use the shift keys! :D :D :D Something else I've noticed is perhaps along the same lines as what Mimers mentioned, about being calmer when things don't go as planned. In myself, I notice a greater perception of cycles and impermanence, and this has a very calming effect on me when "stuff happens." As I have become more learned of the Fool's Journey, I have been better able to release attachment to expectations. Not completely free of the temporal World (like the next tarot deck I gotta have!), but I am happy to be further along the Journey. I'm not nearly as uptight about the outcome of things. Peace, Tauni :)

Trogon	05 Aug 2003
Hey Kiama! Thanks for bumping this... Has Tarot changed me? Well... as the saying goes; "change is inevitable, except from a vending machine." :joke: But yes, Tarot has changed me quite a lot. It's taken a while to actually affect some of these changes... some of them I have only really noticed over the past year or less. This after a 10-year relationship with the Tarot. For one thing, anger - I am no longer such an angry person. I won't go into the gory details, but believe it or not... I definitely had a great deal of bottled up anger. The Tarot has helped me to identify and move beyond this. Tarot has also led me to new steps along my spiritual path. I am moving along portions of the path which had been hidden to me... obscured by a fog. But I've been pointed in the direction now... Tolerance, acceptance of others for who they are. Still working on this one. Well, I'm still working on all these changes, aren't I? This one just happens to be one I am working on more actively at the moment. By "tolerance, acceptance", I am referring to the way I used to be impatiant and intolerant of people around me in general. Patience is another one to add to the list. Ah... well, I suppose I could go on and on... but I shan't just now. (Do I hear a collective sigh of relief?? :laugh: )

Little Baron	05 Aug 2003
Quote: [i] Originally posted by mirja crimsonI know this may sound silly, but Tarot finally gave me something to do. I've been searching for some hobby, sport, club, or interest that I could really get into. And I finally found Tarot! I think that it was always in me; I just didn't know it, and yes, it has changed me. Like Mirja, I am rarely bored and can spend hours with my decks and on this forum. There is so much to learn and so exciting to have so much in common with others. Yaboot

The has tarot changed you? thread was originally posted on 21 Oct 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.