my family thinks it's cool!!!

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Dec 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

mrsjvan	23 Dec 2002
I just wanted to share an experience i had yesterday. I have only been reading for a few months and hadn't really said a whole lot about it to my parents or sibs. Well I saw them yesterday for Christmas and mentioned something to my brother about it, wandering what the general reaction was going to be, but I'd decided i didn't care if they approved or not. Anyway when my mom and sis overheard that I had my mini Conolley deck in my purse everyone wanted me to do a reading for them! They were asking questions and everyone got down on the floor with me and my brother and watched me do a three card spread. (even my grandma!) I was so happy. Everyone was very excepting and open and I was so surprised. I guess I just didn't give them enough credit. Makes me wander how many other people I am wrong about on this issue. Anyway, I just had to share because I was so excited! :)

RedWood	23 Dec 2002
Congrats! I am really happy for you!! HEHE now you can get away with giving away free reading coupons! with other gifts LOL

rainbow	24 Dec 2002
Wow congrats!! it is one of the best thing that could happen to a tarot lover :D i'm not as lucky...my parents and my bf think it's a waste of time and money, my friends are christians and thus are slightly worried about me going onto an *evil path*....anyway =p But well, altho they'r not supportive, they didn't ask me to burn my decks....=p...so i guess it's alrite =p

Trogon	24 Dec 2002
That's wonderful mrsjvan! It's always nice when you get these kinds of pleasant surprises. I'm very glad you have such a loving and accepting family. :D

Ophiel	24 Dec 2002
That must be reaffirming to see your family so interested in something so close to your own heart. Don't you think a lot of banal citizens (banal citizens = those with no overt interest in Tarot) crack open a bit when they actually get close to the cards as in ask the Oracle of T a question, or get a reading? Did you gain any new insights about family members from what you saw in the cards? As I keep saying, I am not a reader, but I would think it would be easier to read for a stranger whom you know nothing about. Should we start a support group Topic in our forum for the family and spouses of Tarot-oholics? (and instead of helping them cope with their 'addicted' Tarot family members, we'll slowly change them over so their Christmas lists next year will be a long list of Tarot decks they want.)

mrsjvan	24 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Ophiel Did you gain any new insights about family members from what you saw in the cards? Yes, as a matter of fact I did. I found out that my brother was struggling badly with a recent breakup and that my sister is really fretting over some educational issues with her son. I didn't realize either of these things and felt good that they opened up and were really willing to discuss concerns very close to their hearts! HHHmmm a family support group, there's an idea :)

cuddles	24 Dec 2002
isn't it wonderful? i had something similar happen. my mother (who hasn't wanted anything to do with the cards) suggested i read for the family. i suggested i do one card for each of them. we did and it was great :-) they each got a card with something relevant to their lives. mom insisted i do one for the grey parrot who thinks he is a person. he tapped a card and it was perfect for him! aaaaand, my xmas present was a hand painted silk pouch to put my cards in :-) it's sooo beautiful. the cards are magical :-)

Trish	27 Dec 2002
My family doesn't mind me doing it either. At least not my mom's side of the family anyway. It was my maternal grandmother that gave me my LOTR Tarot deck for Christmas. My mom herself is pretty curious about Tarot. She bought a book about it many years ago, but she never bought a deck OR asked for one as a gift. Maybe I should get her one myself. :D I don't know about my dad's family though. I've never really talked to them about it. I don't even think they know I do it. *shrugs* My stepdad (my mom's current husband) doesn't really mind if I do it, but I don't think he really agrees with it, if that makes any sense. He has a very scientific mind, and I don't think he's really all that big on spirituality or divination of any sort.

Kiama	27 Dec 2002
It's wonderful that your family are so accepting of Tarot, Mrsjvan! I am lucky to have a family who are pretty much the same... They don't all flok to me for readings, but I can quite happily sit down and talk to them about it without any problems. I think the reason is because they can see how happy studying and using Tarot makes me... My Dad used to teach things like First Aid an Manual Handling, and when he was training up to be a teacher, I went with him to all the courses and to his exam.. I pretty much learned what he learned. So, when I started running Tarot workshops for my Uni Pagan Society, my Dad thought it was really cool, and was dead proud... He doesn't care hether it's Tart or not, all he cares about is if it makes me happy, if it does me any harm (Obviously it doesn't!) and if it helps me achieve what I want to. :D My little sisters have pretty much grown up with Tarot, because I've been studying andreading the cards since I was 9: when one little sister was 2, and the other barely born! They don't see them as anything special, just something their big sister is mad passionate about, though the oldest is now getting interested in studying them herself... I'll make a Tarot reader out of her yet! ;) Kiama

zander770	27 Dec 2002
Quote: Originally posted by RedWood now you can get away with giving away free reading coupons! with other gifts LOL hey, don't laugh, that's too true!!! (i've been doing JUST THAT for apx Twenty-Five YEARS! **that's why i'm SOOooo far behind in my readings this time of yr--esp for **"some people," huh, mrsjvan!** and at "another site"! and, when we were in grade school, my magician partner (peter wolfram...what a NAME, isn't it!) and i made more money than ANYONE in grade school--even jonathan who helped his older brother w/his paper route--performing our "magic shows" at school carnivals, "ronald mcdonald parties," "a & p" store openings, even yard/garage sales, sometimes! when i made more money w/my "Tarot Readings $1" (i was doing these "three card spread thingies" from elden grey's book--which i hope is is "up in the attic in a box, still! i was just speaking to my brother about this--or something that resembled a 3 card monte, actually, upon retrospect!) than "suzie" and her sign, "Kisses $!" THAT was when my mother "started to accept" this "magic" and allowed me to read in the house...now, smoking? that took another two- three-yrs... my father STILL doesn't "get it," and claims that he "doesn't even know what a tarot card is..." f.i.n.e., ya know? i have such fond memories (and i dream about this, too, say one every month, or so) of my mother driving peter and i to this "professor's" home who sold magician's supplies, etc, out of the basement of his home...it was soooo much "cooler" and intimate than those "big stores," or, running home from the bus all week, because i was expecting a box in the mail from "abott's magic shop" (or, elsewhere) from nyc... whew...time to type-up some reading's, a hem, but, thx mrsjvan! thx, for the thread and bring all of this "up," again, in me! ~Z~770 :T8W

Shadow Wolf	30 Dec 2002
My family thinks I'm a little quirky to begin with. When my sister found out I was into tarot she hit me with a major lecture in which she basically said that there was Christianity and then there was everything else. If I was into things like tarot then I was definitely on the wrong side. I tried to explain, but you just can't explain things like tarot to someone who thinks it's somehow morally wrong. My mother has yet to find out, the poor woman just found out my brother in CA has become a Buddist, I don't have the heart to tell her daughter's gone, dare I say it, "Pagan". Of course, I prefer the term "spiritual explorer".

The my family thinks it's cool!!! thread was originally posted on 23 Dec 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.