do you feel that you were born to read the tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 14 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

HOLMES	14 Jan 2003
i ask this question as i been doing an inventory of my life. 1. job skills. 2. personal skills 3. spiritual life. 4. handicaps, 5. and extra stuff. and i was remembering that old title of william gray biography by ruth montergomery , called born to heal. i was sitting there thinking this and that,, saying to myself i got all these ideas and lack the ideas. .. all i am good at is reading the tarot.. then i thought to myself ,, what if i was born to read the tarot . ( you know how some people only dance, other people can only sing. ? it seems to me since i been doing this since i was 15 ,( with some channeling on the side) that what if i my main job is to read the tarot eheh. any of you feel the same as well ? you like reading the tarot so much. so good at it . had an interest in it,, and the supernature and how they relate since an early age ? wonder where to go from here in the tarot. and much more ?

mooncat2	14 Jan 2003
Yes, I do, Holmes. Well, I don't know if I was born to read the tarot, but its what I love. I do know in this latter part of my life that I was born to heal, that all the horrible life experiences were to give me understanding and compassion that I could learn from and then use to help others.........but why, oh why, is it so difficult? That's the bit I DON"T understand.

Musie	14 Jan 2003
Well, after reading napaea's past life reading for me, I guess I wasn't "born to read tarot", ... hmmm, maybe I can find a tarot spell for healing the earth :) Anyway, I read it and I love it! I also find that is how my guides and goddess reach me as well, when I have a lesson to learn. I kind of get a card of the month to ponder *s* At least my mother is glad to have a Free tarot reader in the family :)

Insomnia Turtle	14 Jan 2003
I don't believe that one is born to do anything in particular. We all make our own path in life, and that path either stays the same, or changes drastically over time, depending on who you are. Of course, it helps to have an interest in what you want to do, but with good discipline and the right attitude, one can learn to do anything.

fairyhedgehog	14 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Insomnia Turtle with good discipline and the right attitude, one can learn to do anything. Well, maybe not. We all choose our path in life to some extent, but we are not all the same in what we can do. I could have discipline and the right attitude and never be an opera singer - I don't have the aptitude. Or a ballet dancer, football player ... There are a lot of things like that I can't do at all but some I do really well. So I kind of relate to what Holmes wrote: I feel a bit like that about reading words, as if I was born to do it. If reading had never been invented, I would have all this ability and nothing to do with it. And if Holmes has a natural ability to read Tarot, then he just does. With all the discipline in the world, it will just come easier to some people than to others. Just my two cents :)

wavebreaker	14 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by fairyhedgehog With all the discipline in the world, it will just come easier to some people than to others. I agree. There are many things I could never learn to do properly, however much time and dedication I would put into it... ;) But we all have our talents, we all have different things we are good at. Does that mean we were meant to do those things? Maybe, I'm not sure. There are also people who have a talent but don't use it. Was I born to read tarot? I don't think so. It's just something I like to do and like to learn more about. Like many other things I like to do... ;)

patter	14 Jan 2003
Well, the nature/nuture debate in a new guise. Do you really meant 'born to do it' or just 'well-suited to it'. Whatever the path I am sure we all are -- or why would be be here?

Teal	14 Jan 2003
I don't think a person is necessarily born to read tarot specifically. I believe we're born with certain aptitudes that make some things easier for us than others and some things a snap where others aren't. But as for being born to read tarot specifically, no I don't think that's the case. I think that your natural aptitudes make it a natural for you, but it's within the framework of many other things that also come naturally for you. This equips you for being better at a lot of different things that the skills required to be a "natural" at tarot reading include. Most likely, it means you're more of a right brain thinker than a left brain thinker.

tarotbear	14 Jan 2003
I was born to play 'Evita', but you don't find many middle-aged men getting cast in the road company.... Reading Tarot is probably the LAST thing I would ever have considered on my list of 'Things to Do in This Lifetime.' There is nothing in my life that would ever had led me to this point. There was no nterest in the Occult. I started with crystals, moved to spell work, moved to spellwork using Tarot cards, and finally into Tarot itself. Now I try to write books on it and teach classes in it. BORN to do this? Never.

napaea	14 Jan 2003
i'm with tarotbear, Tarot is the last thing on earth i would have EVER thought i would pick up. but i DO love it. born to do it? i don't know...i think i was born to do something in regard to healing, helping others, using psychic/empathic abilities, and this fits in there...so in a roundabout way...perhaps? who knows? and musie! no, ONE of your missions or goals deals with the earth, i believe, but in no way did i mean it was your only goal or only mission. you may very well have the need to read tarot :) didn't mean to give you that impression...sorry! :)

Aoife	14 Jan 2003
I think I might be going off at a tangent - if so, I'm sorry. I believe that the time has to be right to really understand and love the tarot. I wonder how many others are like me - coming to the tarot earlier in life, puting it down and coming back again later. I choose to believe that I was required to get some life experience under my belt before being ready. Others are more fortunate - maybe they're born with it, but they're certainly ready for it sooner.

Mystica	14 Jan 2003
Thanks Holmes, for starting this interesting thread. Actually, I think I needed to read this thread today. It's hard to explain, and really not of major interest to others anyway.... but for about a week I have been struggling and trying to get myself grounded again. I kind of went off course a bit. I'm certainly not saying that I have any great ability at reading Tarot, but I do feel it's what I should be doing. When on the continuing journey of learning Tarot (and I don't think it ever really ends) is when I'm at my best. I know this probably doesn't add to the discussion or even make much sense to others, it's one of those "you have to be there" things. Thanks for listening anyway, I feel better for having seen the thread. That's one of the many things I love about Aeclectic!

Teranar	14 Jan 2003
When I was about 6 or so I ran into this crazy gypsy woman at the rennasance fair, and she sat there reading tarot. I never thought I'd learn to read the cards, but every year she was there reading the cards and palms. Cut to almost 4 years ago, and the minute I picked up a deck that was "Mine" it was like the cards talked to me... I'm pretty sure I was ment to get that deck and read it, especially since I've seemingly developed a knack for other forms of divination. But what are we ment to do in life? For me, since I am so multitalented, the answer is defiantely I don't know.

HOLMES	14 Jan 2003
i found some of the answers interesting myself :O) i don't know exactly what i was trying to convey,, just that in truth the tarot, and my megear knowledge of the field is the only thing i am really good at. oh sure i did some research into chess found out i am an average player. i did some research into music, ( harmonica, guitar) and i learned a lot especially about what touches me , yet i know i am no great hand of the harmonica and just barely base at guitar( especially since i havne't had one on going on two years since mine broke) at this given time tarot reading is the only thing i can really do ( and it is fun with the right client a blast as we both laugh) so when i made the thread i was in the phrase i must of choosen to have the tarot reading love for a reason , i know i am good at other things. but not good enough to make a living, or even to show it, these include, writing, poetry( how does one make a living being a poetry) acting ( i never tried, but once in drama class i came out playing my harmonica and said hi , and they said hi back and i forget what i said ,, looked around and ok i have to go started to play harmonica off the stage and the is the only acting thingy i ever tried, although i saw a video in the drama class where they taped the students. and here is what happend. we were in a car and the driver was pretending to speed and then we crashed. and the teacher asked what happend. and i said this is what ahppend and acted it out fast, talkign fast, and the whole student class broke up when i did it funny i never thought of it til now ehhe ) did research into stand up comedy ( two books in fact, and watch the masters every time i get a chance, bill cosby, robin williams, dana carvey, chris rock, richard pryor, sinbad, dave chappal ( he is very funny) but stutter too much eheh did research into business, tried it at the business program didnt' make it through the second sesmter started off strong but failed in the long run , found out i was better at people then business like human resources, and a sense of marketing. yuck trying to do that for a career. in truth it be so cool to find a career in something i love, like watching them film plays, musicals, movies, and add some feedback. or even the production man in the wrestling ,, or the roadie or secruity, yet here i am babysitting the nephews and nieces on a obscure reserve, with acess to the tarot. yet the tarot offers so much, to help others, to find out mysteries ( if you so incline) now back to the actual title of the post born to read the tarot, we all have spiritual contracts that are flexible given the choices that we make when we lived out the lives we plan. sometiems we actually fail but we to try is why we came down here. all those on the forum must of it in there somewhere at this time and place, and area of life i will run into the tarot and base on the decision i make i will either explore it or leave it for something else. and so we are all here on the tarot forum and we are together in the fact that we choose to explore it . from an earlier age or later age. to all areas of life, to all nationalities ( me an canadian ojibwe native for example) so it is the common bond that ties us to gether,, we were in fact choosen ( by our own selves) to explore the tarot at a certian time if we choose to do it, so those of us who read, we were born to read the tarot.. as one of our many talents ( didn't mean to make it exclusive but dramatic to the power feeling i was feelign when i made the post) of course i may be out there as i comtemplate live in my own way trying to share thoughts and emotions heeh

MeeWah	14 Jan 2003
HOLMES: Thanks for a most interesting topic! I cannot say if I was "born to read the Tarot", but my interest in it has surpassed all other interests, such as writing & art. I have an aptitude for both which I attribute to a cumulative experience on a soul level as well as what I was exposed to at an early age. I see the study & the use of Tarot as an expression of the soul, much as any of the arts or any learned profession; & a means to expand spiritually. Actually, the latter more than anything else! There was a time many years ago when I put my cards (a regular deck & a non-Tarot deck) away. That was due to the realization of the enormous responsibility that reading entails--I was a teenager & reading for adults on matters I had no experience in this life & I was not sure I could claim the right to do so. Edited to add: For me, Tarot encompasses a number of interests: art, writing, history & more importantly, a way of life.

allibee	14 Jan 2003
I think I was born to be a pain in the ***, :D Having had what you might call a 'big' life, full of explorations, wide open spaces and dead ends, it came to me I was a 'people person'. When I started to actively cultivate my spirituality by asking questions, the answers I got from mediums, psychics and tarot readers were pretty no where near the mark, and that sort of put me off that side of things if you follow. And because they were so wrong about so many things, I assumed they were wrong about everything. Maybe it was just the will of fate that I should meet with more purveyors of fine fantasies than with those with anything to say that could help me on my journey? I don't know. But maybe it just wasn't my time. The biggest thing they had in common, in fact the only thing they had in common, was the same message - that I was a strong healer - yeah rrrrrrrright, not. The thought of being able to help anyone else when I could barely help myself and my children was a bit of a joke. Still, time moved on and I picked and chose as I saw appropriate from the spiritual buffet, including tarot. But still nothing immediately clicked. That was until some years ago when the jigsaw started coming together. I had many more experiences under my belt, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, many excruciatingly painful. But I was never afraid to talk about them with anyone who was suffering their own version. It seems to help them in their own private dilemmas. To get them talking about things instead of bottling it up is half the battle. Suddenly all these experiences seemed to relate to my tarot cards and I had an affinity that I could relate not only to myself, but others too. Being a 'people person' and a 'listener', helped in developing my role with the tarot in other peoples lives. I cannot say that I was born to this, but I can say it's all a bit uncanny when you put it in writing that there are all these markers like a treasure hunt, that when collected and put in the same basket seem to add up. Maybe I had to go through my onw trails to be able to relate to others. Maybe my affinity to converse and listen to others was a necessary skill I needed too. And maybe tarot was the outlet. So, I don't know, but it seems an interesting idea. Thanks Holmes allibee

Insomnia Turtle	15 Jan 2003
fairyhedgehog - Sorry to hear that you don't think you could ever sing like an opera diva, but did you ever try? I mean really try? I know that you were probably just picking things to make a point, but hasen't there been anything that someone said you couldn't do, so you worked hard at it and earned the skill? I sure have! In fact, I earn my living at doing just what several people, including family, friends and teachers, said that I could never do because I just "didn't have the gift for it" and "only the gifted can make money that way". And, as with any skill, just because it doesn't become your profession (if, in fact, you really tried hard) doesn't mean you walk away from all your hard work with nothing. Take Tarot for example. You might not get it after 2, 3 or even more years of trying to read them, but does that mean all of your effort are wasted and you should give up? Of course not. Yes, some people seem to be able to look at the cards once and all the answers come to them, but does that mean no one "with the gift" can try? If I believed that (and I am considered by many to be psychicly (sp?) inept), would I even be here? Of course, this is coming from a person who strongly believes in "mind over matter", but does that make it less beleivable? Oh, and Tarotbear, if you ever did want to play "Evita" you should come to Seattle. I'm sure someone could hook you up ;).

tarotbear	15 Jan 2003
There was a local gay men's group that did an all-male production of 'Nunsense' - if you've ever seen it. I've costumed 'Evita' - literally - I did the designs for the lead including the 'Argentina' dress. I actually mentioned Evita since this past Sunday I caught Patti Lupone's cabaret act and she was so great in person. I was born to play Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd'; in fact, I've played it twice. OOOOOOOOOpppps! This message was meant to be a pm to Insomnia Turtle, but it ended up here accidentally!

fairyhedgehog	15 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Insomnia Turtle fairyhedgehog - Sorry to hear that you don't think you could ever sing like an opera diva, but did you ever try? I mean really try? I know that you were probably just picking things to make a point, but hasen't there been anything that someone said you couldn't do, so you worked hard at it and earned the skill? No, but I take your point :) The point I was making was that some people have a natural aptitude for some things, eg Holmes and tarot. And that there are some things that each of us will /not/ be good at no matter how hard we work at it. And some things we will take to so easily that it feels like we were 'born to do it'. And for me, that is using the pc and reading books :)

firemaiden	15 Jan 2003
I think I was born to spend the rest of my life trying to figure out why I was born...definitely not to read the tarot...at least as far as it looks today. Ask me again in 20 years.

truthsayer	15 Jan 2003
tarot has been a trusted companion for me most of my life. kind of in the way same ppl might choose the Bible, i chose tarot to guide and teach me spiritually. it's led me to things i do feel born to do like being a creative person. i know i wasn't meant to be a linear thinker even though it's taken most of my life to figure that out. exploring the art of tarot has been a continuing way to see the work of different artists. the more interested i have become in art, the more i am interested in seeking decks that have certain qualities. as a seeker, tarot is like a star that guides me to new places and experiences.

The do you feel that you were born to read the tarot thread was originally posted on 14 Jan 2003 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.