I am so glad I discovered Tarot!

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Jul 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Mimers	12 Jul 2003
It has been about a year now since I bought that first deck at Barnes and Noble. This morning while I was sitting on my porch, sipping my first cup of coffee, enjoying the quiet, I started thinking about what buying that first deck has triggered in my life this past year. Many good things have come about. I thought it would be neat to share with all of you and to see what ways Tarot has affected other people's lives. The tarot has helped my creativity for one thing. I am not a naturally creative person. I am more of an analytical person. Reading the pictures and letting them sink in has really spurred my creativity. I was going through my reading journal and could see how my readings started out so dry and by the book. Now they are so much more exciting. Each a little story, filled with detail and insight. Meditation and grounding is another invaluable thing that Tarot has brought my way. The same day I bought the deck I bought Mary Greer's Tarot for Yourself. She talks in her book about the importance of grounding. OK, I thought, this sounds good. I did my breaths, relaxed those muscles,cleared my mind..... and felt great! Wow, I have to do this more often. How relaxing! This spurred more exploration. Robin Wood has some excellent grounding exercises on her site that I still use. After a stressfull day at work this brings so much good stuff back. Visualization. Well, maybe this could be called meditation also. Going into the card is how others describe it. This not only gave me such great insight into the cards, it also brought some important and healing things out of my sub conscious that did some big time healing. To give an example without much detail, the most profound experience for me was when I visualized myself entering the realm of the Star card. I became the woman in the card. I looked up to see what it is in the starlit sky that woman is looking at in awe. I saw up in the starlit sky, my Father who passed away when I was 11. Standing next to him was his Mother, my Grandma (a very unhappy person in life). Both of them were smiling from ear to ear and so happy. Young looking and heathy. I went to them and gave them hugs! What did I learn when I came out of this? Life is not finite! It is never over! We are always surrounded by our loved ones whether they are here or in the here-after. I have always believed this, but know I this. So much more. The insights on how to deal with all the huge challanges that life has brought me this past year. I find myself feeling less helpless. More in charge. More accepting of what life brings my way. My intuition has soared. I feel like I have opened up a part of myself that has been buried by life. Now it seems so natural to open it up and just let it flow. And friends. Both here on line and in the 'real world'. I have met such beautiful people through Tarot. I have had so much fun and learned so much. I have become more appreciative and open to others and their thoughts and feelings. I really could go on and on. How about that rest of you. How has discovering Tarot affected your life in possitive ways? What has it brought you while you journey through life? Mimers

Trogon	12 Jul 2003
First off... (((((((((((((Mimers)))))))))))))) Wow... that was a lovely little essay on the Tarot in your life. I am so glad you shared it with us! Thank you! For me, my Tarot journey has taken a little more time. I started about 10 years ago. I was trying to study and learn the Tarot, on my own with just one book (my friend who introduced me to Tarot had to move away not long after I started). After a while I kind of "hit a wall"... I didn't seem to be progressing and was getting somewhat frustrated. After a break of a few years, I began picking the Tarot up again. Then I found all you wonderful people here and discovered there was much more to Tarot than one deck and one book! ;) Getting back into Tarot, and on a much deeper level, has brought back many things I had begun many years ago. Basically, the Tarot has been the impetus to getting me back on a spiritual journey which actually began years before my interest in Tarot. Like you, I am meditating again. I am reconnecting with my innerself and preparing for the next steps in my journey. For me now, the Tarot is still very much a part of my journey. It is a tool, as you mentioned, which can hone my intuition, which can help with meditation, a tool which can help with understanding myself as well as other beings around me. And, perhaps most important, it is a tool which can help me to help other people to occasionally find the answers they are seeking. Alas... a thunderstorm is moving in... have to go...

Moongold	12 Jul 2003
((((Mimers))) and ((((Trogon)))), Tarot has given me a new interest, a new community and new friends. It has given me a new spiritual tool as well. I've spoken more about this in the Tarot, Creativity and Wellness thread in spirituality so won't repeat it here. Many blessings to you both.

punkangelgcm437	13 Jul 2003
Mimers...what a great thread to start. Sorry I'm late on posting. Tarot has brought me alot of things. *A way to help myself out of crappy situations. Sometimes its just given me great advice...especially on the friends situations. *A way to relax. Tarot gives me something to do and just sit there at shuffle them. *A way to freak myself out. LOL. yes I know...but it's so very true. My interp's have become better and less LWBish. And my accuaracy has improved. But the thing that still freaks me out is when I'm sittin here on my computer chair shuffling...and a card will pop out...but it's exactly what I'm thinking about. (6 Cups seems to be a favorite when I think of my ex boyfriend). *A way for my intuition do grow. I just sense things better. Lots of people call it that 3rd eye...but I just call it intuition. Whatever your name for it...mine's grown. And it's only helped me. *Maturity. This year has really made me grow. Between my first real heartbreak (what a way to start off the new year huh), to somewhat losing my best friend, to a really sad and lonely spot for a month or so....I had tarot there for alot of that ride. Kinda like a comforter. ::happy tears:: I talked too much...so I'll stop here. ~Much Love~ ~Sarah~

Mimers	13 Jul 2003
Yeah, Punkangel, Tarot has helped get me through a tough year too. Tarot along with some of the other things I mentioned earlier, really gave me a greater sense of peace throughout this past year. I am glad it helped you too. It's been really great hearing about everyone's different experiences. I hope we hear from more. Mimi

WolfSpirit	14 Jul 2003
Discovering tarot has brought me to Aeclectic :) As I do not no many people in my surroundings interested in tarot, this has been invaluable to me, my home away from home. Tarot itself has helped me with everyday struggles, I can put things better into perspective and I see solutions I would not have thought of earlier. Often tarot gives me a suggestion I did not think of before, in fact answering a question that would have been more to the point than the one I actually asked. When I am worrying about something, it often helps me to focus on the problem itself instead of just feeling a bit miserable and making a problem out of litterally everything. Plus it is helping me to find my spiritual path. I live more according to the cycles of nature now. I try to find pleasure in every season (although I still hate the heat LOL). Tarot has also helped me in meditation and in grounding, making me over all more in harmony. This gives me the courage to tackle problems I would not have dared to before. I can't exactly say: this is from tarot, and that I got from something else. Tarot triggered something of and is helping me to find other spiritual interests.

lawguy51	14 Jul 2003
Hi Mimers: As you know I went to the Omega Institute this past weekend and was in a course with Rachel Pollack and Mary Greer. And many things struck me during the three days but the one thing that really came home is how far I have come since I started taking Tarot seriously not quite a year ago. I sat in these classes and felt that I had unwittingly become a real part of something...an ancient tradition, a spiritual quest, a community of like-minded people from a multitude of backgrounds and nationalities. And I had a comfort level on the knowledge front. It really became apparent how much I have learned in one year and much of that has to do with this forum. And I could also see that my journey had just begun. And I can feel the effects of the work I have done on myself, on my relationship with my wife and how I perceive and interact with others. I have a hobby and a spiritual learning system that few people understand or are even tolerant of. And that's ok with me. I do not hide what I do. I am proud of my choice to learn the Tarot and am not shy about sharing whatever knowledge I may be acquiring with anyone who shows the interest. Thanks for this thread, Mimers! Lawguy51

Ruby7	14 Jul 2003
Although I have had tarot cards for about 13 years, I never really discovered them until this year. I used to read with them (Connolly deck) about 3 - 4 times a year huddled over the little booklet that came with the deck. I never connected with the Connolly deck and had no idea that there were sooo many other wonderful decks out there. I went to a workshop here in Ottawa. ( If anyone would like info on that P.M. me) The workshop was an introduction to the tarot with a guarantee that by the end of the day you would be able to read the cards just by looking at them. For the first time I really took the time to look at the cards and go by intuition. The tarot has affected my life in the sense that I am learning to be more in touch with my intuition and to trust it. I feel more connected with my soul and that I am using different areas of my brain that were unused before. Most of all I am not scared any more to just slow down and take the time to really read a card. This is helping me creatively in so many ways. Tarot has also been a comfort to me when I have felt sad, or troubled, the connection with the cards makes me feel not alone and that I can change things. There's more, but that's all for now, Ruby7

truthsayer	14 Jul 2003
i first discovered tarot when i was 13. some people find comfort in their bible when they are going thru a difficult time in their lives. i found comfort in my tarot deck. it gave me a way to explore myself and the future. now 28 years later, i have more diverse reasons for studying tarot. i love studying the art of tarot. i collect decks. i've met wonderful people here who feel like kindred souls to while my time away with. my RL would be sadly lacking without the addition of tarot in my life.

jog1118	15 Jul 2003
just started exploring the tarot this year (2nd qtr)...kick-off is that im less temperamental (results of meditation) and, off course, i discovered aeclectic :) ...looking forward to more great experiences with tarot and aeclectic :smoker:

Elle	23 Jul 2003
I have explored Tarot for 12 years. It seems to pull at me when I need its guidance. I just want to thank all of you here at Aeclectic - you add so much to Tarot - all of you are dedicated and willing to share. I am happy and very thankful to have found all of you.

Mimers	24 Jan 2004
I am bumping up this thread because there are some really great testamonies here. With all the new members we have been getting, I am hoping to hear some others! Mimi

jmd	25 Jan 2004
Sometimes, threads are missed... this is one of them I had missed back six months ago... I also note that Mimers writes in her opening post that she wrote it a year after obtaining her deck, and that she 'bumps' this thread a year after joining Aeclectic - another, in many ways, milestones for those of us engaged in this community... Sometimes, interests, or at least active involvement, waxes and wanes. I recall during my Tarot waning episodes (ie, those in which I didn't carry a deck in my pocket each day) that those were the years in which I had greater difficulties. Not that similar difficult days do not otherwise come my way, but that I tend to sit back more, and contemplate more easily difficulties which come my way when more actively engaged in Tarot work... and this isn't only an ageing process, for during earlier or former waxing periods/years of intense Tarot work, contemplation and ease of engagement was likewise more pronounced. Tarot, for myself, allows me to also more fully engage in whatever other domain I may engage in, whether it be in my professional, spiritual, or personal life. This, though partly through active imaginative reflections, is also undoubtedly due to the ways it so easily leads to investigating so many other areas of life, from psychology to philosophy and mediaeval history, from politics to religious sacraments, from medicine to astronomy, ... these make for Tarot to truely be a sacred tool...

Logiatrix	25 Jan 2004
The "me" that was before tarot was not a complete "me".... It's been five years since I began my journey, and there's no going back now...tarot is in my head, heart, and soul for keeps. I can't even fathom my life without tarot--what in the world was I doing? :D

Indigo Rose	25 Jan 2004
Thank you Mimers for bringing back this thread. I am so thankful to the LORD for letting me discover Tarot, and overcoming the boundaries that kept me from it. For me it has been a great journey these past 4 years, and it just keeps getting better; especially since I have discovered AT. Blessings, Indigo Rose

Jewel-ry	25 Jan 2004
For me, the tarot journey is just beginning, but I know it will always be there. I had been into Crystals and Aromatherapy for quite a few years but the Tarot is more of a learning journey and compliments these other things in my life. I enjoy studying, so to be able to do so with something that I love is a bonus. There is so much to learn. It is dynamic. I was never an intuitive person at all, everything had to be black and white, right or wrong and so this experience is enlightening because it is helping me to retrieve something that was probably always there but not utilised in any real sense of the word. Tarot has helped me to slow down my real world because I take myself off into my own little world of tarot and everything else seems unimportant at those times. It has recently led me to a completely different world, that of meditation, which I find truly awesome at times. It helps me relax and put things into perspective. I love it - it will always be a part of my life J :)

Imagemaker	25 Jan 2004
What a satisfying and supportive thread! AT is a rare community that I so appreciate. Others have already said so much of what I feel about using tarot. I can only add that on my long spiritual path from childhood conventional church through yoga and meditation practice to now, tarot is a accurate advisor and a concise, practical tool to help me understand and enjoy LIFE.

The I am so glad I discovered Tarot! thread was originally posted on 12 Jul 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.