Mending from a Tarot "crisis of faith"

Owl Song

SonjaC said:
Hi Owl!

Your post provoked a few thoughts for me. I, admittedly, follow politics far too closely. It's hard to cut back when every day there seems to be some sort of new disaster. That said, the US is extremely divided right now and it also was very much during the election. People's minds were constantly changing, creating a massive amount of mixed energy being put out into the universe. How could your tarot results possibly be reliable on such a grand scale with so many fluctuations and confusion? Also, between the electoral and popular vote, both can be seen as two different kinds of "wins." Even that is still being debated and the president still can't seem to stop talking about it. Perhaps sometimes we don't get a warning because we have to feel the full effect of the Tower without bracing for it. I'm still fairly new to tarot as far as reading for other people but my connection with the cards has never been stronger. However, now that I am aspiring to be a professional, my negative self talk has been really LOUD. That's part of why I joined Aeclectic. I think starting here when you are having a falling out or experiencing doubt is one of the healthiest things you can do!

Awwww, Sonja, thank you!

Such good points about the upheaval, unrest, and uncertainty during the election cycle (and now after.) This is true. What a difficult situation to get a read on.

I'm so glad you decided to join Aeclectic. I hope you find lots of support (and fun!) here. Self-doubt might be indicating that you're a conscientious person who really wants to do a good job. You could focus on that intention of preparedness. It might help dampen the anxiety a bit if you remember there could be a positive in there for you, too. Lots of good wishes to you!

Owl Song

Barleywine said:
I did a number of readings around the political situation last year and got some reliable results, but none of them were centered on my personal consequences, they were all more broadly focused. If I had asked "What will a Clinton (or Trump, as a separate question) win mean for me personally?" (which would have been the right way to ask it from a self-reading standpoint), I wonder what would answer I would have received that would have been precise enough to rely on.

What we ask and how we frame those questions truly is important. Thank you for the reminder.

I'm getting lots of insightful tidbits to ponder and add to my journal.

Thank you.

VGimlet

Owl Song said:
I know experiences like this are not at all uncommon. If you've felt like this, what was the process like for you of getting back into Tarot? Any tips or advice? Was your Tarot experience / practice different afterwards?

When I went through this a few times they were for varying reasons. I found I'd pick them back up when I was ready. Once it was from just plain being too busy in my 20's, and much later, when I nearly ruined tarot for myself due to self-imposed intense study. I've also taken a few breaks from it here and there.

I think in many ways taking breaks helped my perspective. What tarot can and can't do. How important free will is. Other stuff. Taking a break can be refreshing, just like a vacation from real life.

Barleywine

Owl Song said:
I know experiences like this are not at all uncommon. If you've felt like this, what was the process like for you of getting back into Tarot? Any tips or advice? Was your Tarot experience / practice different afterwards?

I missed this part. I too dropped tarot practice for a long time while building a career and helping raise a family, although I kept up with my esoteric reading and occasional astrology work. I came back to it after I retired in 2008, and found AT shortly thereafter. Finding this forum really fueled my "recovery," to the point that I re-entered professional practice last year and am now being published in the American Tarot Association's newsletter, and potentially the quarterly journal.

tarot_quest

Barleywine said:
Finding this forum really fueled my "recovery," to the point that I re-entered professional practice last year and am now being published in the American Tarot Association's newsletter, and potentially the quarterly journal.

Hey that is very nice Barleywine

Nice to hear that! I did not know there was an American Tarot association. I should look for Canada as well.

olivia1

Yes, I have. Just accept that tarot isn't all knowing and not an exact science. Assume most of the time that predictions could very well be wrong and don't put much stock into it. I do tarot mostly out of fascination and I am fascinated when things turn out as predicted. However, I don't really expect predictions to come true. I used to believe in tarot completely and it really let me down. I also love listening to other people interpret cards so that's another reason I'm into it

Richard

Over many years of tarot use, I gradually lost confidence in predictive readings and in predictive fortune telling in general. My reasons for this are rooted both in experience and in a logical analysis of space-time. However, this does not diminish the value of tarot as a map of the psyche, among other things. I have steadily become more fascinated by its universality.

Magrataya

Owl Songs, had there been any chance that tarot could have warned you or prepared you for what was about to happen? Did it really let you down, did you get muddy or incorrect readings? Let me ask differently: Did you ask about the political situation specifically? Because how could tarot have warned you or made you aware of this in readings about you and your personal environment?
Please don't give up tarot or your spiritual endeavours. I think what your country needs now is people who stay true to themselves no matter what political direction one follows.

I have gone through phases when I was in a "believer crisis" as well although for very different reasons from you. I was simply not ready and had a lot of learning to do to fit tarot and its messages in my worldview

Barleywine

A "crisis of faith" is kind of a foreign concept for me because I never really trusted that tarot was going to give me specific details of future events, only trends and potentials that might manifest in various ways. Not all of those ways would necessarily be overt, like "You're going to get run over by a bus." It would be more on the order of "Watch your step when you leave the house today." Something not happening could just be testimony to having taken the cautionary advice, so you will never know what might have happened.

Alissa

I hear you. I went through a particularly uncomfortable, complete and utter crisis of faith in the past few years. Not only did I turn away fromTarot, I turned away from spirituality and religion, in any form. And I've had Tarot "lie" to me (whether that be by my own misinterpretation of the cards, or what have you).

Ultimately I came back, but spent over a year wandering the wasteland of my own newly discovered, not entirely wished for atheism.

While wandering, some asked me for Tarot readings. I refused a few (strangers), but I was curious if I could read even if I had no belief left so when a few friends eventually asked, and I needed the money, I agreed.

Tarot worked. The readings were helpful to my sitters, and they reported accuracy and relevancy. Shrug. I found it clinically interesting, but not emotionally so.

I am a different reader now than I used to be. I used to want so many decks. Now I could care less, maybe just keep one or two, but the rest could go. I used to embrace Tarot passionately, like a new lover. Now I just wish Tarot would take the garbage out every now and then.

Mending from a Tarot "crisis of faith"

Owl Song

Owl Song

VGimlet

Barleywine

tarot_quest

olivia1

Richard

Magrataya

Barleywine

Alissa