Has anyone ever confronted you over reading in public?

Aha! <fills in visual impressions>

I'm a short, round female of decaying age and thus not generally seen as having Athletic Violence Potential - but I have such massive arrogance and such clear body-language indicating my goddess-hood and my self of utter belonging, that I can walk through a war-zone, and the bullets run to hide from me. I can walk through a riot and the rioters fall over themselves trying to get away from me. I can walk past a desperado mugger, and he empties his pockets at me and takes off up the road at a run. Let's just say, I have no problem walking around unsalubrious areas alone at night. No one will ever bother me.

Possibly my sense of supreme belonging and self-confidence may be a part of why I don't get challenged about Tarot very often. It just isn't an issue for me, so other people rarely think of it as an issue when they're around me.

Well tomorrow will be my first day of actually doing readings in a really open area, wish me luck!

But i have done a reading in Barnes and Noble, but in the section with the comfy chairs where nobody ever really goes....all i got was a few onlookers. I will tell you though, if someone confronts me tomorrow about it, i probably wont take kindly to it if they try and start crap with me.

Shadow wolf1214 said:

Well tomorrow will be my first day of actually doing readings in a really open area, wish me luck!

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<cheerfully> Luck!

nisaba said:

<cheerfully> Luck!

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Hey thanks im kind of nervous though :/

You'll be fine.

Sometimes when I might get stage-fright (incredible, but occasionally true!), I take two or three seconds just before I lay out the spread to close my eyes briefly while I'm holding the shuffled and ready-to-go deck, and ask my higher self / Tarot guides / angels / godforms-of-my-choice (unspecified in my case, but you can choose what's comfortable for you), to help me read well for this person in front of me.

It's very calming, and I then can go and do my stuff.

Shadow wolf1214 said:

Well tomorrow will be my first day of actually doing readings in a really open area, wish me luck!

But i have done a reading in Barnes and Noble, but in the section with the comfy chairs where nobody ever really goes....all i got was a few onlookers. I will tell you though, if someone confronts me tomorrow about it, i probably wont take kindly to it if they try and start crap with me.

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Hey, fellow Connecticut reader! You will do fine...don't be nervous.

starrystarrynight said:

Hey, fellow Connecticut reader! You will do fine...don't be nervous.

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Hey thanks ....i know, i try not to be nervous...but even reading in public gets me nervous...i sorta hate people watching me...but i want to get past that, so i am doing readings tomorrow in Borders...they have a Starbucks with tables. And it is one of the entrances used to the mall so their is bound to be many people. It would make my day to have people ask me for one.


Where in Connecticut are you?

I have never had anyone confront me, nor have I ever gotten a negative comment from strangers when reading in public places.

Honestly, I live in such a conservative and rural area that many folks don't know a tarot deck when they see one, and don't have any opinion on the subject.

When I have a deck out in a coffee shop or similar spot, though, I'm usually just reading quietly for myself -- as far as a passerby knows, I'm just playing solitaire. They'd have to be looking closely at my table.

53rdspirit said:

About seven or so years ago I was in the hospital and was told by the nursing supervisor that my tarot cards (Albano-Waite) were "scaring the other patients" and that I had to leave them at the front desk in the nursing station during my stay. Needless to say, I was surprised --not only because I thought we were not still living in the middle ages but because the only time I took them out was in the privacy of my own room, by myself. I kept them to myself because when I take them out in public, people always want me to read for them and I wasn't feeling up to it. Someone must have seen me as I sat on my bed looking at the cards as they walked by my room --I never took them out into the public area.

Anyway, I handed over my tarot cards and just took one of the free playing card decks that were laying all over the visitors room and were given to all the patients --and simply taught myself to read with those (with a combination of numerology and RWS iconography in my head) during my hospital stay --and no one knew the better.

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I'd have never given up my cards at the front desk! They have no right to take your personal possessions from you like that. If it had been a gun or knife, that would be understandable, but a deck of cards? No way! I was in the hospital last week and had my deck there. I didn't flash it around because it's a Catholic hospital and the chaplain kept wandering into my room. Naturally I was being thoughtful of that fact. But they'd never have gotten those cards away from me! I'm outraged at the thought of it.

ETA: Now that I think of it, though, if I had been feeling better, I'd have thought it was kind of interesting to take them out just to see what his reaction would be. When my husband and I had our hospice training, we were taught to respect everyone's spiritual beliefs no matter what they were. It would have been interesting to see if the same philosophy exists with a Catholic chaplain.

I respect the beliefs of others and I really don't see any reason to make someone else uncomfortable. For a lot of folks, being around Tarot cards is a very frightening experience and there would be no swaying that belief system, so I just prefer to respect their feelings and leave the cards put away in certain circumstances.

Connecticut rocks!! Good luck with the reading. I feel for you; I still get stage fright.

I just find it so ironic that Tarot is so frowned upon. The imagery was formed by at least nominal Christians centuries ago, and many readers are still Christian. Hospitals especially should be more aware of the needs of their patients, spiritual as well as physical.

I remember our local Borders (R.I.P.) when it had Harry Potter midnight book parties when the later books came out; a couple of friends of mine (literally a married couple) read for the patrons during the evening party for the last one. He reads Tarot, she reads palms. They had set it up with the management beforehand and were doing it as part of the multi-faceted party atmosphere. And they had long lines all evening long! (Of course, a Harry Potter book party is not the place where you'd find anyone objecting to divination...) The store sold Tarot decks, in fact; I really can't imagine anyone complaining there under any circumstances. Especially if the person were sitting on the couch nearest the Tarot display! And of course the religion and New Age sections were right next to each other...

Dang. I miss Borders. I wonder if any of the stores in our state still have anything left...