Tarot under the influence

ldiddy

OK, so I read the article linked below and started thinking....

https://qz.com/879285/psilocybin-dr...ual-and-religious-they-make-us-healthier-too/

You can get the gist of the article from just reading the link, but John Hopkins researchers has some spiritual leaders tripping to see how their mindsets (as spiritual leaders, folks inclined toward that sort of thinking) can provide insight into spiritual/mystic experiences described by normal (?) people using the psilocybin.

Now, I do not currently take any mind altering substances that I can't drink, but in my youth did experiment with a broad range. (You know the drill, I was in college!) Early in my tarot experience I decided that alcohol and tarot were not a good mix. To me, it felt disrespectful to the cards and was in no way helping me read or interpret them.

Have you ever read "under the influence" and if so, any special insight into the spiritual experiences often found without?

Looking at the art with psilocybin brain would probably be intense no matter what deck!
 

Barleywine

Ever since I tried to play chess while stoned back in 1970 and was roundly thumped, I decided that anything requiring mental acuity is bettor off done without any kind of chemical "inspiration." I think it would be more disrespectful to my paying clients than to the cards.
 

ldiddy

I didn't even consider paying clients (probably because I don't have any), but excellent point.
 

Tanga

Whatever that college drill is - I missed it. :joke:

I agree "under the influence" would be disrespectful to my clients.
And - I am wildly sensitive to everything. I know all-too-pointedly the effects of
sugar and caffeine on me. I rarely drink caffeine, and I don't drink alcohol or have ever done more flamboyant drugs.
Once - years ago on my way to a reading - I drank in the afternoon, a very strong cup of coffee
(because I hadn't slept well that week and I was literally struggling to stay awake at the reception table - so it was really an emergency measure). I did one of the best readings ever in terms of being really "tuned in" (making intuitive connections, being able to 'put the story together' in a useful way for the sitter etc.) and being wildly confident. But the after effects were so horrendous - that I've always remembered it and mostly avoid coffee like the plague.
 

Grizabella

ldiddy said:
OK, so I read the article linked below and started thinking....

https://qz.com/879285/psilocybin-dr...ual-and-religious-they-make-us-healthier-too/

You can get the gist of the article from just reading the link, but John Hopkins researchers has some spiritual leaders tripping to see how their mindsets (as spiritual leaders, folks inclined toward that sort of thinking) can provide insight into spiritual/mystic experiences described by normal (?) people using the psilocybin.

Now, I do not currently take any mind altering substances that I can't drink, but in my youth did experiment with a broad range. (You know the drill, I was in college!) Early in my tarot experience I decided that alcohol and tarot were not a good mix. To me, it felt disrespectful to the cards and was in no way helping me read or interpret them.

Have you ever read "under the influence" and if so, any special insight into the spiritual experiences often found without?

Looking at the art with psilocybin brain would probably be intense no matter what deck!
Click to expand...

OMG---I'll never live down the reading I did when my back first crunched down on some nerves between my vertebrae and my tailbone. I've been sober over 30 years, so I don't drink or use drugs but when that nerve crunch happened and I couldn't walk, the doctor had to give me some pretty potent stuff. I ended up so mortified that I cringe whenever I think about a reading I did then. I won't go into detail but it involved suggesting tantric sex (something I only vaguely know of) to somebody and I was mortified in retrospect. If that was a spiritual experience, it was a bad "trip" I think. :bugeyed? :p

I enjoy using my cards without enhancement. I even gave up caffeinated coffee. So that was my "spiritual awakening" about not doing readings under the influence.
 

violetdaisy

How much influence?

As in the above posts, everyone has different sensitivities to even things like sugar. Some individuals build some kind of tolerance, other's don't. I used to work 3rds and 20oz of Mtn. Dew would "wire" me and having me bouncing off the walls like a five year old who's had too much cake well into morning. So, I definitely wouldn't be able to read in that state because my concentration level would be limited to that of a squirrel.

However, I can and do read after having one or two "paced" drinks (not more than 1 an hour and sipping not slamming down shots). If I have too much or have drinks too close together then my readings don't make a whole lot of sense. The cards are still enlightening and tend to be relevant - after I'm sober. So I can draw cards inebriated, but I can't read them!

If you want to see how you do; take a picture of the spread and record what you say (via audio recording).
 

Zephyros

Different drugs have different effects and not every one that has psychoactive effects is appropriate for every spiritual endeavour. Being drunk in a sweat lodge is missing the point of the sweat lodge, while taking ecstasy while trying to meditate won't get the user very far in either. Like pairing wine to food, it's important to fit the activity to the drug, and Tarot is a peculiar combination of spiritual as well as intellectual, so a drug that would turn either "off" would be unsuitable.
 

AnemoneRosie

violetdaisy said:
However, I can and do read after having one or two "paced" drinks (not more than 1 an hour and sipping not slamming down shots). If I have too much or have drinks too close together then my readings don't make a whole lot of sense. The cards are still enlightening and tend to be relevant - after I'm sober. So I can draw cards inebriated, but I can't read them!
Click to expand...

I read in bars, so this is exactly what I do; get a beer and nurse it for 2 clients (each client is 30-40 min) and then get a beer with my 3rd client. I don't do more than a handful clients in an evening, so that keeps me at two beers over the course of a few hours.

However, the OP was wondering more about hallucinogens. So here's what I think: my brain doesn't do hallucinogens, so I haven't tried. However, if we look at cultures that incorporate such substances into their religious rites, they tend to involve very little external stimuli (beyond sound) into their rites. So it's not really necessary, I don't think.

If OP wants to be an intrepid explorer in this area then the usual recommendations for responsible substance use apply.
 

ldiddy

This OP does not plan to indulge any mind altering substances or explore this personally anytime soon. Even if I were still into "substances," I was interested in the idea of a master tarotist (on par with the rabbis, priest, yoshi referenced in the article) evaluating the spiritual connections drawn and felt from an entirely (and chemically) altered perspective. I'll be watching for the results of the John Hopkins study, too. It is still interesting to me.

I think if I'd been into tarot back in those wilder, younger days I might have given it a try, but definitely not now. I'll stick to natural interactions with the cards pushed as far as I can with my own mind and magic :)
 

ldiddy

Quote from originally linked article...

"The researchers, who are dividing the psilocybin sessions between their two universities, plan to see if these ministers can use their spiritual practice and the vocabulary of religious study to provide insight into those sacred psychedelic moments that so often seem to transcend words. They’re also hoping to gain insight into the broader benefits of mystical experiences—and it turns out, there may not be much of a difference between ones that are drug-induced and those that arise organically."

Written by Shelby Hartman
 
Are some decks more likely than others to hold onto energies? What are your thoughts on the infamous "Happy Squirrel" card?