Why did you start learning tarot?

I have been able to communicate with the world "above" ever since I can remember. I think I inherited these abilities from my grandma. Anyway, I never new what they were . I really was clueless, there wasn't much information about it out there and my family never believed in such a thing...so I never talked about it to anyone. I took them as a part of "me".
When I was 19, my boyfriend took me to a professional tarot reader. This lady was a-ma-zing. During that reading, my eyes opened and I told myself, "This is what I need to work with. This is what I want to do".
It took me a few tumultuous years to get my first tarot deck, but once I did, I took off!

Anyone with a similar story?

JONIKA said:

I have been able to communicate with the world "above" ever since I can remember. I think I inherited these abilities from my grandma. Anyway, I never new what they were . I really was clueless, there wasn't much information about it out there and my family never believed in such a thing...so I never talked about it to anyone. I took them as a part of "me".
When I was 19, my boyfriend took me to a professional tarot reader. This lady was a-ma-zing. During that reading, my eyes opened and I told myself, "This is what I need to work with. This is what I want to do".
It took me a few tumultuous years to get my first tarot deck, but once I did, I took off!

Anyone with a similar story?

Click to expand...

Sadly, no. I've honestly had terrible experience with "psychics" around here. They're mostly scam artists looking to sell people things to "banish bad spirits around them"
It's a shame they're still around and taken seriously. There's never a reason to pay $150 for a "banishing candle"!
My mom had a horrible experience with a deck given to her by a witch back in the day that would predict horrible readings. She's still afraid to have readings done, even from me.
My family was never really supportive about anything involving the other world but my mom has come around.
I wish I had more people around here with a similar gift!

Achlys, I am so sorry to hear that. Sadly, it happens and good people fall victims to these predators - someone once told me about these "curse banishers" (interestingly, she mentioned NYC) and how bad they were.

On the other hand, there are those tarot readers who are genuine and their intentions are good. This site is full of them

There are definitely a lot of serious readers...just sadly not in this area.
I'd love to find a good one, though.
You can't even really trust reviews because if people believe in these predators, they leave them positive feedback. It's such a shame.

Why start reading tarot?

grew up in spiritual environment. Mom & Grandmother with Christian. Mom's seen ghosts, read our horoscopes, loved Unsolved Mysteries. Parents separated early, but Dad loved astrology, buddhism, Sylvia Browne. Married a woman who was psychic, allowed him to communicate with his long deceased mother. So many parents friends had psychic insights, ghost sightings, ouija board stories, visited mediums. So even though I was expected to be a good Christian, there were all these little exceptions.

Decided I was agnostic at a young age, before I really knew what it meant. Still prayed in a ritualistic OCD way. When I hit 13 and decided I was an atheist it was like a weight had been lifted off.

Teenage phase of goth stuff. Saw a tarot deck on a TV show, wanted one (first tarot exposure was Miss Cleo, adults called her a charlatan), but this fictional show piqued my curiosity. Mentioned I wanted a deck to my dad. He asked my mom, she said she was fine with it. Turns out my uncles wife is a spiritualist/medium/fortune teller. Within a week she'd given my dad a copy of the Moon Garden to give to me.

I'd read for everyone, with the LWB. Bought Waite's pictorial key, didn't understand how his meanings fit that deck. I had the internet at the time, but for some reason it never occured to me to research tarot on my own. Like it was something I needed to learn from other people and books and there had to be One Right Way.

14 & Dad finds a bookseller with a lot of tarot decks. I wanted the Thoth, but it seemed so scary. Walked out with the Crow's Magick.

Still read for everyone. Kept using the Moon Garden & Pictorial Key, though. Gave Crow's Magick to a friend. Mom's friend with Leukemia asked me to read for him about his child custody case. Bright sunny day, did the Celtic cross while listing off Moon Garden's keywords. I don't remember the reading itself but it unsettled me physically. He died within the week, his kids shipped off to live with their mother who'd previously lost custody until guy's cancer got progressive enough that he couldn't look after them. I put the cards away for a long time.

18 or 19 the Osho Zen on Stumble Upon. It's in my local bookshop, I buy it. Find AT. Buy the Tarot of the Magical Forest and the Phantasmagoric Theater. Local library has a copy of It's All in the Cards, I check it out at least 10 times.

Here I am. 26 now. This has been an amazing 'hobby' the past few years. I've acquired quite a few decks, read a lot of books, developed my own feelings about things, belief systems. Still growing. Still happy.

Achlys
That's pretty awful. Especially, if you can't trust the reviews...I have a similar problem, only that there are NO tarot readers in the area.

I picked 'something new to learn' each year for many years.
I saw a free class on Tarot on a book sellers website and thought "hey! That would be a meaty subject, so many different facets.."

And here I am, still learning.
I bought my first tarot deck off eBay, the Druidcraft Animal Oracle Didn't know the difference between oracle and tarot.

When I was a kid my grandma showed mе how to use playing cards for divination. I did readings for myself and for the girls of my age since I was 10 or even younger. When I got older I just realized that Tarot is more serious and complex system.

All these lovely stories about the influences of parents and grandparents My story is not nearly so inspired. I was in the new age section of the college bookstore with a friend in the late 1990's. She was from a conservative, religious family and was basically looking for something to irritate her parents with. I happened to see the rider deck, had a few extra dollars, and thought it would be a fun, goofy thing to waste time on. My family had an old zolar deck when I was young, but just as a game along with scrabble, the ouija board and monopoly- not a spiritual or religious upbringing at all. My friend quickly tired of the goddess book she bought, but I really connected with the rider deck.