When someone enters your home, do they know?

So, when someone enters your home, would they know from just looking around that you are a tarot reader or collector?

Would they have to come further inside than just your front room / living room before they encountered any tarot decks or books? Or are your tarot decks and materials obviously in sight as soon as they set foot in the door?

Or -- would a stranger be able to come in, sit and talk, walk around a bit, etc. and never see evidence of your interest in tarot? Would they not know unless you told them?

My own answer to the question: They wouldn't know just from looking inside the front door (i.e. the pizza delivery person wouldn't know). But if they step in, my tarot room is immediately to their left.

Now, if my tarot room doors were shut and they went into the living area instead, there's no direct evidence there except that I usually have a few tarot decks beside my comfy chair. They'd have to be paying attention to details to know the decks were there, in other words.

If for some oddball reason they came in the front door and ran right up the stairs . . . well, they'd never know. There's one deck in a basket beside the bed, but otherwise the upstairs holds no evidence that a tarot-ist lives in the house.

I have all my goodies in my bedroom, where people usually do not come in. But last summer when my appartment was on sale and we were receiving many visits I covered my tarot decks and books with a .. ... cloth. Sorry I dont know how do you say pañuelo in english.

ivanna said:

I have all my goodies in my bedroom, when people usually do not come in. But last summer when my appartment was on sale and we were receiving many visits I covered my tarot decks and books with a .. ... cloth. Sorry I dont know how do you say pañuelo in english.

Click to expand...

Neckerchief!!!!

Well, I live in an attic loft so....

I live in a large open loft, but with nooks and so even if they walked into the l.r., where there isn't a good space for me to read, they wouldn't necessarily notice. I keep a lot of decks out, most in cases, and a reading table next to my computer which is in a nook next to the l.r. (and in plain sight if you're standing in the middle of the living room, it's off to the side). BUT they would get a clue something is up just coming to my attic door that says, Forget about the Ghosts, Beware of Me (that a friend got me last Halloween) and my living room has a fireplace and on it things like a wooden raven, a Buddha, vintage b/w pix, and then there is my sign that says the white witch in Spanish and a witch's broom a friend got me. So whether or not they saw my decks, they might think something is a little off what they may consider...ordinary . But I don't invite tons of people to my home, so not a big deal anyway, even here in a small Midwest town.

Mine are definitely in sight.

If I invite someone into my home, they probably already know I read and collect tarot. They probably won't notice right away, as the "dog tide" will be all over them.

No one just casually walking through my living room would know. But if they sat in the chair in front of the corner bookshelf, or on the end of the sofa nearby, and actually read the book titles there, they'd see Astrology, Tarot, and I Ching books. If they looked in the baskets on the shelf, they'd see lots of Tarot, Lenormand, and playing card decks.

I do try to put the more "acceptable" or serious looking titles in the more visible places, because my husband is an academic research scientist and we host scientist-filled gatherings in our home regularly. (I'm actually very scientifically minded myself, so no judgment there, but I know what most of them would think and don't need to have those conversations, and I figure I can save my husband some grief as well!)

The more controversial hoodoo, magick, and witchcraft books are hidden more effectively on the back row of the bottom shelf.

No one would know who didn't know me well. I don't "look the part" either. I'm very...um...non-traditional??? when it comes to my spiritual/tarot side. I tend to wear "sporty" clothes, dainty gold jewelry with no crystals, except maybe diamonds, I don't burn incense or anything of that sort, I have a country decorated home, and I'm a huge baseball fan, so I have memorabilia of my fave baseball team around. You would have to go upstairs to one of the bedrooms in my house to see that it is not a bedroom, but my room where I have a table set up for my readings, and also a massage table for reiki, as well as all my books and cards. This is where my customers come who I work with. I will say, people would have to look closely to notice that I do have stones and crystals on many of my window sills inside, but they don't stand out much, except for my kitchen window, but they are mixed in with many other decorations. I have always said I like people to know ME before I tell them that I do tarot, because then they are sometimes surprised or can rid themselves of their preconceived notions regarding that sort of thing.

I have everything in separate bookshelves in my computer room, or in use on my desk. I don't bring visitors in here, so they won't see any of it. Not that I care if they do, of course.

I often have a tarot deck or book in the living room or on the dining room table, but 99.9% of the collection is usually in the study. (Right now I do have a Xerox paper box of decks by my computer in the living room waiting for me to continue adding them to the trading list I've been setting up for over a year now. Don't ask.)

None of that stuff is viewable from the front door. As you walk towards the living room though, the hall to the study is off to your right. Look down the hall and you'll see some of my tarot prints on the wall. If they go into the study, they would have to be blind not to see all the bookcases full of decks and books.

Rodney

Depends on whether or not I've tidied up...but if they make it into the house, I probably have. So no, it's not likely.

All Tarot related stuff is in my bedroom, usually in a drawer, when not in use. Decks are all bagged anyway, so even if one was out, it wouldn't really be noticeable enough to comment on. While there are Windstone Editions dragon sculpts and ornate old daggers and such scattered here and there, anyone who gets in here probably also already knows I read & write fantasy, so they're not going to associate anything they see with anything beyond that. And everyone knows my husband's collections are WAY odder than anything I bring into the house. Those are likely to be noticed first, as he never picks up after himself, so random bits of his weird stuff is absolutely everywhere.

But honestly, the few people I have coming into my home probably already know. And if we're talking, say, repair people, the Tarot related stuff isn't the first thing I'd put out of sight.