Have you ever lost faith in the Tarot?

[obsidian_queen]

Have any of you ever temporarily lost faith in the Tarot? Whether it was doing readings yourself for yourself/ others or receiving readings from professional readers? For those of you who are practising readers, have you ever hit such a huge snag that you just put your cards away in a box under your bed somewhere and said "nah. not for me."??
Secondly, if this has ever happened, what got you going again?

Just hoping people can share their experiences...I seem to have these crisis periods where I feel like I should forget the whole thing.

 

[Alta]

I have left the tarot, for years at a time. Thrown out my cards, my books and my notes, the whole thing. More than once. Always something brought me back, but I am not sure that I can be specific enough to help. Just suddenly wanted to use them again.

Which brings you to the question of 'losing faith in the cards'. I think that is a big red flag to put them away for a while. Whatever your mind is rebelling against, it needs a break from it.

Hint, don't throw out your cards, notes and books though. You'll be sorry later. Just bundle them up and put them someplace safe.

 

[Deana]

I've done that before: purged myself of books, decks and notes. The first time, I got rid of everything except one deck: Tarot of the Old Path. It sat in its little bag in the back of a kitchen cupboard all alone for a few years, behind matches and Crisco. I pulled it out one day and was back into a Tarot frenzy.

Then, a second time, I purged books and decks and notebooks. Except that time I kept Tarot of the Old Path, Universal Waite, and Hanson Roberts, along with 78 Degrees of Wisdom. I put them in a cardboard box and taped it tight and stuffed it in a closet. They were in a box with about six translations of the Bible and they stayed there for about a year.

My husband would prefer I not get rid of decks and books when I have my next phase like this because he figures Tarot is something that will keep calling me back, even if I abandon it for a year or two here and there. If you feel like forgetting the whole thing, pack it away for awhile and forget it. It will call you back and when it does, you'll find that you learned a lot while you weren't thinking about it. That's what my brain does anyway: it gets overloaded and then during my time away it sorts it all out. Kids learn this way too: you cram in all the phonics and they don't get it and then you put the phonics away and after three months of watching TV, they're able to read.

As for losing faith in Tarot, I'm not sure I have what could be considered faith, exactly. I'll have to ponder that aspect of it.

 

[WalesWoman]

Tarot and I are still in the early relationship stages, committed but still discovering, so I haven't tossed Tarot or books yet even when it's gotten a bit rocky. I have more periods of losing faith in my ability to read more than with Tarot itself... so I don't do any readings for awhile, don't post my thoughts as often and generally back off to give each other some space. And then I begin to miss it, miss feeling the cards, interacting with other readers and jump back in again.

Sometimes a little break is all you need to appreciate what this sort of relationship has to offer and gives you the perspective to use a different approach or find out what isn't working.

 

[temperlyne]

I wouldn't say I have lost my faith in tarot, I still love studying the archetypes and enjoy the creative journey tarot has led me on. But I did loose my faith in the divinitory powers of tarot. I do not think that there is a power outside myself that makes sure the right cards are picked accept for chance. Tarot derives its powers from the connection I make with its images and so I think it is a great, reflective learning tool. I stopped reading the cards to tell me about things in the future, but I still use my decks to spark my imagination, to delve into the side of things that are less obvious. I suppose I have come to see tarot as a powerful tool for different reasons than when I first started reading the cards, not less powerful but less divine and more personal.

 

[phetish]

yep...

i took about 10 years off. i gave away 1 deck and put the other in a closet. i pulled them out a few weeks ago and now i regret letting them sit for so long.

"lost faith"? not quite the right word for me... questioned my confidence is more like it.

derek

 

[Alpha-Omega]

I would use tarot On and Off. I would read for a month then not read for 3+ months. I have been in "tarot mode" for about 5 months now.

 

[catlin]

I have never lost faith in tarot but some years ago I had a kind of reading burn-out (that was when I disappeard from AT for quite a while).

Several things had happened in my life and I needed a break from everything and all. Of course I kept all my books, decks, etc but I did not use them for a while.

I guess we'll get a kind of overflow and have to withdraw from things we are too much involved in. After the reading break, I gained surface again (well, you see me here) and now I am more interested than ever and can look on different topics from a new point of view.

 

[wildchilde]

"lost faith"? not quite the right word for me... questioned my confidence is more like it.

Very well said, Derek. I have lost faith in myself as a reader several times...most notably once when I deeply hurt someone on this board by my interpretations of their cards (completely unintended on my part, but painful to both of us nonetheless!), and also the night of the 2004 presidential elections as I participated in some group readings here as well as on my own, yet what the cards appeared to say and what happened in reality were two totally different things.

Both of these times (and I'm sure there has been more) I did not throw out my cards, books, or notes. It never even occurred to me. However, I did certainly "blame" myself and berated my ability to understand and interpret the Tarot in the 'correct' way. I simply put my cards away for awhile, and have only utilized them periodically (and with much skepticsm towards myself as a reader) since. For me, the question of "Faith" is not about the cards, but about my own skills and abilities (or lack thereof) as a reader. Why punish my cards for my own inabilities?!

 

[wildchilde]

Secondly, if this has ever happened, what got you going again?

What always gets me going again is twofold:
1) someone asks me for a reading and I feel obligated to at least make an attempt to help shed light on their question or situation by sharing the cards, and
2) the internal (and eternal?) challenge to myself to become a better reader/interpreter of the cards

Wonderful thread, obsidian_queen! Hope more ppl will post their thoughts and experiences about this issue of faith and confidence!