Blue Fury
Crystelle said:
Chrystelle, you are a true philosopher!
I'll remember this phrase next time I'm being pelted...
This forum is great isn't it?
Fury x (can't stop chuckling)
How Do You Respond to Skeptics and Non-Believers?
Chrystelle, you are a true philosopher!
I'll remember this phrase next time I'm being pelted...
This forum is great isn't it?
Fury x (can't stop chuckling)
pleroma
Thanks everyone, you are all so welcoming and give such good advice. I think i do need to banish any feelings in myself that i might be kooky for believing in the tarot before i will be able to bring my beliefs to anyone else. All of your self-confidence and optimism is inspiring and I feel like i have joined a real community here at aeclectic. Thank you all so much, I look forward to seeing you all on the forums.
-Nick
-Nick
Crystelle
Thanks Fury! KissesBlue Fury said:Chrystelle, you are a true philosopher!
I'll remember this phrase next time I'm being pelted...
This forum is great isn't it?
Fury x (can't stop chuckling)
I try! True Sagittarrian I guess
Crystellekaspian
At the time I got intensely interested in the tarot, I was in my mid-20s and living in Washington, DC, at Dupont Circle, which at the time was more or less the gay ghetto. My friends were mostly either serious political types or struggling artist/writer/musician bohemians. I never felt that any of them particularly shared my spiritual interests or proclivities, so I more or less reconciled myself to pursuing these matters in a solitary manner, while remaining quite sociable generally.
I cloaked my tarot reading in a couple of layers of irony and humor. I developed sort of a party act called the Mystic Wasp. (This was a play on my own reputation at the time of being a slightly quaint, tweedy Episcopalian type.) I would pull out my tarot deck and various supporting paraphernalia -- an indigo silk spread sheet embroidered with golden stars, a small crystal ball, an incense holder -- and announce that the Mystic Wasp was now going to reveal certain timeless and timely truths. Usually I only did one or two readings, for people that (for whatever reason) seemed to want or need one at the moment. I was quite serious about all this, inwardly, and I found that (oddly, perhaps) all the Gypsy carnival routine actually turned out to be helpful to me as well as entertaining to the spectators.
Now the funny thing was, all these people who would never have DREAMED of admitting to any sort of belief in the tarot or the supernatural -- and who in fact were mostly too cool and sophisticated to betray any interest in spirituality at large -- could not WAIT to have their cards read. They couldn't seem to decide how seriously to take the whole thing, perhaps because they couldn't figure out whether *I* was serious or not. But I just went ahead with the act and tried to give the most meaningful readings I could, and most of the time I did genuinely have that feeling of being "plugged in" to the cards. Sometimes, much later, people would refer to readings I had done for them -- usually to comment that they wished they had been paying better attention, in light of subsequent developments.
I have no idea whether any of this might have any resonance with your own situation. But I suppose I would say that it *is* possible to remain hip among hipsters, and suitably ironic among the worldly and sophisticated, without abandoning your own inner quest for spiritual growth -- or for anything else -- and without having to get into fruitless and awkward debates over whether the whole thing is just air-headed New Age mumbo-jumbo. If somebody really wants to talk, then you can talk. But if they just want to "debunk" you, then screw that. Laugh it off, or pat their hands and apologize for having rattled their comfy little worldview. Hardened materialists are, after all, among the most fervid and easily upset of fundamentalists.
I cloaked my tarot reading in a couple of layers of irony and humor. I developed sort of a party act called the Mystic Wasp. (This was a play on my own reputation at the time of being a slightly quaint, tweedy Episcopalian type.) I would pull out my tarot deck and various supporting paraphernalia -- an indigo silk spread sheet embroidered with golden stars, a small crystal ball, an incense holder -- and announce that the Mystic Wasp was now going to reveal certain timeless and timely truths. Usually I only did one or two readings, for people that (for whatever reason) seemed to want or need one at the moment. I was quite serious about all this, inwardly, and I found that (oddly, perhaps) all the Gypsy carnival routine actually turned out to be helpful to me as well as entertaining to the spectators.
Now the funny thing was, all these people who would never have DREAMED of admitting to any sort of belief in the tarot or the supernatural -- and who in fact were mostly too cool and sophisticated to betray any interest in spirituality at large -- could not WAIT to have their cards read. They couldn't seem to decide how seriously to take the whole thing, perhaps because they couldn't figure out whether *I* was serious or not. But I just went ahead with the act and tried to give the most meaningful readings I could, and most of the time I did genuinely have that feeling of being "plugged in" to the cards. Sometimes, much later, people would refer to readings I had done for them -- usually to comment that they wished they had been paying better attention, in light of subsequent developments.
I have no idea whether any of this might have any resonance with your own situation. But I suppose I would say that it *is* possible to remain hip among hipsters, and suitably ironic among the worldly and sophisticated, without abandoning your own inner quest for spiritual growth -- or for anything else -- and without having to get into fruitless and awkward debates over whether the whole thing is just air-headed New Age mumbo-jumbo. If somebody really wants to talk, then you can talk. But if they just want to "debunk" you, then screw that. Laugh it off, or pat their hands and apologize for having rattled their comfy little worldview. Hardened materialists are, after all, among the most fervid and easily upset of fundamentalists.
calligirl
Good luck finding an answer. I don't have it. I'm in the Bible Belt and don't dare mention any such heretic thoughts around here for fear of what retaliation there may be, not for me so much as for my kids in school.
Oddly enough, I have the most problem with my own sibling who feels I will end up wearing tinfoil on my head and being locked away (that happened to a relative who delved into the occult too deeply but that's another story) for being too interested in the Tarot and runes, etc. I don't mention it to her at all, haven't now for about a year but she still brings it up every time she talks to my husband, that I should be watched carefully for signs that I'm cracking.
My reassurance comes from this forum and all the friendly folks here who don't SOUND like they're crazy...surely all these people can't be wearing tinfoil...
In all seriousness, be true to yourself and know that you're not really alone.
Oddly enough, I have the most problem with my own sibling who feels I will end up wearing tinfoil on my head and being locked away (that happened to a relative who delved into the occult too deeply but that's another story) for being too interested in the Tarot and runes, etc. I don't mention it to her at all, haven't now for about a year but she still brings it up every time she talks to my husband, that I should be watched carefully for signs that I'm cracking.
My reassurance comes from this forum and all the friendly folks here who don't SOUND like they're crazy...surely all these people can't be wearing tinfoil...
In all seriousness, be true to yourself and know that you're not really alone.
tarotbear
What does/will the tinfoil wrapped around their head do? (All I can see is bunches of people waiting around for butter like Baked Potatoes.) 
MeeWah
I generally prefer to not. Respond, that is to skeptics/non-believers. Although walking away is a response of sorts. & also leaves them to ponder, perhaps.
Sentient
Mystic Wasp
kapsian: thank you for relating those events.
I heard the sincerity of your words, and found it insightful that it was precisely the ambiguity of the situation (with regard to how seriously you were taking yourself), that allowed others to follow their true impulses. Later they could always say that they "just did it as a joke."
No matter my own seriousness concerning the cards, I must say that there is still a small part of me that sides with convention and orthodoxy and disdains my faith in something extra-rational. I think if the war was just on the outside it wouldn't matter so much. Unfortunately it resonates within as well.
It occurred to me that although the "Mystic Wasp" is taken that I might create my own party persona, and deftly outsmart all those too smart for their own good, including myself.
kapsian: thank you for relating those events.
I heard the sincerity of your words, and found it insightful that it was precisely the ambiguity of the situation (with regard to how seriously you were taking yourself), that allowed others to follow their true impulses. Later they could always say that they "just did it as a joke."
No matter my own seriousness concerning the cards, I must say that there is still a small part of me that sides with convention and orthodoxy and disdains my faith in something extra-rational. I think if the war was just on the outside it wouldn't matter so much. Unfortunately it resonates within as well.
It occurred to me that although the "Mystic Wasp" is taken that I might create my own party persona, and deftly outsmart all those too smart for their own good, including myself.
Tabby
I have been messing with tarot for a couple of years now. I mainly read for myself and the people on the reading exchange. And on the whole, I really don't advertise that I read the tarot to the main populus. Part of the reason, is that I am in a little god-fearing little town that may not understand it. But, the people that know me the best know that I have an interest in it.
The only skeptic that I have known about it was my ex boyfriend. He didn't believe in tarot or psychics. It was nothing personal, it just wasn't something he believed in. And I really didn't see any outright opposition on the topic from him.
The only opposition or outright no goodness about the subject of tarot came from the website that my ex-boyfriend introduced me to. I'm no longer on it. But, one of the moderators of that website tracked down what I bought of E-Bay. And what I buy off of E-Bay is a lot of tarot stuff, i.e tarot bags, crystals, etc. Anyway, she put down like a description of a tarot bag that I bought and put beside it a remark. Like, scary or a laughing face. Of course, I'm not on that website anymore. But, that was the first time that I felt some sort of, oh how do I put it, that I and the tarot was misunderstood. It was like I wanted to hide in a closet after that. But, after that passed I realized it wasn't so much me as that moderator. To me tarot has brought me enlightenment and has helped me so much. It is like a friend who is there to give me advice and make me see what is going on, whether I want to or not.
But, from that experience I learned that everyone is not going to see everything I do or I am interested in as something that is hip or happening. Some may find what I'm interested in as something to make fun at or they may see it as scary. But, that is because they don't understand it and I consider it their loss. But, I'm not going to take it personal. And because of AT I feel like I know I'm not alone.
The only skeptic that I have known about it was my ex boyfriend. He didn't believe in tarot or psychics. It was nothing personal, it just wasn't something he believed in. And I really didn't see any outright opposition on the topic from him.
The only opposition or outright no goodness about the subject of tarot came from the website that my ex-boyfriend introduced me to. I'm no longer on it. But, one of the moderators of that website tracked down what I bought of E-Bay. And what I buy off of E-Bay is a lot of tarot stuff, i.e tarot bags, crystals, etc. Anyway, she put down like a description of a tarot bag that I bought and put beside it a remark. Like, scary or a laughing face. Of course, I'm not on that website anymore. But, that was the first time that I felt some sort of, oh how do I put it, that I and the tarot was misunderstood. It was like I wanted to hide in a closet after that. But, after that passed I realized it wasn't so much me as that moderator. To me tarot has brought me enlightenment and has helped me so much. It is like a friend who is there to give me advice and make me see what is going on, whether I want to or not.
But, from that experience I learned that everyone is not going to see everything I do or I am interested in as something that is hip or happening. Some may find what I'm interested in as something to make fun at or they may see it as scary. But, that is because they don't understand it and I consider it their loss. But, I'm not going to take it personal. And because of AT I feel like I know I'm not alone.
