"If I knew then, what I know now"

[Rosanne]

If I knew then what I know now, I would have been overwhelmed. I am somewhat pleased at my ignorance in one way- because I am a believer in the written word; I would have believed this person today, and tomorrow, that person. I always wrote things down but I probally would have tried to find a Tarot Mentor and I would have searched for some info on Pamela Colman Smith. I think my interest in History would have had a different emphasis as well. ~Rosanne

 

[Emeraldgirl]

If I knew then what I know now i would have kept my journal much morwe up to date. i also would have started exploring other decks earlier (It took me 10 years to go from my first deck to buy a second one) I also would have listened to my own thoughts more and not have gotten as discouraged by other people telling me their rules for tarot which were different from my style.

 

[Grigori]

I would have stayed with my first deck and kept going until I was a tarot reader, and not just a "tarot owner who is too confused to use the cards more than once a year"

I wish I'd found someone else who used tarot (or AT of course ) so it wasn't a solitary struggle for me.

 

[Zephyros]

Of course in hinsight, it would be easy to say of I had known this or that, then things would be different. However, and it is a big however, the aim is not always to get there, but the journey itself. Tarot has had a big influence on my life and my character, and that has come to pass through the years of studying, and asking.

I wouldn't change it for the world I wouldn't give up all the fun I had when i started. But I suppose The only thing that I would change was to find Aeclectic a few years sooner!!

 

[Sophie]

Not sure what I would do differently. I have loved my journey so far...it's taken so many twists and turns.

Until recently, I never had more than 2 decks with me at a time, for at least two years at a time. I started with RWS and kept working with it for quite a while.

I might journal more - I do now. Yet so much of my life is spent writing, it's wonderful to spend time with the imagery without filtering it with my pen. I wish I had discovered the Marseille sooner. But I have now, so it's not really a regret.

The only thing I would change is tarot-related, but not directly: I wish I had learnt techniques of meditation before I did (only a few months ago) because I always had trouble meditating, and since I was taught this method, a whole new world of meditation, creative visualisation, controlled trance and travel has opened up for me. I think all this would have enhanced my approach to tarot.

 

[Major Tom]

I don't always contribute to the New Members threads, but I do take a look at the posts to see who is joining and enjoy reading about others experiences and what brings them to the site and tarot, in general.

Sometimes, I read the new posts with a slight feeling of envy. When someone is very new to tarot, there is such excitement in their posts - it really shows through. They are hungry to learn and seek knowledge and advice from others here at AT.

I am still very excited about tarot but along the way, there has been many things that have either hindered my learning or things I may have done differently, if I had known.

There's so much here that I don't know where to start.

I always respond to New Members when I'm around. One can learn so much and I think it's important to affirm that Aeclectic has room for everyone.

In a way, what you may have done differently becomes the advice you would give someone new.

The things I'd have done differently:

1) Found a group, either led by a mentor or not, that worked through the tarot in some sort of structured basis. People I could meet face-to-face regularly.

2) Created my own tarot deck sooner rather than later.

Now, the internet didn't exist when I started, but these days I'd advise anyone interested in tarot to join Aeclectic Tarot Forums.

 

[rcb30872]

Little Buddha

I have only been interested in the tarot for a few months. I have two decks, one I use all the time, and the other one I very rarely touch as I find it too confusing.

I know very little about the history, I do not have a journal. Given me some food for thought. Shall have to really think about it at some stage. (however on the journal, I have been using scrapbooks, a few loose pages, and now am on one of those A4 lecture pads, but not a journal as such). In the journal, not only would you write spreads and readings, but would you also find little insights about the cards themselves that you have had along the way??

Bec

 

[The Dreamer]

I wouldn't change anything.

I first used tarot just at the time I needed to. If I had tried it before then, I doubt it would have helped me, or that I would have been ready for the implications of it, or that I would have recognized the radically mysterious nature of it. Got to try the going your own way- relying entirely on intellect first and then see how totally different tarot is from the mind and ego (and that ego driven mind based stuff that people often falsely call "intuition")- and getting such strong proofs of its usefulness and truthfulness to really understand that.

Every deck I got, I got at the right time, and I like them all. My first deck remains my favorite, though.

I am quite happy with the way I approached it (or it approached me). It was the best way for me. I was not influenced in any way by anyone's "rules" about it, and I remain uninfluenced. Tarot was and is the most magical and mysterious thing in my life.

I still mostly use the books, and don't consider myself a "reader". This is pleasing to me, because I feel in touch with the heart of divination this way. I just let it tell me what it wants to tell me. It is for myself, but it is not myself, and it is in line with my desire to understand the truth of things. I may change my approaches to using tarot in the future. If I do, I'm sure the changes will happen at the right time.


I find it bizarre to hear of others' ideas and regrets about this. Such as how it would have been better to find AT earlier, so as not to feel alone. I love AT, but tarot itself is what showed me that I was not alone. Feeling alone in general has always been a given in my life. I doubt that finding AT earlier would have helped me in any way. And it seems that the people who I am supposed to be interacting with now are here now.
And the statements that people have made about feeling overwhelmed with information about tarot or feeling that they were not "allowed" to use tarot in the way which was most effective for them- I find these particularly sad and surprising. Tarot for me has been what let me navigate through things without getting bogged down in information. (I always find the admonition which is often repeated here to "journal" as amusing- I never journaled, and remember most of my readings [even one card draws] to this day. Remembering things in general tends to be a problem for me- I remember too much, not the other way around. [This is another reason why I like using the books- it becomes about the moment, and not about "remembering". I don't divine to remember, but to understand and to move into the future. "Remembering" and "examining the past" are things I do far too well.] )
And divination for me is like the anti-dogma. I never saw it as something which is a structure of people telling each other how to do things, but rather as a direct personal mystical experience.

I would urge everyone to remember that divination is not about the cards, or what people say about how everyone should supposedly use them, but about what divination points to. It points to a mystery. Each individual is free to approach that mystery in their own way.

I would have saved myself the time and aggravation
of learning the "standard" attributions for the Majors.

The Golden Dawn screwed everything up, everything...
beginning with Aleph=Zero. The whole system is wrong
and it's the one everybody reads in all the books. Why?

Aleph=One: the first letter and the first card. So easy!

I do not understand this. The Golden dawn is irrelevant to me, and I read with such a variety of decks, the idea of any one system of attributions for divination purposes being "right" I find strange.
I must say though that I do find it intriguing though that the Thoth cards work so well for me and others who I've done the calculation for as year and soul/personality cards- this does make me wonder if they might be more universally "right" for that purpose (and if so, why.)

I don't think there is a right way to practice divination. I think that it is individual. But I do wonder about some deeper more universal "truth" being hidden in the ideas of the tarot.

 

[Moonbow]

I would definately have bought fewer decks, and been a little more selective.

Having said that, I only had one deck when I joined Aeclectic (honest!) and each deck has taught me something or lead me to another place.

I wrote everything down in the beginning, and some time later destroyed all the evidence.... I don't regret that, it's a journey and we should move forward with it.

 

[huredriel]

Probably nothing, since I've only been reading Tarot for a few months . I have yet to buy a Tarot book and seem to be going the intuitive way at present, which I am sure will change. I guess the only thing I wish was that I found Tarot earlier in life

x Huredriel