Tarot Burn-Out

[tigerlily]

What you should NOT do is putting the cards away completely - I did this when I had Tarot burn-out, and it was *years* before I could bear looking at them, let alone use them! It's as if I had taken that low feeling with me and it prevented me from taking the cards out again. I had to force my way back!

 

[WalesWoman]

Seems like I get tarot burn-outs when I'm super depressed about something and don't want to know the future or would rather not think about anything at all. Probably is when I should turn to tarot to find my way out of it. Usually it comes when I've had a lousy reading and lose confidence and that's when it's time to sign up for a reading exchange... but sometimes tarot burn out just happens cause there is too much other things happening and don't have the time, nor the inclination to pull out a deck and think that hard.

For sure do not give away or sell your decks during a tarot funk, because they are only temporary, but it's really hard sometimes to get those decks you thought you could live without and find out you don't want to.

 

[missy]

You need to find a way to make it fun again.

Sigh.

Hard to "make it fun" right now. The idea of playing with the cards should seem fun but doesn't.

I'm a perfectionist too and sometimes I just don't want to read for people because I worry about letting them down.

I can beat myself up really well, to the point where I stop a hobby because I decide I can never achieve perfection.

In my life a recurrent theme is, I find a hobby I like, start to get pretty good at it, expect too much of myself, and give it up entirely.

Consciously it feels like burn-out, a lack of desire, a disinterest. But what I really think it is, subconsciously, is fear of failure.

 

[missy]

Do not sell them!

The decks wouldn't get sold; they would just sit in the drawer and rot.

 

[missy]

What you should NOT do is putting the cards away completely - I did this when I had Tarot burn-out, and it was *years* before I could bear looking at them, let alone use them! It's as if I had taken that low feeling with me and it prevented me from taking the cards out again. I had to force my way back!

tigerlily, I definitely relate to this, too.

It is so easy to think of just putting the cards away, then going into my typical "non-confrontational" mode, which means "ignore it until it goes away."

So I ignore the decks for a few years, until as you said I am no longer to use them. I have done that before, too.

Yes, there is *definitely * a low feeling associated with this.

As for forcing my way back, I forced myself to give nisaba a reading I owed her in the Reading Exchange. I have ZERO plans for any more readings at this point. I have zero desire to read for anyone, either myself or someone else.

So that wasn't exactly forcing myself back -- it was only a temporary, "let me get this over with so I have fulfilled this obligation" type thing, and the reading turned out pretty good; I don't even know how, honestly.

But then, the problem does seem to be internal. It isn't how others perceive my readings. It is about how I perceive them.

The idea of reading for nisaba was kind of like that "falling off the horse, get right back on again" feeling. Like maybe if I read for her, I could force myself past this block.

But now that it's over, I feel nothing but relief. I know I need to get past this block, though.

 

[missy]

Seems like I get tarot burn-outs when I'm super depressed about something and don't want to know the future or would rather not think about anything at all.

I definitely think being depressed is linked with it, for me at least. It isn't the only factor, though.

Probably is when I should turn to tarot to find my way out of it. Usually it comes when I've had a lousy reading and lose confidence

I don't think that's it for me. It seems to happen spontaneously within me. It doesn't seem related at all to giving someone a "bad reading."

and that's when it's time to sign up for a reading exchange...

Maybe this is the best thing to do; just sign up and keep going. I had a Transparent Tarot readings going in the Reading Exchange but kind of just let it drop.

Maybe it is best, but ... ugh. I don't want to. Not planning to. Not yet.

Some people have a ton of energy and can get in there and read. I do find that reading for others *definitely* saps my strength!

 

[missy]

Thank you to everyone for your responses. I need to keep talking about this, because if I stop talking about this, maybe I would just give up and go away.

~~~~~~

What does anyone know about the process of grounding? My problem seems two-fold. One is the desire to achieve perfection. Two is I feel sapped of strength when reading for others.

So, any information on grounding would be helpful.

~~~~~~

When I was growing up, and -- sorry if this seems like I am rambling, -- it is something I figured out only recently. When I was four, I used to play checkers with my father. He would never let me win. He would always win, and I would always cry. And he would laugh at me, crying. A four-year-old. What kind of father does that???

So I think what I learned is, it is painful to grow and learn and become better and succeed at something because it involves failure. Failure is too painful, so at some point I stop trying so I won't fail, because failure is so painful.

(Sinduction, it goes back to what you said about perfectionism.)

So now, I get to a point in my tarot growth process, and start expecting too much of myself. The path of least resistance is quitting. It is also the path I am most familiar with.

 

[seanchai]

I did this for nine years, off and on... read voraciously, then quit, then went back to it, then quit, etc. Some of it was depression, some was perfectionism, some was fear of failure (I have a *paralyzing* fear of failure, which for me personally is separate from my perfectionism as such).

For me, what fixed it was finding a different deck, one that I clicked with enough to read well with and just plain liked to *look* at, in a way that felt meaningful and peaceful to me... nowadays, when I don't feel like reading, I take my cards out anyway and just admire them, go 'visit' the people in them, make up stories about them... that way, I'm still interacting with the cards, but there's not this overwhelming pressure to "perform"... I can just enjoy.

 

[edie605]

I have had this experience before. I didn't even what to grab my cards. Idk it felt like even if i did i would not be able to get anything out of the reading. It took about a week and a half for this to go away. I knew i just had to wait it out until i felt i could do another reading.

 

[nisaba]

As for forcing my way back, I forced myself to give nisaba a reading I owed her in the Reading Exchange. I have ZERO plans for any more readings at this point. I have zero desire to read for anyone, either myself or someone else.

The idea of reading for nisaba was kind of like that "falling off the horse, get right back on again" feeling. Like maybe if I read for her, I could force myself past this block.

What she hasn't mentioned is that she did extraordinarily well, and touched on some profound stuff that I really need to face.

Missy_, why not play Tarot Solitaire?

Shuffle well, then lay out a grid exactly like conventional Solitaire/Patience, only running nine columns wide.

Use the standard rules, with these modifications: new rows can be started by Kings, The Fool or The Wheel. When working out the minors, inste3ad of alternating suits the way you alternate reds and blacks in cnventional solitaire, run each column as a single suit. With the Major Arcana, run that in strict numerical order.

This game is much more satisfying than regular playing-card solitaire, and is a nice way of keeping the images in front of your eyes when you really feel you shouldn't read. Solution - do something different.