Tarotphobia: How do we feel about it, what do we do about it

[214red]

That's quite a point you bring up here.. Some object to bible thumpers and the like. Yet seem to think that their asserting their right to do a Tarot Reading out aloud for others to overhear, be those others not wanting to be subjected to that, in a public or private place, (like a coffee shop), is somehow in a different catogory...

Welf

Bible thumping to me means someone is throwing it my face, directly and telling me that this is what I have to believe in. if I am in a public place and I overhear a conversation about religion, that’s not thumping that’s their conversation, same with tarot….if someone wants to eavesdrop on my conversation/reading that’s about tarot then that’s up to them, if their then offended by it…again that’s their issue.


I have to say that one of the funniest conversations I had recently was with a white witch, we were sitting next to her and her friend at the bar, and I heard her mention she was a witch (yes I was eavesdropping!). I had just moved to the area so was curious if there were any esoteric shops or groups in the area, so we were chatting and she moaned about the lack of places to meditate. I was starting a small meditation group so invited her along, but did clarify to her that it was even though my friends practice various things (wicca, mediumship etc) meditation only and wasn’t tarot focused so that everyone could enjoy it. She couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t cast spells, I explained that it doesn’t resonate with me so I don’t practice it. She started launching into this tirade that everyone had to do spells, if they didn’t they were stupid and didn’t know anything….now to me that’s 'bible thumping' even if it’s a spell book she is thumping, it means the same to me.

I don’t force people to get involved in my readings, I don’t force them to like or accept what I am doing, I simply want to be.

I am sorry to hear people have lost people they care about due to tarot, I am very lucky that my family whilst they don’t really understand it, they accept me unconditionally.

 

[Welf]

214red:
Bible thumping to me means someone is throwing it my face, directly and telling me that this is what I have to believe in.

I guess it's all in interpretation... To me, being thumped by talk I don't want to listen to, means someone sitting at a coffee table either next to mine or close by talking too loudly... Bible talk, details about their sex life, someone else's Tarot reading, loud mobile phone conversations, music blaring from earphones, anything really.. Talking so loudly that their private conversation dominates and takes over the place. Unless you move to get away from it, you are forced to listen to every word only because you can't compete volume wise.

Personally, I have no problem what anyone close by talks about, they can extol all the virtues of the Bible or go into detail about their latest operation they had on their liver or lay their spells on the table... As long as it doesn't invade and take over my space to a point of distraction where I cannot hear what others are saying to me or be heard myself. Even so, I wouldn't be one to complain to managment about that. Same as I would pack away my Tarot cards if asked by management, not because I'm timid, I'm most certainly not that, but because I can't see the point not to do as asked.

As for someone who I happened to be talking to from choice, and they started to throw something directly in my face telling me what I had to believe in and I thought it was getting obnoxious... I would more than likely extract myself with tact using some excuse and then take off... I have been known on a couple of occasions in my dim past, to jump out windows to escape...

Welf

 

[gregory]

Oh hell yes - other people's sex lives at full volume in a cafe.... TOO MUCH INFORMATION !!!!!

 

[WolfSpirit]

I haven't even read the other thread, but anyway...

To be honest, the most "tarotphobia" Ive come across is someone (usually trendy, urban, savvy type) saying "you don't really believe it do you?" and I give them my usual line, which is;

"Look, I never really think in terms of does it/doesn't it work. All I know is that when I consult the tarot, I get perspectives which Id just never thought of, which can only be a good thing..." Im certainly not out to convert anyone. I mean, who cares?

Ive certainly never had anyone come over all "tis of the devil" type of thing. Thankfully I never come across anyone who thinks like this. I think I'd just guffaw. The most tarotphobic I could possibly cite is a mild incredulity; that I might believe in something as hocus-pocus as this.

Such a long thread already, I have not read everything yet.
LeFanu's situation is very much like my own - people around here are not afraid or hostile towards tarot but many think it is nonsense and can't believe an intelligent person would be interested.
Good response, that you don't think in terms of does it work or not, but that it helps in getting a better perspective. That very much sums up what I would like to say to them

 

[214red]

I guess it's all in interpretation... To me, being thumped by talk I don't want to listen to, means someone sitting at a coffee table either next to mine or close by talking too loudly... Bible talk, details about their sex life, someone else's Tarot reading, loud mobile phone conversations, music blaring from earphones, anything really.. Talking so loudly that their private conversation dominates and takes over the place. Unless you move to get away from it, you are forced to listen to every word only because you can't compete volume wise.

Personally, I have no problem what anyone close by talks about, they can extol all the virtues of the Bible or go into detail about their latest operation they had on their liver or lay their spells on the table... As long as it doesn't invade and take over my space to a point of distraction where I cannot hear what others are saying to me or be heard myself. Even so, I wouldn't be one to complain to managment about that. Same as I would pack away my Tarot cards if asked by management, not because I'm timid, I'm most certainly not that, but because I can't see the point not to do as asked.

As for someone who I happened to be talking to from choice, and they started to throw something directly in my face telling me what I had to believe in and I thought it was getting obnoxious... I would more than likely extract myself with tact using some excuse and then take off... I have been known on a couple of occasions in my dim past, to jump out windows to escape...

Welf

too funny!
i do hate when people are really loud and dominate a room, its like people with Ipods etc who seem to not realise what headphones are for!

sadly i come from a black family and like many cultures their default volume is usually loud, which can get embarrassing...but alot of times they dont know how loud they are!

 

[gregory]

If I had the energy there are some interesting things I could have tried as a result of a conversation I once had to sit through or abandon my muffin......

But I like to be inventive on my own behalf

 

[Nevada]

I think it's natural to want to share what we love with others, especially when it's new to us and we're in that 8 of Wands euphoric place with it. I have no problem with organized religion, as long as it's not thrust in my face. But sometimes it's just someone getting overenthusiastic, not intending to bother anyone.

This reminds me of something that happened when I was a supervisor. One person came to me complaining that another was reading his Bible in his cubicle. Not really asking me to do anything about it, just bitching and moaning. I looked at the clock. It was most people's lunch time (we had flexible hours), and I knew the Bible reader always got his work done. So I said, it's his right to read whatever he wants in his cubicle during his breaks.

On another day, though, the Bible reader got into a LOUD argument over religion with someone in the break room -- which had no walls, was just an open alcove with a kitchenette. I walked up to them and said, "Do you realize that the whole floor can hear you?" Enough said, they shut up and that was it.

 

[le fey]

I can't imagine having an issue with what someone wants to read inside their own cubicle (walls are there for a reason), esp on their own time. Unfortunately, I had a boss who was otherwise a very nice guy who, every so often would get possessed by Jerry Falwell and start highly random comments about how the US was about to be judged for its oh so sinful ways.

I mainly would do the embarrassed smile-nod-run approach, having no interest at all in getting into a stupid conversation like that with the person who could fire me.

But it did lead me to the one and only passive-aggressive thing I have *ever* done with Tarot, giving me private satisfaction... I brought in the Osho Zen deck, which does not at all scream "Tarot" to the unitiated, and started doing daily draws, propping a card up on the wall of my cubicle. He asked me what it was, I said they were "inspiration cards" similar to the inspirational posters, etc, hanging around the office and he got all into them, coming in each day to see what I had propped up, talking them over... more or less having a delightful daily Tarot encounter and never knowing it.

And trust me, this is a guy who would have been all over "demons! hellfire!" if he'd ever had an inkling it was a Tarot deck.

It let me keep smiling in the face of his weird fire and brimstone moments.

 

[Nevada]

But it did lead me to the one and only passive-aggressive thing I have *ever* done with Tarot, giving me private satisfaction... I brought in the Osho Zen deck, which does not at all scream "Tarot" to the unitiated, and started doing daily draws, propping a card up on the wall of my cubicle. He asked me what it was, I said they were "inspiration cards" similar to the inspirational posters, etc, hanging around the office and he got all into them, coming in each day to see what I had propped up, talking them over... more or less having a delightful daily Tarot encounter and never knowing it.

OMG, what a great story. It's probably good you never told him that it was Tarot though. They are inspiring. Very gutsy, le fey.

 

[Queen of the moon]

On Friday while I was waiting for the train to go to work, I was reading the 21 ways to read a tarot card from mary greer. I could see from the corner of my eye that there was a guy in the platform that was coming closer and closer to me. I thought "or he wants to ask me for a date or he wants to steal my bag" but what would be my surprise when he said:

guy: that book you are reading is very dangerous
me: o yes? why?
guy: because the devil is inside. You would better read the bible.
me (on a friendly way): but in the bible they also talk about the devil or not?
guy( going away): it was just an advice.... and run away

So I stayed there with my book and looking pretty surprised. It was for me the first time somebody was reacting like this to my hobby. When I got to the office and drunk a coffee my brain woke up, I thought (with my overactive imagination and too many read Steven King's books)....I should have looked at him and talk with a voice like the girl of the exorcist..."o yeeeeeees?? do they talk about meeeee???" I think he would have had a heart attack

Now seriously...I think we do not harm anybody so people should leave us with our cards. I understand that there are people that do not like it and never would have a reading but attacking seems to me like going back to the middle ages looking for witches to burn. We also respect them, they should respect us. Peace

Edit: I missed a few letter.