What is your life like? How does tarot effect you positively or negatively?

[Ambience]

What positive of negative effect has tarot had on your life?

Hi everyone,

Just a little background, i'm in the depths of a situation where i wonder if i had used tarot would i have prevented my life from crashing or was it inevitable. This was after pulling the tower and losing my house. I'd been heading down the path of not being able to afford my massive outgoings, so it wasn't that big a shock to see that card and shortly afterwards i changed my plan, got out of my house, moved out rented a lovely house in a nicer area, with all my animals and got out of the job i hated so much. I'm now in a much happier position.

However it has tainted my view of the tarot. I'm not quite sure how, but i see the mind as highly powerful and that you can attract into your life what you believe. I don't know if i adversely effected my fate or if it was just destined to be. The tower is a pretty big major acana so perhaps and given the facts it couldn't have gone on indefinately.

What i would like to know is where people are with there lives in relation to the tarot. My christian friend has bred alot of fear into me saying they are the devils work and that they do tell the truth but that's a bad thing because it's not from god and we are not supposed to know our fate etc etc because it harms us. - Then of cause i shortly after watched a film called payback which showed that if we know our future, it becomes self fullfilling prophesy and we destroy ourselves. I don't know if anyone has seen that film.

Anyways, i would be most appreciative if people could give me some outline of you life situations, where you are now in your homelife, relationship, spritual wellbeing, health, career, finances, friendships, business etc and if any of this is down to tarot or how tarot has influenced you positively to get to where you are.

On the other hand if tarot has had a negative influence, or you have read the cards and they have been correct in relation to the negative things in your life, please could you let me know how this is effecting you and why you still do tarot and what you think to the experiences you've been through in relation to the tarot and it's use for predicting the future. Do you have any regrets in using tarot?

I hope to be able to regain some faith in the tarot as i want to use it as a tool for improving my life, but would like to figure out the best way that people do this even if the cards are screaming, this is going to be a bad day or this situation is going to turn out awful.

Thanks all x

 

[canid]

It sounds to me like the recent turmoil in your life has left you doubting in many areas, including tarot. I've given it up in the past because of someone else's religious beliefs, just to save the peace, but I wouldn't do it again. Ever. As far as your Christian friend is concerned, there are many more Biblical scriptures that are pro divination, yet it seems only the negative ones are ever quoted. Most parishoners don't bother to do their own research; they simply parrot what they're told & take it as truth. If you're really concerned about it, it's easy to Google. I'm at a point where no one can influence me one way or another regarding tarot. I, too, am at a crossroads in my life, it's a terrible place to be, but just hang in there. Tarot is helping me, not hindering.

 

[emmsma]

I have put down the cards for several years at a stretch. I've found that for me, life without the Tarot is unfocused. Without using Tarot, I don't think about my life, I just go thru the motions. I don't dwell on my spirit, and that is a sad way to be.

Sure there are times when the tarot tells me negative things. If I was about to be hit by a bus, I'd like a friend to say, "hey watch out!" Gives me a chance to do something about it.

I don't believe in the hogwash about it bringing me to ruin. I've seen the tower in a spread, and ya know, I already knew my life was in turmoil. It wasn't really news. But it made me take note. Pause. Think about where my life is going. What I should do next.

I don't feel my life is controlled by the Tarot, but it is guided. I don't have to "obey" what comes up in a reading, but it does help me focus, to think aobut what is really going on and how I feel about it and what I want to do.

For the record, I think the tarot gets its answers from me, the deepest part of me, that I tend to not listen to any other way. Tarot, for me, is not a reaching out to angels or spirits, but a reaching in.

Just one gals opinion.

 

[ScaryFairy]

Sure there are times when the tarot tells me negative things. If I was about to be hit by a bus, I'd like a friend to say, "hey watch out!" Gives me a chance to do something about it.

This pretty much sums it all up for me. It can't change what will happen, but it can give me a poke in the right direction so that I can change it.

 

[avalonian]

I don't see any cards as negative. The Tower may be a shock but it clears the way to better things. The Death card signifies endings but also beginnings. I am a great believer in the Law of Attraction, creating your own reality etc and would say that I use the Tarot to keep me pointed in the right direction, so that I am consciously creating what is good for me, rather than unconsciously creating what is not so good.

If I draw a card that gives me a positive feeling then I take that as a sign that I am heading in the right direction. If I draw a card that gives me a negative feeling then I look deeper to see why it makes me feel that way, what it is trying to tell me and what I can do about the situation, I look to see how I can turn what I initially perceive as a "negative" situation into a positive experience and act accordingly. I look for the positive in every card and try to look for the positive in every situation (sometimes it's easier than others).

I don't personally ask the Tarot to tell me what is going to happen because I feel that we change our future every second of every day by the choices and the decisions we make, the Tarot just helps us to make the ones that are best for us.

 

[Grizabella]

Surely you had more knowledge of your financial situation than just the cards telling you that you were in trouble, right? It's not the cards that bring things into your life. You can get into financial trouble and think all the airy fairy positive things you want, but if you're in financial trouble and you can't get yourself out, then the inevitable will happen, whether the cards tell you so or not. The fact that you saw it coming thanks to the cards and created a better outcome for yourself was certainly a positive result of Tarot, not a negative one.

Your friend is just brainwashed by her religious beliefs. She's not the last word on divination and whether it's wrong or right. She speaks from irrational fear, not from fact. You've proven her wrong yourself. Just use your cards and don't worry about people who don't think for themselves. Remember the saying that goes like this:

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance---that principle is contempt prior to investigation." ~Herbert Spencer

You've investigated and found that what she's been taught isn't true, so you're no longer in ignorance but she hasn't broken free of it yet.

 

[le fey]

I can't think of anything negative that has ever resulted from consulting Tarot (unless you count the eye rolling of some acquaintances... and I don't. They'll roll their eyes about all sorts of things I'm involved in, not just Tarot, and ultimately it doesn't bother me).

Tarot has seen me through some pretty terrible times... it's not a guarantee of nothing but good times. As far as I can tell, it won't tell you how to win the lottery or absolutely avoid illness.. but it will walk you through those bad times so you survive them and come out the other end better equipped to cope the next time.

Tarot WILL offer good advice.. and oh how I wish sometimes it would give me very bad advice like 'go slash their tires' or 'sneak in and eat all that chocolate cake', but oh no, instead it reminds me to be patient, to be alert... to treat my body with enough love to say no if I'm overdoing things. It reminds me - nags me sometimes! - that putting your head in the sand and not paying bills won't make them go away.. that avoiding confrontations that need to be dealt with won't make situations better. And I - grumbling and mumbling - either follow that advice, or I don't and wind up dealing with the consequences.

And then Tarot laughs at me and says 'told ya soooo!' (not really, but I have my suspicions).

I believe very strongly that Tarot may have saved my life and certainly my sanity during one of the worst years of my life, where in the matter of just a few months, I lost my job, moved (losing my entire friendship support network), had a major accident that eventually lost me my left hip and while I was recovering from that, my marriage ended leaving me and two kids and no one even able to drive. I then lost my house in the separation of assets and for a whole lot of complex reasons, there was no money to divide in the sale so i lost my retirement holdings and any hope of having a financial stake to start over with.

BAAAD year. And I thought that my deck had mysteriously morphed into 78 Tower cards because that sucker came up every single day. Did it create the situation? NO - my husband's choices, my choices, and the fickle finger of fate did that. But it certaintly reflected the reality of my situation.

And every day, I howled 'this can't be happening" and the Tower was there to say "Oh yes, it is. This is not a dream..its real, and you can moan and complain, or you can start dealing with it". Sometimes it was just plain comforting to know that it really WAS that bad, and I feel like i'm falling apart because the situation SUCKS.

It kept me out of denial. It kept me from thinking that's all there is - because of course the Tower is also about the full freedom to rebuild from scratch because you've already hit bottom. It affirmed the reality of my life and let me know I wasn't just whining about something that wasn't really all that bad - and for me that was a message I needed pounded into me.

Tarot never let me dip into unneeded self pity or try to wish it all away. I used to to explore options, to find the lessons in all the badness..sometimes just to go 'there there' til I could face the day. All through Tarot the message is hope, dare, balance... and with that reminder I got through it.

Not a lot richer, not living a trouble free life... but much more at peace and stronger because Tarot was dead right - tomorrow IS another day and how you face challenges is what makes you who you are, not what those challenges are.

 

[Ambience]

wow again thankyou for all your replies. Some of the things you've said and experienced have touched me so deeply. I'm so lucky to have found a group of people who share such similar view points to my own and i can relate too on such a deep and profound level. I can see what you have been through in your words. Thankyou for sharing x

 

[mysticmonkey]

Tarot doesn't make these things happen it just opens your eyes to it. You've already said that you knew you were heading down a destructive path. Tarot didn't create that situation it was already there. The tower just made you face up to what you said you already knew and so you changed your life to better fit your circumstances and you're happier for it.

I agree with you that the mind is a powerful thing and you can attract things into your life but its not necessarily a big scary thing or magic froo froo. It's just about your attitude and unique point of view.
You can go down a "self fulfilling" route even without the tarot if you approach the situation with the wrong frame of mind.

Simple example I have a tendency to focus inwards too much in certain situations. I wallow too long in that mood. The cards tell me that I'm wallowing but I'll get over it and I inevitably do.
Did the underlying situation change? No.
Did my attitude towards it change? Yes.

The way I see it some poopy things were happening in your life. Tarot told you: "You know what, this situation is really poopy right now."
You decided you didn't want to feel that way any more so you changed it.
Sure there's probably some regret mixed in there that things didn't go the way that you originally intended but now you are on a different route which has brought you happiness. Good thing surely?

So you could keep thinking that your life self destructed because Tarot told you it would or you could decide nope that's nonsense. Those things had to change, lesson possibly learnt in the process and now you are in a different stage of your life looking forward.

 

[2_Journey]

I have put down the cards for several years at a stretch. I've found that for me, life without the Tarot is unfocused. Without using Tarot, I don't think about my life, I just go thru the motions. I don't dwell on my spirit, and that is a sad way to be.

I couldn't have said it better, emmsma. I have been using tarot on and off since 2000, so I have some history to look back on. I have found that the times in my life that are the most vibrant, in which I truly open my spirit and nurture it the most, are the times when I use tarot. I also believe that the answers tarot provides come from me, not the cards.

Most recently, I went through a year when I did not use my cards at all, and had put them all away. I was also in a relationship that had started good but had become very bad. I think now that if I had been using my cards then, I would have felt more in touch with my intuition. I would have been better able to recognize the bad relationship for what it was, and I would have ended it a year before I did. Without my cards, I had stopped analyzing my life and instead went though the motions.

I want to say "never again" will I stop using my cards, but tarot waxes and wanes in my life and I know that. I am trying now to set up a tarot practice now that will be able to weather the tough times and will be something of a warm blanket for me to retreat to when times get difficult. Pulling a card each day forces me to put aside five or ten minutes a day when I focus exclusively on me and my life, on my triumphs and my struggles. It jolts me out of "going through the motions" and reminds me to focus on my soul purpose.