Do you keep your Tarot doing a secret?

[Barleywine]

Also, actually - I used to have a secretary who very VERY much disapproved. (She used to pray for me.) I have to say that while that rather annoyed me, I was sorry that although we liked each other, and had other interests in common, working with me did actually make her uncomfortable. I did rather wish she had never found out about it - she was perfectly nice about it all and never went for me or anything - but it did make me feel bad for her. Something simply about me made her working environment harder than it should have been - as it had NOTHING to do with work.

Is there anything more smug and condescending than the dismissive "I'll pray for you"? My fundamentalist sister-in-law uses it on my wife when they disagree on a religious topic, and it makes my skin crawl. She is convinced that we use tarot or astrology to make every decision in life, and has no clue about the subtleties; if the Bible says it's wrong (or she thinks it does, anyway), case closed. There can be no dialogue when one party is convinced of their moral superiority.

 

[gregory]

No - she never said it was a superiority thing and it wasn't in my face at all. She wanted to keep me safe, was all. She liked me. I didn't actually want any "dialogue" and nor did she - it was one of those things one just doesn't choose to chat about - like my only Republican friend... we - don't discuss it. What's the point. We much preferred to talk about playing the organ and her wish to travel as I did.

Others ARE entitled to their beliefs and as I have said before, I rather dislike the way some people here feel we should force other people to "see that we are right".

 

[Barleywine]

No - she never said it was a superiority thing and it wasn't in my face at all. She wanted to keep me safe, was all. She liked me. I didn't actually want any "dialogue" and nor did she - it was one of those things one just doesn't choose to chat about - like my only Republican friend... we - don't discuss it. What's the point. We much preferred to talk about playing the organ and her wish to travel as I did.

Others ARE entitled to their beliefs and as I have said before, I rather dislike the way some people here feel we should force other people to "see that we are right".

You're fortunate it wasn't confrontational, even in a veiled way. Have you actually seen that mindset much here? I always thought this was a reasonably open-minded place (although perhaps not where it involves politics).

 

[gregory]

You're fortunate it wasn't confrontational, even in a veiled way. Have you actually seen that mindset much here? I always thought this was a reasonably open-minded place (although perhaps not where it involves politics).

What constitutes "much" ? There are several threads asking specifically "how can I make them see they are wrong" or "what do I say to people who think tarot is wrong" which tend to degenerate into that.

For pity's sake - all that is needed is "to each their own." They would have an equal right to ask how they can make ME see that I'M wrong. Neither is wrong.

I don't think I was "fortunate". For me that's normal stuff - we shouldn't force discussion of our beliefs on people who don't share them (unless it's a matter of a landlord refusing a racial group or something.) I did mind making her uncomfortable - which is one reason I feel quite strongly that it should all stay out of the workplace. It wasn't fair to her.

 

[Annabelle]

By and large, I don't keep my love of tarot a secret. Most of my co-workers have seen my tarot collection when they came to a party in my home a few years ago. I did readings for a couple of them.

I've been happily surprised at how open most people seem to be about tarot. A few months ago I was chatting with a newly-appointed Associate Provost at work -- who I'd previously thought was very straight-laced and old fashioned -- and noticed a few esoteric items in her office. Turns out, she used to do fortune telling at charity events, and has an old deck of tarot cards that she cherishes, etc.

As for my family . . . well, there's not a lot of extended family left at this point. Those who matter to me know all about my tarot collection. Those who don't matter to me don't know about my tarot collection . . . or much else about me, either. I'm very open about tarot on Facebook, and some of my extended family members are FB friends with me, so I'm definitely not hiding anything.

There's one category of people that I don't tell about my tarot use/collection -- my college students. I make a point of not telling them anything about my politics, spirituality, or tarot use. I know that I could tell them, but I prefer for the classes I teach to be about them (the students) and not about me (the teacher and my own identity and ego). Having said that, though . . . there are a couple of small, framed tarot card images on the wall in my office . I'm not hiding anything . . . I'm just choosing not to make a point of mentioning it.

Oh, and in terms of people in my household knowing . . . well, there's just me and my partner. And he obviously knows, because a whole room in our home is dedicated to my tarot collection .

 

[Zephyros]

I don't think I was "fortunate". For me that's normal stuff - we shouldn't force discussion of our beliefs on people who don't share them (unless it's a matter of a landlord refusing a racial group or something.) I did mind making her uncomfortable - which is one reason I feel quite strongly that it should all stay out of the workplace. It wasn't fair to her.

Which is exactly why I tend to be discreet in my interests. I'm not fond of people who follow traditional religions being all "in your face" about it, such as "praying for me," etc., but I don't like anyone being in your face about their spirituality, either. Tarot readers who tell me I'm "such a Queen of Wands" or that this occurrence is so "Five of Discs," may not be fundamentalist, I just find that practice annoying. Same with people who ask me my sign and then presume to know everything there is to know about me.

To me anything spiritual is kind of like picking your nose, i.e., everybody does it, it's fine, it's healthy, but please don't do it too much in public unless you absolutely must and always wash your hands afterwards.

 

[gregory]

Same with people who ask me my sign and then presume to know everything there is to know about me.

To me anything spiritual is kind of like picking your nose, i.e., everybody does it, it's fine, it's healthy, but please don't do it too much in public unless you absolutely must and always wash your hands afterwards.

Right on, Zeph *highfive*

(I have to say it always amuses me to say the WRONG sign and see people who think they know all about me as a (picks one for the day) Pisces tell me everything that SO fits )

 

[Beancrew49]

"Almost have to." Hm.

What would you say to allowing your child to be placed, unwillingly, in a secure psychiatric ward, when there were being repeated suicide attempts ? Let the child succeed, because that is what the child wants ? And we weren't struggling at all at the time - there were no bones of contention of any kind - and she wasn't at all like me, incidentally. She was struggling.

I hated that decision so much I got the first traffic ticket of my LIFE for speeding, after I took her there.

I'm sorry - but you do not, cannot know. Whatever your higher self says. No-one outside any situation knows what it is like inside. If I restricted my children, it is rather remarkable that they have both turned out - all their lives - VERY different from me and from their father, and from each other. People always said you'd never know they were sisters. And today - they are so different that they find each other boring.

By the way - EVERY SINGLE PERSON HERE has been a child in the parent/child dynamic. That doesn't give any one of us "unique outside perspective" that rates above anyone else's.

By the way, too, there is at least one member here (not me) who has to keep it all secret from her spouse - but she is still very much herself. It can be done without compromising oneself, it really can. And as to the workplace, nisaba - while I agree that suggesting hi-tech workers are less woowoo than flower sellers is very wrong and stereotyping at it's - well, not worst, but - one person who used to come here found their presence here had been noted at work by someone googling their real name, and it got them into no end of trouble there.

You are getting really assumptive of me and what I've gone through in my life and I think it's best we end this discussion here.

The last thing I want to say is that while it's true I've never had children of my own, you should know that I'm an empath. I don't mean that in that I am able to put myself in the shoes of others. I mean that empathy is my strongest psychic ability and I can feel the energy of others. I can feel what my parents feel towards me. When I went to live in Australia for a year to help my cousin raise his two children, living in their house, spending more time with their kids than they did, I could feel their energy. So no, I don't have first hand experience, but I kind of do. And unless you are an empath as well I would argue that you can't understand what that means either, by your own logic.

 

[gregory]

By my own logic - yes I absolutely agree that I cannot understand fully what being an empath means. I do know that I am glad it is not a talent of mine (as far as I know.) That said, the assumption that every parent tries to mould their child to their image, and make decisions based on what they want - thus crushing the child's individuality - rather than letting that child be that child - which I truly believe we did - and so do both of them - unless they are actually in danger (as one of mine was) is equally presumptive.

You can feel what your parents feel about you - I don't for one moment doubt that, but not what I and my children feel about one another, unless you are in their presence or at least know where we all are. You can't generalise about what all parents do and want like this - that's all.

 

[Barleywine]

What constitutes "much" ? There are several threads asking specifically "how can I make them see they are wrong" or "what do I say to people who think tarot is wrong" which tend to degenerate into that.

For pity's sake - all that is needed is "to each their own." They would have an equal right to ask how they can make ME see that I'M wrong. Neither is wrong.

I don't think I was "fortunate". For me that's normal stuff - we shouldn't force discussion of our beliefs on people who don't share them (unless it's a matter of a landlord refusing a racial group or something.) I did mind making her uncomfortable - which is one reason I feel quite strongly that it should all stay out of the workplace. It wasn't fair to her.

This seems to have touched a nerve. I for one don't believe there are many absolutes in the world (maybe Absolute Zero, death, taxes and the strict agreement between the number of opinions in circulation and the number of . . . "anatomical equivalents" of which everyone partakes). I try to stay out of the "orbit" of absolutists to the extent possible.