Holding Space for Tarot Time

[Edward Tarot Hands]

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I thought I would spend hours there and every evening but there's always something to distract me. Chores and errands and work and walking the dog.

I know exactly how you feel!
I usually slot some time in before I walk the dog in the morning. Even if it's only 10 or 15 mins if you use it wisely it can be just as rewarding as sitting down for an hour

 

[Falcor]

It's difficult! Spending a lot of time on AT definitely helps because it pulls you into discussion, inspires ideas and forces you to think over. Not to mention poring over shopping carts to decide which deck and which book are indispensible right now :-D

Don't force yourself. IMO tarot is supposed to be a healing, relaxing, interesting and inspiring practice, not something on your to-do-list.

Having a dedicated tarot space sounds wonderful, but do you feel you have to "justify" it by using it? Hm, you do so much for others, and tarot is for you. That's reason enough to have that space. Even if you use it only once a week. So what? You did other things. It's better to have one good meaningful reading when you need it than force a routine when there's nothing to read about. I read for myself rarely (I do read a lot for others, though).

My children are older now, when they were young, I remember how difficult it was to dig out some time for myself. That's just the way it is, you're in the busy years of life. Times will change again, and you will have more time, and tarot will still be there.

I found that there is wisdom and insight gained just by living this life. Some 30 years ago, I studied philosophy at university and felt super clever. I read difficult texts and was sure I understood them. But life taught me to understand them, nothing else. I know now that I had to "grow into them". I feel the same about tarot. (Of course, we forget the wisdom of youth on the way, that's a pity).

In a more practical mood: I bought the Inner Child cards when my children were young and let them use this beautiful deck. That made them understand better why I was interested in the cards and spent time with them.

My daughter also invented a little game for the Lenormand deck that we used to play (I play it nowadays with my niece). That made my decks a part also of her life. All my children have positive tarot memories with me even though they never showed any deeper interest.

Do you want to know the rules for the Lenormand game for 2 people?

Each player gets an equal number of cards on their hands. Taking turns, each puts one card down on the table. As long as no animal card appears, both players add to the pile. The player who puts an animal card first (bear, fox, stork...) takes the whole pile, adds it to the cards on his hand, and both continue to play. That's it. The cards shift from one to the other.

The funny thing about this game is that it hardly ever ends.

We spent many happy hours and we each had our "saving animal" who always brought us luck.

You have written your piece with your heart, as usual.

I don't think I could describe it better. Tarot is there for you as a learning tool not only of the tarot language but also of the world around, yourself and interaction between you two. A wonderful tool/guide for going through this life and learning, maturing and enjoying it.

It's very important to learn to flow with yourself here. Sometimes you feel like reading, sometimes only looking on a deck and sometimes you know it's not a day for tarot.

 

[Emeraud]

So helpful!!!

I appreciate all of these thoughtful replies!

Citrin, good ol discipline is a personal challenge, and I thank you for speaking that to me!! I just gotta do, and I have to modify my perception of what "it" looks like, as all of you have so lovingly shared! I will aim for quality time. However much time I have that day and however I choose to spend that time with the cards or on AT or or or is what I needed to do.

Thanks, y'all :-D

 

[SunChariot]

I converted a closet in my bedroom into a Tarot space four weeks ago, and imagined being in it daily for Tarot study. The reality is that I am balancing being a new student of Tarot with being a parent, spouse, parental caretaker, and (fingers crossed!) a part-time employee
It's been three days since my last reading

How are you novices and more experienced Tarot practitioners making space in your life for personal Tarot time? I'm especially curious about how people balance family time and Tarot time.

It really depends on your lifestyle. I've never had children or been a parental caretaker. Or a student when I was learning Tarot. All I had was a live-in bf, but he is old enough to take care of himself evenings after dinner, so I had all evening to learn. And most of the weekend.

Sometime the idea is not just to have time, but to have quality time If you're too tired to think straight you may not remember a lot fo what you're trying to learn.

I find I can always make time for what's important to me in my life.Even if I have to get up earlier to fir it in or let go of less important things. It is up to us what we believe our priorities are. For me, anyway, Tarot has always been extremely important to me From the moment i started to learn it it became a deep part of me. To not learn it felt like removing a part of myself. I felt incomplete without it. Like this was who I always was, I just had never understood it till then

Babs

 

[danieljuk]

There was a nice blog post about this in January from Little Red Tarot - here.
She talks about trying to do a little bit every day, like taking one card a day! Her tip is useful I think to blog it or put it on social media (make an account for just your tarot if you don't want people in your life to know). You can even post a daily card in a section of the forum here, start a thread for yourself. I used a digital journal and had a photo of the card and my write up.
But make an effort to do something little when you can.

If you don't want to do one card, why not try and give 10 to 15 mins a day of tarot time. I have health issues and low energy but I try to write up my larger spreads by doing a little each day.

Don't beat yourself up or punish yourself though, we all lead busy lives! We can do our best but we have to make time, even a small amount on a regular basis or we will just keep putting off our study of tarot

 

[Emeraud]

There was a nice blog post about this in January from Little Red Tarot - here.
She talks about trying to do a little bit every day, like taking one card a day! Her tip is useful I think to blog it or put it on social media (make an account for just your tarot if you don't want people in your life to know). You can even post a daily card in a section of the forum here, start a thread for yourself.

Thank you for these resources! I appreciate the suggestion of starting a thread for myself on AT.

 

[Emeraud]

Sometime the idea is not just to have time, but to have quality time If you're too tired to think straight you may not remember a lot fo what you're trying to learn.

Yes! Having quality study time is the new goal

 

[Cocobird55]

I have a ritual -- when I get up, I write in my planner. Then I pull at least one card for the day. After that is done, I feel like I have done at least one productive thing for the day.

 

[Gwynydd]

I have started doing my daily draws as soon as I get out of bed. I have a deck ready on my mantelpiece so it's really quick. Then I will think about the card through my day.