Tarot - private or public matter?

[karumenneko]

The only place I ever talked about tarot is in a remote viewing forum, and it was just pointing some similarities between tarot cards and ideograms in CRV.
In real life I am a bit afraid to talk about it even with my family (my mom is really rational and if not she is really religious, maybe because my grandparents are super Christians but her career is in the scientific side, also in the country I live in I feel like people are transitioning from a traditional religious background into a more modern rational lifestyle)
Once I did a reading to my sister in my teens but now everybody is so judgemental I just keep it to myself, I don't want that people label me as a witch [emoji52].
Was hard to find an active tarot forum and that fits me, but I found AT.

 

[Annabelle]

My question is: do you others only use tarot privately for yourselves or are you open about it and mingle with other readers in real life too? How have other people in your life taken it when it first came up?

To answer your second question first, I have a few acquaintances who read tarot cards, though none of them make their livings that way. So, I don't often mingle with other readers.

Mostly, I read tarot for myself, but I've been known to read for friends, co-workers, and my partner's family.

Tarot is something that's more of a public than private matter for me overall; as a collector, there's no way I could hide it from guests in my home, and I wouldn't want to, anyway. I've never had anyone react badly to learning that I use tarot cards, not even my very conservative, religious boss. We have a monitor in our office's lobby area that rotates through a series of slides that show our pictures and provide brief bios -- my bio, out there for any and all to see, mentions that I collect tarot cards. I talk about tarot on social media. Etc. It's not something I keep hidden from the world.

But seriously, tarot isn't a deep, dark, strange thing. It's an interest. A passion. A hobby, perhaps. I talk about tarot with my friends -- and they talk about things like cooking, photography, and CrossFit.

 

[Aunty Anthea]

My question is: do you others only use tarot privately for yourselves or are you open about it and mingle with other readers in real life too? How have other people in your life taken it when it first came up?

Many MANY years ago: when asked by assorted friends what her parents did, my daughter uttered the immortal words:

MOTHER IS A WITCH

I was not using tarot at that time because so many people were, and still are, afraid of tarot cards

Those in the academic and more serious side of my life, have not been aware of my more flamboyant lifestyle

I often find myself drawn to others of a similar ilk

I cannot imagine how it would feel to be isolated from others

 

[Le Fanu]

If you don't need to spread the word and earn money from tarot then it can be a private matter. I'm quite selective. I don't charge for readings so I don't need the whole word-of-mouth thing but I would have thought that if someone wanted clients then it would be a good idea to be as public as possible.

I used to be more private than I am now about it but I find that I have never had a negative comment or been sneered at. I have only ever been met with curiosity and the more people know, the more people ask me to read for them. But I couldn't care less what people think. Plus when you have a reading room in your house with floor to ceiling collection and a partner that loves giving the guided tour, it's hard to be private. I've reached where I'm going to reach professionally (and very happy with it) and so I don't need to worry about what people think. If I were an intern starting off in an auditing company or something (thankfully, not in this field), I'd probably keep quiet...