thoughts on returning to tarot

stclair

I received my first deck for my 15th birthday – a classic RWS in a beautiful wooden box, from my stepfather who was a professional palmist. I had loved the pictures and imagery as a child and was so excited to have my own deck. He was a natural teacher and a mentor, strongly psychic and an excellent reader, teaching me how to listen to one’s intuition - after learning the traditional meanings inside out. He showed me how to see the individual card, and then how to integrate it with the others in a full reading, and taught me both the playful and serious sides of the cards.
I worked diligently to learn the meanings, slept with each card under my pillow, and enjoyed doing little readings for friends and family…I was still very young and had much to learn about people and life in general so after a few years out in the world I came back to practice and reading again in my 20s. At this time they really spoke to and through me, and I enjoyed the challenge and reward of doing paid gigs at parties, weddings and other gatherings. I had business cards made up but not being the entrepreneurial type, and before the internet, didn’t really have the impetus to get myself out there. Over time I would take the cards out occasionally but it wasn’t a regular part of my life.
I truly came back to the cards a few years ago when I saw a Thoth deck at a local antique shop, and felt an absolute desire for it, buying it immediately. Since then I have done a card a day with the Thoth, feeling that I am just beginning to learn its system and machinations, and have also come back to my old friend the RWS, which welcomed me back with warmth and many more layers and depths than I ever thought was possible.
There are times when I am writing with the daily card in the morning and a stream of meaning, analysis, impression and association just flows out of me. At other times I can view a whole spread and feel completely blanked. A reading sometimes will give a very, very emphatic answer to a question that has not been asked. Or it may tell you that tomorrow you will go to the market with your mom.
The greatest thing about tarot is the endless cycle of curiosity that it both stimulates and satisfies. This is the magic, complexity and beauty that I am so happy to have back with such strong presence in my life.
 

VGimlet

Welcome back stclair. I think you really expressed well why I've always come back to tarot, even though I have had dry spells.

Sometimes the messages are complex, and some times they are commonplace, but always interesting to see how it "works". Right before I read this I was thinking about my husband's boss, who was curious and wanted to know about the cards, and the archetypes, and I explained the nuts and bolts - paper and ink and archetypes everyone in the western world understands....but then there's that something else that makes it work.
 

stclair

thank you, VGimlet! Those little bits of card really add a whole new dimension to everything.
 

Nemia

stclair, what a beautiful story you have with the tarot. I hope you will find AT a good place to share your re-kindled story with the tarot. It's true, the cards get saturated with life experience. I returned to tarot after a long hiatus, too, and nothing was lost, what I knew before returned and had grown while I didn't touch it.
 

Trogon

I was exposed to the Tarot many years ago when my mother bought a Tarot deck. But I only started actively learning the Tarot in the '90's when a neighbor got me reinterested in it. Since then I've had any number of short or long hiatuses from it, but I always come back. And with my own new experiences, the Tarot always has more to say.

So ... welcome back stclair!
 

Tuilirose

stclair you are so lucky to have had that kind of early exposure to Tarot. I can imagine that knowing the 'nuts and bolts' so to speak from a young age makes your readings flow.

In a little over a decade with the Tarot I have put the Tarot aside for varying amounts of time but it always feels real good and peaceful when I am at a place where I am nudged to pick up the cards again.

It is always comforting to read here on Aeclectic how many people say they "left, and came back", and how much more nuanced the cards seem to feel each time they came back.
 

magicjack

Nice story. Your stepfather sounds like a very interesting person that came into your life. I was given my first tarot deck in 1975 wrapped in black silk. ( Back then that was the best way to get your deck ). I tried working with it having no books or help from anyone. Unfortunately,. I put it aside for 15 years when finally in 1990 I had more resources to understand the ins and outs of the Tarot cards. I'm quite comfortable with them now but always wish I would have started at the time I got my first deck.