Do you read tarot blogs - yes, why - no, why?

I've been toying with creating a blog for my tarot writing for a long time and looked into it once. A piece of advice I found is not to use the free hosting services, since they're feature-poor. Because I'm not trying to make money on the random pieces I write, I've been sending them to the American Tarot Association for possible inclusion in the monthly newsletter and the quarterly journal. Two have been published so far. This is kind of a low-maintenance approach to the same objective.

I think the only people who are likely to frequent tarot blogs are other tarot bloggers. To everyone else, it's something that comes up occasionally but not something worth investing time into.

When I was learning tarot, I enjoyed watching Youtube videos about the cards, but even then, I didn't really watch more than literally one channel: Kelly-Ann Maddox.

I have the rather harsh view that most bloggers/vloggers don't have anything original to say... it's more of an exercise in self-promotion (for financial gain or otherwise) than anything else. There's also the community aspect, which is why I make point #1... but like Nisaba said, forums like this one fill that need pretty well.

suk said:

I think the only people who are likely to frequent tarot blogs are other tarot bloggers. To everyone else, it's something that comes up occasionally but not something worth investing time into.

When I was learning tarot, I enjoyed watching Youtube videos about the cards, but even then, I didn't really watch more than literally one channel: Kelly-Ann Maddox.

I have the rather harsh view that most bloggers/vloggers don't have anything original to say and shouldn't bother with it. A lot of them just do it to promote whatever they're selling, and it just annoys me. I couldn't care if I tried.

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That is harsh. On one hand, I am a blogger myself, and happen to be one of the few who have commented in favor of blogs. So you might have a point there.

On the other hand, I sell nothing on my own blog, and am slightly miffed at the notion that "I shouldn't bother with it."

Brutal, man.

Herodotus said:

That is harsh. On one hand, I am a blogger myself, and happen to be one of the few who have commented in favor of blogs. So you might have a point there.

On the other hand, I sell nothing on my own blog, and am slightly miffed at the notion that "I shouldn't bother with it."

Brutal, man.

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Sorry for giggling at this

But seriously though, I do think there's something really wrong with how we interact with the world, with how it's all about the 'presence'-- online, offline, whatever. I'm quite private though (read: very few 'fire' signs in my chart), and a lot of things to do with other people annoy me, so it's no surprise that I think that about blogs.

I don't think they facilitate discussion as much as forums; few people are likely to follow/comment on your things unless they're, uh, promoting their own things and/or already agree with your view.

I might try it one day, but if I did, one of my main objectives would be to learn conscious self-promotion (because that's important these days apparently).

PS I love you all, don't stop writing on account of my cynicism.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought one of the main reasons - apart from selling something - for having a blog was simply to have an outlet for one's creativity. I haven't noticed that the commentary on any of them has been especially vigorous or compelling, so I figured feedback wasn't that important to the blogger.

suk said:

Sorry for giggling at this

But seriously though, I do think there's something really wrong with how we interact with the world, with how it's all about the 'presence'-- online, offline, whatever. I'm quite private though (read: very few 'fire' signs in my chart), and a lot of things to do with other people annoy me, so it's no surprise that I think that about blogs.

I don't think they facilitate discussion as much as forums; few people are likely to follow/comment on your things unless they're, uh, promoting their own things and/or already agree with your view.

I might try it one day, but if I did, one of my main objectives would be to learn conscious self-promotion (because that's important these days apparently).

PS I love you all, don't stop writing on account of my cynicism.

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Giggle away, it's part of the reason I worded it as I did at the end there.

I took nothing to heart, so no worries, and I largely agree with you on some of your points, except that I do find value in blogs, which is of course the main point of the thread. They don't facilitate discussion as a forum does, true, but it's the personal interpretations I find value in. Rather than a dialogue, we get a monologue, and while it can certainly be tiresome at times, it's not without merit (Shakespeare used them both to develop his characters and plots, after all). It goes to show that the Tarot is beholden to no single perspective, but in a forum we get only a glimpse of each perspective. A blog holds the potential to really dig in.

At the end of the day, it's all a matter of preferred medium of expression, and I do understand that the blog's not for everyone. But it is for me, and if it's for anyone else, I just want them to know that I agree with them.

Barleywine said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought one of the main reasons - apart from selling something - for having a blog was simply to have an outlet for one's creativity. I haven't noticed that the commentary on any of them has been especially vigorous or compelling, so I figured feedback wasn't that important to the blogger.

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That pretty much sums it up for me, although there is the rare occasion when I receive a comment that just blows me away.

I look at the frustratingly deviant Deviant Moon Hermit in an entirely different light thanks to one such anonymous commentator.

Also, I've been enjoying this thread about blogs, and have been making it a point to check out the blogs of those who post here. If its a wordpress site, I'll even follow it (because I have a wordpress myself, and so I don't have to get emails by following those blogs - I don't care for email notifications). Barleywine, if you did decide to start a blog, I'd certainly enjoy checking it out. So, you know, that's one in favor of the idea.

Barleywine said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought one of the main reasons - apart from selling something - for having a blog was simply to have an outlet for one's creativity. I haven't noticed that the commentary on any of them has been especially vigorous or compelling, so I figured feedback wasn't that important to the blogger.

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Agreed, and it definitely should be. But speaking from a blog reader's perspective, there's all these social media circle jerks that happen in practice...

I don't regularly but I do follow friend's blogs and other tarot folk and read them from time to time.

I always champion anyone starting a blog or any sort of presence online. It takes hard work and creativity to keep it going. So many friends spend work and time on them. I have thought about starting a tarot blog but just not had the energy to do it. I would do the blog for me, to express tarot in my posts, it wouldn't matter if there was no readers or many.

I will agree with Suk about what happens with blogs that become popular though, like the youtube people, they become small businesses to make money. Some of my fave tarot bloggers have done this and then they lose the amazingness of their original years of posts which made them popular. so I have dumped bloggers from my reading list who fall into the sort of "pompous trap", they think they are the ultimate resource for tarot on the net and no one can disagree with their views now.

Look at Mary Greer's amazing blog, it's been going for decades with amazingly researched posts, it's never fallen into that trap I think because Mary has a genuine passion for tarot. Her posts are the results of her passion and study, they are not to make money.

I do try to read my AT friend's blogs and recently realised I had signed up for emails from a tarot blog and not read any of the emails for about 2 years and clicked on one in January and it had some posts which really gave me insight and some ideas!

But often I don't read anything that I haven't seen on AT. I do like to see people expressing their tarot though I occasionally read them and have a limited circle of blogs I read.

suk said:

I don't think they facilitate discussion as much as forums;

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THIS, very much. I value the discussion we get here.