When the cards take control

Wonderful insights, Tanga. I feel like I've been called out a little--even as I was typing my earlier answer I was like, "welp, I'm kind of lying," because I picked one of the worst examples possible. In my spiritual practice, dancing is one of the MOST magical things I can do--I grew up in a Santeria and Vodoun household, so you dance for the loa, and even though I'm not an official anything anymore and I take a sloppy chaos magic-ish approach to most things, I still think of the club as my temple. One of them, anyway. The mundane IS magical...except when I need it to not be.

I feel you with the lying down on the carpet and hanging out with the cat. My dog is, I swear, probably the animal least interested in magic that I've met in my life. Doing something, anything mundane? He's always up in my face. Tarot cards? Dowsing? Rituals? Dog is like NOOOPE and in the next room. So yeah, playing with him is very physical because he's a big rough and tumble dog, but also very grounding because of his personality. I imagine some people have pets that are all into their occult whatever.

I consider my scattered martial art pursuits more philosophical than strictly spiritual, but I think, at very least, I can claim that my weight lifting is pretty straight forwardly physical. Maybe. Although I've used that for sigil charging now and then, so even then...

Tanga said:

Interesting enquiry.
I like to sprinkle magic into everything - but, it can just be, without me having to analyse it all the time. The mundane IS the magical.

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I think this is beautiful and I actually very much agree. Everything may very well be magical, but there are times when I--when we all, to a certain extent--need to stop ANALYZING it. That's where the obsession lies.

In a nutshell, if you think the cards are contributing to your anxiety, it may be best to give them a break.

When I do readings for myself, I ask for guidance from my spirit guides and ancestral guardians. At the end of the day they're just giving me advice through a tool I understand (the cards). I never ask for anything aside from information that is relevant to me. Sometimes my cards are wrong because I'm stressed, and sometimes what I think is a prediction is actually a warning given to me just in the nick of time. I never feel like I need to obey my cards.

I am a very analytical, introverted little Aquarius, though, and my main issue with tarot is my tendency to get too "meta" about stuff. It's actually similar to my issues as a photographer. Walking around with a camera and viewing life from behind a lens creates a detachment from the immediate moment that can be comfortable at first (I would rather stand behind the lens than in front of it!), but can become isolating and downright distracting at times. Worrying about getting the perfect shot can get to the point where I realize that I am losing the moment by wasting time trying to capture it!

The same thing often happens to me with tarot. It is unhelpful for me to spend so much time trying to analyze and "frame" my life that I forget to enjoy living it. I take breaks from the cards in the same way that I sometimes skip bringing my camera to a really cool place where I could potentially get awesome photos.

Hey guys!
So to answer my own questions... I had a few days to think. I think the bottom line is that tarot gives you ANSWERS, but it does not TEACH you how to live. Someone could have all the knowledge in the world and still be miserable. So agreed - it should be used for self exploration and philosophical inquiries. It is a great tool, but yes, I'm taking a break. I need to explore other tools and ways of being! And I'm much happier since having these 'aha' moments. Thankfully, tarot has played a big part in giving me that awareness, but it's also scary in a way to give a tool so much power over your life.

Tarot has also played a big part in keeping me guarded from others. Sometimes you have to jump and just trust, or else nothing can be gained.

I haven't read all the replies but I just wanted to throw in something I've come to think is at play.

When someone needs to make a change, it can be very difficult and require a whole lot of work and persistence to make the changes lasting. It came to me one day that I think what the cards often do is predict what the ultimate outcome is going to be when a person has tried (or not) to make changes but then given it up and just reverted to their old habitual patterns.

For instance, let's say your sitter wants to get rid of a habit that's caused them some serious repercussions in their relationships with other people. You read the cards, but the results are results show what will happen if they don't make any changes. The sitter says they're committed to changing, but ultimately, it's too much bother and they don't change at all, so the results are just what the reading showed.

This is what I think the reading will show. You read for them and find out what they need to do---they try for awhile but then revert back to the same old stuff, and that's what the cards show us. They don't always show us any efforts or actions made toward a different result, they show what the ultimate results will be.

I don't feel like I'm expressing this very well, but does anyone see what I'm getting at? Hopefully so.

To throw my two cents in whether it is relevant or not Sometimes I found that my instinct has spoken loudly in certain occasions and in those moments looking at Tarot can actually be distracting. To me personally Tarot is a tool, a medium, a mechanism, a mean to an end, and not an end itself. Sorry if this is a bit off the mark and not quite what is being asked here. But I am moved to share this thought so, I am