on the bottom shelf i noticed... merged with How did you get started?

Gazel

zan_chan said:
Isn't it incredible that back at 16 you're walking around a library searching for knowledge, and now here you are so deeply in love with tarot still, and a librarian to boot! It just amazes me how well some people seem to know themselves from so early on.

Thanks for your story, too

Thanks. He - knowing myself - I guess it was on a unconscious level then. Had anyone told me I would become a librarian I guess I would have rolled my eyes and denied it flatly ;o)

Amary

I grew up with a tarotista mother. The rest of our family was rigidly and conservatively religious; my mom was kind of a black sheep. She did reading for me when I was 11 with the RWS; it was very mysterious and spooky (and very inaccurate. My mom didn't know me very well, but she sure thought she did!) So I thought Tarot was not only evil, but also a con.

My mom also had a Barbara Walker deck that she tended to use when she was in a bad place emotionally. She thinks of it as her angry deck. It has yucky, yucky energy on it. Normally I am one for the "it's just a deck of cards" crowd, but THIS deck of cards feels YUCKY. I won't even touch the box.

So for years I had an aversion to tarot. Then, one day, in the distant reaches of July, I was reading a thread from a professional tarotist on Customerssuck.com, and they mentioned the Tarot of the White Cats. "What is this cat tarot?" I wondered. And I googled it. Then I learned of the Tarot of Prague, and several other lovely decks, and I was intrigued. I called my best friend and said, "Hey... I think I want to learn to read tarot cards."

She was floored. "Really? I thought you hated them?"

"Yeah, I think it's weird too, but I want to learn."

"OK, don't buy your own deck- I'll get you one. Go to aeclectic.net and pick one out"

And that was it. I've been here ever since.

zan_chan

Amary said:
I grew up with a tarotista mother. The rest of our family was rigidly and conservatively religious; my mom was kind of a black sheep. She did reading for me when I was 11 with the RWS; it was very mysterious and spooky (and very inaccurate. My mom didn't know me very well, but she sure thought she did!) So I thought Tarot was not only evil, but also a con.

My mom also had a Barbara Walker deck that she tended to use when she was in a bad place emotionally. She thinks of it as her angry deck. It has yucky, yucky energy on it. Normally I am one for the "it's just a deck of cards" crowd, but THIS deck of cards feels YUCKY. I won't even touch the box.

So for years I had an aversion to tarot. Then, one day, in the distant reaches of July, I was reading a thread from a professional tarotist on Customerssuck.com, and they mentioned the Tarot of the White Cats. "What is this cat tarot?" I wondered. And I googled it. Then I learned of the Tarot of Prague, and several other lovely decks, and I was intrigued. I called my best friend and said, "Hey... I think I want to learn to read tarot cards."

She was floored. "Really? I thought you hated them?"

"Yeah, I think it's weird too, but I want to learn."

"OK, don't buy your own deck- I'll get you one. Go to aeclectic.net and pick one out"

And that was it. I've been here ever since.

Wow-- Amary that's a great story. Isn't weird how things move in circles like that? I'm glad you found your path and could get over your Barbara Walkerian aversion to tarot! (I have that deck too and have looked at it about twice because it makes me feel equally yucky. After I got it I even started a thread about how it scared me haha).

Thanks for sharing that with us. (And you've got to tell us-- what was the deck you ended up picking from AT back then?)

Ashtaroot

I was around 11-12 a friend of the family gave me a Lenormand deck and I just ran with it ( the paranormal runs in my family for a while) so it wasn't anything out of the norm. And I used that deck for over 27 years not knowing what is it I didn't even think you can buy another or you even if you were allowed,with all the other paranormal stuff I was going through I never thought about it . I didn't have anyone else around that knew or helped most of my sensitive family members were either away or gone cause of the war (I lived through civil war in Beirut)

One day I decided to do a search about my Lenormand which led me to the PURPLE Gate and to my shock I discovered a whole new world...

My first Tarot deck was the Golden Botticelli I love it so much it opened a whole new horizon for me.. well not the deck perse but you know what I mean

and I have been blessed ever since

zan_chan

Ashtaroot said:
and I have been blessed ever since

Thanks for that Ashtaroot! That's exactly how I feel since finding this place, too. Meanwhile, with that much Lenormand experience, someday I'm going to have to bug you for a reading... :-D

Ashtaroot

Anytime Z anytime

jcwirish

My story started with a silly love from childhood. As a kid, I had this fantasy of being one of those traveling gypsies with crystal balls and magic cards. I especially wanted my own horse drawn wagon/portable home, so I could take all my things with me. I loved the idea of having secret knowledge or an understanding of things that I could share with people. I think these ideas came from books I read and movies like the Wizard of Oz (remember the fortune teller at the beginning).

Anyway, one day about ten years ago, I was in a shop and spotted a Art Nouveau deck by Lo Scarabeo. I bought it without even thinking about it. I just had to have it. I looked at t a few times, but it wasn't until I found my New Age shop in town and bought my Albano Waite deck, that my real interest began. I bought a few books and stared trying to read for friends. From then on, I bought decks whenever I saw them. I was really into buying reproductions of old Italian decks. I wanted something that looked and felt old.

My interest waned for a bit, but now here I am on the forum, and for the first time, I am truly trying to learn. I love it. I just want to learn as much as I can, and I love all the decks.

zan_chan

jcwirish said:
My story started with a silly love from childhood. As a kid, I had this fantasy of being one of those traveling gypsies with crystal balls and magic cards. I especially wanted my own horse drawn wagon/portable home, so I could take all my things with me. I loved the idea of having secret knowledge or an understanding of things that I could share with people. I think these ideas came from books I read and movies like the Wizard of Oz (remember the fortune teller at the beginning).

I can totally relate to that. My grandmother's family were <literally> gypsies from Sicily, so I have a little of that blood, which often leads me to wonderful delusions of fortuneteller grandeur. I always have that same fantasy of being on the move and reading for strangers in hard-to-describe, outdoor locations. My current favorite has to do with reading on a beach of a Greek island, maybe for sapphic tourists who would be really grounded and into it. <Starting to ramble...trailing off....>

Thanks for your story, Johanna

Amary

zan_chan said:
Wow-- Amary that's a great story. Isn't weird how things move in circles like that? I'm glad you found your path and could get over your Barbara Walkerian aversion to tarot! (I have that deck too and have looked at it about twice because it makes me feel equally yucky. After I got it I even started a thread about how it scared me haha).

Thanks for sharing that with us. (And you've got to tell us-- what was the deck you ended up picking from AT back then?)

Well, I WANTED the Tarot of Prague, but I know how much my best friend loves me, and it's not $130 worth.

So I picked the Mystic Dreamer.

Before it got here, my mom was showing me her decks, and handed me her Hudes. I handed it back to her, and she hesitated and then gave it back to me, saying, "This belongs to you now."

Then I found the Revelations in a local bookstore, decided not to buy it, couldn't stop thinking about it, went back to find it already sold, and found a brand new copy for $13 at a different bookstore, all in the same day.

By the time the Mystic Dreamer got here, I had 5 other decks.

I ended up not falling in love with the Mystic Dreamer, although it reads well. My friend, however, was completely enamored of it and bought one for herself, and she reads with it all the time.

zan_chan

Amary said:
By the time the Mystic Dreamer got here, I had 5 other decks.

A woman after my heart ;-)

on the bottom shelf i noticed... merged with How did you get started?

Gazel

Amary

zan_chan

Ashtaroot

zan_chan

Ashtaroot

jcwirish

zan_chan

Amary

zan_chan