Tarot - private or public matter?

Hi, welcome to AT, I hope you stick around! It’s a wonderful community.


I’m quite private about my tarot interest. When it comes to people I call my friends I don’t mind telling them about it at all, and I find that my closest friends (despite having no tarot interest at all) support me and like to hear about my tarot account on Instagram growing and gaining popularity. But when it comes to people I don’t know so well, like co-workers and similar, I am very private about it! And it basically stems from Sweden being a very atheist country and most people believe that tarot cards are used to trick gullible people and make money out of “fake fortune telling”. I don’t want people to think that about me!

I wish I had other tarotistas to talk to and spend time with! I met one for the first time in 11 years that I’ve studied tarot, last year, but turned out she was more into old school fortune telling so we didn’t really stay in touch. But it was fun meeting someone my age with a similar interest!

In my social circle, everyone knows - and many people request (and get) readings. It's seen as a mild eccentricity but still something that comes up at dinner table with plenty of curious, non-judgemental questions.

At work, people know but I don't talk about it or ever admit to having consulted cards on decisions. I have a good position in a company so I wouldn't like to be thought of as taking decisions based on cartomancy since I do think long and hard about things! A few colleagues who find it interesting have asked for readings and I do them out of work time.

I also keep it private.
I always have been a person with two different set of friends. I had friends in school, but these also were like colleagues from work. And then I had another different social circle. At university it was basically the same.
To the colleagues I keep most of my stuff private. I do not talk about politics or spirituality. It feels like it does not belong there.
To the other set of friends I am very open. I do not hide it but I also do not force it on them.

I think I read about three or four times for a friend, but never for a stranger. This is something i definitively want to learn someday.

Private. I read for myself, on here and for two friends whom I didn't mind telling because they're into astrology. (My parents know and don't mind, but I don't read for them.)

I just don't feel like dealing with any crap, and I know at least one person in my social circle who WOULD give me crap about it. It's easier for me to just not mention it.

I read mostly for myself, but am open to reading for others. I don't hide it necessarily, but the subject just doesn't come up often. Also, I don't know that many readers IRL, or don't know that I know them - again, the subject just doesn't come up often enough for me to know.

I know one woman at work who reads, but only very occasionally. I just found out my best friend of 25 years reads, but also occasionally - she couldn't even find her deck, so I gave her my copy of the Universal Waite along with a book I thought she'd like. She's definitely interested and welcomed the gifts enthusiastically. I hope she finds time to actually do some readings for herself. Tarot has been a great comfort, helped me grow so much spiritually and emotionally lately, and she could use that, too.

Definitely keep it to myself and only read for myself and occasionally my husband right now. I know other readers but this is the first place I have discussed my readings. My MIL reads and she is about the only person I would talk to about the cards but I haven't yet (I am admittadly very very poor at family communication...we live across the u.s. from each other). I dont care if friends find out but I dont openly bring it up at this point. I feel like you do about this forum! Happy to have found it.

Mostly private and I think I get all my esoteric side out here on AT! I don't really mind too much if someone finds out I divine and my close friends and family know! But I don't make it public just because it's not a very public interest for me outside of AT! But last new year I did a reading for myself for 2015 and was going to upload a picture of the spread to a social network and decided at the last minute that I was worried about a negative reaction from some people how would I handle that? So I didn't!

I have realised or worked out, that some people I know in my life are tarot readers and are not on AT! that is always exciting. Finding the secret tarot user from your friends / social network friends circle

There is some wonderful folk on AT though who have their names publicly associated with tarot, maybe they are authors or artists / publishers / designers or professional readers and I wonder how they handle people knowing their "public life". I hope they don't have to deal with negative reactions!

My circle of Tarot & esoteric friends is basically here. I don't consider myself to be hiding it, but I'm also not public. It's in the same category as the color of my underwear: I'm not ashamed of it, and if you have a need to know or I'm for some reason in the mood to tell you, I'll talk about it. But most people would never think to ask and I probably won't just volunteer that information.

(Disclaimer: I am not part of the oversharing generation and don't get the need to share absolutely everything with everyone. Or even most of it. So not sharing a piece of who I am with randoms on the street or in-laws or even relatively close friends is perfectly normal in my world.)

One of my classmates from donkey years ago is a professional tarot reader and open about his spirituality, has been interviewed by mainstream media and all, and he posts stuff on his FB occasionally. Don't think he's on AT. So all of us from the same alumni know, and I don't feel so weird when I post a pretty tarot card or two once in a while. Some may go, oh great, two of our old classmates read tarot now. That said, I rarely post on social media, lol.

Fortune-telling (along with fengshui and astrology) can be big business where I'm from.

Thank you all for your answers and stories! Even though I'm not uncomfortable with my own way (being private about tarot) it's nice to hear there are as many "right" styles as there are people. And thanks for all the welcomes to this forum, it's an awesome place! Citrin, I'm also from Scandinavia even though I live in Australia so I can definitely relate to your feelings about very secular, rational society where no one's into any kind of "hocus pocus" and interest towards esoteric might be seen as not having all your mental faculties with you (whereas I think it's actually the other way around )