The Monday Rant

It is my observation, that of late – we’ve become obsessed.

With decks. The Capitalists at Llewellyn’s love us. They an pump out absolute crap and we’ll buy it. They’ve not done a deck worth owning in ages – there’s no reason for them to still be in business…they keep doing the same thing over and over with very slight modifications and the public keeps buying it.

There is no vision there.

Lo Scarabeo has fallen into the same tiger trap…same crap – different day – and the public keeps buying it.

No vision…

And now AT is crowded with threads about the new crap and ‘Tarot Addiction”…and nobody can read…

Basic three card spreads and nobody can read.

What’s it all mean???

It’s like when you read three different books with three opposing views. What you’ve got is three diverse opinions vying for footholds in your head – and no place for your own opinion.

What about reading for others.

And we’ve got a ton of Net-Readers now, telling us (those of us who do face the demons and read for strangers) about HOW we should be reading…

It ain’t how many decks you own.

It ain’t how many books you’ve read.

It ain’t how you shuffle or cut or spread the cards or the flavour of the jamba-juice you prefer…

The only thing that matters – is what passes between you and the sitter.

The only thing that matters – EVER – in this world – is EYE CONTACT.

I prefer my EYE CONTACT in context with a deck of TAROT.

So you own 300 decks.

If you refuse to read for strangers face-to-face…don’t tell me ‘how it is’.

One who is filled with fear can never tell another how to live.

One who is lost can never lead.

Are you willing to learn to read for others? Are you serious enough? Or are you just a hoarder of mass market schlock…?

You need to own your statements otherwise it sounds like the law.

If the decks sell people must like them. I feel there is room for both beginners, collectors and advanced readers here or anywhere. In spite of my great joy in reading the cards In the big scheme of life Tarot really is pretty small in my opinion.

As far as eye contact being important goes, I disagree. It is life that mater's not eye contact. I have saved life's without eye contact and it is a rapturous feeling knowing your intervention have given a continuance to someones existence. A good reading just makes my day.

I find reading live easier as I get instant feed back through facial expressions, and yes the eyes. They guide the story, after all it is their story you are reading, much better when I can see them, not just their eyes, their body language too.

Still I do understand the soapbox you are standing on and feel your frustration in your words. I Look forward to seeing how others respond to your statements.

What do you suggest we/they do?

I also think that not everyone who buys tarot decks is interested in becoming a reader. Some people just love the artwork or just want to read more about the intrigueing concepts...

I totally agree with you Umbrae, yet again.

Thanks for the Rant!


It's so real when you read for a person, as they are sitting
across the table from you...everything changes...even new
information comes to me. This is when I learn the most of
the cards and the combinations...from the clients feedback
and actions.

Umbrae said:

It is my observation, that of late – we’ve become obsessed.

With decks. The Capitalists at Llewellyn’s love us. They an pump out absolute crap and we’ll buy it. They’ve not done a deck worth owning in ages – there’s no reason for them to still be in business…they keep doing the same thing over and over with very slight modifications and the public keeps buying it.

Click to expand...

McTarot is an inveitable consequence of the Western greed and consumerism.

People who have never studied Tarot, never contemplated it's mysteries or made any attempt to understand it's secrets, producing packs of cards and calling them Tarot is arrogant, ignorant and offensive to Tarot.

There is nothing of the true Tarot in these mindless decks.

Are you willing to learn to read for others? Are you serious enough? Or are you just a hoarder of mass market schlock…?

Click to expand...

Are they they only choices? Become a reader or a horder?

I do not want to read for others.

I am a student of Tarot. I study Tarot because I want to understand the universe and my place in it.

As far as eye contact being important goes, I disagree. It is life that mater's not eye contact. I have saved life's without eye contact and it is a rapturous feeling knowing your intervention have given a continuance to someones existence. A good reading just makes my day.

Click to expand...

So, lemme ask you this? If you are not looking at or into the eyes of your sitter, what are you doing? Are you perhaps reading body language and tells in order to make the reading flow better? I am curious on this point.

I find that the eyes are indeed the "windows of the soul". It's necessary for eye contact when you are reading. Granted you are also looking at the card, and if you are like me, getting flashes of all sorts of things, but to not give eye contact to me, does not make the reading personal for the sitter.

When a person comes to you for a reading, IMO it is because they sometimes can't see the forest for the trees and it is up to the reader to be the "eyes" if you will and see the options that perhaps they can't. By giving the person eye contact you are making a statement that "yes, I care about you and your question, and here are some possibilities you might want to consider." When the postman delivers a special delivery letter, he looks straight on at you and says, I have a message for you. We are in essence the postman.

Baroli

Bravo!!

Umbrae, I agree with you wholeheartedly with all your points. Thank God for Mondays.


Baroli

I gotta disagree with you on this, Umbrae.

But respect your point throughly.

If some one says "I'm a collector" then they should be entitled to every lovingly-penned, inked or digitized card they desire. Just because they were comissions doesnt mean the artist didnt leave somthing in their work, 78 individual peices is no small feat and has a right to be respected for what it is.

If some one says "I'm a reader" then if they want to read 78 uniquely color coded toothpicks, then more power to them. It's what's in their heart and their mind that's important, and if tarot's the medium to get that out, more power to them.

Then if some one says simply "I read" Then they have their reasons, their purpose and their method already in mind. Maybe it's "for myself" "for others" "for fun", that doesnt matter. They're filling whatever need they have with the cards.

And... anyone can be any combination of all three, in varying percentages.

If some one doesnt desire to be a leader, by no means should they be condemmed for doing so. What if we had 6 billion readers and no one to read for?

There's no reason that one cannot both collect decks and read with them f2f, eyeball to eyeball, several times weekly. there's no reason one can't do that, and also study decks. There's no reason not to do all of that, and create your own deck. There's no reason not to do all of the above, and then study numerology, astrology Kaballah, I Ching, Runes, mating patterns of sea birds, and anything else you think enhances your understanding of the Tarot.

There are other choices available. you can read online or on the phone or only for yourself, with the one the only true tarot that no one but you and your amazing mentor understand. You can even feel guilty about passing glances at other decks. But you won't learn by the seat of your pants, that way. You won't learn to deal with the profound surprise across the table from you...you probably won't even learn how to phrase things so the sitter can understand his reading.

You can buy very new candy-bar deck on the market, Or maybe you can just keep getting and trading away the "deck of the Week', and never read deeper than a puddle because you're constantly changing decks, and never get to know any of them.

Lotsa choices out there, Umbrae, People are going to make the ones that they feel will work for them. If they stick with it long enough, and are honest with self and others, they'll find their way.
After all, we did.

It's a Process.