Are we plateauing?

[inanna_tarot]

I thought a similar thing in my previous post on the thread...
that people displace their stagnation of Tarot on to AT.... they say AT has become stale when really it is themselves...

Or they associate that 'fool like glee' of the tarot with finding AT, and when its gone they blame AT rather than how their own tarot journey has changed. Just a thought.

 

[gregory]

I thought a similar thing in my previous post on the thread...
that people displace their stagnation of Tarot on to AT.... they say AT has become stale when really it is themselves...

Or they associate that 'fool like glee' of the tarot with finding AT, and when its gone they blame AT rather than how their own tarot journey has changed. Just a thought.

Wow. Nice one

 

[le_charior]

I wonder if what is happening is not plateauing but disenchantment with tarot in general by some of the longer time members? Burn out?

Interesting thought.

Maybe Kosjitov's idea from earlier in this thread of some kind of "Adopt a Newbie" programme or Tarot Tutoring could be a possible way of dealing with this? To find a way for very experienced members, whose tarot journey has gone beyond the excitement and beginners' questions, to transform into a real teacher? That might diminish the number of same old same old questions in the forum, and give an interested older member the chance to also get something in exchange for helping out new members, a real relationship, the pleasure of seeing someone progress...

No idea if or how that could work, but I liked the idea. I would like to be adopted!

 

[MareSaturni]

I wonder if what is happening is not plateauing but disenchantment with tarot in general by some of the longer time members? Burn out?

I think it could pretty much be that. Perhaps we look outside for the stimuli we want, when it should be inside us. But again, stimuli comes and goes in a cycle, so that could explain the waxing and waning of long-timers - and of more 'advanced' discussions - in the forum.

I thought a similar thing in my previous post on the thread...
that people displace their stagnation of Tarot on to AT.... they say AT has become stale when really it is themselves...

Or they associate that 'fool like glee' of the tarot with finding AT, and when its gone they blame AT rather than how their own tarot journey has changed. Just a thought.

This is VERY nice, Inanna_Tarot!

Perhaps tarot is a bit like cocaine! No no, don't throw the rocks! When we start, we discover such a big and marvelous world, specially in an active forum like AT, that we stay in a 'high' for a long time. Always discovering more, new decks, new books, new techniques, new...

But at some point, the tarot journey tends to go inward. It's you and your tarot, you are how YOU read, and how it works for you or not... and you and you. Tarot becomes a bit of a mirror. Buying news decks is nice, but no longer fulfills. Reading new books is good, but no longer answers the questions. Because now you have 'internalized' the journey, the stimulus has to come from inside, you have questions that only you can answer...

You look for light outside, but you don't find it. What happened to that forum that taught me so much in the past? That made me stay for hours in front of the computer? It's there - but you have changed. You feel like you need 'higher doses' to keep yourself interested. But now the 'high' has to be in you, you have to work to keep your interest evolving. The forum will no longer feed you with a spoon.

Like those characters in video games... the higher is their level, the more it takes for them to increase it. When you are level 1, you jump to level 5 within one hour of game. When you have level 50, it takes an eternity to reach level 51... lol!

 

[The crowned one]

Interesting thought.

Maybe Kosjitov's idea from earlier in this thread of some kind of "Adopt a Newbie" programme or Tarot Tutoring could be a possible way of dealing with this? To find a way for very experienced members, whose tarot journey has gone beyond the excitement and beginners' questions, to transform into a real teacher? That might diminish the number of same old same old questions in the forum, and give an interested older member the chance to also get something in exchange for helping out new members, a real relationship, the pleasure of seeing someone progress...

No idea if or how that could work, but I liked the idea. I would like to be adopted!

I suppose you could put in your "about me" that you would be interested in mentoring, and the time you are willing to commit to it. Plus general reading style :GD, BOT, traditional, book based, pure intuitive, ect. So they could find a member that suits their wants at that period of growth in their tarot journey? But really should we not just do that within the overall frame work of the AT community for all to share in? The one on one takes the conflict out of the equation of a open forum learning enviorment because those with the same level of experience and understanding but different style will not "get in the way" of your teaching method..

 

[inanna_tarot]

Marina --- I completely understand and agree with you!

As an old member that does keep popping back - my return journeys do reflect the times when tarot is waxing in its interest again in my life... when tarot wanes, so does my use of AT. There is an ebb and flow and whilst that means I'm not a forum 'constant' my tarot journey is my own.

And your thoughts on the inward journey I agree with completely! I have gone back to drawing daily draws, journaling etc. Stuff I did as a newbie, but this time it is a deeply internal process. No one but me, my tarot and my higher self. The rest is just surplus. Yes the extra decks, the books, the ideas etc are brilliant, but its about me and the symbols, the deeper essence of what tarot is, rather than the physical representation of tarot in 78 cards.

Well, that is where my journey is right now. Im a Tarot Hermit again, or perhaps even a Moon by working through the distractions and getting back to the core essense of what tarot is (to me)..... but a sociable one lol.

 

[Barleywine]

And that does not make your views on tarot any less valuable or valid.

Probably

But it might make me question your taste in fashion . . .

I had a few curmudgeonly comments of my own on the hyper-sensitivity of some of our members but decided that no good purpose would be served by re-opening old conflicts of opinion. Besides, it would quickly get us way off-topic. (See, even I can be sooo intuitive )

 

[le_charior]

i really enjoy this thread a lot!

every time i see the title in my user cp, i can't help but think of the song "plateau", especially the last verse:

Well the many hands began to scan around for the next plateau
Some said it was in Greenland and some say Mexico
Others decided it was nowhere except for where they stood
Those were all just guesses, wouldn't help you if they could

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xm2qx_nirvana-plateau_music

 

[vee]

This is an interesting thread. I've popped in and out of AT over the years, but never really been a "part" of it. I lurk and read a lot, but I don't post much. I think I get nervous over things exactly like this: what are the people actually interested in, what discussions are no-nos, do these people who've been reading cards for decades and have over 10,000 posts here *really* care about what some flaky girl has to say. I guess I have social anxiety, even online. Not that anyone is mean, it's just intimidating, especially because most of the people seem to have such different opinions and backgrounds than me.

Re: "Plateauing" in general, I've noticed over the years in that online communities I'm more active in that every once in awhile I feel a bit bored and listless with them. All the discussions are ones I've had before, all the questions are ones we've debated, all the people I disagreed with are gone or have converted to my side, all the new people are asking the same questions...everything just feels blah. At that point, it either goes two ways..I leave and find something that engages me, but eventually get pulled back and it feels fresh again OR I leave and the time is over. Either way, it's usually me, not the community. Sometimes you just need a break, or sometimes you outgrow it. But even as you feel tired and bored, some people are getting excited and learning and making new connections. It's cyclical and contrasting and all those other lovely themes we find in the Tarot.

 

[Grizabella]

I do have to say that the search feature here is abominable. It's not the fault of anyone---it's the software. I've been here a long time and even though I've figured out how to use it fairly well for certain kinds of questions, I don't blame newcomers who just give up and ask a question that's been asked a bijillion times before. Others say, "oh, it's easy, just do thus and so" but "thus and so" doesn't work like they say---at least not for me, so I don't use it very often unless I absolutely must or I'm desperately trying to help a newcomer.

There! That's said, and I meant it!

I think this is like the old saying, "if you want to have a friend, be a friend". If we want the forum not to plateau, then we have to put our minds to figuring out how to keep it from that. And I don't mean just trying to think of more stimulating topics to post or better questions to ask. That's putting the problem out for someone else to solve, it's not actually a remedy. We're bored so we want to ask stimulating questions to make others say things that will be more interesting to us. Do you see what I mean?
But rather than trying to figure out why we've hit that "mud bog", maybe we should have a look at ourselves and try to figure out why we're feeling it's a plateau. Maybe the answer lies within us as individuals, not outside of us. Maybe it's not a plateau at all, maybe it's just that we as individuals have gotten bored. I've always told my kids and grandkids that there's no such thing as "bored". Boredom is just a choice not to find yourself something to do. So maybe if we're feeling there's been a plateau here, we just need to figure out what we as individuals need to do to make it more interesting and freshened up for ourselves.

OK, so what would make this less of a plateau and more interesting and stimulating for you that you can do all by yourself? If you get interested and stimulated others will follow, after all. Let's don't put it outside ourselves and land the blame and the duty on others to remedy. If we're feeling a plateau, then it's our own plateau we're feeling, not the failing of anything outside ourselves.