I'm not in the closet

[gregory]

Wow! Imagine not having more respect for a minister than to say something as rude at that to him, as the first oen anyway!

I loved you explanation of why it happened. It feels very right to me and I am sure you're right about that.

Babs

Oh don't worry - he thought it was funny. It cut both ways - once in the pub he was threatened by a guy whose wife he had got to a safe shelter while the guy was in prison, and as the guy moved towards my dad (who was a very puny bit of work, I have to say) an ENORMOUS man he had never seen before suddenly materialised and said "'Ere, you can't 'it our Vicar," and laid him out - much to my dad's relief !

I don't know that a minister should command respect just because of his position though. Respects needs to be earned, IMHO.

 

[Jyscal]

It's just that we - or at least I - seem to expect to be treated differently if I say I'm a reader, than if I'd said I was a receptionist or a masseuse or an accountant or a mechanic.

I feel exactly the same alot of the time, and end up with huge headache at the end of it, but i think your story was very touching and put a big smile on my face. It would normally take me quite awhile before i'd tell someone i meet for the first time i study Tarot, but after reading this it might make it easier in the future, thanks.

 

[SunChariot]

((Huge warm hugs to Hearth Cricket & Babs.))
Although not actually agoraphobic, I've been hyper-sensitive all my life (with a few really bad episodes of chronic / severe depression.)
I've found myself getting more & more that way in recent years, since I've lived alone. I withdraw a lot & socially isolate myself - often against my own wishes, though that makes no sense at all. I do walk a lot by the sea or on the hills - but usually alone. Otherwise, I read, use my pc for research & exchanges of ideas on all kinds of subjects, learning & sharing daily, rather than going out.

That is why it's very important to me for my ever-growing, expanding world-view not to have to fear being sneered at or put down, as some people have suffered in posts above.
I can be a bit of a geek /self-inflicted loner at times, which is why Tarot is a major blessing & source of inspiration, challenge, self-development, philosophical expansion, beauty & comfort to me.
Respect for everyone's beliefs, even in discussions & debates, should be paramount!
It's lovely to share, girls!

Thanks Starshower!

Well the depth of your sensitivity is going to make an excellent Tarot reader of you. I can see you're just born to help others in caring ways and to do real good in the world. And the world sure needs more people like that.

Tarot is such a great way to do all that.

Babs

 

[SunChariot]

Oh don't worry - he thought it was funny. It cut both ways - once in the pub he was threatened by a guy whose wife he had got to a safe shelter while the guy was in prison, and as the guy moved towards my dad (who was a very puny bit of work, I have to say) an ENORMOUS man he had never seen before suddenly materialised and said "'Ere, you can't 'it our Vicar," and laid him out - much to my dad's relief !

I don't know that a minister should command respect just because of his position though. Respects needs to be earned, IMHO.

Well to me someone who decides to devote their lives to serving G-d is worthy of respect, just for that, unless they've done somethign to earn disrespect.

Thankfully the big guy showed up just in time when needed. Life tends to do that when you believe, send just what yuo need when you most need it, in my experience.

Babs

 

[gregory]

Well to me someone who decides to devote their lives to serving G-d is worthy of respect, just for that, unless they've done somethign to earn disrespect.

Thankfully the big guy showed up just in time when needed. Life tends to do that when you believe, send just what yuo need when you most need it, in my experience.

Babs

This was, of course, the vicar who, when asked (by me) if he believed in g*d, said he didn't know..... Which is the kind of vicar I can handle !

 

[Grizabella]

My problem with being out of the closet is that if I encounter the least indication that anyone is a "hell woman", as Lillie so cleverly calls them, I become that little girl again who endured so much spiritual abuse when I was a child and on up till I was 40, even though I'm in my 60's now. That was a truly horrible experience. I think I need therapy or something. (Not kidding.) I'm practicing reorienting myself, envisioning myself as though I'm separate from myself, and looking at myself as I am now----grey-haired and a senior--and imagining myself responding appropriately to my age. It's helping some, but it's still going to take a huge gulp of courage to start handing out my business cards here in town on a big scale. As soon as I'm over the hurdle, I'll put my real name and phone number on the cards even though I think my name is boring and I like Grizabella better.

 

[canid]

I've always had a compulsion to please everyone too, I think it has something to do with my planets & my Mommy Dearest. I'm not too far behind you, Griz, I'll be 53 shortly, & I've noticed lately that I don't give a rat's A*!ss anymore what people think. Well, not so much. I've wasted too much of my time worrying about that. I tell people I read tarot cards, people I don't know, but I am discriminating. A few Bible thumping acquaintances who truly think they have the keys to heaven have no clue about my tarot reading, & I don't feel hypocritical at all, I feel they are. It's not my yob to tell all my secrets to anyone - I don't have to, nor to try & convince them how narrow minded & judgemental they are. I've never gotten a negative response from strangers, some raised eyebrows, some excited comments, almost like we're conspirasts or something, but then again, I'm not gonna walk in a Christian church with a sign on. Not in the US anyway. My sister-in-law gave up tarot because she lives in Greenville SC; she had a few horror stories to share, all about the predominant baptists in that area.

 

[SunChariot]

My problem with being out of the closet is that if I encounter the least indication that anyone is a "hell woman", as Lillie so cleverly calls them, I become that little girl again who endured so much spiritual abuse when I was a child and on up till I was 40, even though I'm in my 60's now. That was a truly horrible experience. I think I need therapy or something. (Not kidding.) I'm practicing reorienting myself, envisioning myself as though I'm separate from myself, and looking at myself as I am now----grey-haired and a senior--and imagining myself responding appropriately to my age. It's helping some, but it's still going to take a huge gulp of courage to start handing out my business cards here in town on a big scale. As soon as I'm over the hurdle, I'll put my real name and phone number on the cards even though I think my name is boring and I like Grizabella better.

I got a lot of emotional abuse as a child at home for being a spirirual person and having a spiritual side. It was always a part of who I am and my my Mom and sis were not having any of that. They were very cruel in their efforts to knock that out of me.

Could be that that is why I am so cautious about revealing that side to others, now that I think of it. I just suddenly made the connection when I read your post. The reaction I most fear from others is what I suffered growing up.

If someone told me I was going to hell because of my reading, it wouldn't phase me one bit, because I'd think they're nuts. If they got hostile or thuoghts I was nuts it would be painful, because I was treated like something was wrong with me as a child just for being who I was and for being a spiritual person. And when I was very yound and forming my identiy I did often believe them that there really was somethign wrong with me for being that way. Even though it was not true of course. But the memories are there unconsciously I guess and that is where I can be hurt.

Babs

 

[Marcia959]

This is exactly the issue that is the scary part of becoming a professional reader for me. Just this week I announced to my friends that I'm starting my business. But I selected the list of friends to tell very carefully. My husband and I are friendly with our parish priest, but we expect when he gets wind of this, and he's bound to at some point, there's a very good chance he will throw us out of the church. Or at least try to. Yet by all accounts, he's had prescient moments himself and talks about it, so I have my fingers crossed that he will merely scold me. And I, now 55 and a grown up girl by all accounts, will tend to retreat to that little girl too who was told I was making up stories. So I try to prepare myself not to retreat.

So far the only less-than-Wow-that's-so-cool reaction I've had from my friends is just a question about if I saw something bad would I tell the person. It was a good question and let me open up the topic of choice centered tarot, asking the client in advance if they want to know everything, and the zillion ways you can word something.

But I keep waiting for that first negative reaction. While I'm not prepared for every eventuality (who is?), I have rehearsed what I would say or do in certain situations.

As for the comment about you're psychic so you should know where the silverware is, we don't read silverware's minds...but, you sure called him on it when you told him he was the culprit!! Great story.

I think people will always be a little uncomfortable about what we do because it is precisely the unknown and each person's comfort level with it. Whether they jump in with both feet like we do, or try to stomp on the "bug" out of fear and loathing says everything about them. We are the Page, not the message. It is prudent to dodge thems with the big shoes. If there's any way to dissociate yourself from their fear, find that place.

 

[SunChariot]

I think people will always be a little uncomfortable about what we do because it is precisely the unknown and each person's comfort level with it. Whether they jump in with both feet like we do, or try to stomp on the "bug" out of fear and loathing says everything about them. We are the Page, not the message. It is prudent to dodge thems with the big shoes. If there's any way to dissociate yourself from their fear, find that place.

That makes a lot of sense. It is the unknown we are working with, no one knows for sure how it works. And people do tend to fear and reject the unknown, but at least not everyone does.

Babs