Briar Rose
Maybe it's not lack of pride on your part so much as it's more like you don't want to stir the pot.
I think that's the common problem we European tarotists have.tigerlily said:My concern isn't the religious fundamentalists (perhaps there are fewer of them in Europe?) who fear for my soul, but the scientific fundamentalists who question my sanity. They make me feel stupid and superstitious and I don't have a really cool comeback I just can't stand it if people look down on me!
Hi Nisaba,nisaba said:To my immense relief, she smiled and said "That must be very interesting", and the conversation rambled onwards in other directions.
So why is it such a big deal? And why did her acceptance matter to me? She's a nice old lady - I had no reason to think she'd be judgemental and hostile, but nonetheless, I thought it, and I was disproportionately relieved when she wasn't.
I'm not in the closet. But sometimes I find myself covering up. Why do I do that? Sometimes I'm not proud of myself.
tigerlily said:Well, thankfully I don't have any problems with my family - we're all pagan my mother gives me Tarot decks for birthday
My concern isn't the religious fundamentalists (perhaps there are fewer of them in Europe?) who fear for my soul, but the scientific fundamentalists who question my sanity. They make me feel stupid and superstitious and I don't have a really cool comeback I just can't stand it if people look down on me!
A friend of mine has the perfect answer, he has his Masters in Physics and Applied Mathematics - he's an out of work physicist (a working grunt at the moment, but that's only for money). People go the scientific snob line, he shows them his degree.Fudugazi said:I think that's the common problem we European tarotists have.My concern isn't the religious fundamentalists (perhaps there are fewer of them in Europe?) who fear for my soul, but the scientific fundamentalists who question my sanity. They make me feel stupid and superstitious and I don't have a really cool comeback I just can't stand it if people look down on me!
I can't speak for Eastern Europe, but I've lived in Southern Europe, and there is a long and very active fortune-telling tradition there. Whenever I'm in Andalusia - a very Catholic part of the country! - as soon as people know I'm into cards, I get inundated with requests to read. The same when I go to Italy or Greece. I've never encountered any negative reaction, unlike what I get in the UK or in my native Switzerland. In fact, if I don't want to have to read back-to-back, I don't tell people I read cardsAlpha-Omega said:Do you come from western or northmen Europe? In europe it is divided to on how they react. I would think the eastern and southern Europe would be more like USA with the religious aspect and Northern/Western with the scientific side.
Good one, Nisaba. I use love as an example, or poetry, or sensitivity to music. Same idea, really. But I rarely try and explain using quantum physics, because I don't have enough knowledge of that subject (despite being fascinated by it) to defeat those who do and who don't like to see it tied to what they consider to be woo-woo (as if quantum mechanics wasn't woo-woo itself )nisaba said:A friend of mine has the perfect answer, he has his Masters in Physics and Applied Mathematics - he's an out of work physicist (a working grunt at the moment, but that's only for money). People go the scientific snob line, he shows them his degree.
I have a defence only one degree inferior to his: I can say in all honesty and the best reader I've ever known is a fully qualified physicist (him)!
Then after that we go identical in technique. We give them a hard look and say: didn't I hear you laughing the other day? I'm amazed, a rational, scientific person like you, laughing when there's absolutely no scientific evidence of anything resembling a sense of humour!
Say it with enough sarcasm and they wilt and go away before I ever get to the line about synchronicity, random number generators, and electrons being aware of what other electrons are subjected to at great distances and at faster-than-light-speed times.
Alpha-Omega said:Do you come from western or northmen Europe? In europe it is divided to on how they react. I would think the eastern and southern Europe would be more like USA with the religious aspect and Northern/Western with the scientific side.