I'm not in the closet

[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.

 

[tigerlily]

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!

 

[Sophie]

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 think that's the common problem we European tarotists have.

As a result, I try and establish my credentials before I share my tarot interest (assuming I'm not set up the way Lark was - you handled that man to perfection, Lark! ). Partly to protect myself, and partly, to protect tarot - if intelligent, articulate people who are otherwise sane are seen to use tarot and appreciate it, and know how to speak up for it, then tarot itself tends to be judged more on its own merits than on its notoriety.

Of course, you always have that core solid group of cartesian über-sceptics - but I don't have much to say to them anyway. They don't like poetry, they have no imagination, they never dance and are probably crap in bed

 

[SolSionnach]

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.

Hi Nisaba,
FWIW, it seems to me that relationships with neighbors are more touchy. I can quite understand your reaction, because what if they'd been fundies and all h*ll had broken loose? With their church group singing "Kumbaya" around your house all night and praying for Satan to loosen his grip on you - they would've been *very* concerned, seeings as they already considered you a somewhat close neighbor (by Texas standards, at least). So coming out to them could've been nightmarish.

Personally, I have no problem with any tarotist *choosing* who to come out to. Just because it's our profession doesn't mean that we need to stop using our intuition to avoid the freaks.

Oh, and Lark? ROFL!

 

[Alpha-Omega]

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!

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.

 

[nisaba]

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 think that's the common problem we European tarotists have.

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.

 

[Sophie]

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.

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 cards

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.

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 )

 

[tigerlily]

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.

Well, Fudugazi already covered southern Europe, and I can only add that Eastern Europe has a longstanding occult tradition (Prague!) and witchcraft and fortune-telling are widespread and perfectly acceptable.

I think the problem isn't Christianity, but Puritans. Or it's because we already had the witch burnings some centuries ago. We're over it. *shrug*

nisaba, I'm gonna practice that line about humour (love, beauty, etc).

 

[gregory]

I think the issue lies with fundamentalists of all persuasions....

 

[tigerlily]

LOL sorry if I offended any Puritans, it wasn't my intention, honestly! Yes, fundamentalists, as I wrote in my first post.