What's your tarot story?

[Kristyjnh]

For me...

The first introduction I had to Tarot was in the 5th grade, when our cabin counselor pulled out her Tarot deck one night and read for all of us. I thought it was super cool, but didn't actually get a deck until late high school when I asked for one for Christmas (having no idea where to get one) and received the little Tarot to Go! kit with a mini deck of Hanson-Roberts. I played with them a little then, but eventually misplaced them for maybe five years, until early this year when I found them and started learning their meanings and reading on myself, family, and close friends.

I've really come to appreciate them, and managed to convert a friend to them as well. I have a feeling I'll read them on and off, probably for the rest of my life!

Thanks Aeclectic Tarot, for the great resource you provide for us newbies~

 

[tarotbear]

My Tarot Story:

Once upon a time there were three Tarot cards, The Papa Card, the ... why is everyone waving their hands wildly in the air?

 

[zhan.thay]

Some amazing stories here, to be sure. Mine is quite pedestrian by comparison.

When I was a child my family would drive to a public library each fortnight where I would find interest in lots of different things but at one stage ended up in the mythology section where I borrowed lots of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Celtic... I felt most drawn to the Celtic I suppose because I have Welsh heritage on both sides of my ancestry plus a bit of Scots and English - typical British mixed breed.

In my teens, a friend's mum had interests in the Theosophical Society and astrology and another friend a bit later showed me his Tarot deck. As I posted elsewhere:

In Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia there was once a shop called Gypsy John's. I was in there one day, when I was in my early twenties, looking at the Thoth deck & book when a guy who had been talking to Gypsy John made the comment, "Crowley's a hard master." Well, I thought, he's not going to be my master. I want to be my own master. After many years with the book and deck, which I didn't buy there, I can see where he was coming from but I see them not just as cards for readings and a book to explain the cards but as tools for self-discovery and self-improvement. (I won't say self-mastery because I haven't achieved that).

My 22nd year was big looking back. I also began casting astrology charts, read the Tibetan Book of the Dead starting my path in Tibetan Buddhism and read the Magic of Findhorn beginning my interest in New Age philosophies.

In all the years since I have used the Thoth and Voyager decks intermittently along with I Ching and Astrology and recently have become more inspired to broaden and deepen my knowledge in many areas after a period of oppression.

If I'm out and about and my decks aren't handy I'll go on the net to LLewelyn and get a Celtic Cross with the Witches' Tarot. By some standards that deck may appear a little lightweight, even self-indulgent when you read its compiler's story but I like the messages in the interpretations even though I have my own take on the place assignations.

And, of course, the resources here from beginner to magister templi are tremendously helpful in so many ways.

 

[Aina]

Wow! GREAT story ... I love the way it connects with a living ancient tradition

Now, to go all speculative here ... the 5 of fishes ?



http://www.whitegadget.com/attachme...5302-madhubani-art-madhubani-art-pictures.jpg

Yes, lol! You get eight of dancing girls and seven of snakes and two of cows and six of elephants Would make a great deck!

 

[Aina]

Me? I guess I was just born this way. I seem quiet normal (to myself) But not to many others, including family. I was immediately attracted from an early age to anything vaguely mystical, unusual, fascinating (or, from an outside perspective; weird strange and dangerous) ... poor Mum ... having to watch little ravenest tap dance on the edge of a volcano.

Before I was born ... I had a Galician ( related to the name of an ancient Celtic tribe ) grandmother (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia,_Spain ) who used to read tarot (but my straight and weird family suppressed all that … I never found out until about 10 years ago … something nasty happened to her , I think they locked her up in an institution , they used to do that with non-compliant women back then )

Perhaps my father picked up a ‘spirit germ baby’ from a waterhole in Arhnam Land (https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...s4GIAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1012&bih=441&dpr=1 )
during a croc hunting trip (I have seen old photos of him with tribal people, at a corroboree , etc. in early 1950 - so my indigenous teachers suggest .. maybe ??? – I haven’t learnt enough about that yet) came home and ‘gave his wife a present’ (as the Aboriginals say) and at an early age I was ‘touched by the little people’ (local ones, not pixies or fairies ) as a child. http://yowiehunters.com.au/index.ph...-legends-frank-povah-1990&catid=95&Itemid=148

That’s the mix. The first time I saw anything remotely connected to the otherworld I jumped into it. At around 13 or 14 I was allowed to roam further, I started exploring and a short train journey away was a large regional library … with a large occult section – that kept me busy for a while. Around 15 or 16 I ended up in a very unusual shop (for those times) in Kings X in Sydney (no – not THAT sort ! ) and saw a Thoth tarot deck … “I need that! “. I didn’t have enough money so I had to do odd jobs and save up for the deck and some other stuff that wonderful shop had.

After that it was a wonderful kaleidoscope of tarot, magick , various occult everything, 1970’s explosion clear light LSD Leary Jung Taoism Tibetan Buddhism OTO GD Wicca magic mushrooms Indigenous shamanism etc and … here I am.

<waves> Hi.

Hey that was amazing! Love it love it love it! Thanks for the great story and the reference links, I opened them all. I can pretty much relate to your story because I also read books by a certain writer who wrote about Tibetan Buddhism and Mongolian shamanism when I was 16-17. At 12-14 I was pretty busy being rebellious and running from hope and all that kind of thing. My dad was a schizophrenic who "talked to devil" and he had a real talent of telling scary stories about all the scary folk characters of my country. That used to be my the most memorable moments with my dad. The other things we loved to do was playing cards all day - a very bad thing to do according to my grandma. So when my parents divorced I got a parapsychologist step-dad who turned my mom into a New-Ager and they used to walk on hot coal and all that (there was a pic of my mom in a New-Age magazine in the '90s). They were into Osho and Castaneda but I couldn't read the books because they were in foreign languages. That fact used to torture me so bad. So I used to listen to their conversations at night, secretly. But I was different from my mom, I had this Oriental craze that my mom never had, so I ended up leaving school and running to UK where I worked at one woman's place who was into Wicca and she said she was a witch. That's when I saw the tarot deck but she wouldn't let me touch it Later on I married and moved to India where I saw Madhubani and then bought my tarot decks....To be continued, lol.

 

[Juliana]

My story is quite boring. And I still don't remember exactly what I saw or read that caused me to go buy that first deck (although I so wish I could remember). Suffice to say that I've always been fascinated with symbolism, and the occult. Ouija boards, ghost stories, spells, all things supernatural. Not that I necessarily believe in such things, but I've just been extremely curious about them since I was a young child. And tarot seemed like the perfect combination of occult and symbolism. So I was instantly intrigued when I stumbled upon it in my studies. I knew my sister (who is 12 years older than me) read tarot, and of course I had heard the word "tarot" before in pop culture. But it wasn't until I came across it later that it all really clicked that this was something I wanted to explore more.

That was all about 7 or so years ago when I was in my mid-20s. After that I went right out and bought a RWS deck and a Thoth deck along with a random tarot book. And the rest is history. I've been hooked ever since!

 

[Aina]

Strange but true; I was born a little "out there" & was the despair of my family! They were extremely intuitive & blocked it through fear of what might happen - they used to tell me it was "all in my head" to stop me from wandering off into the "OMG - what will the neighbours think...? You are going to get yourself into SO much trouble...!" Always into anything mystical; blurting out from a young age about others private stuff - along with a couple of near death experiences - what's a girl supposed to do???!!!

I saw too many things that couldn't be explained & started reading... & reading... & reading... Wicca, healing, shamanism - you name it I was into it!

One day I was in a strange shop in a small town & feeling quite surprised to find it there at all; I walked past the Tarot display when this deck of cards literally fell at my feet, so thinking nothing of it I put it back on the display & went on perusing the books; when yet again the very same deck flung itself on the floor. I picked it up & checked the shelf to see if there was something preventing the deck from sitting in its place - there was nothing. So back it went & back I went to the book section. As I turned to leave, the SAME deck once again fell from the shelf at my feet; this time I gave up & took it to the counter. It's been a valued journey ever since...

Wow, this sounds like you came to this planet with the mission to do the spiritual, psychic, healing, tarot work. All the signs are there! I'm just curious...Which deck was that, that fell on the ground at that shop?

 

[Aina]

Learning how to read cards was just something I did as a kid when we were snowed in and power was out. My mother had a deck she picked up in the late 60's/early 70's (University Press RWS) that she never used, so she gave it to me along with a copy of Eden Gray's Complete Guide to Tarot. It kept me amused for days.

Over time, I just continued with it and then got bit by the collecting bug.

Sorry, there's not much to it other than this.

Nah, no need to say sorry. That too was an amazing story! I can imagine the excitement you had when your mother gave you the deck and the book - must have felt great!

 

[Aina]

My Tarot Story:

Once upon a time there were three Tarot cards, The Papa Card, the ... why is everyone waving their hands wildly in the air?

Common, you cannot stop by without telling your story!!! What's your story, tarotbear?

 

[Aina]

The first introduction I had to Tarot was in the 5th grade, when our cabin counselor pulled out her Tarot deck one night and read for all of us. I thought it was super cool, but didn't actually get a deck until late high school when I asked for one for Christmas (having no idea where to get one) and received the little Tarot to Go! kit with a mini deck of Hanson-Roberts. I played with them a little then, but eventually misplaced them for maybe five years, until early this year when I found them and started learning their meanings and reading on myself, family, and close friends.

I've really come to appreciate them, and managed to convert a friend to them as well. I have a feeling I'll read them on and off, probably for the rest of my life!

Thanks Aeclectic Tarot, for the great resource you provide for us newbies~

Thank you, Kristyjnh, for sharing your story! I also always used to find card readings super cool. My grandma did once for me a playing card reading and I remember how thrilling it was, how tense! It said I'll get married one day, lol. I thought I won't. My first deck was a kit by Jonathan Dee and I used to for 5 years (maybe use for one week and put it away for 6 months) as well until I got my RWS. I still have it for the memory. Indeed, thanks to Aeclectic tarot for being out there!