Feeling really disconnected

[Delta]

I only read for myself and maybe friends/family. It's not a daily thing, I'll just reach for the deck when I really think I need it. It's a small RW deck.

However in the past 3-4 months I've been finding it increasingly hard. I feel like I need to invest a ton of energy into one reading.

When I first started I was asking a million questions and now I barely ever touch the deck. When I do, my interpretation seems off. It's like we've gone off each other or something. 

 

I cleansed the deck - I put it in a salt bowl over night, and went over each card with Palo Santo. Still off.

I also got a Lenormand deck thinking I needed a change, and I can't get into that either.

 

Do you guys have phases like this?

[katrinka]

Yes, I think most of us probably do that, Sometimes the cards are fun and we read a lot. Other times they feel like work, and we want to lay them out about as much as we'd want to deal with a pile of dirty dishes in a clogged sink.

You can ask yourself if anything's changed and put you off the cards, but chances are nothing has. It's just part of the natural cycle. Reading cards is an art, like painting or music, and most people experience dry spells. I wouldn't worry about it. Changes are part of the the enjoyment and it will all come back on its own.
 

Edited November 12, 2021 by katrinka

[Delta]

Thanks @katrinka 😊

I figured it might as well be the period we're all finding ourselves in right now.

There's a lot of insecurity and the world is changing and this makes me nervous to boot. I'm finding meditation to be a bit of a chore too nowadays.

[katrinka]

Very true, we're in worrisome times! COVID and a lot of things I won't name here since it would bleed into politics. But you know.
OTOH, times of great instability have always been fertile times for reading cards. Look at all the stuff that was going on in Mlle. Lenormand's time and place. Or Madam Thebes, or Pierre de Lasenic. (And those last two are definitely worth your time if you don't know about them already!)

 

http://magicbohemia.magic-realist.com/2017/06/05/the-fortuneteller-of-the-golden-lane/

http://magicbohemia.magic-realist.com/2017/10/23/pierre-de-lasenic-a-modern-esoteric-soul/

 

(Karen Mahony has uncovered some wonderful stories, something that is too often obscured by the attention the decks get. She's a REALLY good researcher. She once shared this gem at AT: “certainly many occultists hid everything (Madame de Thebes was killed by the Nazis, Lasenic was questioned about occultism by the gestapo and escaped – in what we now recognise as true Lasenic style – by EATING the charge papers when his interrogator left the room for a minute. The super-efficient Nazis could not cope with this and let him go – wonderful story and apparently true.”)

Hairy times call for cards. But sometimes we just...can't...look. I get that.

 

 

[Delta]

I like the parallel with the WWII because this whole situation has an eerie feel to it and I often say it feels like a kind of a WWIII prelude. It's really heavy.

 

Thanks for the links, read about them both. I know little about Czech Republic and it's famous people, but I did hear of Zlata Ulicka in Prague before. Probably in Kafka's context. 🙂

Lasenic's story is fantastic - I do hope the eating of his charge papers is true, it made me laugh. 😄 The idea of attacking Hitler on an astral plane is interesting too.

 

And yes,"...can't look" - is right! I was just telling my partner this today. I'm always like that when things are unsettling. I don't feel stable enough to handle whatever I might see in the cards.

 

Josephine Mccarthy was saying something about doing magic and tarot in the periods like this. I can't remember the exact quote, but I understood it this way - when Frodo puts the ring on in the LOTR and ends up being seen by the forces of Sauron/the wraiths. She mentioned something along the lines of this in the context of doing magic and even tarot in such unstable, difficult times. Like you always peek on that other side when you do it, but the question is who sees you there. Hope you get what I mean, can't really find a way to phrase it better.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Delta
spelling

[katrinka]

I get it. As Nietzsche said, "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
Niectzche was talking about extreme situations, though. Like an FBI investigator who has to get into the mind of a serial killer, and in doing so, sees those tendencies in himself

As for us. I honestly don't think it's that ugly. Give it time. 😉

[DanielJUK]

go easy on yourself @Delta, this is like divination burn out and I get it about once or twice a year.

For me it happens if I am doing a lot of readings for other people or for myself and I really just need to have a reading holiday for a while. The other time it happens is if something is happening that is very stressful around me and it does affect my readings. I take about a month off of no reading and then feel refreshed again! In my experience it's about me and my energy levels rather than the decks or anything like that.

 

I thought it was interesting during the pandemic and when it started in March last year that I would have predicted that people use divination to help them get through the times. What actually happened is this forum had some quiet months with many regulars taking time off for self care. In the circles and exchanges the numbers taking part dwindled to the lowest ever! Things are a lot better around here but I thought it was so interesting. In a time of stress and unpredictable events, people needed time off here for their self-care. I totally understand it and I didn't feel the need to read for several months and had a break during this. But I would have expected tarot or other divination methods to be a help.

 

So we don't always need to pick up the deck and I have found I use it a lot less then when I was starting out. But also there are times when we need a break, we perhaps don't have the energy to read. Take a break and some time out for self-care. In my experience, it always comes back to me fresher and easier to read again 🙂 . You're not alone on this Delta, it probably happens to us all at times.