are you looking IN OR OUT?

[Guest]

Without exception, we are all searching and looking for something, or we wouldn't be playing with tarot cards. But where? This isn't a question to ignite long stories of how you found the tarot, we all have those. This is a question to ask you to look at the very beginning of that story you have, at that very moment it began, were you looking in or out?

 

Over the time since that moment have you found it more fitting to look the other way?

[faerybraids]

This is an intriguing question... I'm not really sure whether I was looking in or out when I started it. In a roundabout way I think I was looking out to help with looking in, in a sense, but I'm not really sure that makes much sense... I think I was looking outside myself to try to find peace with who I was inside, to be able to be comfortable spending time with that me that was inside, since looking inside often caused so much pain at that point in my life.

 

Now, like with most things, I feel like balance is needed: not too much more of one than the other. When I spend too much time focusing on one things end up deteriorating from neglecting the other, and it's a pattern I can see running throughout my life (spend way too much time looking in, spend way too much time looking out, on and on and on). So, yeah. Balance is key for me.

 

(I hope this answers your questions?)

[Guest]

(I hope this answers your questions?)

 

I love it this is a great reply. I love to ask questions, they make people think. Sometimes someone says something useful too. The more questions I ask the more we are thinking of the same things, the more useful the things we say to one another become.

 

I was looking out when I discovered the I-ching which led to looking in and while looking in I came to Astrology and began again to look out when I came upon the Tarot.

 

for the sake of this discussion, I think that looking Out definitely incorporates divination and trying to assess near past and future events and interactions while looking In is about observing your character aspects and adjusting them to find more economical and useful balances of your energies.

[Jewel]

To be sure I am not sure where I was looking.  I was intrigued by tarot and wanted to experience it though I was not sure what the experience would be.

 

Now, after over 30 years, I look in and out.  What is going on inside me matters, but how I, others, issues or circumstances affect outside influences and matters too.  Everything is connected so balance is required to get the picture.

[Whisper]

After thirty years of going back and forth with the Tarot, I would have to say that I was just called to it, by it... Unlike our ancestors during the Renaissance and even the Baroque eras - most of whom couldn't read the written word - we have become illiterate in the reading and understanding of symbols and symbology. They were, on the contrary, very familiar with the symbolism of this flower, that object, etc. Even the plebeians.

 

It is always the images that get me; the art and artistry and the extent to which the creator of the deck (and/or his or her collaborator) explain the cards and their meaning in light of the archetypes that belong to the different systems and languages of the Tarot or oracles, and systems such as Lenormand.

 

All this to say, that I am wildly drawn both outwardly and inwardly to these esoteric practices and cannot let them go, given that I keep returning to them. There is a balance because I weave in and out. Sometimes, I go inward, exploring myself and listening, other times, I focus on the divinatory.

[Esk]

I remember when I decided to buy my first tarot deck, it was definitely to look out. I wanted to know what was happenning around me, things that I didn't see clearly. I just lived a a very painful experience and wanted to protect myself and avoid living that again. But very quickly I discovered that it was more useful for looking in as I definitely needed this.

Now it's still easier for me to look at myself for various reasons but what's going on inside me  also depends on what's going outside

[EmpyreanKnight]

Initially I was all for knowing what the future holds so I was originally from the Out camp. But I've increasingly seen how the Tarot can also be valuable in exploring my internal landscape, so now it's become a mix.

[Guest]

I want to believe that as a person masters something they naturally move from external to internal observations. Tarot in particular displays the associations between internal states and external states so this probably happens more with tarot than say basket weaving or needle point.

 

For most of us I bet after so many years of practice of tarot this question appears to resemble the "which came first the chicken or the egg?" But I think it seems fun to look back and attempt to recall what started the journey once and a while.

 

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[Whisper]

I want to believe that as a person masters something they naturally move from external to internal observations. Tarot in particular displays the associations between internal states and external states so this probably happens more with tarot than say basket weaving or needle point.

 

For most of us I bet after so many years of practice of tarot this question appears to resemble the "which came first the chicken or the egg?" But I think it seems fun to look back and attempt to recall what started the journey once and a while.

 

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Your question, Whatsawhosit, gave us all food for thought and that is always interesting. Thank you. :D

[Emilija]

I would say that I was tired of looking inward, and that I wanted to look outward. I felt deeply spiritual before, but here is a growth or expansion since I've added the tarot.

[Saturn Celeste]

Without exception, we are all searching and looking for something, or we wouldn't be playing with tarot cards. But where? This isn't a question to ignite long stories of how you found the tarot, we all have those. This is a question to ask you to look at the very beginning of that story you have, at that very moment it began, were you looking in or out?

 

Over the time since that moment have you found it more fitting to look the other way?

 

Always looking out.  I read the cards for the messages they offer others, not myself. ;)

[Starlight]

When I first got my deck, my outlook was probably more outwards-oriented although I wouldn't have been conscious of that.

 

Then I began to appreciate Tarot for its ability to help me see what was going on within myself and I use it far more for that than anything else. But more recently I've been looking at Kipper and playing cards, and I think they're definitely more outwards-focused. So, my tendency is to look IN, but there are times when I'm interested in looking out. 'What is the likely outcome if I make this decision?' and so on.

[Stormdancer]

In.

[Page of Ghosts]

Mostly looking in for me. I find I experiment a bit more with predictive readings and looking out when I'm dabbling in/working on learning Lenormand.

[gregory]

I think I'm looking to balance the in with the out.

[Guest]

I think I'm looking to balance the in with the out.

Surely that is the point we should all be aiming for [emoji847]

 

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[Whisper]

I think I'm looking to balance the in with the out.

 

Completely agree.

[Canid]

Mostly looking in, attempting communication with the Divine. Isn’t that what divination really means? Connecting to the Divine? I no longer use tarot for predictions, & many times the ‘advice’ becomes blatantly obvious anyway, without even asking. Clear as mud?

[Canid]

But originally, I used it strictly for ‘out’, I wanted a map of my life (especially love life gag) & to maybe help & impress my friends. And possibly make a few $$. That was in the early 1970’s.

[Whisper]

Mostly looking in, attempting communication with the Divine. Isn’t that what divination really means? Connecting to the Divine?

 

I definitely agree that's what it means. Well put, Canid. :D

[Samual_Jennings]

I think tarot can be useful for predictions. However, in a sense, looking inside to see who you are is more important. Soul over body. Besides, if and when you know a great deal about your own mind/soul, you will be equipped with the ability to make outward decisions without the use of tarot.

 

If all you are concerned about is goals, then looking out is fine. But looking in is where the true purpose lies.

 

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[DanielJUK]

I have come to tarot twice in my life and picked up a deck, the first time I was in my early teens and then packed my deck away and came back to it in my early 30's (and made much more progress with it this time around), both times I came to it for outward reasons, not inward! However I have read and used it for inward related work and shadow work but I never picked it up originally to work on that, I can't say why that is. I may need to do some inward reading on this to work out why, the irony  ;D I think when you do work on the outward areas of your life, you realise you need to look at some of the inward things perhaps.

[Guest]

I think people come to the tarot often when they are looking for answers about things in life that are beating them down or stressing them out. Very external things. I think tarot being what it is will tend to naturally drag your attention inside.

 

So what you saying really makes a lot of sense and you are definitely not alone.

 

[emoji16]

 

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[Shinsoo]

I look outwardly--I have my reasons that very few would understand.

 

I enjoy helping others figure themselves out with Tarot.

 

I used to look 'in' but I got sick of my cards browbeating my destiny into my skull.  Screw destiny, lol XD