Cult of Tarot Forum

I am watching an episode on Gaia.com about tarot and the episode is about the Magician and High Priestess.
Theresa Bullard says in this episode that above all doors of mystical school hangs a sign saying: 'Know Thyself'
Then she explains that another part of this motto is: 'To keep silence'. She explains that this relates to not speaking to others about your creative work or magical operations. This is an effort to keep it sacred and protected. Plus, when you are creating something and you talk about it before it is done, other people's opinions might distort what you are trying to accomplish. Within today's world with people sharing so much, I wonder how this applies with sharing your tarot readings. It is a very personal thing to share things so openly with others. Do you think by sharing your readings some of the magic of it is lost?

I believe in "Know Thyself" and "Nothing To Excess" and most of the lesser-known Delphic maxims. There's a long history and endless debate on the topic of how occult do you keep the occult.

My personal truth is that "Keep Silent" applies (for tarot readings and everything else) best when:

1) Your audience is not interested in the topic.
2) Your audience is only going to be mocking or obnoxious.
3) Your audience has strong opinions of their own and is going to be combative and argumentive.
4) Your audience would benefit more from just having their own experiences first, then hear yours.
5) You are in a bad/sad/mad mood yourself and really shouldn't be having a conversation right then and there.

I talk about tarot and occultism on forums like this with anyone and everyone who comes to them but I try really hard to make sure I do it in ways that treat others the way I want to be treated. In a sense, Cult of Tarot is like a "lodge" to me. Even if the material here is accessible to everyone, I know that anyone in the audience who fails the basic code of conduct won't be allowed to continue to post and respond, might even lose access to reading posts at all. And I really value that.

I don't talk about tarot the same way to casual friends unless they come to me and ask their own questions. I find it seems to go better in general about talking tarot to let others come to me (the way one comes to the High Priestess) and ask their questions and offer what seems best to them/their situation.

I'm a big believer about keeping silent when I feel like to speak of it would break a spell.

This goes for everything from spiritual/occult experiences to really banal stuff.

Silence is a power. Not speaking of something keeps it sacred.
I feel like some tarot readings warrant silence and others can be spoken of. It really comes down to the sense of I get.
When a spell is broken I can physically feel it. i know immediately when I should not have said or revealed something. Many times I have used this feeling to stop myself before revealing more.

I really like TheLoracular's list. Those are excellent guidelines.
Each one one is an example to me of a "spell breaker"

BTW- when I speak of "spells" I'm really referring to a certain vibration that is created by an act of intention.

I think there is something to this too. It's ingrained in our folklore or superstitions as if they are handmedowns, in a way, isn't it? I'm not saying that this subject is superstitious, allow me to clarify — it reminded immediately of a childhood belief or saying that when you make a wish when throwing a penny into a fountain or blowing out birthday candles you aren't allowed to tell anyone or it won't come true. The idea here is similar. Sharing the magic dissipates its power somehow. The HPS knows this. The Magician does not. Or perhaps he doesn't care.

I agree with all you have said, yet it is encouraged to share your readings so you can learn. Usually when I post a reading people have their own opinion and that is alright, because if I did not want the opinion, I shouldn't post. The only audience I have is the online audience. No one in my life is into spirituality.

MaggieMae wrote: ↑24 Apr 2021, 16:34 I agree with all you have said, yet it is encouraged to share your readings so you can learn.

This is true of course. As an alternative though it is possible to do readings about less personal topics, even impersonal ones, and ask for feedback. There is quite a lot to be learned that way.

I just finished a month-long exercise with Enrique Enriquez where I did 30 readings that he gave me feedback on and none of them were of a personal nature. We just discussed my approach and interpretive techniques to whatever question was posed. Doing it that way allowed for a lot more freedom to explore ways to read the cards because there were no real stakes at stake and yet, surprisingly, there was a a lot to learn about myself in a kind of indirect way. Even if a question seems impersonal, by the time you go through a reading about it with someone, you get to some really profound insights.

It might be interesting to create a space here for that type of exercise specifically although there is no reason the "My Readings" section wouldn't be all right for that.

Right now I am reading and doing the exercises from Mary K Greer, Tarot for yourself. I like it so far. I journal everything and found that I rather like journaling. I think it would interesting to do the type of exercise you described.

MaggieMae wrote: ↑25 Apr 2021, 10:08 Right now I am reading and doing the exercises from Mary K Greer, Tarot for yourself. I like it so far. I journal everything and found that I rather like journaling. I think it would interesting to do the type of exercise you described.

I really like journaling too. Currently, I keep two online journals- one I started last year the same week I joined CoT community. That first one is tarot-influenced but personal. My more recent one is here and it's blathering and white-boarding about Qabalistic tarot but not meant to be a discussion the same way we're having one in this thread; I am figuring out personal truths there and writing them down to help formulate what is feeling more and more is going to end up the start of a book of some kind of my own in 2022-2023.

But if I did a book on my own qabalistic system using the Natural Array? I don't know if I'm going to try to publish it publically or simply create a PDF and let it be distributed as it pleased BECAUSE of the "silence" factor of occult knowledge and it existing to be found, but not found as easy as doing a search on Amazon. It wouldn't be a commercial venture... I don't think.

I struggle on that topic a lot. It was through commercial publishing that tarot became what it is now. Without easy access to people like Mary K. Greer and Rachel Pollack to learn from via buying books, without companies like US Games and Lo Scarabeo making tarot decks so diverse and affordable I wouldn't be the tarot reader I am now.