From the other side

[Libra]

We've had a few people posting about their experiences with the little tiff that's come up here, but I think a lot of the voices that have been feeling discomfort over the past have mostly spoken in the background, to moderators directly and I feel like it's important to share my perspective here publicly.

Coming into this forum, it was mainly a lot of intellectual conversation about the historical meanings, especially in the TDM range. That's not my thing, but what really is my thing is being around people who are passionate about something, even if it goes over my head. The number of hours I spend listening to my love go on about the intricacies of turbo-charged engines speaks to that! I may not have had a lot, or anything really, to contribute to a lot of the active topics here because it's out of my ballpark, but I was finding a lot of it fascinating and interesting and just carried so much respect and admiration for people who had the dedication to do hours, days, decades worth of research in this area. That is absolutely brilliant, and nothing is going to change my opinion about that! Y'all are really cool, SO INCREDIBLY SMART and obviously deeply passionate about how you read tarot. I've got nothing but respect for that.

What really started to suck was just happily reading along and being hit in the face out of the blue by people calling the way that I work with tarot ridiculous, not worthy of being called capital T Tarot, having my ancestral spiritual path and practices conflated with new age witchy woo and talked about as being less-than whatever the poster sees as The Right & Best (and sometimes Only) Valid Way of Doing Things. This wasn't an issue of a single thread, it was that attitude coming sometimes coming through in really ANY thread. Over and over and over this happens, and I became wary of posting anything that actually mattered to me here because, hey, major depression, generalized anxiety and C-PTSD mean that I've got to be careful about where I place my energy. This was not a safe space to talk about the more spiritual aspect of tarot because anything along that lines gets insulted as soon as it's brought up.

And I do fully believe that no one here actually meant any harm, and I also believe that if the outcomes don't align with your intentions, then part of the response should very well be reflecting on your actions, instead of just attacking people people who were affected by your words for being too sensitive.

I know that the way that I work with tarot isn't the only way, or the best way - even if it is the best way FOR ME. I've had a more open and positive reaction to the way that I read tarot among "muggles" than I have seen here in the past, though, and I think that's really a shame. In another thread, drawing lines in the sand between different tarot reader types was mentioned, but from my perspective? I was happy to sit on the edge of your sandbox and watch in admiration as you built beautiful castles, until sand started getting thrown in my eyes for being a spiritual hippy weirdo who works with deck spirits and likes crystals. Upon finding out that that wasn't what Joan Marie wanted for their forum, I decided to plant my feet and dig in and MAKE a space for myself here, and in my deck cleansing thread I do feel like I went too far in staking out my boundaries, my safe space. I do apologize for that, because really the last thing that I want is to create a divisive space. I do want my practices to be shown, if not respect, at least tolerance. I'm not going to be editing that post or taking it down because it's out there and I don't like backpedaling. I do like to own up when I've crossed a line, and there are things in there that did.

So, my apologies in my part here. I do plan to try to read every post going forward with a paradigm of seeing the best from people - but if sand does keep getting kicked in my eyes, I'll likely be withdrawing and waiting for a more tolerant and diverse space to come about.

[Joan Marie]

I really appreciate this post. A lot.

I really do think that recent dust-up we saw was our first real one here. And though it was unpleasant, I really hope that now that the dust has settled, we can all remember why we like it here, why we come here and maybe have just a bit more understanding and patience with each other.

A lot was said and I think everyone could take a nugget or two of truth to heart and hopefully make this an even better place going forward for everybody regardless of their practices, beliefs or preferences.

As it should be. We all know that.

I have always imagined this place to be a kind of Oasis on the internet. A place to get away from all the news and bickering and trouble in the world. A place where we can reflect more on our inner lives and the things we love and are passionate about.

And it's true, for that to work, there has to be enough space for everyone and their ideas. And we have that here.

Sometimes it takes a little shake-up in order to be reminded.

Thanks again Libra.

[Charlie Brown]

Well I, for one, really value your contributions and would enjoy hearing more from you.

[Papageno]

And I do fully believe that no one here actually meant any harm, and I also believe that if the outcomes don't align with your intentions, then part of the response should very well be reflecting on your actions, instead of just attacking people people who were affected by your words for being too sensitive.

So, my apologies in my part here. I do plan to try to read every post going forward with a paradigm of seeing the best from people - but if sand does keep getting kicked in my eyes, I'll likely be withdrawing and waiting for a more tolerant and diverse space to come about.

Please continue to believe that nobody means any harm, and please also believe that this is a tolerant and diverse forum.

Internet "speech" is very difficult, it's not like having a face-to-face conversation with a flesh and blood human being.
Tonalities are hard to perceive correctly and are too often misinterpreted.

That's a pitfall that's difficult to avoid in any of these forums, that's why the internet replies so heavily on emoji's, but even that's not a real answer.