Tarot Anti-Bucket List

 

This is a tag that was started by Strength Reversed on YouTube, all about what I have no interest in doing with regards to my Tarot Practice. It's something I've given a lot of thought to, so here's my list:

1. I have no interest in starting a YouTube Channel. I love TarotTubers and I think there are so many wonderful channels, but I've got a face for radio and I think I'll stick with blogging. Writing allows me to put my thoughts into order, and it is a process that I love. I don't think I would enjoy making videos as much. 

2. At this time, I don't want to read reversals. I have gone back and forth on the reversal issue, and I've certainly read reversals in the past, but I think I have come to the conclusion that reversals don't add a lot to a reading for me. 

3. I don't do aesthetic pairings. I enjoy combining oracle and tarot, but I don't really pair decks aesthetically. I just grab what works for me and then I roll with it. I do enjoy seeing other people's aesthetic pairings, but I can barely be bothered to find a shirt that matches my pants, so pairing decks in an aesthetic way is just a no from me. 

4. I don't want to keep decks that I won't use. I used to be a deck collector, and I lost my collection of over 200 decks in hurricane Katrina. The decks that I rescued weren't my most valuable, or rarest, or most beautiful, but the ones I used the most. That taught me a big lesson, and now I only buy decks that I'm inspired to use. 

5. I don't want to use just tarot for my divinations. I love Tarot and I will admit it is my primary method of divination, but I also practice astrology, I Ching, Lenormand, oracle decks and automatic writing. I frequently combine methods during one reading and I find it adds a lot of depth to my divinations.

6. I don't want to limit myself to one Tarot system. The first system I learned was Thoth, and didn't really learn RWS until much later. Even more recently I've started learning the Marseilles system, and I've also flirted with the Continental system. Bring it all on. I can never learn enough.

7. I don't want to exclude the spiritual, the supernatural or the occult from my readings. If you read the cards from a strictly psychological standpoint, great. I'm sure there's so much to be learned and gained from that. But for me, Tarot is a part of my larger spiritual and esoteric practice and if I want to invoke and angel or a spirit to assist me in a reading, I'm damn sure gonna do it. I have decks that are specifically for spirit communication, and decks that I use  in occult ritual, and decks that are for divination or fortunetelling. 

8. Which brings me to number 8. I'm not going to avoid the word "fortune-teller". There's nothing wrong with telling fortunes. Tarot can be utilized in so many ways but turning one's nose up at good old-fashioned prognostication is pretty elitist. I'm an occultist, I'm a spiritist, I'm a diviner and I'm a fortune-teller. 

9. I dont' like cutesy decks. They aren't for me. I've seen a lot that I think are adorable and I'd enjoy having the art but I would never be able to use them, so again this goes back to number 4, not having decks I can't or won't use.

I can probably think of about a dozen more things that I don't want in my tarot practice but I think this will do for now. In the comments, tell me a little about your anti-bucket list.