My Frustrating Tarot Mess
Okay, so I gotta tell you about this tarot slump I was stuck in last month. Felt like my cards were just throwing garbage at me, you know? Readings felt muddy, meanings wouldn’t click, and honestly, I almost tossed the whole deck out the window. I kept trying to ‘adjust’ things – changing spreads, switching decks, meditating harder… nada. Zip. Zilch. It was driving me nuts.
Digging into the Disaster
Finally sat my stubborn self down one Tuesday evening. Coffee brewing, just me and my Rider-Waite deck. I decided to start right back at the beginning, like I knew nothing. Pulled three cards about my damn problem itself:
- The Tower? Oof. Right off the bat. Like, obviously something’s crashing down – my connection to the cards!
- Eight of Swords reversed. Huh. Felt like maybe I wasn’t really trapped, just thinking I was?
- Four of Cups. Seriously? Boredom? Apathy? Yeah, that tracked. I was just going through the motions.
So, cards basically telling me my frantic adjustments were me just sticking my head in the sand while the real issue smoldered. Ouch.
What Actually Went Wrong (My Dumb Assumptions)
Turns out, my whole approach was built on bad ideas. Here’s the crap I was doing wrong:
- Blame the tools: I kept thinking the deck was faulty or the spreads were bad. I bought two new decks! Total waste of cash. The problem was me and my mindset, not the cardboard.
- Rushing the reset: I’d try a ‘cleanse’ – incense wafting for maybe 2 minutes tops – then dive straight into a complex Celtic Cross. Ridiculous. Like slapping a band-aid on a broken leg.
- Ignoring the dread: That Four of Cups? Yeah. I was forcing myself to read when I felt zero spark. Just checking a box. Cards felt that. Course they gave me sludge.
Basically, I was trying to fix leaks on a sinking boat instead of patching the giant hole.
How I Started Fixing It (Small Steps, Man)
Alright, time for some actual work. I stopped trying to do big dramatic changes. Kept it stupid simple:
- Put the damn book down. Stopped obsessing over every little ‘meaning’. Just looked at the pictures. What did they feel like telling me right now?
- One card, one question. Dumped the fancy spreads. Mornings, just pulled one card with coffee. “What’s the vibe today?” Simple. Quick.
- Cleaned house – literally AND energetically. Properly tidied my reading space. Did a longer, focused smoke cleanse (sage and cedar this time). Made it feel like a space I wanted to be in, not a chore station.
- Stopped reading when it sucked. Felt apathy creeping in? Closed the deck. Watched cat videos instead. Picked it up later, or tomorrow.
Sticking to this felt awkward at first, like learning to walk again.
Finally Getting Back on Track
Took about two weeks of this boring, simple stuff. But man, the shift was real. That Eight of Swords reversed finally made sense – I wasn’t trapped by bad cards, just my own crappy habits. Slowly, the meanings started flowing clearer. Cards felt responsive again. That muddiness? Gone. Had a reading for a friend the other night, and it was sharp, accurate. Felt good, like hanging out with an old friend I’d almost lost touch with.
Biggest lesson? Stop forcing adjustments on the cards. Fix the crap around them first. Clean space, clear head, respect the process. Don’t be like past-me, wasting energy spinning wheels while ignoring the flat tire. Do the boring basic stuff consistently, and the magic actually comes back.
