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Tarot Work is "Black Magic": A Rant

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Crystal Dragon:

--- Quote from: Tinevisce on September 16, 2014, 02:38:28 PM ---I might not be a particularly kick ass practitioner skills wise; but my mysticism has been a part of my life in some shape or form for almost 7 years. I should be immune to fear mongering by now, no?

--- End quote ---

Maybe, maybe not.  There are a lot of reasons to doubt ourselves and our own abilities ... how we were raised (both secular and religious), how our brain works, how many siblings we have (and birth order if we have siblings), how old we are (and how many "bad" life experiences we've had), and so on.  We all react based on the experiences we've had and changing a pattern that is well ingrained and subconscious is really tough to do.  ;)

Tinevisce:
It's not doubting my ability, so much as a fear of a massive, black boogeyman taking me for practising witchcraft and calling on forces I'll have no control over. :crazy:

That I'd think that after all these years, even for a moment, is what pissed me off.

Edited to add: In some ways, I'm lucky to have been brought up by families (from both parents' sides) who are quite secular. Some are religious, others aren't- but none of them hold much regard for traditional thinking.
This way, I've been a blank slate for a lot of things on this path. This is a really good thing, for me.

That said, some cultural remanants still remain, I guess.

Crystal Dragon:
Don't dwell on it ... just strive to wipe out that "programming" from childhood.  It happens to all of us in some form or another.  ;)

vordan:
My tendency to help people by doing readings and be honest about my spirituality has gotten me branded as a devil worshipper in my line of work. I about gave one old woman a heart attack when I offered to read her cards after she had heard all the rumors about me. She lectures me about how all that is devilish or that I am deceiving people about once every other month now. Since I can quote the Bible better then many of the people claiming to be Christians and quit doing readings for people at work, some are convinced I am actually a believer which has given me some relief. I still tell them that my beliefs are just complicated. What really struck me is that the worse a Christian the person was the more they would light into me about it. Apparently drunks, drug addicts,  habitual liars, thieves, philanderers and the overly sexually promiscuous love finding someone they consider beneath them. It is like the old behavioral studies of chickens and a pecking order, the more insecure someone is the more they will pick on others. So I lay really low about my spiritual beliefs now. Those who actually are good people will leave you alone or at the most say something on rare occasion. A person has to follow their spiritual path, it takes courage to do it sometimes. There is a certain amount of humor in your case for a kundalini yoga path such as your co-worker followed  approaches raw witchcraft, which in a society that is as traditional as that from which it springs, many of the "rules" surrounding it are there to convince others that it is not.

Tinevisce:

--- Quote from: vordan on September 17, 2014, 09:05:18 AM ---My tendency to help people by doing readings and be honest about my spirituality has gotten me branded as a devil worshipper in my line of work. I about gave one old woman a heart attack when I offered to read her cards after she had heard all the rumors about me. She lectures me about how all that is devilish or that I am deceiving people about once every other month now. Since I can quote the Bible better then many of the people claiming to be Christians and quit doing readings for people at work, some are convinced I am actually a believer which has given me some relief. I still tell them that my beliefs are just complicated. What really struck me is that the worse a Christian the person was the more they would light into me about it. Apparently drunks, drug addicts,  habitual liars, thieves, philanderers and the overly sexually promiscuous love finding someone they consider beneath them. It is like the old behavioral studies of chickens and a pecking order, the more insecure someone is the more they will pick on others. So I lay really low about my spiritual beliefs now. Those who actually are good people will leave you alone or at the most say something on rare occasion. A person has to follow their spiritual path, it takes courage to do it sometimes. There is a certain amount of humor in your case for a kundalini yoga path such as your co-worker followed  approaches raw witchcraft, which in a society that is as traditional as that from which it springs, many of the "rules" surrounding it are there to convince others that it is not.

--- End quote ---

That does make a certain amount of sense. What I can get from this particular colleague is that he keeps emphasizing how you're (and by that I mean him, and a chosen few others) either 'magically'  chosen by any such mystic path; or you're not. Conscious effort to make 'progress' (which is of course not often quantifiable in such situations) on such a road is undesirable.
It does somewhat fit in with the pecking order theory in a way- he has a lot of personal tragedy in his life, and I guess that could lead someone down such a worldview. Anyway, it's not for me to speculate on what his motivations are.

Culturally, it might be helpful to understand that the only form of occult practice India knows is a left hand path; one on which I do not have the guts to go down, really.  :whistle:
Couple this with the fact that the Bramhanical right hand has often viciously maligned the more fringe Tantric left, and you can get where such views might come from. Of course, magic or the Occult is often only what you make of it. So if you go to tantra after being steeped in (and agreeing to) a culture that views it as something primarily dirty or dangerous, that is what it will be for you. At least at the outset.
And if you're not careful, this is how you might end up viewing every other path out there. Jingoism, also, will not help you in this regard. ;)

We also give a lot of importance to a guru in any form of education- and a lot of people who might themselves be on a similar spiritual path nonetheless view solitary practitioners with either disbelief or wariness.
I do agree somewhat- but then talking to you folks on here or WF or PJ is, to me, the same as interacting with a guru. :)

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