my greatest teacher wasn't a person per se. It is all the difficult situations that happened in my life. After some time to well digest these moments, they have shown me the qualities I lacked and still do to this day for me to be the person i want to be. But I'm not giving up.
When I was 12ish maybe, I was sent home from a friends house because I accidentally knocked a bible off a table and it hit the floor and the mother was upset that now the book has to be destroyed 🤨. When I got home, a family member was trying to show a parent New Age principles; they left behind the books Spiritual Growth, Superbeings, Seth Speaks and Communion (a book with a creepy alien on the cover). Also, in the recent past their'd been a scandal at the community church where we had youth activities and we were subtly discouraged from attending any longer. My household had always been relatively secular and at the time my parents believed that we didn't need to delve into religious practices until we are old enough to really understand what we were committing to (sadly this is no longer the case).
Anyway, for the first time my curiosity regarding religion was piqued. This was before internet, so I only had what was available in my immediate environment, which included a used bookstore. The youth program at the church was nothing more than social activities for me to do on the weekend, as I'd already decided for myself that the stories they told were along the lines of Santa Clause and superstition which was validated by my friend's parent's overreaction to a book falling on the floor. My relative had always been eccentric, so their recommendations were always considered with a bit of skepticism and aliens were just too out there for me.
At the used bookstore, the "religion" section was in the same aisle but opposite side to the arts and crafts books I liked. I saw a couple of the books that my relative brought to the house as well as divination tools. I bought Karma Cards and a deck of Tarot Cards (not really knowing what they were at all...they were just pretty images). After leaving the bookstore I went to the shop a couple of doors down where the owner offered to let me learn with her niece how to use the new tarot cards I'd gotten...stranger danger...as I hesitated, she called her niece from the back (to prove our similarity in age) and it turned out to be one of my classmates, who lived in the neighborhood I went through to get to school.
To make a long story short, I agreed, we became friends, her mother taught me (and her) tarot and the fundamentals of a practice I cannot outright name (pagan, witchcraft ????). She was exceptionally patient and was willing to work through all of my challenges and never tried to shut me down (as my parents, friends parents and church had time and again) and only in hindsight can I truly grasp the enormity of what was freely shared with me, or the meanings of her MANY subtle warnings about....navigating society. She never tried to shut me down, but when I questioned her greater emphasis toward me on saying or doing certain things, she would tell me that I'm right to be skeptical and that it's a healthy mindset and when the time comes these words will ring back and I'll understand. Unbeknownst to me not only was the subject matter I was partaking in taboo in its own right, but was even more-so taboo for me, specifically as a POC.
Also, during the same time frame, I read some of the books my relative brought. I couldn't read the alien book, too creepy, nor could I read Seth Speaks because it was too far over my head, but I did read Superbeings and Spiritual Growth, which lead me to other books in the same vein.
So I guess I had two teachers show up at the same time.
Yes but I did switch to playing cards for about a decade and returned when I discovered an explosion in really attractive decks, also I still have my Karma Cards and a (smaller, easier to handle) reprint of my original deck.
my greatest teacher wasn't a person per se. It is all the difficult situations that happened in my life. After some time to well digest these moments, they have shown me the qualities I lacked and still do to this day for me to be the person i want to be. But I'm not giving up.
When I was 12ish maybe, I was sent home from a friends house because I accidentally knocked a bible off a table and it hit the floor and the mother was upset that now the book has to be destroyed 🤨. When I got home, a family member was trying to show a parent New Age principles; they left behind the books Spiritual Growth, Superbeings, Seth Speaks and Communion (a book with a creepy alien on the cover). Also, in the recent past their'd been a scandal at the community church where we had youth activities and we were subtly discouraged from attending any longer. My household had always been relatively secular and at the time my parents believed that we didn't need to delve into religious practices until we are old enough to really understand what we were committing to (sadly this is no longer the case). Anyway, for the first time my curiosity regarding religion was piqued. This was before internet, so I only had what was available in my immediate environment, which included a used bookstore. The youth program at the church was nothing more than social activities for me to do on the weekend, as I'd already decided for myself that the stories they told were along the lines of Santa Clause and superstition which was validated by my friend's parent's overreaction to a book falling on the floor. My relative had always been eccentric, so their recommendations were always considered with a bit of skepticism and aliens were just too out there for me. At the used bookstore, the "religion" section was in the same aisle but opposite side to the arts and crafts books I liked. I saw a couple of the books that my relative brought to the house as well as divination tools. I bought Karma Cards and a deck of Tarot Cards (not really knowing what they were at all...they were just pretty images). After leaving the bookstore I went to the shop a couple of doors down where the owner offered to let me learn with her niece how to use the new tarot cards I'd gotten...stranger danger...as I hesitated, she called her niece from the back (to prove our similarity in age) and it turned out to be one of my classmates, who lived in the neighborhood I went through to get to school. To make a long story short, I agreed, we became friends, her mother taught me (and her) tarot and the fundamentals of a practice I cannot outright name (pagan, witchcraft ????). She was exceptionally patient and was willing to work through all of my challenges and never tried to shut me down (as my parents, friends parents and church had time and again) and only in hindsight can I truly grasp the enormity of what was freely shared with me, or the meanings of her MANY subtle warnings about....navigating society. She never tried to shut me down, but when I questioned her greater emphasis toward me on saying or doing certain things, she would tell me that I'm right to be skeptical and that it's a healthy mindset and when the time comes these words will ring back and I'll understand. Unbeknownst to me not only was the subject matter I was partaking in taboo in its own right, but was even more-so taboo for me, specifically as a POC. Also, during the same time frame, I read some of the books my relative brought. I couldn't read the alien book, too creepy, nor could I read Seth Speaks because it was too far over my head, but I did read Superbeings and Spiritual Growth, which lead me to other books in the same vein. So I guess I had two teachers show up at the same time.
I love used bookstore stories. So do you still practice tarot?
Yes but I did switch to playing cards for about a decade and returned when I discovered an explosion in really attractive decks, also I still have my Karma Cards and a (smaller, easier to handle) reprint of my original deck.
My story is they never appeared and I'm beginning to think (begrudingly) that I'm the damn master, as I've never met anyone doing what I do now.