Y is for Youth

Hello everyone, and welcome to my "Y" post about my youth and learning tarot. 

A lot of people ask me about how I got started reading tarot. It's a pretty simple story, actually. 

It was August 1989. My mom wanted to take me to Provincetown, MA, for the day with her best friend, Linda. Now if you know anything about Provincetown--or P-Town, as the Massholes call it--it's a neat place. At the time, it had already become known as a haven for gays, but one of the great things about the town is that they were accepting of things that I hadn't had much experience with. I lived about an hour away, but P-Town is way out on the end of Cape Cod and I had never been.

We had lunch when we got there. I remember sitting in a restaurant, and in a freak accident, a class broke at the table next to mine and a piece of glass bounced right into my eye. Luckily, it bounced right out and did no damage at all. My mom and the restaurant owner were pretty freaked, as I recall. But it's interesting, looking back on it, that something hit me in my eye that day. 

Anyway, at some point that afternoon I saw a metaphysical stand in an open market; the area we were in was set up like a flea market with different stalls. One of them advertized your astrological chart for $20, and astrology was always something that interested me. Right next to it, I saw for the first time the Rider-Waite tarot deck. I asked my mom if I could have both, and she said yes. So my interest in both disciplines actually came from my mother's generosity. She didn't judge or tell me not to; she just said "OK". I have very few "heirlooms" from my youth, but one of them is a metal disc with my initials that my mom had made for me in P-Town as well. I treasure it, and it's a reminder of my spiritual journey. 

I pulled out the cards pretty much immediately and started looking over the "little white book", which is pretty craptacular, all things considered. Less than a week later I was doing readings for friends, picking my way through a totally new situation and really guessing which cards did what. I think I came to the conclusion that the only way I could interpret at the beginning was thinking which cards were "bad" or "good" and then drawing conclusions from there. 

A few weeks later I started getting letters from some of my friends I had read for. They told me that everything I said came true. Of course I was stunned and definitely scared, so I put my tarot cards and my astrology paraphernalia in the back of my closet in a sealed envelope and didn't think I would touch them again. 

That phase lasted three months, and then my Scorpio curiosity got the better of me. I pulled them back out and decided that both things were "wicked cool" and although I was still scared I wanted to continue learning them. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

The only other comment I would make about youth and the tarot is that you need to be very careful when reading for anyone who is under 17. I do it fairly regularly, but only with the permission of a parent or supervising adult. I'm very careful what I say to young people as well when I read for them, reminding them frequently that any angst they might be dealing with will likely pass, and that the reading is just a snapshot in time. 

I've never been read by a minor before, and to be honest and speaking totally personally, I wouldn't allow anyone who is not old enough to vote the opportunity to read me unless it was a classroom setting, or the person were a close family friend. 

I'd never pay someone that young to read for me, and please hear me out: It's not because I don't think that person couldn't tell me something insightful. Frankly, you need to have some life experience to read for others, and I don't think anyone who isn't driving a car by themselves should be charging anyone money for a reading. I don't care how long they've been doing it, or if it's a family tradition. I'd suggest you do the same. 

Thanks again for tuning in! Come back tomorrow for my final A to Z Blogging Challenge post! :)