A Fool's Journey - My First Tarot Deck

I'll never forget my First Tarot Deck. My Mom bought it for me when I was 16-years-old on one of our regular trips to the Celebration New Age Store. It was a delightful witchy shop located in the historic downtown area of town in a Victorian style house with so much character and charm you could feel it just walking up the side walk. I was still new in my explorations of my spirituality and study of the occult, The Craft, and other esoteric things. I remember my mother mentioning that her best friend from childhood, Kristy, read Tarot cards. I immediately hit the internet firing up my modem and logging into AOL with that familiar robotic sound that was reminiscent of R2-D2 getting shredded inside of your computer. I spent hours pouring over websites reading everything I could find from those Yahoo searchers and Ask Jeeves (Yikes, I'm really dating myself here...). I found page after page of different cards, associations of the cards, history articles, spells, art works, etc. It fascinated me so the next day I begged my mother to head down town after school. As soon as we pulled up I rushed inside - saying hello to all the wonderful people who worked there and who's faces and kindness I will never forget - the smell of rich incenses in the air I flew past the displays on the ground level to the small set of steps you hand to scamper down to get get to the garden level where they kept all their books, crystals, and divinitory items. I stood in front of the wall of shelves covered from floor to ceiling in every kind of Tarot Deck from the 1990s that you can image. I must have had the most overwhelmed look on my face because one of the shop keepers came up to me and asked if I needed help. I turned to here beaming and said I want to learn to read the Tarot. She pointed out the sections of the bookcase that contained specifically Tarot Decks and kits aimed at beginners and made a few suggestions of ones she fancied, but in the end she took me by the shoulders and hunched over looking deep into my eyes and said "...but you find the one that sings to you child." I gulped at the seriousness in the tone of her voice and slowly turned back to the case. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them and my eyes fixated on this box:

I had always had an affinity for dragons and the companionship that the character on the box had with the majestic fire dragon instantly drew me to it. I grabbed it in my hands and just then my mother came around the corner and asked "Did you find one you like?" I nodded and smiled and she replied "Okay, lets get it then." We purchased the deck and headed home.

Getting in the car I immediately tore open the shrink wrap encasing the box. I pulled open the top and slid the book and deck out into my lap. The car ride him seemed to go by in an instant. No sooner did I see the Fool did we pull into our driveway - a thirty minute drive.

I rushed into my room - turned on my stereo which had my Enigma CD in it (go ahead - laugh but I fucking loved that album), and sat down and stared at the blonde youth about to embark on his journey through this land of magickal dragons. I read the book cover to cover that night. Tried several different readings on myself and fell asleep among my cards with the book on my chest. Over the coming years I would continue to read and study tarot and other forms of divination such as runes, pendulums, scrying, channeling; just to name a few. Fast forward to college when I was in my undergraduate days studying at Colorado State University. I was a part of a student group called the Pagan Student Alliance, and had a great many friends from my dormitory that I spent time with talking about magick, the Tarot, and other metaphysical things. You would often find me doing Tarot readings for my close friends in the study rooms late at night during our weekly board game night.

Fast forward, again, to my mid 20s - I had gotten a corporate job, left it because of toxic leadership, and decided to go back to Graduate school. I applied for an accelerated program, was accepted and graduated with honors, but this was the point in my life where I fell of the path you would say. Between work, school, and trying to have a social life - among my many other hobbies and interests I fell away from active practice of reading Tarot and studying metaphysics. Fast forward, lastly, to my late 20s - I am now securely in my career - I have a house, a network of colleagues and friends, and yet I found myself deeply depressed and feeling like the work I was doing had no meaning or important impact on the betterment of society. I hated my life, and found I was surrounded by less than pleasant people for the most part. So - what did I do? I quit my job, sold everything, and moved back home. I was very fortunate to have a family and support system to help me through this difficult part in my life. I spent about 2 years healing and during that time - while cleaning out some moving boxes - you know the ones that you never touch and just drag from place to place. In one of these boxes I stumbled upon my first Tarot Deck. I picked it up and began thumbing through it reminiscently. Then it struck me - the energies of the deck was off - so I counted the cards. Sure enough I was missing one singular card...

It clicked - my deck was telling me what was missing in my life. So I cracked open the guidebook and turned to the page for the Ace of Wands and read.

"New beginnings are now possible. This is a good time to start a new cycle of life. Fresh ideas come to you from unexpected sources. An adventure is on the horizon." - A Guide to the Celtic Dragon Tarot by D.J. Conway & Lisa Hunt

Everything instantly came into focus. I realized that I had lost my spirituality and my path. I had lost the thing that really was uniquely me. From that moment on I jumped back on the path. I poured over my pagan and occult books once more. Dived into YouTube and found some amazing channels like Ethony, The Hermit's Cave, and many others. I found my inspiration again in studying metaphysics again, watching videos and conversing with people in Facebook groups and at my local witchy shops. I began reading again for friends and family, studying Tarot books again, and making the Tarot a part of my every day life again and everything seemed to fall back into place. I felt energized again, passionate, and I felt like I could take on the world.

Flash forward to today - when I am taking the next step. I've decided to create this website, blog and to create YouTube content, and share with the world my gift, love, passion, and knowledge of the Tarot and metaphysical. I hope that I can inspire just one person - and if I have - all of this was worth it. I hope for this to last for many years to come.

Welcome to my Fool's Journey.

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