mom took away my tarot cards!!

[friggle_moon]

she went through my room while i was away then she took out all my wiccan stuff and my tarot cards!!! now what? we dont talk about wiccan ever.  

[SlaineWildfire]

My mom did the exact same thing when I was 16. She wouldn't even let me have them back until I moved out of the house for the first time. However, you need to sit down and talk with your mother about where the boundaries lie. She simply cannot be allowed to steal your things without giving you any justification for it. Open up a line of communication with her. I know it's going to be hard, believe you me, it's hard. But you can do it, I know you can. Talk to her. Be open to her opinions, and ask her to do the same with yours. Ask her to allow you to explain why you have them and what you get out of them. My mother did this with me, and eventually allowed me to have my books and things back, but she made me promise that I would never do magic in the house.

Now, on the other hand, if your mother refuses to make any compromises and refuses to talk to you about this... Well, you still need to obey by her wishes. She is your mother after all, and so long as you're under 18 years old, you're technically her property. Obey her, and don't make an issue of it if you can help it.

But you also need to remember that knowledge exists in more places than just in your books. And tarot cards are just tools... Divination is possible without these tools. Spirituality should not be confined to outwardly things, after all. Spirituality and belief is inside of you. You have it with you always, no matter what your acoutrements.  

[natas_kitty420]

You should probably talk to your mom about Wicca, because she probably associates it with evil and Satan and all the other negative things that everyone else does. If she sees that its not evil, maybe she'll give your stuff back.

But if she refuses to see your side of the story, you can always hide it. A lot of people say you should always listen to your parents and obey them and blah blah blah, but thats not always possible. So hide your stuff in the trunk of your car, if you have one, if not, then your treehouse, basement, back of your attic... And if you dont have any of those things then find a place to hide it in your room.

But if you really don't want to go against your mom's wishes, then don't listen to some strange girl on the internet. Because you can practice Wicca without any tools at all, even if it might be a bit harder.  

[Starlock]

At the same time, talking to the parents about Wicca could open up a big can of worms you might not be prepared to deal with just yet. In general, I just advise those under-age to keep the practice low-profile and start practice once you can move out on your own if you're not in an environment that supports your practice. Although Slaine is right that your parents should give you a reason; they don't have to and might not though. Just be careful, is the best I can say. Tread carefully.  

[emmfullness]

Yeah. Not only would my mom take away my tarot cards, she would send me to talk to my youth pastor that we haven't seen in over 4 years and then to a therapist, which is why I don't let anyone in on my religion in my household. ninja I don't know what I'd do if my mother caught me. I know I couldn't talk about it with her. She's deaf if you're talking contrary to her own beliefs. stare However, if your mother is willing to listen, I would definately try talking it out. Maybe she'll give you back your tarot cards when you move out or something. 3nodding  

[emmfullness]

Starlock

At the same time, talking to the parents about Wicca could open up a big can of worms you might not be prepared to deal with just yet. In general, I just advise those under-age to keep the practice low-profile and start practice once you can move out on your own if you're not in an environment that supports your practice. Although Slaine is right that your parents should give you a reason; they don't have to and might not though. Just be careful, is the best I can say. Tread carefully.

WOOT, low profile!! ninja you can't get me in my little broom closet. ninja  

[MST3Kakalina]

Starlock

At the same time, talking to the parents about Wicca could open up a big can of worms you might not be prepared to deal with just yet. In general, I just advise those under-age to keep the practice low-profile and start practice once you can move out on your own if you're not in an environment that supports your practice. Although Slaine is right that your parents should give you a reason; they don't have to and might not though. Just be careful, is the best I can say. Tread carefully.

i second this advice. it would be nice if parents could be loving and accepting and respectful of their kids no matter what, but it doesn't really happen, and if your mom's the kind to not only go THROUGH your things but to throw them away, i really don't think talking to her about how you don't really worship the devil is going to work.

it just makes for that much less drama. you don't need a fancy altar or tarot cards to be Wiccan; you don't need fancy acoutrements to believe, and beliefs aren't something like a big neon sign on your forehead. of course, now that your mom's found your Wiccan stuff, she's probably suspicious by now and has a good clue. if i were you, i'd shut my mouth, smile, and go along with whatever she wants.

not to mention, it just makes it less embarassing if you end up deciding Wicca ISN'T for you.  

[Nashoba Kaga]

Well as long as you don't take my little route. I got a job just to buy three more tarot decks and a rune set to save at a friend's house. Not to mention my pagan library of like 75 books. I LOVE my best friend!  

[TeaDidikai]

Ya know, I was thinking- if you can't have tarot cards, and card divination is important- can you have playing cards?  

[Keistera]

I have heard of a method where playing cards can be used in place of Tarot. I'm not quite familiar with it, but I know it's possible.  

[CuAnnan]

Keistera

I have heard of a method where playing cards can be used in place of Tarot. I'm not quite familiar with it, but I know it's possible.

Yeah... it's essentially a lower arcana spread with the knights removed/merged with pages  

[NoSuchCreature]

TeaDidikai

Ya know, I was thinking- if you can't have tarot cards, and card divination is important- can you have playing cards?

I actually found a book on how to do readings with a normal 52-card deck before I even knew what the tarot was (elementary school days), even tried it (can't remember if it really said anything accurate, though). What's more, this was in a school library. sweatdrop

Now thinking about it, I wonder if there's any object that you can't interpret and divine from, once you have a reliable system for it. At the least, there's pendelum style divining. All I use for that is a strand of my hair, my ring, and a chart drawn on regular notebook paper (although depending on something ideometric like that is easy to bias).  

[Jishin]

I've done divination with a deck of Magi-Nation and Magic cards, and by opening books to random pages (bibliomancy). You really can do it with anything, as long as you're open and focused.  

[Mor Righ Anu]

SlaineWildfire

My mom did the exact same thing when I was 16. She wouldn't even let me have them back until I moved out of the house for the first time. However, you need to sit down and talk with your mother about where the boundaries lie. She simply cannot be allowed to steal your things without giving you any justification for it. Open up a line of communication with her. I know it's going to be hard, believe you me, it's hard. But you can do it, I know you can. Talk to her. Be open to her opinions, and ask her to do the same with yours. Ask her to allow you to explain why you have them and what you get out of them. My mother did this with me, and eventually allowed me to have my books and things back, but she made me promise that I would never do magic in the house.

Now, on the other hand, if your mother refuses to make any compromises and refuses to talk to you about this... Well, you still need to obey by her wishes. She is your mother after all, and so long as you're under 18 years old, you're technically her property. Obey her, and don't make an issue of it if you can help it.

But you also need to remember that knowledge exists in more places than just in your books. And tarot cards are just tools... Divination is possible without these tools. Spirituality should not be confined to outwardly things, after all. Spirituality and belief is inside of you. You have it with you always, no matter what your acoutrements.

The parents have every right to til she or he is 18 to chose what their child is allowed to worship. That is why it is better to study not practice under 18.  

[SlaineWildfire]

Mor Righ Anu

The parents have every right to til she or he is 18 to chose what their child is allowed to worship. That is why it is better to study not practice under 18.

That's what I said. But that doesn't mean she shouldn't do it. My parents were against my being a vegetarian, but it's a decision that I had to make for myself, not rely on others to make the decision for me.

And that's just about what kinds of food I eat. I'm certainly not going to blindly let others choose my religion for me, no matter how old I am. If you're 13 and you're honestly uncomfortable with the religion of your parents then you should do everything in your power to find out why that is and how to fix it, or to find a religion you don't feel uncomfortable with. Just because you have a child doesn't mean you're necessarily a good parent.

You wouldn't tell someone to go along with a parent who told you rape was okay or that blowing people up is a natural and healthy thing to do, so why go along with this?