The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

(I don't know if this is the right place to post it, but it seems close enough)

How do you 'power through' spiritual things when they are confusing, unexplained and moving too slow for your liking?

Is there any comforting thoughts that you have? Do you scream and yell trying to get things to hurry up and explained? I'm getting told not to worry about it, and let it happen at it's proper pace, but it's hard! ho hum :whis:

 
I'm a bit confused about what your question actually is. Could you be more specific about what's going on?

Well, I just meant this thread as a general thing. I've heard/read of other people being frustrated at similar things, before. Not understanding why something is happening, or the speed something is happening at, or just generally being challenged by their faith, not understanding what gods want, or fallow times, etc.

I think this is very common and everyone goes through it at some point (usually many points).
I'm not someone who is particularly hung up on having deity involvement in my own practice and usually toe the line of remaining agnostic or seeing deity as a part of the subconscious (full disclosure: within the past 6 months I've found myself challenged on this front as I've started working with a certain deity and questioning some of those beliefs- I'm still working it out though).  

What I feel works best for me is to continue my daily/weekly practices and rituals and not try to force anything to happen. Trying to force it usually ends up with things not going my way, I've found. There's a lot in this world that's beyond my control (usually related to other people's behavior) so usually I feel that what I can do is keep trying to get my own energy and actions in alignment with an outcome that I desire-- that whole idea of "god helps those that helps themselves" I suppose.

I don't know why I can't use tarot cards, and it seems like I'm going to have to wait forever with my dreams. I'd like to say I'm back in the same position, but now I do have khnum, so while I felt alone before hand,  I shouldn't now, and he's telling me not to worry over this, and everything will happen when it should, but well, that's easy to hear, but not easy to embody!

There are other systems of divination out there other than tarot cards that you could try out. Many people use Norse runes, oracle cards, Ogham, pendulums, scrying, reading tea leaves-- the list goes on and on.

Honestly, this is probably one of the big reasons I don't do so well with deity interaction (and religion in general) because I resent attempts at restricting what I can and can't do both in my spiritual and mundane life (as my partner will likely complain . Some people do have the experience of receiving taboos from the forces they work with, but I can't abide by it.

I'm not sure I really answered your question, but that's been my experience thus far at least.

*facepalm* this probably sounds really silly, but I didn't even think it was deity based, I just thought of it as a 'really bad feeling I got when I went to use the cards and things like my tarot encyclopaedia and journal are going missing'

I was wondering what you meant by "being told" not to use tarot, etc. I sort of assumed you meant a deity was telling you, but apparently not.  ;-)

I do understand what you mean by the really bad feeling, though. I get that -- sort of a giant, mental stop sign -- about doing magic.  (At least, I used to. I haven't considered doing magic for so long, I'm not sure if the stop sign is still there.)

In my case, it was Brighid.  She put 2 restrictions on me when I dedicated to Her.  One was not to use magic. The other was not to reach out to other deities (beyond what is necessary for basic manners). I understand that many people have issues with a god telling them what not to do, but I'm ok with those restrictions and agreed to them. Especially because I believe they're meant to protect me.  I have a severe, chronic neurological condition, and I think Brighid's restrictions are meant to protect me from being exposed to energies that will throw me out of balance and exacerbate my symptoms.

Have you given any thought to *why* these restrictions seem to be on you right now?  You might discover there's a really good reason for them.  And if you understand the reason, you might better understand what other things you *can* do, rather than just sit around waiting. Or you can take precautions against whatever the potential problem might be (like, for me, finding a way to protect myself from energy imbalances while doing magic).

Another thing to consider, in the case of deity imposed restrictions, is whether you accept them. If you don't agree to them, are you really bound by them? What will happen if you don't comply?

Also, as someone else pointed out.  There are tons of other divination systems out there.  Are you restricted from all divination or just tarot?

About your original question:  I think everyone goes through "fallow" spiritual times when they don't feel as close to their gods or as open to energies or whatever. I think this happens for a variety of reasons, including stress, being super busy, and just the plain fact that it's difficult on many levels to sustain any kind of intensity. All relationships go through different stages, and our relationships with deity and other aspects of spirituality are no different in that respect.

For me, it helps to try to figure out why I'm currently in a fallow period. Usually it's because of other things going on in my life -- getting really busy with family stuff or work or something like that.  I try to deal with these factors and to renew my commitment to my daily practice. That's almost always enough to move me back to where I want to be.  But I do have to do the work to calm my life down first.

I'm sure there's a lesson there.  ;-)