Tarot & Rapid Brain Change When Getting Out of JWs

by og 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  og

  About six years ago, when self-extricating myself from Jehovah's Witnesses, I decided to follow Robert Anton Wilson's advice in Cosmic Trigger, a life changing book for me, and explore taboos as a way to rapidly deprogram myself. Tarot was a great way to do that, as few things are more odious in the JW world. I wrote up my remarkable experiences in an essay on my blog, Tarot & Rapid Brain Change which will probably be interesting to JW forum readers.
  
  cheers,
  Angus

  Belief Systems & Other BS

  "Change your world, change your beliefs."
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  Meeting Junkie No More

  Wow - wildly interesting! I loved the Tarot & Rapid Brain Change and am very intrigued about your Belief Systems and Other BS book - GREAT TITLE by the way - thanks for sharing!
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  PrimateDave

  I bought a Tarot deck and a book explaining its use not long after I left the cult. I can't say it did anything for me. On the advice of another JWD poster I also bought a book on Modern Magick. Still no demons yet. Oh, well. I guess I need to go all the way with a talking board.

  Dave
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  og

  Thansk very much, MJNM, I'm glad you liked my writing.

  Hey Dave. No demons for me, but enough odd experiences to keep things interesting.
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  Mrs. Fiorini

  Interesting story. I have never used Tarot cards, but I do believe in intuition. I think many of these types of tools (tea leaves, crystal balls, runes, etc.) are just ways to draw out our intuition. I read a very good book about this a few years back that really changed how I saw my life. It was called "Practical Intuition" by Laura Day. You might enjoy reading it.
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  White Dove

  Mrs. F,

  That is exactly how I feel about Tarot and other magickal things. My intuition is sharpened by them. Lots of introspection, too.
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  Nathan Natas

  Like you, I found great benefit in challenging many of the "taboos" that were programmed into me by my JW mom, who really did live in a 'demon-haunted world." Maybe as a kid I clued in to the fact that some of her stories were just stories and some were attention-getting ploys.

  I had a friend at work who was an experienced reader of the Tarot. Twice he "did" the cards for me, and both times the results were very similar: similar enough that it impressed him. He told me that I must REALLY hate my work, because the cards were saying there was great conflict in my life. He didn't know that I was extracting myself from Dubology.

  My personal belief is that tarot cards hold no great power. I don't believe in spirits, souls or ghosts anymore, but I do believe in the mind, and I believe we don't fully understand it yet. I have made it a point to acquire a OUIJA board, a Magic-8 ball, Little Witch playing cards and any other kind of occult item that amuses me. The demons know I am entirely theirs, and so mystically roasted chickens levitate themselves into my mouth.

  I have studied martial arts and participated in Zen and other forms of meditation, as well a hypnosis. I do this with the premise that these things are bunk/"Jedi mind tricks," and I have yet to encounter any mysterious or terrifying situations. What a bummer.
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  V

  This is very true.

  When I first became "aware" I found myself challenging my perception of spiritism (that term itself is a JW buzzword).

  One night I was with non-JWs in an allegedly haunted house. All alone in a room I called out to the ghost to show itself. Nothing happened. This was less about seeing ghosts and more about deprogramming.

  Another time I tried a oujia board. Then tarot, meditation, Wiccan festivals, yoga.

  Experiencing the taboo dissipated the bogey-man factor. Then I was open to experience spiritualityfrom all points of view - without prejudice.

  Isn't that what we were doing as JWs, blinding ourselves as unbelievers? Nullifying other cultures with our own brand of superstition?
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  avishai

  I played w/ them for awhile when I was younger (also was big into R.A.W via the book of the subgenius, really helped me get out mentally) . Found that they're a good "cold reading" tool to find out about people. Then I got bored w/ them.
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  WTWizard

  That is one good use for those tools. I got a Ouija board, a series of books from a "secret society" that they had bashed (and, with good reason--that "secret society" teaches people that fully integrated honesty is the best way of living, and you cannot have a scam built around fully integrated honesty), Crisis of Conscience, apostate forums, and Christmas decorations staying up all summer. And I listen to all the music that is condemned by the Washtowel Slaveholdery.

  It was also nice to shred all my washtowels and asleeps, too.