Whats your reading style?

I am just curious about your process when it comes to reading Tarot especially for people you don't know of even paying customers.
Do you ask them if they have a specific question or just lay the cards and see what comes up? Do you use additional information like birth date or numerology?
I quite like a specific question but either way I generally start off my looking at the persons natal chart. Although I love Tarot and have been doing it for a lot longer than astrology I feel I just have much more appitiude for astrology and looking at a birth chart really helps me tune into the person on an intuitive level and that seems to give me more of a way into the cards.

I find Tarot is great at providing information about an immediate situation or specific question especially at giving an indication to the hidden feelings or motives of those the situation concerns but who are not at the reading. I am looking to make predictions I will again look at the sitters progressed chart as I find that is more accurate at pinning down when an event might occur.

I would say also that I don't make hard and fast predictions but give more possible outcomes but I do give advice which is a mix of intuition and common sense on how to achieve the best outcome.

I find that as I do the reading, even a remote one over email a picture of the querent and their situation builds in my mind and I just go with the flow of things.

I'd love to hear about your process, what you do how the reading unfolds for you?

I mostly just shuffle and pull cards out as I feel like nowadays... I've experimented with a lot of methods though

like I've used numerology, as in I ask for someone's birthdate and add all the numbers together until it's a single digit eg. if it's 8 I would pull every 8th card and lay it down

sometimes I have the person I'm reading for shuffle and pick cards

I've tried picking up the cards from the top of the deck instead of randomly throughout the middle

I've also fanned all the cards out and I pick/ have my client pick their cards

what I've learned is that it doesn't matter how I get my spread out... my deck is just as accurate and I read just as well no matter what method I use

flyingwind66 said:

what I've learned is that it doesn't matter how I get my spread out... my deck is just as accurate and I read just as well no matter what method I use

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For some reason the tarot just doesn't fire up my intuition as well as astrology, so I guess I feel I need it in order to give the reading some focus or context. I think I might try forcing myself to not use it for a while to see if I can strengthen my tarot skills up a bit!

for me every client is different and i treat it that way... no set and fast rules....

each client may ask for an overview or a set question.....

sometimes i lay out the cards or sometimes the cleint may pick and layout the cards....

each reading is very very different than the last..... with the cards i work with, the spread i use and they way the cards are picked....drawn......

maybe a crystal to begin the reading, from the Crystal Wisdom Kit or a person's birthdate to get a personality card.... example..... my birthday 11th March, 1969 1+1+3+1+9+6+9=30 =3+0=3 The Empress....
Using the Empress as a starting point....... allows more info to flow with cards.....

Maybe Birthname 1-9 A-I, J-R, S-Z breaks down to a Tarot marjor Arcana....

So there are many methods depending on the mood, the client..... the feelings...... numerlogy can be a great way to gain further insight.....

it is about trust and feelings....

I ask them if they have a specific question, or if they just want a general reading.

If they have a specific question, I stop them before they give me too much information. I find I give better readings if I don't know too much. Some people want to give so much information it almost turns into a "cold" reading, which I don't want to give.

I don't use any other method aside from tarot or oracles. I do let them shuffle, and I only read with (mostly) replaceable decks, so I don't mind if they aren't very good at it.

As a long-time practitioner of both astrology and tarot, I would love to have a natal horoscope on everyone I read the cards for, but it can take some prep time to produce an accurate (rectified if necessary) birth chart and analyze it. Most people don't have one in their back pocket, and just applying the Sun-sign degree to aspects like significator selection has limited usefulness. If I have a reliable chart and the person wants a broader life-reading, I can do a more personalized astrological spread rather than my standard Celtic Cross. Numerology is much easier to apply on-the-fly, and can provide very illuminating side-lights to the reading. I'm also thinking that it might be interesting to tie in I Ching through the numerological angle but haven't looked at it closely yet; it should be possible to come up with a number from 1 to 64 that way. Or one of the I Ching decks (like Anthony Clark's) could be used for a quick draw.

VGimlet said:

I ask them if they have a specific question, or if they just want a general reading.

If they have a specific question, I stop them before they give me too much information. I find I give better readings if I don't know too much. Some people want to give so much information it almost turns into a "cold" reading, which I don't want to give.

I don't use any other method aside from tarot or oracles. I do let them shuffle, and I only read with (mostly) replaceable decks, so I don't mind if they aren't very good at it.

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This almost exactly describes my way of working, except that I haven't done much with oracle decks other than the very nice I Ching pack that was a gift from a friend. I was first exposed to tarot around 1970 via the books of Eden Gray, and soon discovered Crowley's Book of Thoth and other esoteric material (BOTA, Gareth Knight, Robert Wang, etc.). Other than evolving a few personal tweaks, I haven't departed much from that approach in decades.

Magicienne said:

I am just curious about your process when it comes to reading Tarot especially for people you don't know of even paying customers.
Do you ask them if they have a specific question or just lay the cards and see what comes up? Do you use additional information like birth date or numerology?

Click to expand...

I don't think I have developed a 'full' style yet, as I still haven't come out of the tarot closet so to speak. I read mostly to family and friends.

I prefer to read with a question,, but I have noticed that many sitters (at least here where I live) don't like asking them, unless they have a burning question. Mostly, they expect you to sit down and see their concern on the cards, and show how the situation will develop in the future.

So, I have learnt to ask people just for an area to focus on. This most of them are willing to give. Just tell me if it's about love, work, money, spirituality etc.

I usually ask their name and birthday... I find it helpful to know their sun sign, because it helps me to establish a rapport. But if the sitter is unwilling to give either, I won't press. I know a bit of astrology, but it's definitely not my main practice, so I do not use natal charts combined with my card reading.

I always let the sitter shuffle and cut the deck if they want, but before laying the cards I always breathe onto the deck (or kiss it). It's my own way of preparing for the reading, of focusing.

As for making predictions or not... I make them, if they show in the reading, and I don't make them if they don't. I have my own personal philosophy when it comes to 'destiny' and 'the future', and I think that some things can be predicted and some just cannot. In this case, I offer the most likely outcomes for the situation.

All of this is bound to change at any given time... they are not definite rituals, just small practices that I'm trying and testing for the time being...

My style is to not have a style.

Lot's of interesting responses, thanks everyone!