reading for others vs. reading for self

Hi All,

I am a newb. Thought I'd get that out right away, and I couldn't find a thread on what I wanted to ask, the search engine kept giving me "fatal errors" lol. So I thought I'd put it out there. I am currently trying to stretch my intuition, and have been reading for others, primarily through the online community. And I was wondering... how necessary is it to read for others to further your abilities in the tarot?

What I mean to say is, as a meditation for myself, I see the possibilities of the situation at hand fairly easily, that is to say after several hours of meditation on the cards. Reading for others, especially online, my readings are a mixed bag of fairly accuracte and completely out there readings. The more general the focus, the harder it is for me to focus AND NOT read for myself.

So should I focus on finding the meanings of the cards by meditating on what the cards mean for me, OR is it absolutely necessary to read for others to further your abilities?

thanks!

TinySpark said:

Hi All,

I am a newb. Thought I'd get that out right away, and I couldn't find a thread on what I wanted to ask, the search engine kept giving me "fatal errors" lol. So I thought I'd put it out there. I am currently trying to stretch my intuition, and have been reading for others, primarily through the online community. And I was wondering... how necessary is it to read for others to further your abilities in the tarot?

What I mean to say is, as a meditation for myself, I see the possibilities of the situation at hand fairly easily, that is to say after several hours of meditation on the cards. Reading for others, especially online, my readings are a mixed bag of fairly accuracte and completely out there readings. The more general the focus, the harder it is for me to focus AND NOT read for myself.

So should I focus on finding the meanings of the cards by meditating on what the cards mean for me, OR is it absolutely necessary to read for others to further your abilities?

thanks!

Click to expand...

This is just my opinion, but I think you are trying too hard. Why do you feel it necessary to meditate for several hours? Maybe that is why your readings are "completely out there" sometimes. It's almost as if you are afraid to be wrong, from my perspective.

Maybe it would help you if you did intuitive readings. Don't worry about getting something wrong. Nobody is perfect all of the time.

If it is a question of not knowing the cards, maybe journaling would help you. I have found that it helped me a lot. Choose one card (or more) and write a description of the card, what it's symbols mean, and your interpretation. Then compare that to what your book says. It will probably help you have more accurate readings.

Personally, I sometimes have a hard time reading for myself because I start seeing what I WANT to see, as opposed to what's really there. That's why I enjoy reading for others - I can read with less boundaries because I don't have preconceived notions of what the cards "should" be saying.

However, I don't think it's necessary to read for others, especially when you're just starting out. Don't force something that doesn't come naturally unless there's a great reason for it. If meditating on the cards for yourself is what you really benefit from, there's no reason to overextend by trying to push yourself to read for others.

On the other hand, I have found that I have a greater ease with the cards after communicating them to others time and time again, to various people in various situations.

There's actually a monthly reading circle here JUST for reading intuitively - it's called the Intuitive Study Group (ISG), and sign ups happen for it in this forum. You can also see discussion about it in the same forum. If you still want to pursue reading for others, I'd highly recommend it.

The short version of my answer is: do what works for right now. As you develop your intuition and reading skills, you may find yourself wanting to branch out and read for others. But if what works right now is only reading for yourself, then that's great too! Go with it.

There are many reasons you may want to read for others...not only to further your abilities in Tarot. I do not think it's necessary to read for others to further your abilities, but there's definitely benefits.

If you read for yourself only, you tend to know what a card means to you at that given time. If you read for other people, their life situation can be very different from yours, so you see things you may have never imagined, step outside your comfort zone, and you have the opportunity to help a person at the same time. However, it is the same in that the card means what you think it means at the time. It may mean something completely different from what it usually means to you because of the context the other person brings.

If you want to learn meanings of cards, you can go about that any way you wish.

You can create meanings, not what this site or what other people think a card means. What other people say are just ideas and how the cards speak to them. You can base your meanings on numbers, elements, symbols, or the pictures, whatever you want!

They are just pieces of paper with pictures on them. What comes to your head when you see and don't see them is more important. What you feel over what the image shows is more important (unless the sitter says you're wrong).

I think you should do what you want to do. If you really don't want to read for others, don't. If you do, do. If you want to learn meanings, do that. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

If it's a thing about being wrong. Here's something to think about. What if you knew everything there was to know, all the time? That would be a bit boring. There would be no more to learn. Plus, you might feel obligated to do things since you're the only one who knows everything.

I'm glad I don't know everything all the time. I'm glad I'm not right all the time. Means there's more perspectives I haven't been exposed to.

Soaring Eagle said:

This is just my opinion, but I think you are trying too hard. Why do you feel it necessary to meditate for several hours? Maybe that is why your readings are "completely out there" sometimes. It's almost as if you are afraid to be wrong, from my perspective.

Maybe it would help you if you did intuitive readings. Don't worry about getting something wrong. Nobody is perfect all of the time.

If it is a question of not knowing the cards, maybe journaling would help you. I have found that it helped me a lot. Choose one card (or more) and write a description of the card, what it's symbols mean, and your interpretation. Then compare that to what your book says. It will probably help you have more accurate readings.

Click to expand...

Hi Soaring Eagle,

yah , I actually do journal. I find it helps a great deal. When I say I meditate for a few hours on the reading, I mean that I meditate on what my reading means in my life. Who am I when my guard is completely down? The implications of my actions, inaction, thoughts, and emotions become present for me when I meditate. Tarot helps me focus... on my journey. I read somewhere in the faq's that is a good idea to read for others... for practice. Since I only do an occasional daily draw and one eight card spread a week for myself, I feel that that is practice enough. But, I was wondering why some people read for others. The few times I have read for other people online, the only time I felt a connection with the meanings of my readings AND the focus of the reading (that being another person) was when I read for a few of my friends on my knitting forum. The sense of community I feel when I am online there is great, I am completely at ease there. Maybe reading for this community is different. I don't know, now I am just rambling.

I guess I just don't feel the need to read for people I have no sense of community for. not that I don't like Aeclectic, it's just I am starting out here, and don't really know my way around, so it feels foreign.

lilangel09 said:

There are many reasons you may want to read for others...not only to further your abilities in Tarot. I do not think it's necessary to read for others to further your abilities, but there's definitely benefits.

If you want to learn meanings of cards, you can go about that any way you wish.

You can create meanings, not what this site or what other people think a card means. What other people say are just ideas and how the cards speak to them. You can base your meanings on numbers, elements, symbols, or the pictures, whatever you want!


I think you should do what you want to do. If you really don't want to read for others, don't. If you do, do. If you want to learn meanings, do that. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

If it's a thing about being wrong. Here's something to think about. What if you knew everything there was to know, all the time? That would be a bit boring. There would be no more to learn. Plus, you might feel obligated to do things since you're the only one who knows everything.

I'm glad I don't know everything all the time. I'm glad I'm not right all the time. Means there's more perspectives I haven't been exposed to.

Click to expand...

thanks lilangel09!

that's just what I needed to hear. My journey with learning the tarot feels more inwardly expressed. I don't feel the need/care to read for others, with the exception of for people who are looking to focus inwards instead of externally. I don't want to know the future, strange as that sounds. I want to learn about myself, and if I read for others, to help them understand more about themselves. Events are uncertain, actions we take in the future make sure of that. Possibilities are endless, and I don't want to ruminate on things that might happen if I do this or that, I feel the need to grow as an individual so that I can make decisions that may affect my future in a more mature fashion than I have in the past.

thanks again! TinySpark

TinySpark said:

Hi Soaring Eagle,

yah , I actually do journal. I find it helps a great deal. When I say I meditate for a few hours on the reading, I mean that I meditate on what my reading means in my life. Who am I when my guard is completely down? The implications of my actions, inaction, thoughts, and emotions become present for me when I meditate. Tarot helps me focus... on my journey. I read somewhere in the faq's that is a good idea to read for others... for practice. Since I only do an occasional daily draw and one eight card spread a week for myself, I feel that that is practice enough. But, I was wondering why some people read for others. The few times I have read for other people online, the only time I felt a connection with the meanings of my readings AND the focus of the reading (that being another person) was when I read for a few of my friends on my knitting forum. The sense of community I feel when I am online there is great, I am completely at ease there. Maybe reading for this community is different. I don't know, now I am just rambling.

I guess I just don't feel the need to read for people I have no sense of community for. not that I don't like Aeclectic, it's just I am starting out here, and don't really know my way around, so it feels foreign.

Click to expand...

Every new change takes time, and it's no different online than in real life. I've found that I'm actually a "little" more outgoing online. In "real" life, I am usually pretty timid, atleast until I'm upset. Even here, and I am new here, I haven't participated in too many threads. Eventually, one day, I may become more involved. Hopefully you will be able to do the same, and become comfortable here.

Looking at the whole of your original post, I'm not sure how to help you, TinySpark.

All I can say is that reading for other people is MUCH easier than reading for yourself or very close friends - you have no backstory getting in the way of understanding the cards and hearing the small voice of your intuition.

These days, on the rare occasions I *do* read for myself (maybe less than once a year), I just glance at each card and move on - I don't have to do the explaining and translating from the mental language of Tarot to English that I have to do with a client. The whole card and all it stirs within me is just *there*.

Well, the first sentence of your first post says a whole lot. "I am a newb." Michaelangelo didn't paint the Sistine Chapel in his first month of painting, after all. There's a lot of work and study that goes into reading the cards, so it's not surprising that you're having some trouble with your readings. Rare folks can pick the cards up and read like a pro from the get-go but I don't know very many of those. And reading for yourself is especially challenging because it's so hard to be objective about oneself. Just be patient. Put in some more time studying the cards and reading for others. Don't expect too much of yourself at first. It sounds to me like that's what you may be doing.

Coming back to answer one of your questions---you asked how necessary it is to read for others. Well, I suppose some would say it's not necessary at all and it probably isn't. But reading for others is much easier than reading for oneself and is a quicker way to get used to your cards and how they speak to you within readings, so therefore it's a giant step toward the possibility of being able to read for yourself. It actually shortens the process up for you by quite a bit.

Your profile says you want to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone, but then you mention reading for your knitting group being within your comfort zone, so I'd say to stretch as you say you'd like to by doing some readings here or posting some of your own readings in the Your Readings forum so that other members can give you some help. We're all very friendly here and we love to help new folks.