View Full Version : The reading Event
We don’t talk that much here about the actual reading Event and process.
So, putting my head above the parapet once again, here is my personal view:
I need to preface this by saying that my readings are not a commercial transaction. If they were, I would possibly feel differently. I also rarely read for people I don’t know quite well.
I am not interested in delivering straight, predictive readings. I don’t believe they’re of much use, and they tend to allow the Querent to be a passive recipient. Much as its delightful to have my ego stroked by such recipients’ awe, there’s a risk that I could start to believe my own hype. And besides, I’m no longer prepared to do all of the work.
The reading Event, I believe, should be an interactive process... a subtle balance of power.... with the aim of self empowerment.
Hence,
~ The reading Event is not about me, its about the Querent..... their life, their experiences, their inner wisdom and strategies.
~ I’m not there to provide the answers... my role is to highlight the routes, the signposts, the anomalies.
~ My aim is to find the triggers for the querent to make their own connections.
~ My responsibility is to ’tune in’ to the Querent, not to deliver an impeccable litany of meanings.
~ My responsibility is to find the Querent between the cards.
~ The ’meanings’ are specific to the Querent, not the cards. It is not for me to determine what has meaning.
~ My ‘readings’ largely take the form of questions.
~ I aim to do less than 50% of the talking.
~ The best measure of success is when the Querent feels they’ve accessed their own inner wisdom, drawing to conscious thought transferable ideas and strategies.
Acknowledgement to Umbrae: I pinched his term, the reading 'Event'.
Fudugazi
11-01-2005, 06:43
I liked that post, and thought about it quite a bit since I read it yesterday. I am much in the same position as you , Aoife, in that I do not read professionally, though I do aim to read for people I don't know (or not well) as much as for people I do know. The balance helps me refine the way I approach a reading.
Even with people you know well, a reading is a magic circle, an arrested moment in time in which the outer world should not intrude, in which you are not "2 friends" or "mother and daughter" or "friend of friend", but reader and querent, and two souls reaching across social definitions. This means having both to recognise the soul, and establish a distance from the friend, relative, friend's friend.
¨
I too will try and establish a dialogue, though I usually start with a narrative - weaving it from card to card, coming back and going forward. Then comes the moment of exchange, and the cards will come alive all the more when a real dynamic is established between me and my querent. Sometimes, though, a querent will stay silent (this is especially true of men. Many just sit there and look and me and at the cards). When that happens, the dialogue can only be silent, with the person's eyes, with the part inside him that wants to say "yes, it's true, I am unhappy and scared, but I can't show it, so I just want to know what to do about it!" That is where the connection between two souls can be so fruitful. The cards are a pretext for that meeting. Souls can meet when there is a spoken dialogue, but it is especially moving and creative when the reader and querent exchange a silent dialogue.
That meeting doesn't always happen. Some querents switch off and throw up a barrier when their hear something they fear or don't understand, but it is always my aim, this wordless conversation of hearts that begins with the cards, with the magic and symbolism I invest the cards with and try to communicate to my querent, continues through words and dialogue and flourishes in a form of spiritual communion which - at its best - has something of the "truth through ritual" that great theatre or live music has.
I am learning a completely new deck and system (Tarot de Marseille) at the moment, and have lost some of the ease I had in reading, and I am finding that that hesitation is leading to a complicity - something like: "let's see what we can discover together in this reading". And yes, when at the end of it the querent says - this is true I had not considered it that way, I had been bothered about something, feeling restless - not because I have told them something revelatory, but have provoked an inner revelation, then I feel I've done what I could for them.
As tmgrl said in another thread, it is an instant, a spark. We can't hold onto it, any more than we can hold onto the moment when Hamlet or St Joan spoke to the heart of us, that evening, that moment: only accept it and let it leave, like a butterfly - that delicate symbol of change.
Aoife, that was a great post. Thank you for such reflections.
Helvetica, yours is also a great post. I particularly liked your consideration (and tmgrl’s) about “it” being a moment, a spark. Thank you too.
Silvia
Dark Inquisitor
11-01-2005, 12:55
Hi Aoife,
Isn't this rather like any form of psychiatric therapy then ? Where the goal is for the patient to make connections within themselves about their problems , and the therapist asks questions to stimulate the process? Not to say that the cards cannot be used in that way -- of course they can . I don't think this form of reading is quite the same as the traditional psychic reading though. If one reads this way, should one call oneself a "tarot therapist" ?
In my experience, it's worked better to let the cards
do all the talking ~ that's what people want to hear.
I remember once asking the same question and getting loudly ‘boo’d’.
Then I asked “Why do you read Tarot (for others)?” and gave joke grades, in an attempt to get people to step out of egocentric thinking. I was loudly boo’d.
I wrote “The Process” and folks said, “Wonderful – what are you going to do next?” They should have said, “What are you going to do for me?”
Folks know I hate books – why? Cuz with the single exception of Mary Greer, they all assume that if you know the meaning, you can read…
You can’t.
Not even close.
Meanings is all about what you know, what you think you know, egocentric thinking (that has nothing to do with wisdom).
Knowing what a card says, and what a card means are two different things.
Knowing how to read is an event.
Knowing what cards mean is egocentric thinking and what you think is not what they feel…
Reading books and knowing meanings makes you an Ace. A One.
Somebody walks in for a reading – you are now part of a Two.
The event – the reading (The Three) is not possible without Two – a reading occurs only when the subject and object (sitter and sittee) recognize each other…an event occurs.
Saying, “I read Tarot because I can” is dangerous egocentric feeling…
And what the cards mean has nothing to do with it.
Elemental correspondences, zoological astrophreakyourselfout has nothing to do with it…
She walks in and sits down and cards get spread out and the gleam you note in the purse is the butt end of a Walther PPKS .380 and you know she’s going to go home and write her own ending not just for herself but hubby and children and blood brains hair splattered on the wall is what you see and a referral to a hotline or a counselor like all the books tell you to do or that person online who knows everything will tell you to do ain’t goonna help here cuz if you do that just like the last reader did you’re gonna be a part of her ending and do me harder Jesus with a chainsaw your’re gonna hafta read cuz ain’t no author gonna step into this minefield…
Except Aoife and I.
A tarot deck is a tool. And used “intelligently” it is as dangerous as a loaded gun. Used with wisdom it can be wielded as well as a surgeon’s scalpel (which too, has its dangers…). Tarot is akin to a wrench. Books and books on how to use it – and then you stand there looking at an engine that needs…what? Well you got a wrench buddy…
There is a lot of stuff going on here on AT by ‘experts’ that is dangerous, and stupid…egocentric crap…
Reading is an event…
What you think has nothing to do with composting.
Good stuff Aoife (as usual).
I remember once asking the same question
and getting loudly ‘boo’d’.I must have missed the question part...
could somebody repeat it for me? :)
Great posts, Aoife and Umbrae.
True intuitive reading, Tarot or other, is about getting the person you're reading for to discover, realize, or recognize something about themselves or their life that they hadn't realized or didn't know how to put into ordered thought, so they can act on it with greater self-awareness. Yes, I think it has to be a kind of therapy, but not the same kind one gets from a psychologist. The psychologist relies on preconceived definitions, patterns and "symptoms," where the intuitive comes at the situation from openness, infinity, a universe of possibilities. The only construct, for a Tarot reader, is the cards themselves, and the symbols or pictures on them. And in a sense the "therapist" is the sitter themselves. Only perhaps they never realize it.
Aoife, do you find that some people you read for are closed off to some degree and don't interact, they just want you to read for them and then walk away? What do you do when that happens?
Nevada
Dark Inquisitor
11-01-2005, 18:51
There is a lot of stuff going on here on AT by ‘experts’ that is dangerous, and stupid…egocentric crap…
I look forward to a detailed outline .
Dark Inquisitor
11-01-2005, 18:54
Great posts, Aoife and Umbrae. I'm convinced that "fortune telling" doesn't really exist, except as a sham, trickery, something a charletaine does to separate others from their money.
Nevada
What exactly do you mean by fortune telling, Nevada?
I'm using a definition personal to me, which is why I placed the term in quotes. I realize many readers use the title and don't place the same meaning on it: my use of it here referred to someone who does readings where they tell the sitter their future, and/or what to do. It would be more of an authoritative, "you must do this and this" type of reading.
My point is that no one can tell us our future. We each tell our own future.
Nevada
Dark Inquisitor
11-01-2005, 20:00
I'm using a definition personal to me, which is why I placed the term in quotes. I realize many readers use the title and don't place the same meaning on it: my use of it here referred to someone who does readings where they tell the sitter their future, and/or what to do. It would be more of an authoritative, "you must do this and this" type of reading.
My point is that no one can tell us our future. We each tell our own future.
Nevada
Well, if the reader is ordering you around, you are definitely in the wrong place ! And if they tell you this is your future - period, that seems improper too, since we can change what we will if we have the ability.
But, in my own experience I have had readers tell me all sorts of accurate things to come, and things in the past they had no way to know. And I told them nothing . I have also had my own decks tell me things about to happen . Things I had nothing to do with, that were under the control of others. So there is a predictive component to the tarot , I assume.
Liked your charter Aiofe, fits my method to a tee. I don't call it an Event, I call it more like a moment. The sort of tool I liken a reading to is a Tarot Garment Maker. Tarot is the fabric, the querent has the cotton and needle and I have some ideas for a pattern. I try to get the querent to question what the fabrics potential is and get stitching. Usually they have an idea for a pattern anyway and thats just perfect. I never make a garment for myself and I won't tell them what garment suits them best or pre sew it for them. Helvetica, as usual I liked your post on this thread. Umbrae, I don't know what question you asked to get 'booed' and I, like Dark Inquisiter, look forward to a detailed outline of experts who spout egocentric crap and other dangerous stuff. I sincerly hope that while looking at the engine nobody has ever hit you over the head with your wrench. Mostly though I got your 'drift' and I agree totally about Wisdom, so I keep reading ,listening and doing in the never ending hope I will aquire some. Regards Rosanne
Many thanks for the wonderful and varied responses!
Its very late here and I have an early start in the morning - promise I'll post later tomorrow.
Well, if the reader is ordering you around, you are definitely in the wrong place ! And if they tell you this is your future - period, that seems improper too, since we can change what we will if we have the ability.
But, in my own experience I have had readers tell me all sorts of accurate things to come, and things in the past they had no way to know. And I told them nothing . I have also had my own decks tell me things about to happen . Things I had nothing to do with, that were under the control of others. So there is a predictive component to the tarot , I assume.It's possible you take me too literally. I believe a reader can use Tarot to predict the future. I must not be communicating well tonight.
Nevada
firemaiden
12-01-2005, 02:24
Very moved by your brave post Aoife. Words...sometimes words are wind, like when I dash out something flip, and sometimes words are flesh, like when Aoifie writes what has been agonizing at the bottom of her well where the Sybill lives. When that voice under the water finally breaks through to the surface, I need to listen.
A reading from Aoife, a reading from Umbrae, is indeed an event.
Something happens. The day Umbrae read for me (it was two years ago) it was a special day. I knew the reading was happening. There was a feeling of suspension - as between two worlds. And indeed, it was. Something happened, and has been happening since. It was as though the reading event produced a "crack" in my world. And the light started to sneak through.
Aoife has read for me. I had the feeling when I read her words on the screen, that she had gone under the earth, and stayed there a long time, listening. Just listening. The truth she spoke zeroed in on things exactly, as Umbrae it, like brain surgery.
I asked her, how did you get this out of those cards?? She said... she didn't know, she mumbled something that sort of made sense, but it seemed very farfetched to me, that one could ever deduce such insights from mere cards.
I figure, the difference between applying pre-written meanings to get a reading, and this kind of "event" - was like the difference between sewing together random body parts to make a creature, and giving birth.
But... such was not even Aoife's point. I agree it is kind of a "charter". I think I will refer to it as "Aoife's Manifesto".
firemaiden
12-01-2005, 02:31
Bye the way, both of these readings were, in fact, quite predictive, and their truth is continuing to unfold.
Actually, you've gotten me thinking now... what is "predictive" and what is not "predictive". An ex-ray of the present, spells out the past as well as the future. Inevitably.
Aoife....
Brave thread, indeed.
You pretty much sum up my style of reading....and in between your lines I might add, at least for myself, that one of the reasons I have participated less or not at all in some of the reading threads that allow those outside the reader and querent to jump in with another interpretation, is that,
I feel it's like
burning the flag
or cursing in Church...
I don't know...since I started reading more for "live" people and see what happens during the reading when we interact...
It's something special when someone leaves and is so grateful that doors have been opened and some practical advice has come forth...
Sometimes, they come back a week or so later...especially when they had very little to say during the reading..some of my sitters love the interactive process more than others.
Some just sit and listen and take it in....one of these people came back to me about a week later (someone I worked with...a psychologist, no less) and said that she was so moved by the reading...that it really helped her with a relationship she was entering....
Umbrae, thanks for your relationship spread...it was the first time I used it I believe....
I never know what's going to happen or where the reading will take us...but I go in prepared to do my best.
Reading, like all of the work I have done in my life, has been about the Cup....Mine is never empty...it's always full...I don't know why, but it always is and it just makes me want to give some more if it can be of any help at all.
I am new to Tarot. I am not new to working with others in a deep and connected fashion. My job required it daily.
Then, a year ago, as I contemplated retirement, I discovered the Tarot. Another filling of the cup.
Now I have my little home office set up and this Friday and next week, I will sit down and do my best.
I get caught up in the left-brain stuff here at AT because I love to learn and discuss and analyze and break things into bits.
That isn't reading though.
Like firemaiden, I , too have had some wonderful readings done for me here at AT. I mentioned them in another thread. These readings stayed with me, because of the poignancy of the advice...sometimes just pieces of the reading took me right where I needed to go...and I still have those images as reminders today....
Aoife, thank you for starting this thread.
It really is an event....a reading. So simple, just a few cards on the table, eh?
terri
The cards can be a snapshot of the past. And if conditions remain the same, the future is not difficult to predict. However, the moment contains now, the present, eternity. Asking and answering, giving and receiving--we attend to the other and in doing so find ourselves.
Beautiful threads like these remind me not only of what tarot is for, but what I am for.
Dark Inquisitor says...
Isn't this rather like any form of psychiatric therapy then ? Where the goal is for the patient to make connections within themselves about their problems , and the therapist asks questions to stimulate the process? Not to say that the cards cannot be used in that way -- of course they can . I don't think this form of reading is quite the same as the traditional psychic reading though. If one reads this way, should one call oneself a "tarot therapist" ?
I’m not a psychiatrist, so not qualified to judge, but it seems to me that the divide between therapeutic and psychic insight can be an unbreachable gulf or a hair’s breadth.
I’m not comfortable with the term ‘tarot therapist’ ... both terms too laden with pejorative, hyped meaning.
I do believe both the psychic and therapeutic reading styles you suggest are valuable.... but I’d like to think its possible to both fuse and go beyond them. I’ve got a few ideas but without lively and challenging discussion progress is hit and miss.
fulgour says,
In my experience, it's worked better to let the cards do all the talking ~ that's what people want to hear.
I perhaps overstated my views when I said that I thought this style of reading was of lesser use. As I said earlier, for some people such readings can be useful markers on their personal maps... a place to return to when the time is right. I entirely agree that the cards can and do converse with the querent’s inner teacher. My problem is that too often, the reader’s voice hinders this process.... all too often the reading is about the reader ‘s need to read and not the querent’s need to hear.
Umbrae.... fabulous post.
The story rug grows exponentially whilst we wait in hope of more.
Nevada said:
True intuitive reading, Tarot or other, is about getting the person you're reading for to discover, realize, or recognize something about themselves or their life that they hadn't realized or didn't know how to put into ordered thought, so they can act on it with greater self-awareness. Yes, I think it has to be a kind of therapy, but not the same kind one gets from a psychologist. The psychologist relies on preconceived definitions, patterns and "symptoms," where the intuitive comes at the situation from openness, infinity, a universe of possibilities. The only construct, for a Tarot reader, is the cards themselves, and the symbols or pictures on them. And in a sense the "therapist" is the sitter themselves. Only perhaps they never realize it.
Yesssss!
More! Say more!! [please, thank you, lol]
Rosanne, I love your garment-making analogy. Thank you!
firemaiden said:
It was as though the reading event produced a "crack" in my world. And the light started to sneak through.
Ooooo.... this makes my metaphorical map three dimensional... I love it!
Actually, you've gotten me thinking now... what is "predictive" and what is not "predictive". An ex-ray of the present, spells out the past as well as the future. Inevitably.
More! You have to say more!
terri, thank you for your post. I’d love to hear about your reading process.
I think there’s be real value for us to talk about what’s happening and why independently of the cards.
Essentially, I believe that most people will only relate to and utilise that which has personal meaning.... metaphorically speaking, their personal map. Yet.... our personal maps are so very similar. For each and everyone of us they show the known territory, the paths well-travelled, the peripherally penetrated areas, the no-go zones.
The ancients knew this far better than us. Their stories, tales and myths so graphically delineated these areas, illuminating the safe paths and dangerous shadows. I could wax lyrical about such wisdom... about stories as medicine.... and how modern thinking has caused it to become obscured and skewed, but I won’t because we here are on the same wavelength.
What these wise ancients did not do was to offer advice..... how they would have chuckled and scoffed at our modern obsession with quick fixes and easy answers! The ancients understood - in the deepest, most essential sense - the concept of solve et coagula.... long before the culture that evolved the language of the term.
And this is why the notion of tarot reading as an advice-giving session is an anathema to me.
And it is also why, in the event of the sittee being silent, I would honour their decision and maintain the silence. In the event of the sittee erecting a barrier, I would be content to know that the tarot images will have penetrated.... maybe not as far as the sittee’s conscious awareness..... maybe the sittee will have to travel other roads before returning to this deep place. It is not my role to hurry that process.
I’m most grateful to everyone for pursuing these issues... and my apologies for the delay in replying.
I’ve long been puzzled why there has been so little discussion here about the actual reading process and Event. And - as some are aware - I’ve long been troubled by the issue of the reader’s role and responsibility.
Of course these are extremely threatening issues.
We will happily discuss tarot theory... many will willingly post the results of readings... but few seem willing to broach the intensely personal process of how we read in a face to face scenario. Asked why we read, the majority speak in personal terms.... some effusive and vague... some guarded... most stressing altruistic motives.
This reticence means we are not only denying ourselves the opportunity of learning from each other, we may also be short-changing the sittee. In extreme circumstances, some readers may unwittingly be causing possible harm - as Umbrae so graphically illustrated.
In acknowledgement of this reticence my original post was made in the form of a personal statement.... and in so doing exposed my reading style, process and beliefs to scrutiny.
I challenge others to do the same.
firemaiden
13-01-2005, 19:13
oooh! Aoife throws down the gauntlet! (I'll pick it up after I've read for people in person for thirty years...)
So more, you want more about predictiveness?
As I said, I think you will find it difficult to avoid making predictions. This is because anything you isolate as a condition, or a problem, or an issue, or a conflict, for today, is only such an issue/problem/conflict etc., inasmuchas it has consequences for tomorrow...and is a result of the past.
For example. Lets say I pull for you the Two of swords. Over discussion, this card becomes a clear statement to both of us, that you have your shoe-laces untied. That is not a prediction, that is only a statement of your present, lamentable condition of having untied shoe-laces.
However, irrepressibly latent within this lamentable condition, is a shared, even if unspoken, future vision of you tripping, and falling on the sidewalk... (and the vision of you falling over your groceries, means I will see you spilling your milk, the spillt milk of course, predicts cats, cats predict dogs, dogs predict dog fights, dog fights predict irate owners... irate owners predict charming hubby to the rescue, who will tie your shoes.)
(And how did you come to this lamentable state? Not tying your shoe-laces? You have been distracted... you haven't slept, or... your back hurts and you can't reach your shoe laces. ?)
What you see in any moment of time, is of course, a snap shot of a life in motion.
As I am fond of saying... only the past and the future exist. When you trail your hand through the water in a moving boat, you beome aware that everything behind your hand is past, and everything in front is future. But where is the present? Since your hand is constantly moving -- the present is... nowhere.... There has never been a still moment to consist of the "present" - by the time you finish saying "pre-" and have moved on to "-sent" -- that first syllable is already past...
So many directions to go with this discussion, Aoife.
There are certainly many reasons for a person to seek out a Tarot reading.
Certainly there are those who have said..."I always thought it would be fun to see what it's like."
Some tell me they are afraid of what they might hear.
Some clearly are looking for some guidance either, in general, or about a particular issue in their lives, or about their life in general and where they are going with it.
Many think it is about predictions and divination and, in fact, expect that.
When I mention that I read (especially to people I have know through my professional life...as a speech/language pathologist)they think I'm into some kind of witchcraft and are stunned that I take the Tarot seriously.
Not much surprises me about attitudes and beliefs people hold so what people expect from a Tarot reading are as diverse.
Let me use an analogy. In my profession during the last 30 years, I have had to counsel many people regarding disabilities they have or that family members have. Some of these disabilities have existed since birth. Some are due to sudden trauma...a brain injury, a stroke. Anything that affects cognition, speech and/or language.
When I first started out in the 70's and prepared for sessions with families or clients, I often tried to rehearse what I wanted to get across. Well, that was my youth and inexperience that prompted "preparation" that most often went out the window with the script.
I had excellent training, so I learned as time went on to trust that I know what I need to know and that the process, the event would shape the outcome.
So, I have families that are in complete denial about the disability of a loved one....some are great "experts" who have researched the problem in depth and are really coming to me to tell me about how to deal with the disability of their child....
Some "yes" me to death and then just ignore everything we discussed.
Some never show for meetings.
Some argue with me about every topic that comes up and give me a lot of "yes, buts..."
I could go on...the list is long.
However, in many cases, my best work has happened when there is someone who comes to me for therapy or a family who comes regulary for counseling to understand the problem. They are obviously committed to
the process
the event.
Some, I know, are angry that I am the first one to tell them that their child has....
whatever the disability is...
and refuse to accept any kind of guidance that comes from professional experience...
That's ok. I nurture them, also. They need time to assimilate the "largness" of what they are dealing with...
But over time, they begin to see, to understand, to act and eventually to accept what can be done within realistic boundaries.
I have 30 years of stories and 30 years of experiences with families and children and during that time, there have been so many relationships I have had that have been
"successful" whether it began to happen immeditately or whether it took weeks, months and, in some cases, years, to achieve the growth and understanding that was possible.
So...with this huge preamble, Aoife,
I say...
Yes.
It is about my clients. It is about what they want and what they need....both.... and sometimes I help them to sort that out, too.
It isn't about me or about how much knowledge I have about Asperger, or Down Syndrome, or Alzheimer's or stroke or stuttering, or language/learning disabilities or articulation disorders...although they do want someone who has the medical background, experience and certification.
At the end of the day, it begins with how well I have listened, how well I have understood where they are coming from, and, then,
How I can help them get where they want to go...or how I can help them understand that what they want may not be entirely realistic...
It's about finding ways together to answer the questions during the event at hand...
a first meeting with a parent
a first reading with a Tarot client.
The event shapes itself as we go along
I am never quite sure what will happen.
I can't know beforehand, nor do I want to know. I trust in myself. I trust that they genuinely want to help or understand or learn. Even if I find out differently as we go along...
But I don't know that until we
Begin
So..that is why I said, I operate much like you do...
When I read, it is not about me...it is about the Querent, what they already know, what they wish to learn, what they are capable of learning.
My role to find a way
In
Listen
Understand
And trust that I have it within me to find what will best suit what the Querent needs and expects.
And yes, the best kind of result is when the Querent ( or my clients and families) leave feeling that they really do understand much already and that there are ways that they can act to bring about some of what will fulfill their hopes and expectations.
For some, they leave with a few "actions" or "awarenesses" that they will accomplish.
I love it when a sitter leaves and they have given me some immediate feedback to the effect that ...
"I knew that all along...I feel good about what I am doing."
That old story about the person walking along the beach, where hundreds of starfish have been land-bound and are dying. The figure is picking up one at a time and throwing them back into the water. As s(he) does, another person comes along and asks:
"Why are you bothering? Look how many there are. It doesn't matter. You can't save them all."
And the person answers as s(he) throws another into the water:
"It matters to this one."
So I don't know where the event will take us, but, I, too agree, it is about the querent. It is about the querent's gaining
Reinforcement for what they already know or are doing.
Another way of looking at an issue
Some knowledge about themselves that has been hovering below the radar and, finally, they are ready to examine their actions, ideas, or beliefs and act to change what will help them grow.
So...out come the decks...the pad of paper...
We shuffle, we talk, I listen, we discuss and
I never know where we will go until we are there.
If I'm going to read, I need to just do the best that I can
and know that the goodness and hope in each of us will reflect and grow.
terri
Well Terri, that was epic and classic. Thank you.
What occurs to me is that there is a responsibility on the part of the sitter as well as the reader.
Tarot is entertaining. And some readers are entertaining.
Tarot is serious business. And some readers take their business seriously.
If the sitter just sits, well, they get what they get.
Eyes alight and a bit anxious some sitters are so adorable. I want to reach over and hug them and squeeze them and make a little pet of them.
Other sitters are like Sunday morning sufferers waiting for the Devil to find them and cart them off to Purgatory or some other godforsaken place I have yet to understand.
For me, after having been reading "professionally for less than a year now! I'm seeing Tarot in a whole new way. The "books" don't appeal to me like they did before. I am interested in something far more important than what the published readers think cards mean. I want to know what the person who is so nervously waiting for me to say wants to hear.
Now understand, I'm not saying that I would say what they want to hear, it just diffuses the fear in them and allows me to really reach them.
The best readings I do are the ones where later I'm sitting there after they leave thinking "now where in the hell did that come from".
I've heard some readers talk about makin' 'em cry.
I ashamedly admit I've cried while reading for strangers. Now the reader is not supposed to cry. I'm a "professional" now. No Crying!!! Just sometimes I turn over the cards and while we are talking, well, grief is grief, mine or theirs, and I bring out the tissues, now more for me than for them. ;)
I get nervous beforea reading. Like a case of the jitters. And then the cards are in my hands and I'm shuffling and talking and suddenly an hour is gone and I'm looking up and we are finished.
The in between time is just so precious.
My own personal prayer is that I can continue to hold holy the truly awesome gift I've been given, which isn't about my skill as a reader, but is about the trust of strangers to tell them something that makes them understand about their own uniqueness and beauty. And the courage to say when what I'm looking at is senseless and ugly. (Happened only once so far, and I did what I thought I had to do....which was tell them to look out for the law...divine and local)
Moongold
13-01-2005, 20:55
I’ve long been puzzled why there has been so little discussion here about the actual reading process and Event. And - as some are aware - I’ve long been troubled by the issue of the reader’s role and responsibility.
Of course these are extremely threatening issues.
We will happily discuss tarot theory... many will willingly post the results of readings... but few seem willing to broach the intensely personal process of how we read in a face to face scenario. Asked why we read, the majority speak in personal terms.... some effusive and vague... some guarded... most stressing altruistic motives.
This reticence means we are not only denying ourselves the opportunity of learning from each other, we may also be short-changing the sittee. In extreme circumstances, some readers may unwittingly be causing possible harm - as Umbrae so graphically illustrated.
In acknowledgement of this reticence my original post was made in the form of a personal statement.... and in so doing exposed my reading style, process and beliefs to scrutiny.
I challenge others to do the same.
Greetings Aoife ~
I differ in that I think there has been considerable discussion around the process of reading. Some of this appears in different ways in different forums. Some of it has not been indexed yet. But some has.
For me, learning to read has been a process and the issues have changed over the comparatively short time I’ve been learning
I came across the Tarot one day 2½ years ago when I picked up a book which had fallen off a library shelf. I read the book on the week end and brought my first deck and book the following week. I found Aeclectic a few weeks later and was immediately attracted to reading. This are a few reasons for this. One learns to ride a bike by doing. You learn to read Tarot by doing (and other things as well). The other reason for I was drawn to reading is that I am intuitive and intensely sensitive. Unconsciously I was drawn to reading as a way of working productively with these qualities. I tell this story simply to illustrate that people are drawn to Tarot for different reasons and by way of different experiences which ususally impact on the way they read.
In the interests of brevity, where am I now with reading 2½ years down the track?
I am undertaking some personal reassessment and therefore am standing back from reading so much for others. I think the reader has an obligation to know herself first and that is why I am taking time out. Sometimes one simply needs to rest as well. I love reading and know I will return to it, possibly in real life face to face situations. I find reading quite exhilarating and uplifting but I simply know at present that I need to stand back. I also am learning the Marseille and the Ancient Egyptian in detail and these require quiet reflective work. The Marseille is a different reading experience. I think reading Tarot is a great privilege. There are obligations attached to it as well.
As you said, the reading is for the Querent and everything is based on that. I love it when there is dialogue between Reader and Querent at Aeclectic. Obviously in on-line readings, dialogue will occur differently but it is wonderful when it does. I try to know myself and my own issues and to keep them in the background. I try to attune to the Querent by reflection. Something does seem to happen in this attunement process.
I try to know my deck and my Tarot through regular study and practice and to bring this knowledge to the reading. I reflect on what I say and try to write as well and clearly as I can. I always seek and listen to feedback. I try to treat people with respect. As said earlier, online readings are different. I’ve done only a dozen face to face readings and they have been very much readings of engagement and discussion
Above all, I believe absolutely in the sacredness of the reading process. I know that others don’t, but I do. I hope to become a more developed soul so that my readings will be better and more useful to people. I think the prayer of St. Francis sums things up about the process: Let me be a channel of thy love……. Much of this, apart from the fact that I am standing aside a little at the moment I have said before in other posts, other Forums. And so have others.
Your charter is quite similar to a statement of ethics. Professional readers often have formal statements. People here, unless they are professional, probably don't. Many would have unwritten codes. Having a written statement makes things more concrete.
I'd like to make a comment on the "ego" issue which has come up a bit in this discussion. It's always a matter of judgment. Who are we to judge someone else's "ego"? Ego amongst other things includes a sense of self and the capacity to relate to reality. If someone with a healthy ego is paying attention to the Querent, it can enhance the reading. The very capacities that enhance the ego may also make the person a very good reader.
It is when a person lets values and judgment impact on the reading that we may get into trouble. There are some people whose values and judgments are clearly evident in these forums but they are excellent readers. Somehow they manage to put them aside when reading. I don't have problems with strong egos but I do have problems on occasion with values, judgments and sometimes even simple lack of good manners :).
I can't remember you commenting about these things before and it has been of great value. I regret that you don’t contribute more. I can remember some beautiful and powerful contributions from you but these stopped. There was undoubtedly good reason but you were missed.
Moongold
...Tarot is serious business. And some readers take their business seriously...For me, after having been reading "professionally for less than a year now! I'm seeing Tarot in a whole new way. The "books" don't appeal to me like they did before. I am interested in something far more important than what the published readers think cards mean. I want to know what the person who is so nervously waiting for me to say wants to hear.
Now understand, I'm not saying that I would say what they want to hear, it just diffuses the fear in them and allows me to really reach them.
The best readings I do are the ones where later I'm sitting there after they leave thinking "now where in the hell did that come from".
...
God you make me want to reach through the computer, grab you, hug you, and kiss you...
That's IT!!!
YOU understand the difference between reading Tarot, and the process, the event - you are qualified to answer, "Why do you read Tarot (for others)?"
YOU understand the dangers of egocentrics with a deck and a LWB, or a pseudo-intellectual approach that can be truly damaging to a sitter.
Once you 'hang it on the line', you can understand.
Yeah...it's an event. Nobody writes about that now do they, and publishing houses don't want to...want to see some rejection notices?
Dark Inquisitor
13-01-2005, 21:46
My problem is that too often, the reader’s voice hinders this process.... all too often the reading is about the reader ‘s need to read and not the querent’s need to hear.
I think this is very true also. And can happen in any form of reading if the reading is more about the reader . Or the feedback the reader hopes to hear, the control the reader has the illusion they are having, or the ego enhancement this Event seems to be providing them with.
Reading can be a huge burden, and a great responsibility. In my own case, I try to remain the servant of the querent , but also of the oracle. It's my job to step aside, get out of the way for whatever comes through, and then to be responsible in its application. They aren't coming to hear me. ME is an obstacle.
Umm, thanks Umbrae.
I'm a bit overwhelmed by your praise, appreciative, but a bit overwhelmed.
I don't know what I understand, other than to say I really try to take each person on a journey with the cards.
A journey out of fear and some of their misconceptions or prejudices about what Tarot is and into the realm of their own lives and the kind of people they are and want to be.
Sometimes we each get a surprise.
Sometimes I just try to leave 'em smiling.
Checking in here on AT has grown me into a better reader. I don't know if I really know what you say I know, but I slept well after reading your post!
hugs right back at you,
Claudia
Fudugazi
14-01-2005, 09:16
What these wise ancients did not do was to offer advice..... how they would have chuckled and scoffed at our modern obsession with quick fixes and easy answers! The ancients understood - in the deepest, most essential sense - the concept of solve et coagula.... long before the culture that evolved the language of the term.
In acknowledgement of this reticence my original post was made in the form of a personal statement.... and in so doing exposed my reading style, process and beliefs to scrutiny.
I challenge others to do the same.
I cannot write a manifesto on reading the way you did, Aoife, I am not comfortable with that format for myself. My initial answer to your first post is the closest I can get to it. I’ll add that as I believe I have a responsibility as a reader, whatever my querent is looking for, I always try and act responsibly during a reading. By responsible, I mean truthful, non-directive and non-manipulative, but not vague or wishy-washy either. If the cards say - get off your backside and start walking, I say so.
That’s all the more important, in my view, when reading for our loved ones, friends or relatives. As I said before, during a reading, they are not our sister, our friend. They are another soul we try to reach. I might want my sister to leave her b&#/%d of a husband, but if I see in the cards that he can be of great help to her business, that she has the strength to deal with him, and there is still some love there, then that is what I must convey – however, I’ll try and do it as dialogue, as you do. Questions and answers. And a narrative that weaves its way all around the cards. At the end of the reading, I want to feel she is stronger in herself and better able to deal with some problems, because the reading has helped her sort them out.
I’m interested in what you wrote about the Ancients – re: story and advice. Like you I believe strongly in stories. They have a force of their own that reaches inside the person and will wind their way into many corners where we do not venture, as well as the open, public areas of our psyche. To the “medicine of stories” I will add the force and energy – the charge – of symbol. Its impact is very like stories, only probably more immediate. Who can see a man placed between two women, touching or being touched by both, without feeling the force of that scene?
Story and symbol touch us as no advice ever can. Advice is usually redundant, unless it is purely practical (“this is how to fill in your tax return” – now that’s the kind of advice I’m always happy to get). If someone needs advice on life issues which we all face – emotional, social - then they are not listening to their still inner voice; so all we can do, as readers, is try and help them access it by letting them feel the force of the symbol and of the story. I shall often show a card to the querent and ask them just to look at it. Some will comment, some will just let it impact them. Only they can do the real work.
Why are you bothering? Look how many there are. It doesn't matter. You can't save them all."
And the person answers as s(he) throws another into the water:
"It matters to this one."
This always is how I have approached the issue (I work in humanitarian aid). We can’t save everyone. Also, our best work is helping people to save themselves. For 5 years I visited people in prisons (political detainees, security detainees in civil wars; PoWs) who might have been tortured and who, in some countries, were always in danger of disappearing. Some had committed atrocities themselves (Rwanda). I had many one-to-one talks and every one of them was different. So despite ground rules, it was not possible, even if I had wished it, to say “this is how I’ll direct the private talk”. Because of the differences in our positions, I never ventured to offer advice. How could I presume? Listening and talking, that is what most of these detainees needed. Being spoken to as a human being in a humane fashion. Even, and especially, those who had crimes on their heads; and those who had been broken by torture.
In such a violent environment, there is a need for such things as stories. They would tell me their story. Then would ask me mine. Two people in a stinking cell, exchanging stories. It could be deep or light-hearted and generally was both. That exchange could lead them to all sorts of discoveries in themselves – and needless to say, in me. “Why did I leave my wife to come here?” “I killed innocent people, I know I did bad things” "When I leave, I want to do what you are doing". Anger and revolt, too, when there was injustice committed against them. That’s good – better than a broken spirit. I let the anger wash over me, I took it – because I was sometimes the only one they could express it to. If the detainee was held in isolation, then the responsibility was even stronger: I might be the only human being who will listen to them and talk to them (guards have orders not to speak when they bring food). Sometimes the only human being they will see for months on end, if the guards don’t come into the cell.
I have carried a lot of what I learnt in those years into my tarot reading. Of course, most people whom I read for are not living in such extreme circumstances. But people have their fears and issues, areas of burnout and pain, hopes and plans. Their anger and their joy is real, and will often break out past their constructed social face during a reading. Just as in those prison encounters, I have to take the anger, the hope, the joy, the sadness, the evasion. That's also my responsibility as reader. it's my business to try and shield myself while remaining open.
Some want to know they are going to be OK in the future. Just as some detainees wanted to know that they would be free and reunited with their wife (the fear that the wife would leave them while they are in prison always looms very large, especially if they are held far away from home), some querents want to know that things will be alright with their boyfriend, that they will not lose their house, that their mother won’t die. They want to know that their new business will thrive, that their film will be a success.
As you know, that’s also the lot of the reader- whether we call the art predictive or not, we sometimes see future events that are not happy; others that demand hard work for the hoped-for result. Sometimes we will see in the cards that a person is full of hope but does not have the willpower, knowledge or real commitment to pursue his/her ambitions. Or someone whom they love is sabotaging them. These things – events, surroundings, character - are not fixed in stone, but they are there in a reading –they exist in front of me. How do I deal with them?
I broach them, gently, by way of the dialogue if possible, and in any case, trying to establish that essential meeting between the souls as I wrote of before, which is a better dialogue than what can be conveyed by any words. I show the cards so that the querent may access the symbol and the story directly. I don’t say “don’t worry, it will probably not happen, you are the creator of your own future” or “well, you have to face it now, it will happen”. Either of these approaches, in my view, lack truth and integrity. What if a querent’s mother is dying of cancer? Can the daughter cure her mother? Then again, perhaps the daughter’s faith and positive attitude will play a role in the mother’s remission. Above all, I trust that I will be well guided and find the right words. I am not a font of wisdom, so I do my part in the encounter as humbly as I can.
Helvetica...
What a beautiful, personal, sensitive, wise post!
I was going to quote parts...but the whole post was so touching....
Thank you for sharing of yourself.
I am so on the same page with much of what you have to say....I, too, over the years, have so often dealt with patients who are never going to get better physically or gain or regain cognition or language.
While I know certain things are not likely to change, it becomes about hope and about healing of the spirit and acceptance (not resignation) ....
I think you and I touched on this in another thread..about how some "physical" issues will never go away, but that hope and healing are of the spirit and of progress.
I also identified with what you said about needing to "shield" ourselves. Over the years, working with my populations has become pure joy for me and, when people say to me..."I don't know how you can do that day after day," I really don't even know what they are talking about because I don't see the "disability" or the child throwing him/herself on the floor screaming and tantruming or even attacking me. I deal with it and the next day I start all over again with the same child in a loving fashion....
Many of these children have grown up and, to some degree, out of some of the problems...many will have to deal with life-long juggling of multiple medications...
Occasionally, when I least expect it, someone "gets to me."
Years ago, when I first started, I had a woman in a nursing home who had had a stroke that, as it turned out, after my evaluation, had affected her motor functioning but did not affect her language or cognition at all.
She was paralyzed on one side, her face drooping, drooling, no speech, wandering eye contact. The nurses were discussing her in front of her...about how she dropped books and wailed to have them picked up and didn't stop till the book was where she could see the words.
One of the books was Le Petit Prince in French.
I evaluated her (this was before functional MRI's) and found out that she had absolutely intact receptive language, that the damange was purely motor...she could
write with her non-dominant functioning left hand...slowly but in complete sentences...when she was lying flat in the bed, she could produce an audible and intelligible whisper.
Anyhow, I joked with her about being Scotch...and she wrote (it took her about 5 minutes to write this sentence)
"Scotch is booze, my dear. I am a Scot."
I then said..."Tell me everything you need right now to make you more comfortable."
So, she wrote she wanted to eat in her bedroom (she was very fastidious) so that people wouldn't see the food drooling out of her mouth in the dining room.
She needed her books where she could read them, a pad to write on by her bedside at all times...and then wanted to know if she was ever going to return physically to the way she was before the stroke.
I called for an immediate staff meeting, got all of the things done we could, let the staff know that she understood everything they were saying in front of her.
They didn't mean ill, because usually, with the the severity of paralysis she had, there would be aphasia...or language breakdown receptively.
Then, began the slow and painstaking process of beginning the journey to find a different kind of life for this woman and for her family, hopefully, one that would bring them gratitude that she was still alive and one that would have some joy and spirit and love in it.
I went home that night and was haunted by the idea of this woman's mind functioning inside a shell and of her having had no way to reach anyone for the weeks since her stroke. I could see someone slowly going insane...of course, I saw that as my worst nightmare.
I was young and new to my profession. I think I was about 32 years old then.
Now at 62, I take much of what I have done over the years, and find that the same principles apply when I sit down with a querent.
I don't think anyone ever got to me quite as much as that lovely woman, but I will always remember because of it, that we need to listen very carefully and look beyond the outer person.
I now believe that it was no accident that I had this encounter early in my career.
terri
Fudugazi
14-01-2005, 12:39
Oh, what an enriching encounter, Terri! You must be right, it was no accident that you met her when you most needed her.
Have you read "Le Scaphandre et le Papillon" by Jean-Dominique Bauby? (in English I think it's called The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly) - he was a journalist who became totally paralysed, and lost his speech, but not his speech receptivity, because his brain-stem stopped functionning. He wrote this book after establishing a language with his various visitors by means of his left eyelid. It's a powerful testimony of love and - well, just being! Your lady reminded me of the book.
Indeed, we must look beyond what we see. A prisoner, a paralysed woman, a child with a tantrum. A wide-eyed querent, who might be a housewife or a bank manager, but has a whole rich secret inner life, in any case. Find the edge, find the right language. A gardener? use plant similes, and the Marseille deck. An amateur actor? draw out the drama.
So many different people! No wonder each reading is different, each is a walk into an unknown wood.
I have been told of that book several times, Helvetica...time to get it!
Yes, this woman was brain stem damage primarily as well...
I just finished a reading in my home office....
Again...an event...we had the paper out for the notes...but we needed the tissues about five minutes in...they were tears of release, though...and the event was...
good, I believe....as she left, she told me...
"I feel positive...I feel as though I'm going to come through all of this...and now I know that there are some things I need to do that I have let go in the middle of all this change..."
So....we do what we do...we give and our cup in never empty.
Thank you for the reminder again about that book. I am going to check it out from the library...
Edited to add: I just ordered it from our library on ILL.
terri
Helvetica, I do apologise!
I wrote my replies offline and in the process of cut & pasting in the start of my post and my reply to you got cut off.
And now I can't remember what it was I said.... arghhh... I'm so sorry!
Fudugazi
14-01-2005, 17:47
Don't worry Aoife - I have enjoyed this thread so much, you have no idea! I have learnt a lot, too, from you and others. As my Mum says, if it's important it'll come back (and if you're not too tired you'll write it again, and if you are, then sweet dreams :)).
Just want you to know, Aoife, that although I don't have more to share on this topic (I don't read that much for other people, except here in the exchange), I am enjoying this thread and the sharing.
I applaud your approach to reading. Thanks for elaborating on querents who don't want the interaction.
Nevada
I did a reading today in my home office.
I had a sitter that didn't interact much...at first.
Funny we have been discussing this.
She did start crying early in the reading...I handed her the tissues and told to go right ahead. She told me she wasn't upset, that she was crying because I was so right on and that she had bottled all of this up...
Then, despite the notepad and pencil in her lap, she listened to all I had to say...she answered a few questions.
I saw the King of Swords and asked if there was someone in her life that was quite wise and stable, someone she trusted ...that she could talk to...
So, as the "event" went on, she began to respond and even gave some comments on what she saw in a couple of the cards when I asked her what she saw or thought when she looked at a particular card.
BTW, she picked the RWS deck...not my beloved Tarot de Marseille...which was fine.
At the end, she gave me a huge hug and told me that she was feeling
hopeful
positive
She felt that there were things she needed to change immediately...like she stopped doing all of the things that were her "social outlet" because of events re family and job that were placing demands on her and that she has been analyzing everything to death.
There were three swords in the first five card drawn...
I used my own spread...four of swords and shield of love...and I pulled four clarifiers after I covered the four cards...and saved the Shield of Love for last...since it was
The Empress.
It was clearly another "event." No one stepped in and said,
"Say...ya know...I don't think those cards mean quite what you are saying they do...Maybe all those swords mean..."
I went into the reading as I always do, without any preconceived ideas of what we would do...I don't even decide on the spread until the sitter and I are ready to start....
terri
Moongold
14-01-2005, 22:27
Greetings again Aoife ~
I am addressing this to you because your thoughts form the basis of the thread but others are also welcome to comment of course.
I wondered why I felt slightly irritated when I read your post initially. I do have a great deal of respect for you and the expressions at the end of my earlier post are genuine. My irritation was due to a number of factors, some of which were external to Aeclectic and don’t really matter now.
Let me deal with the things that are connected with your thread which raised my somewhat fragile hackles yesterday. My comment that we have covered these things before stands but I acknowledge that we need to do this on a regular basis because the old threads get lost, we need to refresh ourselves and there are new people.
Some of my irritation was at Umbrae whom I also respect a great deal. However I don’t agree with him all the time. I quoted Umbrae in the Marshay thread in chat and won’t do so again. Sometimes I think concerns can be better phrased than in unspecified, blanket statements. These are not helpful and often create feelings of unease which bubble along and surface elsewhere. Or they can make newcomers or the insecure even more uncertain. I know I can like or lump it and I will deal with it in my own way.
I think one of the most important things you said yesterday is this:
The reading Event, I believe, should be an interactive process... a subtle balance of power.... with the aim of self empowerment.
Umbrae also said this:
Somebody walks in for a reading – you are now part of a Two.
The event – the reading (The Three) is not possible without Two – a reading occurs only when the subject and object (sitter and sittee) recognize each other…an event occurs.
On 3 August 2003], in a thread on intuition I said this:
When I sit down for face to face readings with anyone but my partner, I can get them to almost do the reading themselves. And I can quickly synthesize this information, add something from my own knowledge of the cards, and offer a very credible and articulate “reading” back to them.
People respond to someone who is interested in them, and they are vulnerable. They can walk away from me convinced they have had a very good reading, a psychic experience, when they have not. They have simply had an interaction with someone who may care about them and has empathy and good interpersonal and communication skills and who now knows a little bit about the tarot. Sometimes I have been tempted to take a huge risk and bring an edge to my reading that may not be usual. Perhaps those inclinations, if I followed them, would make me genuinely psychic? If they were correct that is
Here is the reference for this post for those who are interested: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=16428&highlight=Intuition
I added the italics today but my point is that the engagement with the person is often the key thing – it is often more important to the Querent than the material in the reading itself.
The style of engagement is critical. I suspect that people often come to Tarot readers because they are in distress. If you show empathy and respect often that is more healing than the words themselves.
Often it may be hard to know what is the most important thing – the manner of the reading or the content. Some people may simply want to be spoken at . Some people respond to sales talk. Readers like Mojo are straight down the line sometimes almost scathing readers but they are very accurate too. Something from Mojo is like a cool shower on a hot day . I needed one yesterday
Moving right along, is there nothing more to the event than the connection between Reader and Querent? How often does it happen that there is a parallel process between style and content. How do we really know this anyway?
Aoife, I think your charter lays the ground work for good engagement and empowerment of the Querent. To be honest I have not seen you read very much on-line so I have no real idea what kind of a reader you are but I appreciate the questions you raise.
One last thing:
The best measure of success is when the Querent feels they’ve accessed their own inner wisdom, drawing to conscious thought transferable ideas and strategies.
How do you personally know when this has genuinely occurred? These are the same criteria for success with therapy but also with good professional supervision in any occupation. Often we just don't know what has worked or why. For some it is simply the personal relationship, time or respect given - the wonderful aspects of engagement. This is all part of the magic and the mystery, but sometimes I feel a little uneasy at not being able to measure it more. The best measurement is follow up over a period of time and who does that? I have recently been delighted to have unsolicited feedback from three people months after the original readings. This doesn't happen very often unfortunately. It is encouraging when it does, though.
Moongold
15-01-2005, 07:50
I have just returned from a lovely late night walk around Richmond, thinking about some of the things I mentioned this afternoon. It is a beautiful balmy night here. The street near where I live is full of Greek restaurants and the music as I walked by was exquisite - not too loud for a change - until I got to the pub on the corner where jazz echoed very loudly indeed. Up the hill to another world of quiet churches, their steeples glowing in the soft light of the street lamps. Two worlds within half a kilometre - so close and yet so different. That's similar to discussions on Aeclectic sometimes. We all love tarot but are sometimes so far away from mutual understanding that we might all be speaking another language altogether.
And that is just it. There are so many different approaches to Tarot. Many different understandings, types of reading, styles of reading. There are people who are learning to listen as well as to read. There are people giving voice for the first time to understanding that has been searching for expression for years. There are people who are Tarot performers but excellent readers at the same time.
Everyone does things differently, sometimes indeed for various clients in the one day. What is the important commonality? There simply may not be many commonalities once a person reaches a certain level of confidence.
Except for those of engagement and authenticity in whatever approach the reader chooses to use. The reader is the artist after alll. The reader is the Conductor or the conduit, initially anyway.. That us why the Querent seaks him out. A Reader without some kind of authority will not inspire confidence.
lilangel09
09-04-2008, 18:36
I don't remember what I was searching for and how I even ended up here (I really don't), but I thought this thread deserved a bump. It was certainly a thought-provoking read, and I'd recommend it to all. Although we didn't get an outline of There is a lot of stuff going on here on AT by ‘experts’ that is dangerous, and stupid…egocentric crap… that Dark Inquisitor requested, there was a lot of wisdom shared about the process, Tarot reading, the event... :)