Can we do mistakes?

Sometimes I'm worried doing mistakes in my reading or taking the wrong card. Can we know wether we're right or wrong in reading tarot?

I'm quite have these kind of worrieswhen I read for someone, since it's not about myself. Especially when the reading is bad... ^^;; Is there any advice so I could read better?

I go on the theory that 'the cards are always right but sometimes I interpret them incorrectly'.

Keep practising, ask for feedback and pay attention to it. Go back and look at the cards again in light of the new information. It is sort of a spiral learning path.

I don't believe in accidents. Of course not all readings are going to be all good, so a "bad" reading is just something that happens. I think the cards we pick are the right cards for the reading. I also agree with Marion about asking for feedback and paying attention to it.

As was discussed somewhere else, sometimes the querent may be in denial, though, and will say something isn't true when it is, so you have to also take that into consideration and not get too crushed if the person you're reading for says something isn't right about your reading. It may be right but they just can't see it right now.

I don't think 'mistake' is the exact word to use. Tarot read 'in the moment' may tend to cause a few blank spots, a backout or two, or some other such thing that once we said 'what came to mind' we start to have second thoughts about it.

There is nothing wrong with this; we are human - humans make mistakes.

If you are asking "I meant to say 'Summer' and I said 'Winter' by accident" there is nothing wrong. The earth will not fall from it's sphere; 21-year old scotch will not turn to iced tea.

If you are asking " I told them to stick with their lover, but now I see it is an abusive relationship and they should not stay together," You have a moral dilemma. I am guessing that this 'realisation' comes during the reading, not hours later after the reading is over? If you are doing longer eadings, such as 10-card spreads, you can get different information (think of it as progressive information) at the start and finish of a reading. If later information reveals an unsettling truth, there is nothing wrong with saying to the querent 'These later cards are telling me something I think you should know .....' . What you say to a client is not written in stone, nor will saying something in a reading actually cause that event to happen. Being truthful to the querent where you may say "At the beginning the cards were telling me _____ but now that the final cards have come into being I see that ________" is a better thing to do.

As far as 'pulling the wrong card' - many of us don't think that this can happen. Tarot will get you the answer that is needed. Even if you carefully shuffled the deck and accidentally dropped it on the floor - the card you pick up first will have the answer you need. If you don't believe this you probably don't have enough reading experience or possibly trust in your abilities. The best thing to do is keep reading cards - for yourself, for family, for complete strangers.

Even the experienced among us 'stumble' at times; but we know we have to keep moving forward, and I hope you will continue to do so, also.

mind-snapping

My bridge partner used to say, whenever she would make an error in judgment or play, "Oh well, my mind snapped momentarily!" LOL, I'm afraid my mind has "snapped" once or twice since I've started with tarot. Thankfully, it's always "snapped back into place." Don't worry about "mistakes" etc. Keep working at it, and let your intuition flow. My best readings have been when I was centered, but not consciously trying so hard to be correct, if that makes any sense.

There is a phenomenon known as "purpose tremor." Purpose Tremor is really just fancy new jargon for Performance Anxiety. It happens when you become too anxious or worried about making a mistake. People who experience it shake uncontrollably when they try to do something they fear they will do wrong. A lot of it has to do with "others consciousness" - being excessively conscious of what other are thinking or saying about you, and fearing they might judge you negatively. There may not even be another person present at the time, but in the imagination of the person with PT, the harsh critic is always present.

I bring this up because you mentioned that you feel especially worried when reading for others. Many good suggestions have been made already. The longer you read, the more confident you will become. One other thing I might add that works quite effectively is to become more "self conscious," concentrating more on yourself and what you are doing, and giving less importance to any negative feedback you may get. With PT, the problem isn't with criticism (real or imagined), it's with an overly-sensitive response to criticism on the part of the person receiving the criticism. Negative feedback (criticism) can often be helpful if viewed objectively. Becoming more self-conscious tends to tip the scale toward a more balanced outlook.

This may seem like a lot of mumbo-jumbo; hopefully I haven't overly-complicated the issue. But I've found this to be a very helpful technique. If it seems helpful to you, great; otherwise, toss it out.

-fof

Thanks a lot for the advice. I think you're right, it is because my lack of confidence.

Other thing that make me feel like this is because of have 2 decks. The older one, I can interpret her quite easy. But the younger one e little bit hard. I must thinking quite long to take the answer and sometimes I feel it incorrect.

I'm kinda feel bad for this younger one. Maybe this is my fault who couldn't interpret her correctly. I'll try to learn her more and trust her cards.

The older one is tarot art nouveau from Los Scarabeo, and the younger one is medieval cat from U.S.game.

Lest we forget . . .

There is one topical area that we haven't yet addressed!

What if we frame the question wrong?

We can ask the wrong question either by re-wording the querent's concern or we can assign specific meanings to each card position in the spread we choose -- and some of them can mislead us or take us on divergent paths. The cards will give us our answers but they may not help the querent.

This is why dialog between the reader and the querent is helpful, IMHO. Dave

I agree with the earlier post that not being so worried about reading correctly that it hinders your psychic self is important.
On the occassions I've read for people I find there are some folk that instantly seem to want to disprove anything unexplainable/psychic (even though they are sat before you in choice), and they are far more difficult to read for, because you are aware that they are likely to try and trip you up, or be difficult if you are not spot on.
I've always done my best to ignore their attitude and draw a few cards to tell me a bit about the person beneath the attitude and read for them. I've never yet read for a 'bad' person, it seems nearly always to be a fear factor which brings out a negative or attacking/derogatory attitude, and once you realise that, it becomes a little easier to read for that type of person and get over the fear of reading wrongly.

But I find by far the hardest (and not always the least important) of readings that are easily 'misread' are those done for oneself, as there is no real way of getting over the 'am i just reading into the cards what I want to see' mindset, and being satisfied that you have a true answer to your problem.
Is this problem again just a question of confidence in oneself?

Hello Maygreen,

A lot of good advice has already been given. Tarotbear already mentioned that with larger spreads you can get much more and much more complicated answers. If you feel insecure with reading for others I think it may help a lot to do small spreads. Three card readings are fine to start off with to feel more secure. In the Tarot Spreads section you can find tons of interesting spreads for three cards. And believe me it reveals everything you need to know, three cards can reveal a life! Sometimes less is more, because there is no distraction by "minor" issues.

Other thing that make me feel like this is because of have 2 decks. The older one, I can interpret her quite easy. But the younger one e little bit hard. I must thinking quite long to take the answer and sometimes I feel it incorrect.

Click to expand...

Certain decks requires much more attention than others to feel familiar with it. But perhaps there are better decks for you that speak louder and clearer? Have a look at the deck section here and maybe you will find a deck which speaks immediately to you. Well, just an idea. And it would help me not to feel so guilty if other people also buy and buy decks
Blessings