How strict do you formulate your questions when reading for yourself?

When I am reading for myself I rarely actually formulate a question. Often it is more like "a feeling" of what the question is, I rarely take the effort of actually formulating it.

A fellow reader I know actually spends quite some time formulating his questions when reading for himself.

Both options off course have their pro's and con's, but I find that when I leave the precise question itself more "open" you at times get taken into directions, sometimes "tweeking and tuning" the question along the way, I would never have gone if I had a rock solid well defined question.

So what's your "thing" regarding the actual question when reading for yourself?

sometimes is general, other times is specific. when I am really worried abou tomething I do like one general about that issue, and then another very very specific... but... I have some difficulties for reading for myself... I allways get confused LOL

While I do occasionally do general readings for myself, far more often I will formulate a specific question. This is because I often get confused when interpreting the cards without having decided ahead of time what I am asking.

You see that in readings posted here: the question will be vague then the cards are interpreted from his point of view, from hers, about this, about that and then the poster says 'it makes no sense'. Well, try asking another person something vague. They will 'interpret' your query through their own lens, go off on tangents and generally be unsatisfactory until you finally narrow the focus.

Yes, if you are fishing through a complex situation, it can give you some nuggets to use as a basis for more focussed questions.

Marion

I agree with Marion.

Mine are specific and I try not to word them ambiguously.

It reduces the number of cards I need to draw in the first place, too, if I can take a moment and focus in on what it is I really want to know. I don't need the deck to tell me what I already know or lay out the whole situation, unless it's just for idle fun or for 'testing' the deck or something. I have the situation in my mind before I start to ask and draw the cards, I already know the past, etc.

That's also why I don't use pre-made spreads much. They usually seem to ask a lot of stuff you already know, don't need to know at all, or the sub-questions are vague and ambiguously worded.

I don't like any sort of vagueness in readings, so there are always specific questions to answer or specific designations to represent. It's not helpful to me otherwise.

I agree with Marion and Mellifluous, I try to be as specific as I can.
I find it difficult when reading for myself, especially if it's something important to me so I find a carefully worded question helps to keep the confusion at bay.

Nocturnal Lure said:

When I am reading for myself I rarely actually formulate a question. Often it is more like "a feeling" of what the question is, I rarely take the effort of actually formulating it.
.... I find that when I leave the precise question itself more "open" you at times get taken into directions, sometimes "tweeking and tuning" the question along the way, I would never have gone if I had a rock solid well defined question.

Click to expand...

I've always liked the notion that the Tarot represents "postcards from the unconscious." So for me it draws from this well and often brings up not always what I need to know but what I really need to be asking. When you get down to it we're always asking/seeking something, even if not precisely defined. Sometimes being open to the revealed, "right" question is more important than what may seem to be an answer that we project on these "postcards." I've seen a few posts on the Forum about querents asking specific questions and receiving quite jarring readings that reveal much larger and more important issues. And when "the cards make no sense at all" maybe that's the time to really search them out - the cards may have struck a deeper vein.

~B~

Nocturnal Lure said:

When I am reading for myself I rarely actually formulate a question. Often it is more like "a feeling" of what the question is, I rarely take the effort of actually formulating it.

A fellow reader I know actually spends quite some time formulating his questions when reading for himself.

Both options off course have their pro's and con's, but I find that when I leave the precise question itself more "open" you at times get taken into directions, sometimes "tweeking and tuning" the question along the way, I would never have gone if I had a rock solid well defined question.

So what's your "thing" regarding the actual question when reading for yourself?

Click to expand...

Well I usually have to write it down. When I get lazy and don't half and hour later, I am so busy analying the cards I forget what the question was. LOL

Then I am just wasting my time if you don't know what question you are asnwering. Otherwise I am not that strict, I have some rules of what not to do when formulating questions, but by now I know them well enough to avoid them instinctively, so I just ask my question,

Bar

Nocturnal Lure said:

So what's your "thing" regarding the actual question when reading for yourself?

Click to expand...

I usually have a specific topic in mind when asking a question, but I'm not necessarily looking for a specific answer. For example, let's say the topic of my question concerns finances. I wouldn't ask, "how can I get a raise?" I would ask, "how can I improve my financial outlook so I feel more financially secure?" Getting a raise might be one way to improve your finances, but it is only one way. It is specific but too limiting. In the second example, the question is specific (finances), but is flexible enough to allow many different possibilities. They could range from generating more income, to finding ways to reduce the amount of income you require, or completely changing the ways in which you think about money and prosperity.

For personal readings, whether the question is general or specific depends on whether there's a specific issue or not.

If there is a specific issue to be addressed, then I'm careful to pose the question so as to include the issue. I'll want an answer that is on point, but not a "yes" or "no" response. So, I'll be careful to phrase a question that can't be answered so simply.

Other times when nothing special is going on, I'll ask a rather general question or no question at all. Reading can be conversation as well as question and answer.

When I'm reading for someone else, I'll want the reading to be as specific as possible, of course. But how specific the questions can be depends somewhat on how forthcoming the querent is.

If i need the answer to a specific question, I ask it. But if not, I just do a
general reading and it kinda' jump starts my intuition. I can get a good sense of what's going on from that.