The 'Unfinished' Reading

As of recently, when I do readings, sometimes I get advice and sometimes it may be a reiteration of the situation at hand. So, my problem is with the latter. Yes, a reiteration can be an opening for a conversation, but then they may have wanted a possibility/solution. Alternative path is more difficult if you didn't initially get one. (Sometimes they're clear as bells, but sometimes you got nothin'.) Although input from the Querent is helpful, and I feel that sometimes it gets even more confusing with feedback. So then, what can I do? I can draw more cards solely looking for advice, look at the cards already on the table again and see what I get, show them to cards and ask them what they see, or I don't know. Maybe it's a problem with the spread, maybe it's just that I didn't get anything then... In addition, I've heard of working out the solution with the Querent, but what do you actually mean? Yes, I believe that they should be an active participant in their life, but sometimes it's really difficult trying to figure out what to tell them. You know, this would be a real problem if I were reading face-to-face. I wouldn't have you guys to consult. So, I'm cheating a little.

It will probably help if you approach the reading more as a conversation, rather than as asking a question, expecting an answer and calling it a day. Reading for yourself is hard. You have to be willing to go really deep and confront a lot of things that are scary, unsavory or things that you didn't even know were an issue.

When I do a spread for my partner, I find that I read WITH her more than FOR her. The cards spark conversation and introspection on both our parts, and the revelations can be quite stunning. It's definitely a lot simpler when the message is clear-cut, but more often the cards speak to what is hidden, and therefore their meaning often seems hidden as well.

Don't know if that helps any! But I definitely can empathise with you. Sometimes I look at the cards and nothing more than "huh?" comes to mind

lilangel,

If I'm understanding your post correctly, the outcome position isn't always sufficient for you when it comes to providing advice to the Querent. You can do one of two things - a) if you pull the cards from the top of the deck, reshuffle and cut as you (or the Querent) thinks "this card is for advice" or if you pull the cards from a fan, pull an additional card or b) add an advice position to whatever spread(s) you're using - if you feel the spread has given you sufficient advice, then don't look at the advice card; if not, then turn it over and incorporate it into the reading.

Something else you can do other than pull additional cards is to look at the images on the existing cards for additional input. Are any of the figures looking directly at you (or the Querent)? If there are cards representing the Querent and another person, are they looking at each other, away from each other or is one looking at the other while the other is looking in a different direction? Is one of the images pointing at a particular card? If there's a card that represents the Querent (whether an identified Significator or not), does the orientation of the figure suggest anything to you?

You can also look at the predominance of suits or number for additional insight. If it's a love question and there aren't a lot of cups in the spread, what advice would that suggest to you? If there are a lot of low numbers in the spread, what would that suggest?

HTH,
Rodney

Deacon76:
Well, this isn't abut reading for myself. This is about reading for others that I don't know personally. Otherwise, I wouldn't be as concerned about the advice for myself as I would be for others.

rwcarter:
Well, I don't often add an outcome card. (Since early on, when I was reading for myself with spreads I got from AT, I didn't find the outcome card all that useful.) If I do add an outcome card nowadays, it is usually accompanied by advice or an action to take. I've been using a free-form (no positional meanings) spreads which sometimes just point things out or give advice. I like your first idea since it never occured to me to have a "back up" card so to speak if I feel there was not enough advice. (Although I could draw it after I've finished interpreting the cards already laid out as well.) Maybe I do need to look at the cards again and do what you said. It's occured to me to look at predominant suits and numbers (and I do that), but it hasn't occured to me to look at the rankings of those numbers (ex. low or high numbers).