How Your Emotions Affect the Reading

I would like to open a discussion on the subject of the attitudes and emotional states one approaches a reading, and how it affects the answers.

It seems like such a basic and simple foundation to reading, and yet...in twentysomething years of doing tarot and divination, I think only now I am beginning to understand it!

I like to think of my decks as having individual personalities. Some of them are cranky, some have loving and giving personalities, while others are cheeky and tricksterish.

But something that occured to me the other day, as I was doing a reading for myself, was that maybe the decks answers are really responding to my emotional state at the time.

And then...well, maybe they are not...

let me explain....

If I am approaching a reading, and I am in a good mood, open and honest, but still keeping my sense of humor...then I tend to choose decks that mirror that emotion. And consequently, I get a reading that is honest, and open, and a little humourous.
If I am in this particular state, and I choose say...the Gothic deck, sometimes the readings make no sense to me. the deck is too dark and dismal and moody for my current state of mind, and so the reading seems muddy.

Now...the other day I was in a fury, and feeling very angry. I choose a "default" deck (the Hanson Roberts) to answer my angry query.

And the deck responded just as a good friend would...with a reading full of humor and gentle defensiveness. Pretty much like someone in the room, trying to difuse my anger. But to me at the time...it made no sense at all.

I switched to an angrier deck (the III Millennium) and the answer mirrored my angry emotions, and the reading seemed happily full of spite, revenge and madness.

Two completely different readings...but strangely, I got what I expected from both of these decks.
And I don't know if it has to do with how I percieve each deck to be, or my emotions clouding my reasoning.

Does anyone else have experinece with this?

Have you read while Angry? Depressed? Deliriously happy? And did the deck respond to your emotional state? Or was it mearely reflecting what you projected onto it?
Does the reading make more or less sense if you match a pretty pastel deck with an angry query?

I would love to hear your take on this.

Well, Chronata this is a great question, thank you for rising it!
That's the same question i've been asking myself for quite long time... and, no, i don't have an answer.
My decks definitely respond to my emotional state(s)... most of the times.
I made the mistake to read when angry/depressed - well, you don't wanna know, i get mostly fives, 9&10 of swords, the Moon reversed...
Than, when i am calm and happy i most of the times get Lovers, the Sun and other "good news".
You know i have "spiritual approach" to Tarot, my believes and experiences with Tarot are deeply based on Kabbalah, on multiply destinies and of the possibility to "exit" the lower destinies and get into the better ones. I also believe that we co-create our realities and that our minds do have (high) impact on the matter. I also believe Tarot to be a "tool", a channel for communication with the Universe/God/Higher Self, and from that point of view it does make sense.
But here (again) we can speak about the ratio of things pre-destined to happen to the things we "attract" - no answer here either...( though i believe even the pre-destined stuff can be changed with sufficient effort put into the transformation of our internal "blind spots"...)
All this said, my decks do surprise me sometimes with unexpected warnings - like, don't go there, you really don't need that- and they do (sometimes) comfort me when i am really down...
The latter happens more often lately, when i began including small "conversations with God" before the readings, especially during the times when the goings get tough - sort of prayer, but with my own words.
Could it all be an individual thing?
Btw, i don't believe that my decks have "personalities", which is i feel them as sort of extensions of my own being - as a person i do have different qualities, some decks mirror better my emotions and some mirror better my thinking and believes... or at least that's how i see it...
Gosh, hope i made some sense here
I guess i am even more confused sometimes than this post happens to be ...
I believe certain things and than Tarot surprises me again and again as if it's saying "oh, dear, there is much more than you ever dreamt..."
I guess that's the beauty and the challenge of it
Love&Light
mdr

For the past year or so, I've read pretty much exclusively with my VR, and I feel like it knows me very well. When I'm angry and I read, I tend to get very blunt cards. When I'm depressed, I tend to get very dark cards. When I'm insanely happy, I tend to get lighter cards. Now, they all pretty much tell me the same things, they just go about it in a different way.

I think that perhaps if I were to use another deck, the readings might just be a muddled mess. I don't feel like the deck is magic or anything, but I do feel like my VR and I have exchange many different energies, and that that creates some sort of bond there, as silly as it sounds.

Since I've had my BG standard, I've been using it regularly, and I've found that the dark images don't really play much into my mood. For example, I did a VERY truthful and honest relationship reading with it earlier, even though I was a little concerned about how the dark images would relate to my question.

Perhaps I'll ponder your question a bit more and see if I can find a new insight to it. It's something I haven't ever really thought much about before.

Promise said:

I think that perhaps if I were to use another deck, the readings might just be a muddled mess. I don't feel like the deck is magic or anything, but I do feel like my VR and I have exchange many different energies, and that that creates some sort of bond there, as silly as it sounds.

Click to expand...

Promise, to me it does make sense I posted about it before, i feel my RWS (my first deck) as my best friend - as silly as it sounds
I mean, if someone would always be there for you, if that "someone" would listen carefully to all your rants/shared the happiest moments with you/ if he/she would see the light in you even during your bad days/ if that "someone" happens to be very intelligent, complex yet with good sense of humor and they would be ready to "provide" wise guidance for you... well, wouldn't you consider that someone your best friend?
Good that AT is a place for "Tarot enthusiasts"... could you imagine a reaction of someone who isn't (a Tarot enthusiast) reading these posts...
ROFL!

Very good questions, I'm wondering the same things.

Have I read while angry, depressed or generally unstable, yes... But I don't take these readings 'seriously'. In the sense that I'll treat that as a conversation with a good friend, who will patiently (or not so patiently ) listen to my ravings and answer them. Now, I don't really mean all the things I'm saying/thinking in these conversations, so neither does the deck. Hence, I'll take it all with a pinch of salt, but it is very therapeutic. And unlike a human, a deck can't easily escape, even though it can tell you to sod off.

Extremes like that aside, I also find that different moods go better with different decks. I think it's something like 'matching a frequency', resulting in better communication and clearer readings.

Which is a different thing from the deck mirroring your mood back at you. If that happens, for me it means I'm not in the right state of mind to be doing this reading. Whether it's 'too light' or 'too dark', if I suspect it's coloured I leave it for later. But how to be sure

I agree with elvenstar...I have read when angry or depressed or just upset...and depending on the subject, the cards would either give me its usual straight answer, or it would tell me, "stop asking that" --- and when the deck doesn't want me to ask, it starts giving me a lot of reversals; that's the "sod off" message.

The New Orleans Voodoo Deck is neither a "light" or "dark" deck, but it encompasses all ranges of emotion; so it works for me to use it in whatever mood I'm in.

T.

elvenstar said:

Very good questions, I'm wondering the same things.

Have I read while angry, depressed or generally unstable, yes... But I don't take these readings 'seriously'. In the sense that I'll treat that as a conversation with a good friend, who will patiently (or not so patiently ) listen to my ravings and answer them. Now, I don't really mean all the things I'm saying/thinking in these conversations, so neither does the deck. Hence, I'll take it all with a pinch of salt, but it is very therapeutic. And unlike a human, a deck can't easily escape, even though it can tell you to sod off.

Click to expand...

elvenstar said:

Have I read while angry, depressed or generally unstable, yes... But I don't take these readings 'seriously'. In the sense that I'll treat that as a conversation with a good friend, who will patiently (or not so patiently ) listen to my ravings and answer them. Now, I don't really mean all the things I'm saying/thinking in these conversations, so neither does the deck. Hence, I'll take it all with a pinch of salt, but it is very therapeutic.

Click to expand...

Great point, elvenstar

elvenstar said:

And unlike a human, a deck can't easily escape, even though it can tell you to sod off.

Click to expand...

ROFL!

in reply

I did a reading a few weeks ago about my situation with a new partner who who i split from ,i posted reading and someone pointed put out the results seem's to be about ex husband I had seen him 2 days before and seeing him always knocks me off balance as i dont trust him and not sure of his motives ,i believe this may have affected results ,i did the same spread 2 weeks later and got totally different cards.
I believe state of mind does affect readings as we are using universal energies that we are part of .

NUTTYCHICK said:

I did a reading a few weeks ago about my situation with a new partner who who i split from... ,i did the same spread 2 weeks later and got totally different cards.
.

Click to expand...

From what I've been taught, it takes about 2 weeks from the time of a reading for the energies picked up in the reading to manifest. I was also told to wait at least 2 wks before getting a reading on the same question.

I've noticed this in my own readings; a reading 2 weeks later will usually be different than the previous reading on the same subject, and can also note any growth or lack thereof with regard to the situation in question.

T.

afrosaxon, I think I'm going to start using that 2 week rule... Interesting.

As far as emotions playing a role in the reading, they absolutely do. The more emotional you are, the more dissonance you have internally. That's what negative emotions are at a core level---a type of fear, which results from things being out-of-order internally. There's only fear and love---in love, we trust, and in fear, we don't.

I think when we don't trust, the reading suffers.