Whats your reading style?

inanna_tarot

Hopefully I've put this in the right forum!

Ive been thinking a bit on my reading style and to be honest I dont really know what it is. So I thought I'd throw open a thread about the different styles that readers have and which do you find works best for you.

Are you nice and want to really help out the client?With advice and ideas to help them out?
Do you with the idea of brutal honest truth - and if they can't handle it then tough?

Do you try to keep your readings light hearted and informal?
Do you try to keep a 'professional' head and serious?

Do you have a reading style thats different to those described? Could you describe it?

Are there angles that you have depending on the client and the reading? Has your style changed over time?

Lots of questions but I feel that at the moment I'm not quite getting 'there' with my readings so I need some ideas to try out various angles!
 

Eddie

I ask lots of questions and encourage the querant to do the same. My aim with my readings is to make the querant feel uplifted with a sense of hope, no matter what the outcome might be. A reading should feel good, it should not be a negative experience.
The honest truth should always be delivered with sensitivity, encouragement and hopefully you will empower your querants free will.
 

berrieh

In a word: Pragmatic.

Some people would probably say I read in the shallows. It's a conscious choice. I read on earthly things because I think that's what Tarot cards can pick up. I don't think they reach beyond the veil of this world. No lessons, no karma, no deep meaning...just earthly things that were, are, or can/will be. I read actions, reactions, advice, situations, coming events, how to change things, people & their thoughts, feelings, and intentions... I read energies, but I try to pinpoint events and tangible things wherever possible.

I tell the truth as I see it. Dark, bad, big, bleak, and bloody---or hopefully happier than that. :) I tell everything I see, whether it makes sense or not. I don't sugarcoat in the slightest. I don't backpedal.

My reading style has changed a lot over time. I used to look for solace and lessons and try to be more upbeat, but I find it's not what works. I used to believe the cards could give advice and that the advice should be followed, but now I ask for both advice and the result of the advice---sometimes the result the cards point to is not what the Sitter wants.

Basically, I look at the cards as a tool for gathering information about others/the world around us, the hidden things in our lives, and the immediate future. I use them like mirrors on a car---looking at potential blind spots. All I can offer is what I see. The choices remain the Sitter's.
 

elvenstar

Good question. I don't have a good answer.

I don't have a style, or rather I have many styles, including most of the things you mentioned and also telling stories, making fun of the situation I see in the cards complete with pantomimes and sound effects, almost making them do the reading themselves and probably other random things.

I think that's because a) it depends on what the person needs b) I'm still finding my feet with the whole reading thing c) it depends on my mood and last but not least d) I have multiple personalities ;)

I hope that over time I'm becoming a better reader and hopefully that will also improve my style(s). I think what's changing is that I say less.
 

Baroli

This is a cool question. I can't really describe my style. I have this knack of when I see stuff I just start telling a story and a lot of things come up in metaphors and similies, not to mention in parables, so you can't take my readings (especially online readings), literally. Now most people here who have had me read for them know this and get it. But I have to laugh when sitters take me very literal. This is when a cigar is really not a cigar.

Now when I read face to face, I have the advantage of question and answer. The sitter will ask and I will answer and vice-versa. Personally I think that makes for a much better reading experience and I try to encourage those here when I am reading for them to ask questions.


Baroli
 

satine

If someone needs to hear some things that are difficult to hear or accept, I obviously still address these topics, but I do so in a way that is not without compassion. I think it's important to be real and not "sugar coat" a reading; after all, the cards will only reveal what the person is ready to hear and even needs to hear. That said, I think it's possible to be too harsh. To draw a comparison--some of the most difficult of topics are discussed during traditional mental-health counseling sessions, yet this is best accomplished within a safe, supportive environment. Though there are clear distinctions between a counseling session and a tarot reading, I believe that a querant deserves and can benefit from being treated with the same degree of respect, dignity, and support. I simply treat the sitter as I would like to be treated. :)
 

.traveller.

I don't know if I would call it a "style", but I read as I speak conversationally. Therefore, my manner and tone varies with the subject and feel of the reading, just like it would in an actual conversation. This is more with F2F readings, online is different because I am a lazy (and slow) typist, readings become very bare bones.
 

easyboy82

berrieh said:
In a word: Pragmatic.

Some people would probably say I read in the shallows. It's a conscious choice. I read on earthly things because I think that's what Tarot cards can pick up. I don't think they reach beyond the veil of this world. No lessons, no karma, no deep meaning...just earthly things that were, are, or can/will be. I read actions, reactions, advice, situations, coming events, how to change things, people & their thoughts, feelings, and intentions... I read energies, but I try to pinpoint events and tangible things wherever possible.

I tell the truth as I see it. Dark, bad, big, bleak, and bloody---or hopefully happier than that. :) I tell everything I see, whether it makes sense or not. I don't sugarcoat in the slightest. I don't backpedal.

My reading style has changed a lot over time. I used to look for solace and lessons and try to be more upbeat, but I find it's not what works. I used to believe the cards could give advice and that the advice should be followed, but now I ask for both advice and the result of the advice---sometimes the result the cards point to is not what the Sitter wants.

Basically, I look at the cards as a tool for gathering information about others/the world around us, the hidden things in our lives, and the immediate future. I use them like mirrors on a car---looking at potential blind spots. All I can offer is what I see. The choices remain the Sitter's.
Click to expand...

What a pleasure reading you post: this IS the reading I would always like to have when I ask for one!
 

raheli

I find my best readings are when I just let my feeling from the cards roll out of me. I would say I'm blunt when I feel the cards are being blunt and silly when they are being silly. I don't feel very professional and I think when I try to be very rigid and professional the cards try let me know I'm doing it all wrong.

Sometimes I feel the cards get irritated at peoples questions and that's when i feel the readings are very short.

I have to say I see short as very different to concise. Some times in readings the cards say it so loud and clear that I don't have to explain a lot, that doesn't mean the sitter doesn't have extra questions the cards can answer, just that they have given some answers very clearly.

I guess I just go by feel on a case by case basis!
 

inanna_tarot

Do you think your reading style is dependent on the sort of person you are? Or rather the deck that you are reading with?
If I'm using the druidcraft tarot I tend to find that my readings are very much from a 'druidy' perspective. Full of how you feel, what is best for you. I almost feel myself talking more softly as I'm giving the client time to think and confront ideas with out any demand or direct confrontation. Basically if you've heard Phillip Carr-Gomm talk then thats how I read lol.

But if I use the Faeries Oracle I can feel myself with a giggle under my breath, that although the readings are often deep they have that light hearted energy as well to balance it out. They make me laugh and they make me cry.

Or maybe I should draw on both of the above, because these facets are there in me just the different decks bring them out. so I should try to bring them out in every reading I do, not just with that deck?
Who knows. Just throwing some ideas.
 
3 Ghosts... As the Deck Speaks -- weirdness!