Right or Wrong ways to read the tarot.

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

falerin	26 Jun 2002
Obviously many people have very different styles of tarot interpretation, many different spreads exist that speak to different people. It is even possible to take a familliar spread and change what the positions of cards mean for you. Which is what I did to the celtic cross when I used it as a primary method of reading. I have encountered some people however that feel that there are right and wrong ways to read. Right and wrong ways to choose or not choose significators, right or wrong ways to use spreads. Now I have my own take on this but am intrigued by what others might think. What if anything is a right or wrong about the way people read the tarot? (And I admit I do sometimes look at these tarot readers on infomercials and thing.. gee thats a WRONG way to read the tarot. I mean which card in their deck says "You are a doctor married to a lawyer but he's cheating on you with another man. You saw him last week...yah you know the one I'm talking about..."

debins	26 Jun 2002
for the more experienced readers to answer. I am thinking that readers not only know their cards but more importantly they respond to their cards with their intuition. Some may have strong psychic abilities but several have encouraged me, personally, to rely on my own intuitive abilities, to listen to the feelings I get when I read the cards. I think that's why it takes so much time, energy and devotion to read the cards. One is merely responding to pictures and looking for a specific scenario to appear. Notice how "interpretation" of the cards is key and how readers ask key questions surrounding the situation and what the querent wants to know. That seems to mean they are not "just" reading cars. Your quetion is excellent. I, too, am keen on seeing the replies. Namaste, Debins.

Liliana	26 Jun 2002
Well reading drunk with beer sloshing over the cards is definately the wrong way to read tarot :D But i believe so is the way of reading that allows people to say stuff WILL happen and you have no way to change it. The future is always mutable til it becomes the present. If someone says you will be in a car accident but you dont leave the house for a year its kind of unlikely ;) An extreme example. Theres also things I feel you should not read about, like Am I pregnant or Where should I go on vacation. A doctor should answer the first, not the tarot, and the second is just too mundane a question to be able to get anything definate out of. But to me anything else goes. Some people use reversals, some dont. Some people memorize LWBs and recite back, some use intuition and might even burn LWBs ;) Some people will use a big spread, some people just 3 cards. No matter the method youll get out of a reading exactly what you need. Its also why its nice to exchange readings sometimes, it allows you to get anothers viewpoint. :THP P.S. Be nice to him, hes my husband ;)

cricket	26 Jun 2002
First things first. Hello, Liliana's husband, and welcome! :D You have a wonderful wife, BTW. Now that that's over with... There are right and wrong ways to read the cards, imo. the "rights": Be honest with the querent. If they're serious, they will pay attention. If they're not, at least you have a clear conscience in that regard. Let the querent interrupt with questions and/or comments. How are they supposed to know what you're talking about if they're not sure themselves? Let the cards speak for themselves. Nothing is more frustrating, imo, than someone who hushes the 'voice' behind the images. It breaks the fluidity of the reading and often colors it. the "wrongs": Making a card fit into the reading. If it doesn't fit, there might be a surprise factor. Maybe you're missing some tiny detail that will tie it in with the rest. Maybe the reason it's there will show up later. Telling the querent only what they want to hear. If you see something, tell them. It might be a good warning. Maybe they'll be able to add to it a little bit. Letting the querent run the whole show. If they're so good at it, why don't they do it themselves? ;) These are definitely just partial lists. They're just a few things that immediately came to mind.

Umbrae	26 Jun 2002
Very broad question. A hasty answer would do more harm than good. There are three questions buried in your post. Spreads, meanings of positions. Cards, interpretations Where does the final reading interpretation come from? Spreads; some folks use different spreads for all types of different situations. Small spreads, large spreads, spreads for work, home, health and love. Some folks use the same basic spreads repeatedly, sometimes designating a different meaning to a position before the layout. Some folks do not even use spreads, but simply turn the cards over like a storybook. Right and wrong? Because we are all different, some folks have divergent views on some spreads and positions. They then imply that others should observe their views as factual. Such behavior is wrong. We need to remember, the only wrong is behavior. Card interpretations. Start comparing meanings from the books, and you find that every author has their own takes on cards. Some have only positive meanings, some dwell on the negative, some use reversals, some do not. Read for a few years and you begin to develop your own twist to the cards. Right and wrong? Here we get a little touchy. Because we are all different, some folks have divergent views on some cards. They then imply that others should observe their views as factual in all other reading. Such behavior is wrong. The final reading MAY be a result of strict interpretation of the cards (meanings from a book or pamphlet). The final reading may be more intuitive (psychic) in nature, where the reader provides more information than the cards imply. I have also personally been to readers who just 'made it up' as they went along. The readings were for entertainment purposes, and thusly, inaccurate, and insulting to our craft. One other thing to keep in mind. Books are written by authors. Some of them have a habit of expanding their ego's by stating opinion as fact. This is then passed on to readers, who take an opinion based on an ego with need and pass it on to others. Right and wrong? Let us read more posts...

tigerlily	26 Jun 2002
I see the cards as symbolic depictions of archetypes and as such they have a wide range of meanings in the sense of "forms for the essence". I guess the limit is where you change the essence of a card. If you were to interpret the High Priestess as an outgoing, exuberant, socializing person, every reader's first reaction would be "now wait a minute...". If every card can mean *everything*, if the High Priestess could have the same energy as the Chariot, we wouldn't need 22 different Major Arcana anymore. There are divination systems that do just fine with less archetypes, but we're talking about Tarot here. And the other wrong way to read Tarot is to "make it up" as Umbrae said. If we don't use our intuition, our *knowing*, it's inaccurate and yes, insulting to our craft.

Umbrae	26 Jun 2002
In any walk of life there are folks who impose their will, their concept of right and wrong upon others. However more importantly there is a right and a wrong way to read Tarot. A plumber should not tape your pipes and charge for a replacement. A mechanic should not razor-blade your fan-belt. A reader should not take their craft lightly, for it (we) are a craft, no different from others. For many we stand as the psychologist for the blue-collar worker, who can never afford to go to either a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Their friends or neighbors may look at them oddly to hear they are going for therapy, but it is okay to have your cards read. Usually I find that someone will tell me in three minutes what took his or her therapist a year to uncover. It is a grave responsibility. I once read that folks who abuse going to readers could be divided into three categories: 1. Aladdin addicts: genie in the bottle expectations, quivering hopes and half-baked schemes. 2. Gimme-Gimmies: Just hand over the answers NOW. Gimmie-Gimmies will drive you crazy. Best cultivate an image, which makes it easier for you. It is best if they look to themselves to find solutions to their issues, and rely on you as a last resort. 3. My-Name-Is-Legions: I can be abusive because I am paying for the right to be. As soon as you shuffle a deck, or toss those rune-stones, you assume an onus. Are you up to it?

tigerlily	27 Jun 2002
This should be moved to the Tarot Texts section: "clients to avoid"...

MystiqueMoonlight	27 Jun 2002
THERE'S A RIGHT WAY TO READ THE TAROT?!?!?! Gee I wish someone had told me. What is the right way? I shuffle, I spread, I read....is there some other sequence nobody has told me about? I'm with Umbrae on this one (what a surprise :) ) The wrong way...not having an idea what you're doing, why you're doing it and what to say about it. Then taking the money and running leaving some poor soul out their with no change in their pocket and a heavy heart.

Diana	27 Jun 2002
edited

Umbrae	27 Jun 2002
She was reading tarot correctly. Perhaps her method was more similar to an oracular method as opposed to the strict interpretive method that many have popularized. Early in ‘the Fool’s’ journey, he encounters the Magician. The magician likes to classify, sort, put things in boxes. Everything must be ‘just so’. This is the manner in which interpretive Tarot works, and indeed, it does work, and works well. Later, the fool meets the High Priestess. She knows that magic must run free. Free of constraints. Meanings blur, what lies between the cards is as important as the cards themselves. This is the realm of oracular readings. Is one better? More evolved? Perhaps the answer is no. I am on my way to ask the Hierophant.

Diana	27 Jun 2002
edited

falerin	27 Jun 2002
Ah. See I agree with the things that people have said. The answers however seem to stem from what is in my mind a different question. Is there a moral and immoral way to read the tarot? The original definition I applied to right or wrong was actually is there a correct or incorrect way to perform readings. I am guessing from the responses generated that on the correct or incorrect question most people would state that there really is not a correct or incorrect way unless of course the way being used is also immoral which implies incorrectness. Immoral ways to read have to do almost exclusively with enforcement of ones views on the situation, in my opinion. Reading what you expect to see is an example of this. I do not really consider reading while not taking it seriously to be an ethical issue unless you are doing it for profit. Though I have experienced that some decks don't take kindly to this kind of use. Others seem to enjoy it thoroughly. Or perhaps its my own mind that provides the unkind experience through the deck when not used in a serious fashion. The answer to this question of course goes back to the question of just where readings come from. Still Contemplating...

HudsonGray	27 Jun 2002
Hmmm........one thing I found was NEVER let the other person interprete your cards for you, they're dead wrong because they only see what they want to see. You laid them down, it's up to you to read them for the person. The deck's talking to you. As for a moral way to read the cards, I guess if you let the info stand as is rather than trying to color it with your own opinions, it would get across to the recipient a lot better than getting a lesson coming at them from the reader as well. Sticking to the facts & telling things as you see them rather than playing mom & going the extra mile by being their conscience does make sense.

mondk	27 Jun 2002
It is my own humble opinion that there is no incorrect way in regards to the type of spread used and the way the cards are interpreted by the reader. Sometimes the meanings I gleam from one deck can be completely different with the same cards of another. So I suppose I would be one of those readers that goes with her intuition and gut feelings. Now, as for the morality/ethics of it all, I think it just depends on the morals and ethics of the reader and/or querent as to "right or wrong" ways to read and interpret the tarot. Of course, we would like to think that everyone that reads is serious about helping their querents etc. But we know that the world is far too complex for that and that there are those out there that take great glee in taking advantage of others and telling them whatever they want; "pot-stirrers" I call them but usually substitute a different 4 letter word for the word "pot". Remember, this is just my opinion!!! Blessings, Michelle

The Right or Wrong ways to read the tarot. thread was originally posted on 26 Jun 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.