"what do you do when you run out of questions?"

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 Aug 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Royal Cat	09 Aug 2002
What do you do after you've been studying tarot for a while and you just don't have any questions left to do readings about?? After you've done all the questions in your mind, solicited the help from a significant other for questions, bugged your best friend and even tried a few "public interest/in the news" type of readings... then what? I feel like a need more practice and I don't quite feel ready to do readings for strangers. I wondered if any of you had some great suggestions. Is it OK to just make up a hypothetical person and question just for the sake of practice? Help me brain-storm for other questions. :) Cat

Minderwiz	09 Aug 2002
Ask yourself what to do next and then do a reading Minderwiz

Keslynn	09 Aug 2002
Go to the Reading Exchange and offer to do readings for some fellow Aeclectians! It's fun and easy! Not only that, but it's a great learning experience because we're all learning together. :) Kes

Dark Inquisitor	09 Aug 2002
You might try readings for public figures. A while ago, I did a reading on Martha Stewart, and it was very interesting - so far everything has unfolded as the cards indicated. You could do readings about people or events in history. Even for ancestors you never knew and are curious about. Sometimes I will practice by doing readings about cases in the media of missing children , or unsolved crimes. As the case unfolds, you get to check your interpretations & accuracy. It is also possible to do readings about hauntings or haunted properties. (see ming's seance thread for a good example) You might be curious to know if a certain house is haunted , and a reading may tell you an interesting story. You don't have to have a personal connection to the house, an address or photo will do. If there is a psychic show on radio or tv, you could read along with the host. Kind of like playing the home game! Perhaps you could do spreads for each room of your house & how to improve it. I suppose you could use it for party planning if you made up the right kind of spread. If all else fails, you could spy on the neighbors, but you better never tell anybody here you did that! Tarotphelia

lili	09 Aug 2002
Very good ideas Tarotphelia, I would like to try reading for public figures, it sound very interesting

lunar_rabbit	09 Aug 2002
Good ideas from the others! I second the suggestion to offer readings on the reading exchange, too.

DarkElectric	09 Aug 2002
Doing readings for people on the reading exchange has really helped me a lot. We're not exactly strangers, and it's a lot of fun! Tarotphelia's idea about reading for public figures is really good too. The media will keep you posted as to whether you were right or not!

Umbrae	09 Aug 2002
Read for strangers. Both live and on the exchange. Be sure to keep a journal of all of your readings both cards and interpretations). It will enhance the process.

Sorceress_Jade	09 Aug 2002
Perhaps if you think your not yet ready to post to strangers... read the questions in the exchange and do readings for them? That's not saying you have to give it to them, but there's plenty of questions in there, and people and energy to focus on.

Molly	09 Aug 2002
I'm glad this question was posed; I have the same problem. I want to work with the cards, but I have no one to do readings for other than myself. The other evening my husband and I had rented a movie I had already seen - The Time Machine. I pretended the professor had come to me for a reading at the beginning of the movie. I concentrated on his character and selected a significator card. I did a Celtic Cross spread. It was amazing to study. It was so unbelievably acqurate. It helped me to see how the cards inter-relate with each other. I haven't done this with another movie yet, but I think I will. I was actually thinking about posting the spread here so others who had seen the movie could marvel at it. Also, I was going to practise pairing two random cards together and see what they mean to me in relation to each other - I got this idea from the Comparative Tarot egroup. Hope these ideas help others.

Lee	09 Aug 2002
I do readings for the characters on "All My Children" (American soap opera). Because the storylines stretch out for months, you really get to know these people, providing rich opportunities for readings. -- Lee :)

Molly	09 Aug 2002
LOL!!! That's great! How silly of me to not think of this: I LOVE the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- I mean ridiculously huge fan! I'm gonna have to try out some spreads for the characters and see what happens next season (it will be season 7 here in the states)! For me, it's all about the practice right now.

RedWood	09 Aug 2002
LOL Lee....I have never thought of that...For those who watch Days of our LIves...They drag the same storyline on for years..i will have died from old age before they finish a storyline lol..that is atleast how it feels sometimes!

Cerulean	10 Aug 2002
What I like to do is ask... 1) What next step tarot-wise or otherwise would help me? And then, throughout the week, I browse the net or think of ideas. Usually there is an aspect of tarot studies (Astrology/history) that links to something else. Sometimes flipping through one or two different decks is helpful...a bunch of pentacles in a draw may suggest paying bills or it's time to do gardening to celebrate the fruits of the earth... 2) Write a story-tale using a tarot you wouldn't normally use, ace through ten in a suit, or among majors, or court cards (are the people in the suit related? Are they sleeping partners or boxing opponents? You might not look at that deck ever the same again, so it might be best done with a challenging or different deck that's not your favorite soothing sleepy-time read. 3) Change or alternate your decks or mix up majors/minors or do comparative readings. Rachel Pollack's Illustrated Guide gives great ideas...ahhhh, I have to pick my discounted copy up tomorrow! Thanks for the question.

Royal Cat	10 Aug 2002
Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! You've really got my mind working now :) I've done a few readings on media stories such as the Zacarias Moussaoui case and those have been fascinating. I think I'll try doing readings on books or TV shows and see how it goes. :) I especially love the idea of doing readings on ancestors... there are quite a few things in my family history that are 'fuzzy' and it would be nice to try and clarify. Keep the ideas coming - You guys are the best! :) Cat

Cerulean	10 Aug 2002
This is something I just remembered as I reread the postings. On the Time Machine spread....earlier this summer, I caught the rerun of the H.G. Wells-inspired short story. It was a real old movie, had lots of young platinium blondes for the over-the-earth civilizations and brutes under the ground. The scenes reminded me of Fox/Parrish illustrations of a different world...or old Star Trek reruns. But I was fascinated with stories like that as a kid---sometimes a good sci-fi story just pulls at your imagination. Well, Tarot of the Ages published by AGM Mueller popped up in my tarot searches and there were the idealized people in 'past' cultures. Anyway, for awhile, my Tarot of the Ages peopled a sci-fi structured world and I had a nice time writing up backgrounds and playing with it. Sometimes the novelty tarots actually tease your imagination, even if they aren't your own personal mediation deck. Thanks for the reminder and the thread! Soon there's a short break in my classes, and here's something to look at again... Mari H.

divinerguy	10 Aug 2002
Do readings for people on TV or at local coffee houses. Just do them to yourself.

mooncat2	10 Aug 2002
Come and join in with the newbies group questions on the reading exchange - its lots of fun and good practise. Love

Molly	10 Aug 2002
Recently this question was asked at ComparativeTarot as well and I have compiled all the answers found there and here on this thread... (I truly hope this is not considered cross-posting or anything - I just wanted to share all the wonderful ideas I have found in the last few days for this). First, the goal: "Ways to practice and grow your reading skills" 1 ) Join an egroup that does exchanges (one is tarottrade) or swap readings here at aeclectic. 2 ) Do spreads for fictional characters - movies, TV, stories you are reading. 3 ) Follow media stories - do a spread when you first hear about a situation and see how it unfolds. 4 ) Do spreads for your ancestors to explore your family history. 5 ) If you are in role-playing games, do serious readings for your character. 6 ) Do two-card pulls and develop your meanings for how they interact - you could use designations such as "being, doing" or "situation, challenge" as well. 7 ) Ask Wisdom Questions such as "What is the nature of ...." (this was explored in Rachal Pollack's books for Shining Tribe and "78 degrees") 8 ) Pull several cards and try to make up a fictional story thread for them. 9 ) Use variations of the daily reading: (a) instead of just drawing the card, try also writing an affirmation for it or if you are creative, compose a poem... (b) separate the deck into majors, pips, and courts, shuffle each pile and draw one card of each. According to the Hallowquest book, you can designate the majors as teacher, pips as experience and courts as guides. Hope that this list has helped!

Royal Cat	11 Aug 2002
Thank you Molly for the list. :) Great suggestions everyone!! Cat

The "what do you do when you run out of questions?" thread was originally posted on 09 Aug 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.