Read for others, my mind goes blank.

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Apr 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

moon_mermaid	12 Apr 2003
Don't know if anyone has this experience. For some people, they feel difficult to read for themselves but deliver good readings for others. But me, I am on contrary. I don't have much problems reading for myself. Well, just only sometimes, I need more time to understand the cards. I tried to read for my friends. They asked the question, shuffled and I shuffled and drew the cards. Then I looked at the card and then, that's it. Nothing comes to my mind and I need to depends on book, but I don't feel the click. Any advice?

Rhiannon	12 Apr 2003
Maybe you're getting yourself too worked up. Performance anxiety. Just relax and ground before you touch the cards. Look at the pictures, see if they trigger anything in your mind. Remember, this is supposed to be fun! R :)

LadyMedusa	12 Apr 2003
moon_mermaid, I too just started trying to read for someone else besides myself recently and found myself in a similar spot. I gave it another shot about a week later with a few changes. It came out much better. Instead of at her house, we tried at my kitchen table (this is where I usually read for myself). Instead of 3 or 4 people in the room, we were the only ones . When I went to the other room to get my cards I bought along the book I use for reference...I didn't use it just laid the empty deck bag on it (knowing it was within reach was a comfort). I was still a bit nervous at first but being on my ground without an audience and knowing my book was there if I felt the need for it made a big difference. LadyMedusa

Umbrae	12 Apr 2003
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10197

Mysti	12 Apr 2003
Thank you so much for this link Umbrae! Being new here I have so much to catch up on, but this was a very important thing for me to read just now. I feel less "strange" for my silences knowing others understand. As for that sense of going blank, I've had that at times when I read for others. I tend to get lazy and just want to read without the complication of the cards. I've been trying to learn to integrate my senses into my Tarot readings more because I see how they can be of benefit to clarifying the things that come to me.

Kiama	12 Apr 2003
I think it's a case of 'practice makes perfect'... When I first started reading for others seriously at the age of around 15, my mind would go blank, mainly because of what Rhiannon called 'performance anxiety'. I would worry that the querent was judging my performance in the reading, and if the querent remained quiet all the way through the reading, not registering anything at all, I would get even more paranoid and become convinced I was doing it badly. I was so worried about people thinking I was good at Tarot that I forgot the real reason I was reading: To help the querent. I was also using the 'memorisation' method of reading the cards (Where you memorise the meanings instead of taking cues from the images in the cards) so giving a reading for others felt more like a verbal examination than anything else! Sometimes, even now, I go blank. I no longer use the memorisation technique, which helps tremendously, and I find that as long as I am relaxed, and confident with what I am doing and who I am, I am fine. (I have observed other 'professional' readers at psychic fayres, and come to the conclusion that the readings they charge £20 for, I can do much better for nothing! Given this, now I can give a reading safe in the knowledge that I AM good at what I do. :D) However, sometimes I still go blank, and I don't know why, but I know how to get aorund it... The querent should know you're not some god who is all-knowing, etc, and I find it best if I suddenly 'go blank' to simply say to them, 'I am going to take a few minutes to work through these cards in my head to get an accurate view of the situation, before I start speaking. Is that okay with you?' They always say yes, and during this few minutes I find it helpful to get myself concentrating, in the right frame of mind, and look at the cards. I then pick one which I am comfortable with in that reading, and start talking about it... I always find that once I start talking, the rest of the cards just fall into place! I hope this helps! Kiama

rota	12 Apr 2003
I think Kiama has explained the phenomenon fairly well: it's a matter of getting the motor started by just talking. It's like priming a pump, sort of. Any excuse to get your mouth moving, to a certain extent. The obvious thing to talk about is what you see, noting correspondences or contradictions wherever they occur. Once you do that, then by degrees the real 'interpretation' of the spread begins to happen. The canned card meanings that one learns from books are real and true, but only begin the process of thinking. The meanings are very deep, but if you start from the 'shallow end' (ie. the memorized meanings), they will inescapably lead you to more deeply interpreting the cards in the spread as the Questioner needs to see them.

moon_mermaid	13 Apr 2003
:* :* Thanks for all your replies. It is really a relief to see that I am not the only one having the problem. Yes, I have the anxiety when doing reading for others. Because I always worry that instead of giving help, I am just causing confusion. I like Umbrae's idea of peripheral vision, it may help me to shut up my noisy concious mind, just hope that my mind won't get drifted too far away. :D Practice Practice.

Umbrae	13 Apr 2003
Practice makes for improving… When we read for ourselves, we rarely speak aloud. When we read for others, the blank spot occurs…We are speaking aloud and then… The mental critic comes alive, “What will they think…” The fear paralyses us. So derail the fear…watch that mote in space… Learn to embrace that blank spot… Just today I was at the Body Mind Spirit Exposition, doing a paid reading and by golly I had that old blank spot… The noise shut down...and from that quiet spot - that unnerves so many - and so many others spend years seeking...

Kiama	14 Apr 2003
Umbrae has raised an excellent point that I have only just realised now that I have read it! Embracing the dark spot. Can you clarify for us on that one, oh Swami? ;) I am assuming you mean take advantage of that silence in your head, and use it to stop your fears, slow down your speeding mind, and then slowly begin to look at the cards instead of the imaginary scorn on the querent's face... Kiama

Aerin	14 Apr 2003
The other thing to remember is that a silence for you may seem like ages, for the person on the receiving end it probably just seems like a thoughtful pause that implies you are taking very great care with them and their issue. It's OK to collect your thoughts and to speak slowly. Aerin

Trogon	14 Apr 2003
Don't know how helpful my comment will be, but here goes anyway... :| It has been my experience, as I travel down this Tarot road (and I seem to have just passed the on-ramp... or have I?), that in order to get better at readings... I need to do more readings. The paradox is, of course, that in order to do more readings, I need to get better at doing readings. I guess my point is... just jump in with both feet. When I first started doing readings for myself, I looked up meanings in books a lot. As I started doing readings for others. I would look up brief notes which I'd typed up for myself during my studies (keywords). As I've studied more, wrote new notes, kept a journal, I gained confidence and seldomly need to glance at my notes now. When I do look at my notes, in order to clarify some thought, it is a glance... to see what words jump out at me. Sometimes, lately, I've been finding that an intuitive impression that I have for a card is somewhat at odds with what I've written in my notes... I go with my intuitive impression. If you want to do readings for others, you'll have to do readings for others.... sounds almost zen-like... :P

Umbrae	14 Apr 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Kiama Embracing the dark spot. Can you clarify for us on that one… You know, near the end of my account of my weekend, I alluded to it, ( http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13165 ), but did not clarify… And littleneptune asked the same question in different words, ( http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13162 ). We sort, we quantify and qualify. We box, we compartmentalize. We create rituals of magic and rituals of habit. The ‘Reiki Master’ does funny little hand gestures, the aura masseuse does her hand waving… It’s meaningless. Those things can be accomplished without the trappings (hand gestures and movements). They are an exercise in repetition. It’s how they were taught. You were taught to ‘have the right answer’. Tarot is not a test. There is no grade. But we box, we compartmentalize, we sort and measure – that is the role of The Magician. He draws lines, classifies and sorts (and tells you he has the answer). It’s meaningless in the larger scheme of things. When we look at the cards and have that “Blank Spot” (“My mind goes blank”) it means we are truly ‘in the moment’… ...and ‘of the moment’. It’s the magician in the back of our head that is attempting to measure sort classify quantify qualify determine assign and ‘figure it out’. But the true answer lies in the blank spot – the non-answer. "Seek and ye shall find" assumes measurement – a quantifiable tangible something. Folks meditate for years to shut down the clutter in their heads, and when we attain that ‘moment’ we freak! “What do I say?” As long as you are thinking of ‘what to say’…you are like a computer stuck in search mode…the hard drive’s spinnin’, but there ain’t nothin’ happenin’. The hourglass just stays. Gotta reboot the entire system. Control alt delete… So don’t! Embrace the blank the nothingness... the 'no answer'…let it take over. Enjoy the fear, and it goes away. And there is only one way to do this… Quote: Originally posted by Trogon If you want to do readings for others, you'll have to do readings for others.... sounds almost zen-like... :P …It is.

Alissa	16 Apr 2003
mermaid, I just wanted to post a link to my own very recent blank-spot experience so you would see how "unalone" you are. The most important thing I learned was not to beat myself up for it (which I did then, but let's hope I don't if/when it occurs again). http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12104 I hope you find that dust mote in your periphery vision next time. I'll be looking for it myself ... perhaps we should look together ;).

The Read for others, my mind goes blank. thread was originally posted on 12 Apr 2003 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.