Time To Panic!!

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

_N_	20 May 2004
OK, so I read for family and close friends, no problem. My neighbor is becoming a good friend, but I have only known her since we moved here last August - she asked me to read for her. PANIC PANIC PANIC. I told her I would be happy to, and NO, I won't let you pay me because I am just starting back into this after many years absence. I'm due to go over and read for her Monday. I'm feeling panicky because I haven't read (since getting back into it) for someone who wasn't, as I said, family or very close friend, and I have "stage fright" I guess - afraid that I'll forget everything I know and pull an intuition "blank". So, did any of you experience this kind of panic attack when you first read for someone you didn't know really well? N

ros	20 May 2004
Panic, yes, and you'll get over it! Just have fun, face the challenge and move on to more readings! If you tell her no money and she still gives you it, take it as a compliment and say thanks. Go step by step. You'll be fine & good luck!

lark	20 May 2004
_N_ every Friday night as I'm packing up my bag for the Spirit Fair on Sat. and Sun I'm having a panic attack... What if my mind goes blank? What if I look like a fool? What if nothing I say makes sense? Why am I doing this.... But once I get there and start reading, all reality melts around me and I'm just focused on the cards. I can't even hear the other readers around me. It starts to flow smoothly and evenly and I wonder what I was worried about. I also meditate, ground, and center before I start. Setting up my table, lighting my candles, and having some favorite crystals around me brings a sense of ritual and purpose. It calms me and helps me feel like I'm in the right frame of mind, body, and spirit. I have to do an interview and reading on a local cable channel this Sat. and I'm scared to death.... Good thing no one watches local cable :D Just relax and I know you will do great. What you are feeling isn't uncommon and will lessen with time and experience. When I get nervous I thank Spirit for the privilege of reading for others. That they were brought into my life so that I can practice and perfect my craft. See, it's all in how you look at it. Good Luck! And I'll be thinking of you on Monday. :)

Centaur	20 May 2004
Quote: Originally posted by _N_ So, did any of you experience this kind of panic attack when you first read for someone you didn't know really well? I have had 'the panic' on occasion... especially if I feel almost a pressure to 'perform'. LOL. I think that the key is, as Lark says, to relax and enjoy yourself. Be comfortable, and let it flow. Perhaps we could call this sort of tarot worry, a kind of performance anxiety? Quote: Originally posted by Lark I have to do an interview and reading on a local cable channel this Sat. and I'm scared to death.... Ooooo... Missy Celebrity! Ha! I am sure that you will be excellent! :)

mercenary30	20 May 2004
Quote: Originally posted by lark [bi have to do an interview and reading on a local cable channel this sat. and i'm scared to death.... good thing no one watches local cable :d [/b] I wonder which station, and if I can order a video of the production...... hehehe ;) Very cool opportunity Lark! _N_, you will be fine! Please post back and let us know how it all went!!

Raine	20 May 2004
I started reading not to long ago, I picked it up not to bad though. I was camping, and one of my friends relitives wanted me to read her cars for her. Well, I couldnt say no, and it was the first time reading for someone I diddnt know! But all went great! she said what I was telling her was right and everything, just have confedence! (PS) Smoking a ciggarette helps me concentrate ;)

_N_	20 May 2004
Thanks for the encouragement :D It's good to know that I am not alone in the panic attacks - oh, I think I'd die if I had to go onto TV LOL. She's a very wonderful person so that is a big plus, but the minus is that she said "I'm not so sure if I believe them or not." She explained that she has known a woman for a long time who reads professionally and her opinion was that she really wasn't any good because she just told people what they wanted to hear or made very specific predicitions (she told this woman she would meet a man of a certain type by a certain time, etc.) She didn't come across as being "hostile" about reading in anyway, just curious I think, to see if there was someone who could actually "make them work". For this reason I was considering telling her to NOT tell me what her question is but to just focus on it while she shuffles the cards, then, if I'm on my game and the cards are cooperative, she will have her answer of "do they work?" since I won't possibly be able to "tell her what she wants to hear" if I don't know the question ;) N

Imagemaker	20 May 2004
We all struggle with this "proving tarot works" thing when we go in knowing the querent has doubts, but even we readers all have doubts at some times and situations. Let the cards do the work, you only need to pass along the message :-)

Phoenix Rising	22 May 2004
Hi A lady asked me to do a reading for her the other day. And I jumped at the chance, as it's part of getting over my confidence factor. "Look fear in the face" is my new motto.

_N_	24 May 2004
And the panic continues... ...she had some stuff come up that she had to do before work (she is on second shift today) and so we skipped the reading for today. In a way I was a bit relieved because I have more time to prepare myself LOL N

tmgrl2	24 May 2004
I love this thread...I started the same idea in another TTarot thread about What if? I, too, am starting to read outside the family and friends this week...panic!! But these words in this thread and mine have been of great comfort...Lark...you really put things into perspective! _N_ and I should start a Chat with feedback about our readings in the Real World....we'll see where we go..I'll be thinking of you _N_....we'll be (gulp) fine... terri

starsongs	24 May 2004
_N_, I experience the panic too, but as Lark suggested, it lessens with time. Looking Fear in the face is becoming my new motto too, Phoenix Rising..LOL Tmgrl2, Centaur Imagemaker, Raine, mercenary30, ros, all with support, shared experience and words of wisdom to share.. Good luck, and have fun. I'd love to hear how it went too! starsongs

_N_	21 Jun 2004
Well, after many weeks of having things get in the way we FINALLY got her reading scheduled. I went over yesterday morning - I took my books with me as a "safety net" LOL but amazingly I never looked at them. It was really wierd - I was nervous about it but when we actually started the reading it was like I suddenly "plugged in" - the cards told me what to say, I said it and each time I described the card, it's position and what it was saying she either smiled really big or her eyes got really big and she'd say "that is absolutely right" - even when I told her what I saw as being the block/fears she was having it was like I turned on the light bulb in a dark room for her (or, more appropriately, the CARDS turned on that light) and she nodded her head, then shook it in that "wow, I can't believe this" sort of way and said that now that I pointed it out, she could see that really was the case. It turned out that the reading I was fearing the most was the best reading I've ever done. She was very happy, impressed and really enjoyed it. I think that the big difference for her this time was that I just flat out told her "whatever we uncover here today isn't set in stone, I am not a psychic, I can't tell you your exact future and neither can the cards" - the reader she had gone to before was one of those who told her "you'll do this, and meet a man like this and go here and get that and it will happen in this amount of time" etc. At the end of the reading she gave me a large apple spice jar candle - she knows I love candles and I'd told her from day one I wouldn't accept payment as I don't consider myself a professional by any stretch of the imagination. I think it was her way of "paying" for something that she really did find valuable. Well, anyhow, I just wanted to update you all. N

HudsonGray	22 Jun 2004
See? All that stress for nothing! Congrats!

dolphingirl	22 Jun 2004
Congrats on the reading, I am glad it went so well for you! That is cool that she gave you the candle, now every time you smell that sent you can think about your first reading.

Little Baron	22 Jun 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Raine (PS) Smoking a ciggarette helps me concentrate ;) I can relate to that! Not good for the old lungs but it does help me calm down and relaxes me. LOL YABOOT

Little Baron	22 Jun 2004
Thanks for the update _N_. I am so pleased that it all went well ... I expected it to because I think you went into it with all the right attitudes - with an openess to what was going to happen. I always feel paniced before I read for people; that I will get a blank or that they will think (or I will think) that I am not very good of a reader. Then, like recently, when I read for two friends at a party, their responses are so positive that you know that all of your personal study and practising have paid off and you are good at your craft. Congratulations and best of luck with further readings. Yaboot

Alissa	22 Jun 2004
Quote: Originally posted by _N_ It turned out that the reading I was fearing the most was the best reading I've ever done. This sentence stands out as the best part of the whole paragraph of good news.... :D Congratulations on your excellent reading, it feels good to get "in the zone," huh? I hope many more will be following.

SongDeva	22 Jun 2004
Congrads on plugging into the flow so strongly! Way to go! Not a psychic? You so ARE intuitive!

_N_	22 Jun 2004
Thanks everyone for the virtual "pats on the back" :D N

tao51	22 Jun 2004
When you trust your intuition--things fall into place! Congratulations!--Tao

lark	22 Jun 2004
_N_ congratulations ! It's the best feeling in the world when it all melts into place like that and you walk away feeling like you helped someone.

The Time To Panic!! thread was originally posted on 20 May 2004 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.