Readings frequency……???
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Dec 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| Karenwhe |
15 Dec 2002 |
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In previous threads I have seen frequency of reading mentioned and debated before, but always as a side subject. To clarify things further and more in-depth I opened this thread.
The questions are:
1. If you don’t understand/get the message in a reading:
a. Should you do additional readings on the same subject or
b. Come back to it later to further analyze it.
1. Generally speaking – how often is it acceptable to read on the same subject if it has not been resolved or the issue is not clear?
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Here are my answers to the questions above and I hope you will all join me to discuss this issue and see different approaches:
1 – If I don’t understand a reading or part of it I usually do the following:
a. I try to put down more cards on the issue that is not clear in the spread (max. 3 cards)
b. If that does not work – I leave the un-clear cards (by now probably 4), position them in new positions, shuffle the deck and do a new reading on those cards only. However I do take in consideration at all times the previous reading from which these cards emerged.
2 – I personally think that there is not time scale to the how often one can read on the same subject – only common sense. Usually the main guide line is change of events, changing path etc. Other than that if the issue is out of your hands, but you still want clarification/insight to what is happening, then it really depends case by case.
As a side note, for usual querents that I personally read to (friends and family mainly) I create journals for their readings and when I do a new reading I look at the old one to see how things have progressed. In this journal I keep the spread picture with the cards just as laid on the table so that I can see it (I do this easily with Visio and other software and paste it into MS-Word) :)
Hope you all join me with your thoughts and ideas.
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| wavebreaker |
15 Dec 2002 |
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If it's just one or two cards in a reading I don't understand, I draw additional cards for those cards, as clarification. If I still don't get it after that, I simply write down the reading in my journal and leave it for a later time. Because sometimes you just don't see what the reading is about at the time you do it (I get that especially when doing readings for myself), but you will get it after a while, maybe after the situation you read on has changed.
If the whole reading is a mystery to me, I don't even draw additional cards, I just write the reading in my journal and leave it for now.
As for time scale: I agree that there is no real time scale. As a guideline I use "when the situation has changed". Some situations change all the time, very quickly, so in that case I would consider doing a reading, say, every week appropriate. But for situations that hardly change at all or where developments are slow, I will simply wait until I feel like there has been enough change to validate a new reading.
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| Trogon |
15 Dec 2002 |
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When I get a card or two that isn't very clear, I also will draw a clarifying card. So far, a single clarification card has done the trick when I've done this. I do have to say that I haven't always done this, it wasn't until I read the suggestion (to use clarification cards) in another thread that I'd even heard of it. So far it has been working out very good for me though.
If after 1 or 2 extra cards I was still having trouble, I'd fall back on my previous method; write down the reading and come back to it later. Usually further contemplation will yield the information.
As to how often to do a reading on a given situation.... Again, I'll go with what has already been posted. When the situation appears to have changed. I will say that I'd probably not do a reading in less than 24 hours... very few situations would change so rapidly, but it could happen. One time I did have a person ask me for readings on 2 days on a single family issue. Both of the readings were very similar... basically I told her that the situation hadn't changed and the previous reading was still valid.
On the other hand, I have given 2 readings to the same person in the same sitting. These were 2 readings on 2 separate issues the person was facing. There was a little bit of blending of the 2 readings since the one issue tended to affect the other, still they were different and accurate. It was her first reading ever and I think I impressed her.
Anyway, I do find it interesting that the majority (so far ;) ) is saying essentially the same thing.
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| allibee |
15 Dec 2002 |
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Ok, my personal method is to do every preemptive thing I can to avoid a situaltion where I don't understand, and it seems to be working for me :)
First I do my horseshoe to get a feel of the situation, with two cards per position, whether I pass that part of the reading on is up to me because I am mainly doing it for myself to get a strong 'handle' on the situation in question.
From there, incorporating the insights I have gleened, I do a more specific spread based on what I feel at that point, having that knowledge under my belt as it were.
I may do another spread as well just to add depth to the 'story', because by now I should have the story line - and if I don't I shouldn't call myself a tarot reader LOL.
This spread, usually small, is used in place of clarification cards in the previous spread, and nine times out of ten it gives the same message.
I see this as being thorough, not over indulgent, as it's easier sometimes to find a needle in a haystack if you use a metal detector... meaning using appropriate toolwork.
As for repeating readings, I don't like to do it more often than a fortnight later, as I should have been thorough enough the first time.
If it is for a new areas, they can have them one after another for each question. No probs.
allibee
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| Thirteen |
15 Dec 2002 |
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I think the thing you want to avoid is doing a spread over and over again (or several different spreads) on the same subject just because you (or the querent) don't like the answer.
Usually, if the spread isn't clear--I mean really, really isn't clear--I'll pick up the cards, re-shuffle, clear, and hand back to the querent for re-suffle and more concentration. What I figure there is that the cards weren't cleansed and/or shuffled well enough. If the spread still isn't clear (rare!), then I *MAY* try a different spread--or just table that question, figuring it's just not going to get answered right now.
Three times the charm for me--I figure if I haven't got a clue by the third time, then I'm having an off night and best put it all to bed. In regards to getting a clear answer and then doing another spread on the same subject...I don't usually do more than two spreads--and different spreads at that. The first spread (usually a large, general spread like Zodiac) and then a second more focused one to hone in on some point seen in the first. Like, for example, if the Zodiac spread predicts a new, special someone coming into the querent's life in one section of the spread, I might do a smaller, second spread to focus just on that. If the answer was really, really intreguing, then maybe, just maybe a third spread. But really, in most cases, one spread with clarifications is more than enough.
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| Umbrae |
15 Dec 2002 |
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One spread – that’s it. No clarifying cards (because they rarely clarify, too much information tends to obfuscate the issue.
Usually, the reason the answer is not clear, is that you are seeing what you do not want to see; denial sets in…
Like when you were a child, you father said, “No, you cannot go to the theatre right now.”
Your response was…”Mommy…? Can I go to the Theatre?”
Don't keep doing spreads until you get an answer you "understand" (like). You will not be happy with the results in the long term.
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| Teal |
15 Dec 2002 |
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I think like Umbrae-----that if it's not clear, maybe it's something your mind is not wanting to grasp? I've done some spreads where I thought nothing in them pertained to what I had asked. Out of laziness, I didn't pursue it, but that's the key for me-----I just didn't take the time and pains to interpret what was there. I don't read for anyone but myself, though. I'd never just scrap a reading for a client, I don't think, should I ever progress to the point of ever having clients. For myself, I think it I were to have the urge to draw further cards to clarify the reading, I'd probably just hopelessly obscure the real message of the spread.
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| Karenwhe |
15 Dec 2002 |
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Originally posted by Teal
I think like Umbrae-----that if it's not clear, maybe it's something your mind is not wanting to grasp?
Just to put the discussion back on track..... I am not talking to reading for yourself...... but mainly for others.... where you the reader don't get the message, therefore it has nothing to do with want you WANT to see, as it is not for yourself that you are reading. I am not excluding reading for yourself in these discussion, but I prefer to stay away from that because of what you all mentioned (seeing what you want) :).
I know that people read for themselves and that is very cool, but when you read for others...... you don't have the luxury of coming back to the spread and analyze, then pick up the phone to the querent and say "I got it now" - don't you agree with me?
On a different note: If I don't get the message from the entire spread and I do a new one and still don't get it - I don't go any further I apologize to the querent and call it a day. I also had experience when I had to stop in the middle of a reading for a querent apologize and stop there, but that wasn't because of the messages from the cards but the querents vibes.
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| Alex |
15 Dec 2002 |
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but I tend to get more and more confused when I lay down clarification cards. For myself or other people.
It's easier when the cards don't make sense under the light of someone else's understanding; because then you begin to wonder about the information that has been given to you, and the nature of the querent's need for advice.
I've had on occasion (may be my second reading for others) the opportunity to read for someone I know and whose spread made no sense at first; but as I started out explaining the cards, I really felt, that person was making the effort to give a meaning to what I was saying; and she guided me throughout the reading as much as the cards did.
A totally different experience was a reading for another friend who started out by not telling me his question and then pointing that every single card makes sense under some light and therefore was of no help. His reading was terrible and it was obviously not telling him what he wanted to hear. It's not that the reading does not make sense, but that the info coming from the reading and from him were contradictory.
May it's best to live at that when there's no possible way to read the cards, the querent or both. I do what I can but when we REALLY need advice, even opening a random page of a cookbook may bring the needed answer.
Alex.
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| zorya |
15 Dec 2002 |
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it's all there in the cards. no need for more cards, nor readings.
if it isn't clear, take a deep breathe, center and ground again, and look at it from another angle. (meaning; look at the whole picture, or at relationships between cards, or how many of each suit, or what is opposite another card, or adjoining.......etc. etc. ) remember the first words or pictures that popped into your head. they can be the key.
how long before another reading? that really depends on a lot of variables. i often go a few months before another 'big' or 'important' reading. (i do little daily or issue readings more often). i've found that by doing readings too often, they all lose value. if you ask the cards the same question over and over, you will find yourself more confused.
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| patter |
16 Dec 2002 |
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I also do not use clarifying cards. I also do not read for the same person until after the next new moon.
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| WolfSpirit |
20 Dec 2002 |
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Originally posted by Umbrae
Usually, the reason the answer is not clear, is that you are seeing what you do not want to see; denial sets in…
This does not have to be the case. I did readings in which I already had a negative feeling, expected the 10 of swords and instead I got a card I just did not understand...
(let me tell you I haven't read cards as long as some of you so I can still get confused...)
But I discovered something else. I got the most confusing answers when I did a spread like the celtic cross or a 5-card spread asking about a relationship. It finally hit me the cards did not give an answer to that question. So now I just do a general spread asking about my situation in general, as there were probably other issues demanding more attention at the moment.
Last time I did this general spread it gave the answers about the relationship spread very clearly.
O boy, maybe I'm rambling on a bit... my conclusion is: if you don't understand a reading maybe you should not ask that particular question at the time, try a general reading without a specific question, then maybe the cards will show you what is important for you at that moment. If you ask too specific a question, you don't give the cards the chance to show you the whole perspective of what is going on at the moment...the cards may try to guide you in the right direction by answering another question. This is the part where you will probably get confused.
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| Umbrae |
20 Dec 2002 |
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Relationships…well now that changes things.
Not only are you trying to read person A in the relationship, but you are reading person B, and the third entity, the relationship itself!
Sorry, try a simple not so Celtic nothing like a Cross, or a simple 5 card spread…the answer will never make sense.
You need to have a blend of three spreads interacting as one in order to ‘read’ a relationship. Hunt around, I posted one awhile back…may have to post it again.
Relationship spreads are by far the most difficult.
But more cards, will not make it any clearer…
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| Karenwhe |
21 Dec 2002 |
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Originally posted by Umbrae
Relationships…well now that changes things.
Not only are you trying to read person A in the relationship, but you are reading person B, and the third entity, the relationship itself!
Sorry, try a simple not so Celtic nothing like a Cross, or a simple 5 card spread…the answer will never make sense.
You need to have a blend of three spreads interacting as one in order to ‘read’ a relationship. Hunt around, I posted one awhile back…may have to post it again.
Relationship spreads are by far the most difficult.
But more cards, will not make it any clearer…
Umbrae, you may be able to add your thoughts to this thread
about relationship spreads.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9739
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The Readings frequency……??? thread was originally posted on 15 Dec 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.
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