truth or illusion

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Small-tree	23 Jan 2003
I've just started on the tarot for close to half a year. Currently I am still practicing by doing readings for myself for myself. (i normally just do three card spread...or if i am feeling ambitious...5 card spread). Recently (the past month), i am starting to doubt my readings.....i do not know whether what i interpret from the cards truly reflect the answer to my questions or am I just interpreting according to what i want the answer to be........if i don't feel too good about my interpretation at the end, does it mean that i interpreted the cards wrongly? or does it mean i am just lacking in confidence? or could it mean that i just dun like the answer and i am trying to find reasons not to accept it?

lunalafey	23 Jan 2003
There are times when I must put my cards away because they just don't seem to be 'working' It could be caused by any of those things you have mentioned. I still keep notes so I can look back and see what I may have missed. During these times I put them away and wait for that nagging feeling to come around, even then I don't read them until I have a 'real' issue in my life and there seems to be no direction for me to figure out. The cards come out and speak loud and clear. :TMOON

Sulis	23 Jan 2003
I have exactly the same problem. I find it so hard to be objective when I`m reading for myself. The only other people I read for are family and friends and so I have the same problem when reading for them because I know them. Why don`t you try doing some readings for imaginary people just to get used to turning the spread intoa story. If you don`t want to completely make people up then pick stories from the news and do readings about it. You can even check how accurate you`ve been that way. Love and light Crystalmynx xx

Small-tree	23 Jan 2003
Thank You! I think maybe i shall put my cards away for awhile b4 i try again.....i think reading from stories in the news sounds like a good idea.....i shall definitely try that out!

Jewel	23 Jan 2003
You might want to try the Aeclectic reading exchange. Most people here on the forum are very encouraging and supportive, we also know we are all learning ... might be a great "dafe" place to practice reading :) ... Just a thought to consider ...

Small-tree	23 Jan 2003
Well i did think of doing my own reading and then posting the results on the board just to see if other people get the same interpretation as me :P

HOLMES	24 Jan 2003
that is a good way to learn to do self readings, and post them,, the other good way is to offer readings,, and readings, and if you get good feedback then you know your on the right track.. a little phrase comes to mind.. "luke you going to learn a jedi depends on his point of view, so what i told you was true from a certain point of view"obi wan kenobi to luke skywalker in empire strikes back. ( i may of misquoted a bit though ) it isn't necessary to put them away totally good friend, can do a one card a day draw, or mediate on one card a day. when i took a break recently the tarot was still on my mind , thinking to myself what in the word does this mean and that mean. so i guess if you get to the point you never stop studying eheh :O)

lupo138	24 Jan 2003
if you are honest with interpreting the cards or not - they reveal the truth. If you keep a journal, then you will see afterwards, what they told you. This would make it harder and harder to find other interpretations ;)

patter	24 Jan 2003
Just to mix the pot -- I would say that early on you need to find out how a good reading 'feels' And in fact, this why exactly why you should definately read for other people, as they will give you feedback about whether the reading fits with their life and friends. If they do, or even if they start a defensive reaction, this is a 'good' read, versus bemused shrugs. I would also strongly advocate reading for people you know (asuming they are willing and interested) as you yourself will know how well the reading 'fits' what you know about them, and you can prompt them to give honest feedback (or at least can depend on them not to be hostile and resistant). After a while you get a feeling of how a good reading 'feels'. Then you know if you are achieving it or not. It's like, say yoga or golf, the first thing to learn is how a good backarch or put feels -- and you know that by results (the mirror/teacher--the balls position-- then in the future you have a way of telling whether it is good even as you do it -- even without the mirror/teacher. I hope this makes sense as I think it is very important. You don't just relate to the cards -- you relate 'through' the cards to other people -- and it is from them that you learn. The cards gain their voices from people. [for me of course, this is how i learned -- other people, other paths]

Dragonless	24 Jan 2003
I totally agree Patter... I have found that reading for someone else seems to recitfy the doubts I begin to have reading for myself. Why is it I always seem to doubt the message the cards are trying to tell me for myself ......... and yet I always seem to tell friends/colleagues what they need to hear (or not - but accepted whichever)???? Dragonless

Major Tom	24 Jan 2003
There's a lot of good advice here. I'd just like to add: There's no room for doubt when you're dealing with an oracle. Belief makes it happen. The message you get is the one intended for you. })

Small-tree	25 Jan 2003
But how can there be only one answer when it is based on interpretation? One reading can have many different outcomes if it is read by different people right? I mean what if people interprete it differently? Then which interpretaion is correct? I was thinking.......is it possible for all the interpretations to be correct? Uh....something like there can be different outcomes if the person takes different kinds of actions??

HOLMES	26 Jan 2003
in my thinking i would like to say what most high respected workers of the craft say,, no reading is a hundred percent accurate. therefore if it is not a hundred percent accurate no reading is ever hundred percent right,, yet is never hundred percent wrong. see a reading when given with optimal conditions. 1. some study of the cards, 2.some pratice of the cards. 3. and expereince, with the consistency of the reader own habits where it comes to the cards. such a reader will be able tell you something important of what you need to know at this time, so you can ask many differnt readers the same question and they if they had the same school of training, and such would give you mostly the same area of readings. yet such is the beuty of the tarot, that we don't follow a certain school but it ultimatly in the end becomes our individual school and so a master tarot ( who can define master , and grandmaster tarot surely not i) but let say are high in the number 1,2, 3, and number four. number four is relying on their own inuition based on number 1.2. 3. ( this is my own style of reading, as some people go for number 4, 3, 2, and after some pratice begin to read learn more about number 1. ) yet it is important to my mind that one does not keep askin the same question and laying out the card for the question for if you flip a coin .. sooner or later it will come out heads, the way you want it to. so in essence you got to take the cards dealt to you. so all this boils down simply there is simply no right, no wrong way to read the tarot, just in the end there will be only one way that is right for you ,, your way. now for your last question,, there can be differnt kind of outcomes ,, it is up to you .. yet one little thing comes to mind,, hypothecial sitation,, suppose there was a really busy street, highway, and you get a reading done to see if you run across the street will you get hit ? there is a good chance of that, regardless of what the tarot says if you dont take precautions, and warn the drivers that you have to cross the super high wayt o get your keys,, (lets say that is why you crossign the street eheh) so the wise person would take a walk around to get his keys, and come back. but suppose a realion question was asked umm, should i ask her out tonight ,, you ask the cards about your friend who been around the guys and such. and the cards said yes according to your interpation,, every tarot person would ask you what was the postion,, ( well most of them would heh) and what was the card ( i think most of them would) but you followed your own interpration and asked her out ,, and she said yes and you lived happily eve after the cards were right. eh but supposed one interpated the card yes, and they i dont' know give the nine of cups card , so you asked her out and she give you the eyes that said oh boy ,, and you walked away and said the tarot was wrong,, actaully suppose to me the card was nine of cups which the wish card. suppose you secretly wanted her to say no? ( it happens ) so there are many variations some would say infinite, as it comes to life and the tarot. the only real truth is how you live it , according to you, and how you apply it, and use the tarot to grow. a memory comes to mind of one of the star trek espidoes where spock takes captian pike back to the aliens and they give him his illusion of being in his youth. and the aliens showed captian kirk them going back into the evelator, and they say captain pike has his illusions, you have your reality. and oh geez my mind went blank all the sudden but the alien said something like who is right ? and i remember captain kirk looking at the screen and smiling like he was a child again, and i think we all had that moment at one time or another.

The truth or illusion thread was originally posted on 23 Jan 2003 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.