When the querant wants to know about everything...

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

Myrrha	20 Apr 2004
I have a reading scheduled and the querant asked about several different aspects of life, about their child, romantic possibilities, job situation. Is it better to do several small spreads, one on each question? Is there a large spread that shows all these areas of life? The only one I know like this is the 12 houses spread. Maybe I should do the 12 houses spread and then use the cards that come up in three card spreads about the various issues. Or I could just do a smaller spread like Talisman's "tempest spread" and see what the cards want to talk about... How do more experienced readers read for clients who have these multi-question questions? thank you! --Myrrha

eastarot	21 Apr 2004
I start with the Celtic Cross and then move on to smaller spreads for each question. Usually the message reappears and some of the cards do repeat themselves. I'd urge you to play it by the ear and do whatever makes you comfortable as the reader. Good Luck!

TemperanceAngel	21 Apr 2004
I start with a big 23 card Past, Present, Future spread, this may answer some of the questions. I then go into questions, doing a Celtic Cross on each one. Again, two or three questions maybe answered in one. Sometimes I do a four card question, especially if I don't want to go into detail... I like to be thorough, but that's just my personal style of reading. I know others who may just use one spread. I like to get into the nitty-griity of it, get to the bottom of things! XTAX

firemaiden	21 Apr 2004
TA, did you mean 23 cards? or 2 - 3 cards?

jog1118	21 Apr 2004
this may seem unconventional to you guys but: i ask the querent how many areas in life he/she would like to ask about and then...i shuffle the deck, have the querent cut it in three and return them in any order, then have the querent divide the deck according to the areas he/she is interested in...so if love, work, family are the questions, the deck is cut in three and then i do separate spreads for each area; spreads i use depend on the mood... :smoker:

hedgecub	21 Apr 2004
I usually do a seperate reading for each topic, shuffling the full deck in between readings, but I usually keep it to three cards each since there are more topics to cover and I don't want to be completely exhausted at the end ;)

closrapexa	21 Apr 2004
I usually start with the celtic cross, and give an overview of the situation, and see what areas are the most pressing. At the end I ask the querent if he has any other questions. I look at the original spread and see if the answers lie there. If they don't then I do additional spreads like the relationship spread or something like that.

Mojo	21 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Myrrha How do more experienced readers read for clients who have these multi-question questions? I remind them that it's $60 an hour and ask them how many hours they'd like me to set aside to answer ALL of their questions. You'd be amazed at how quickly the list gets pared down to the basics.

Orion	21 Apr 2004
I will handle this type of Querent by starting with a Celtic Cross spread. If more questions emerge that I cannot answer from this spread I will do a smaller 3 to 5 card spread specifically designed for the question.

TemperanceAngel	21 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden TA, did you mean 23 cards? or 2 - 3 cards? That's 23 hon, bit of a family tradition....I like to know everything that's going on, and get into the nitty gritty of it, you know the crux of it. Sometimes that will be the only spread needed! XTAX

Jenny-Li	23 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Mojo I remind them that it's $60 an hour and ask them how many hours they'd like me to set aside to answer ALL of their questions. You'd be amazed at how quickly the list gets pared down to the basics. Being no professional at all, this was still pretty much what I wanted to say. It's better that the querent focuses on ONE area in which s/he can get an equally focused answer, than to split up into myriads of minor questions. Or perhaps it's just one general reading the querent needs, one that ties all those areas together, perhaps tells something about which areas TO focus on right now - in case the querent can't prioritise him/herself. I did have a querent ask several different questions for one reading, and at first I tried to construct one spread to cover it all - and then I realised how counter-productive that would be. And so I gave him a general reading instead, and it turned out really well. Jenny :)

crystal cove	23 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Mojo I remind them that it's $60 an hour and ask them how many hours they'd like me to set aside to answer ALL of their questions. You'd be amazed at how quickly the list gets pared down to the basics. ROFL....I love it! :D

Flavio	06 Aug 2004
I had a case with my cousin, she asked about her health, after a general spread which made no sense at all to her, she said, "I wanted to know if my ovulation will go normal again, why do I have headaches and if it is something wrong with me because my hair is growing very slowly"... that's why the cards were not clear. We discussed the ethics and scope of use of Tarot cards for health issues, so we started from zero and made 3 card spreads for her new questions, this time the cards speaked much clearly. My point is, sometimes the querent wants to know everything but don't know to express it, is our responsibility to lead them to ask reasonable questions.

juju	06 Aug 2004
I was going to write just what Flavio said - that often you have to steer them to what they REALLY want to ask and what they really wish to know... heck I need to steer myself sometimes when I am reading for myself!

Ace	07 Aug 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Flavio I had a case with my cousin, she asked about her health, after a general spread which made no sense at all to her, she said, "I wanted to know if my ovulation will go normal again, why do I have headaches and if it is something wrong with me because my hair is growing very slowly"... that's why the cards were not clear. My point is, sometimes the querent wants to know everything but don't know to express it, is our responsibility to lead them to ask reasonable questions. Actually, the querent wants to know SOMETHING and doesn't know how to express it. I agree: we have to figure out what is a reasonable question. I had a lady tonight whose reading came out very confused (at least it seemed so to me) Actually, based on what she said afterward, I saw the past very clearly, she had had a near death experience in the past. Now she wanted to know how long she would live! I just shook my head, I told her I didn't know. I feel I botched that one: I should be able to ask the cards what does she want to know, and get an answer-or been able to see that this was unanswerable! In answer to one of the original questions, I use a circle of 12 cards called the Horoscope spread. I DETEST astology, but this lay out (find out in any astrology book what the 12 houses signify) is good for covering all aspects of a persons life. You can often see at a glance where the problem areas are. I precede it with a Celtic Cross, to see what the question really is or where the querent is right now. but the Horoscope really covers a LOT of territory fast.

Kiama	07 Aug 2004
I do what I call a 'Spheres of Life' spread... I shuffle the cards, and fan out the deck, then ask the querent to pick 3 cards for X area of their life. (They decide what area.) Usually it's Love first... We carry on with this until the querent has no more areas they want to know about, and then we do 3 cards for 'Surprises' (to which 9 out of 10 querents say "oooh, I like surprises" and I respond truthfully "that's what everybody says." })) After that reading is done, I ask if there is anything arising from it that they wish to focus more in depth on. Personally, these are my least favourite kinds of readings... I prefer specific questions. Kiama

JulieG	08 Aug 2004
Like most here, I'd suggest a large and general spread first to give your client and overall reading. From that, I would then do minor spreads for any specific area your client wanted further elaboration on. The key is to help your client focus on and take charge of any given situation, but to do that in the context of their life as a whole. So I'd use the "satalite" approach: checking out their life as whole first and then zooming in on specifics after that. This way they can see how any given area fits in with their life as a whole - helping them to find balance and put things in their proper perspective. Also, rarely does any one area of our life work independent of the rest so it's essential to link things in where you can anyway so your client can integrate that area into their life as a whole. For example, if a reading focused on your clients desire to start a family......doing a large and basic spread first could highlight links with that and their financial/work areas that would not come up and in very focused/small scale reading.

Candra	16 Aug 2004
I'm certain that people will start laughing at me for this one, but I read professionally on a telephone line. In 15 minutes, it's really hard to start off with generalizations. Even worse, is when the client really has no question, and just wants to know "what's coming up". I can't tell them that at $60/hr they need to be more specific. I only have 15-30 minutes with each client. So when a client says to me "I want a general reading", I always answer, "no problem, in that case I'll put down a few cards, and see where that takes us." I find that most customers usually will hook into one thing I said, and I can then focus in on that.

The When the querant wants to know about everything... thread was originally posted on 20 Apr 2004 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.