Dealing with bias in personal readings?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Variable	21 Apr 2005
I've been reading for myself (mostly) for about a year now; the problem is that there are many times when I wonder how much my personal bias enters into it, whether consciously or subconsciously. I was wondering how we all dealt with the bias (short of stopping, of course, cuz that wouldn't be any fun :D), be it ritual or meditation or something else. Seeing as I've been practicing meditation, I was thinking of maybe doing some visual meditations prior or during a reading. Like, say, I could shuffle my cards, throw them, pause for meditation to clear my mind, and come back to the reading? Or do it beforehand to keep any bias from affecting the cards you pull in the first place? Anyway, dicuss :) And sorry if this has been covered before, I obviously haven't posted much :P -Russ

contradiction	21 Apr 2005
I did read another post a while back on this subject, I do not remember much about it other than someone made the suggestion, to take several pieces, of paper, write a different question on each piece then put each one into a seperate envelope, mix up the envelopes, then lay one envelope on the table, and do a reading about that envelope. Opening the envelope only after the reading is finished, that way you do not know what the reading is about, so the possiability of bias is minimilized. It should not take long before you know if you are letting bias into the readings.

lunalafey	21 Apr 2005
I did a little study some time ago about this. How I went about it was this: Take the issue you are wondering about- Determine the spread you will use- for each card position's meaning make a new question that ties the issue with the position, then write a response based on your thoughts and feelings of the issue in question. -for example; using the PPF spread and the issue is a relationship Q- (weak & simple example) Past positions question would be something like- 'how did so&so come to be part of my life?'....and then the response. Present- 'How do I feel about so&so now?'....followed by an answer Future- 'what do I want to see happen between so&so and I?'...and another response to that. Then the cards are drawn and read.

Maggie Bell	22 Apr 2005
Variable wrote: Seeing as I've been practicing meditation, I was thinking of maybe doing some visual meditations prior or during a reading. Like, say, I could shuffle my cards, throw them, pause for meditation to clear my mind, and come back to the reading? Russ I like this approach. A few days ago, I did a reading that was so perfectly what I wanted to see that I KNEW it had to be coming from my intense desire. I waited a few days and tried again and, sure enough, the cards gave a truer reading. I will try your meditation technique the next time my emotions threaten to overwhelm a reading. Regards, Maggie

The Dealing with bias in personal readings? thread was originally posted on 21 Apr 2005 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.