What was your worst Tarot reading ever

Aunty Anthea

I have just had my worst Tarot readings ever

Reader spent ages looking at the Ace of Wands but could not make out what it was :bugeyed:

Eight of cups: miss counted number of cups then stated more cups are lying down than standing means I do not drink too much (tea total)

She could not read any of the other cards in the circle :(

I asked her what the deck was called and she did not even know so I told her it was the Gilded Tarot. I think she must found it in a car-boot sale

Strangely enough she did not charge me any money :joke:

I tried another reader who decided to tell me there were 2 men trying to get in touch with me. When I told her that I did not know anyone by either of those names she told me they are connected to other members of my family

Told me my family had strong connections to Ireland and Scotland. When I said no she told me other members of my family were strongly connected

When she told me how much my mother had suffered living in poverty and hardship all her life, I found it hard not to laugh

I did try playing along with her but she was trying to twist everything so that if I did not agree with her then the situation was connected to my family :laugh:

Not sure why she insisted on trying to communicate with the long departed as I had asked for a card reading not a seance :confused:
 

Etene

Their intentions are not to help their clients, but to perform like actors the role of readers.
 

Citrin

My worst reading was an e-mail reading from Biddy Tarot (free reading in exchange for feedback). Not that much made sense in my situation, didn't feel like it was about me at all, and it also felt very short and based on very standard meanings (ugh...).

So I replied to this reader pointing out the parts that were correct and the advice I found helpful of course, but I also chose to point out that “this and that really doesn’t seem to reflect my thoughts on the issue though. I actually feel much more negative towards this person than your interpretation is saying.”. The reader wrote in a snappy tone something along the lines of “Well, fine, if you don’t like your friend, just ignore them instead. It’s your own choice you know?”. I mean, what?! You don’t need to read tarot cards if you’re just gonna advice people to stay away from someone who they’ve had a argument with or similar, now do you?! So that annoyed me. :p If you don't want feedback, don't ask for it...

The readers you have met seem to be the type who play a role, like Etene wrote above. :/ The second one sounds like a really bad "cold reader" lol.
 

stellar4

One of the worse readings I've ever had was from a friend's husband. She said that he was a brilliant reader but was getting very down at the lack of customers.
I said that I'd have a reading and went round. He read with the Osho Zen and used a spread called the bow. He just talked at me, wouldnt let me query anything and seemed to want to see the negative in everything. He also tried to veer off into mediumship but I couldnt recognise who he was talking about.
When he had finished I thanked him politely for the reading and he got very grumpy and said he couldnt see why I was '..so happy, there were a lot of bad cards in there'. I was quite taken aback. He talked about how he had done lots of readings/mediumship demonstrations for other people where he lived previously and seemed very proud when he told me that 'By the end of the evening they were all in tears'.
A friend had a reading with him and said that he pointed out every negative aspect of her life and she came away feeling totally depressed about it all but with no idea of how to go about fixing anything. She also felt upset that he had launched into some mediumship without asking her which left her feeling more churned up because it was so unexpected.
Needless to say, we both binned his business cards...
 

Le Fanu

I know I shouldn't love these descriptions of readings so much (I feel for the sitters) but these really cheered me up. I sometime have doubts about readings I do but it's always fine, subtle details and reflections on possible symbolism afterwards. Nothing on the scale of clumsiness shown by some of these readers! Oh Stella4, I know I shouldn't find it amusing but your account read like a comedy sketch!
 

stellar4

....And then there was the reader at a psychic fair a few years ago who was sat there with 3 different decks on the table, smart business cards etc really looking the part. I sat down, she shuffled one of the decks (RWS, I seem to recall) and started to lay them out. She told me she didnt allow customers to touch them because 'It will taint the energies of the cards'.
Once laid out, she then rummaged under the table and produced a book, flipped through it and read out the description of the first card, then moved on to the2nd.
At this point I stopped her and said I could read cards for myself at home with a book.
She got very huffy, swept the cards up off the table and told me if I didnt like it I could go elsewhere. So I did.

I suppose the upside of having a duff reading is that when you get a good one you really appreciate the skill of the reader.
To be fair, I've had more good readings than bad and some that were absolutely fantastic and left me feeling aware of issues in my life and empowered enough to deal with them.
 

danieljuk

sorry you had such a bad reading Aunty Anthea :(

My worst ever reading was by someone who kept saying they could feel my negative energy attacking them, oh it's so hard to carry on the reading, oh the energy! It was in text online and it was worded just like that, how they felt attacked! They even took a break and came back to the reading and found it so difficult and they were drained of their energy. When I received the reading I cried, I was in a very vulnerable place at that point and I asked for a reading really that things were going to improve.

I was pretty new on AT then and sent the text of the reading to a friend on here I trusted who was an experienced reader and they thought it was awful! They also looked through the nasty stuff impartially and asked the question, is it accurate? When I put aside my upset it wasn't! It was a load of rubbish and I think the negative energy really reflected the place the reader was in, not me! It was a negative reading in tone as well.

The person later apologised!
The reading was particularly nasty because it made out that I was attacking them or my energy was so bad, so it made me think that I was cursed or sending out negative energy when I actually try to approach the world only with kindness. There was no malicious action on my side here. Ultimately this reading was a "harsh truth" type reading with no filter but I didn't expect or ask for that type of reading, it was also completely wrong and so I am not sure why they felt "attacked" by me. No one else ever has!

However this was a really important lesson in my tarot learning beginning stages. Getting a reading means the reader can literally tell you anything and so it might not be nice or helpful. I always remember that now and am more careful! It also taught me to always treat every person I read for with sensitivity! Even if I felt attacked by a sitter, I should word it better than what happened in that situation. It was a truly awful reading which was insensitive to someone going through a difficult time :) Always be sensitive to the sitter, even with a harsh truth reading but check they actually want the harsh truth!
 

Alta

My worst reading wasn't supposed to even be a tarot reading. Since I read myself I decided to have a 'psychic reading', never having had one in person. So I sat down and the man asked me to pick a deck. Surprised I said that I thought it was a psychic reading. I forget his explanation but he claimed it wasn't important and then proceeded to lay out a lot of cards in rows.

Then he insisted on holding my hand, making me feel very uncomfortable. And proceeded to give me a 'psychic reading' but since I read tarot I could follow his story line exactly along the rows. "This is going to happen, then this...." and throwing in some pretty random time frames. I was feeling so cynical by the time he finished and I retrieved my hand, that I don't even remember what he said. Didn't make much sense as far as I could see.
 

moonbear

My worst reading wasn't supposed to even be a tarot reading. Since I read myself I decided to have a 'psychic reading', never having had one in person. So I sat down and the man asked me to pick a deck. Surprised I said that I thought it was a psychic reading. I forget his explanation but he claimed it wasn't important and then proceeded to lay out a lot of cards in rows.

Then he insisted on holding my hand, making me feel very uncomfortable. And proceeded to give me a 'psychic reading' but since I read tarot I could follow his story line exactly along the rows. "This is going to happen, then this...." and throwing in some pretty random time frames. I was feeling so cynical by the time he finished and I retrieved my hand, that I don't even remember what he said. Didn't make much sense as far as I could see.
I found the hand bit really creepy :eek:
 

tarotlova

Yes I had one from Biddy Tarot too, I replied back and said I have been reading for 20 years and I found it a big too text bookish. Now when I read that back I feel I might come across as pompous! But after saying that I said please don't get offended as that was the whole point of the free readings to give constructive criticism then I pointed out what I was happy about that I felt he touched on. I never heard back though, I just read it again and it comes across as so flighty and new agey if you know what I mean. I have had a reading before from Biddy and she was really good. But I will just get them from here if I feel like one from now on! :thumbsup: