Tips for new reader

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm also a new reader. I've been studying Tarot seriously for a few months now and have started offering free readings to my friends, but I'm feeling a little less confident than I thought I would.

I'll be doing the readings online so that I have time to gather my thoughts as I'm not great face to face, and since announcing that I was going to start offering free readings less than 48 hours ago, I've already got 6 people interested.

I was wondering if anyone had tips for confidence? I've not got a problem doing big spreads, it's more just the fear that people will say nothing resonated with them or that the whole reading was completely inaccurate. :-/

I've read Tarot on and off for myself and close friends since around 2008, but recently I've been studying in a way that is a lot more intense, so that I can read for others.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!

AngelArmogida said:

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm also a new reader. I've been studying Tarot seriously for a few months now and have started offering free readings to my friends, but I'm feeling a little less confident than I thought I would.

I'll be doing the readings online so that I have time to gather my thoughts as I'm not great face to face, and since announcing that I was going to start offering free readings less than 48 hours ago, I've already got 6 people interested.

I was wondering if anyone had tips for confidence? I've not got a problem doing big spreads, it's more just the fear that people will say nothing resonated with them or that the whole reading was completely inaccurate. :-/

I've read Tarot on and off for myself and close friends since around 2008, but recently I've been studying in a way that is a lot more intense, so that I can read for others.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Click to expand...

Hi Angel,

I'm also a newbie so take this advice with a grain of salt! I took a 2 hour Tarot class with someone a few weeks ago. She did two readings for me, and then she had me to a couple of readings for her. I really liked the "spread" she used and I've been using it since. This is what she had me do:

After shuffling and cutting the cards, pick a number from 1-10.

I picked 3, so she pulled the first two cards off the top of the deck and put them on the side. Then she put face up cards 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, so she was basically doing a 5 card spread, from left to right. After reading those 5 cards, we turned over the original 2 that were on the side, just to see what else they had to say.

It was a nice, simple reading, and when I did it for her, I found it easy to read.

Hope this helps.

AngelArmogida said:

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm also a new reader. I've been studying Tarot seriously for a few months now and have started offering free readings to my friends, but I'm feeling a little less confident than I thought I would.

I'll be doing the readings online so that I have time to gather my thoughts as I'm not great face to face, and since announcing that I was going to start offering free readings less than 48 hours ago, I've already got 6 people interested.

I was wondering if anyone had tips for confidence? I've not got a problem doing big spreads, it's more just the fear that people will say nothing resonated with them or that the whole reading was completely inaccurate. :-/

I've read Tarot on and off for myself and close friends since around 2008, but recently I've been studying in a way that is a lot more intense, so that I can read for others.


Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Click to expand...

Tips for confidence.... I guess you are doing them via email, not skype or something? Just type out the reading as it comes to you, don't second guess yourself or spend too much time "getting your thoughts together". You've been reading quite a while so you can do it! Usually the first thing that comes to mind is right, you'll get in a zone as you go along and you won't be thinking- it will just begin to flow. Good luck!

AngelArmogida said:

I'll be doing the readings online so that I have time to gather my thoughts as I'm not great face to face, and since announcing that I was going to start offering free readings less than 48 hours ago, I've already got 6 people interested.

I was wondering if anyone had tips for confidence?

Click to expand...

You know what? It's online. No one will ever know if you're shaking and sweating.

But seriously, the biggest thing that helped me when I started regularly reading for strangers years ago was this.

a) I knew that I knew my stuff.
b) THEY have come to YOU for YOUR skill. They are prepared to *pay* for your skill. YOU are the one in the position of authority - you don't have to creep to them apologetically. You have the cards, you have the knowledge, you have the power. What on earth is there to be nervous about?

Okay, so that approach failed me sometimes. But it succeeded *much* more often than it failed, and I haven't got nervous even in the face of a physically aggressive client, since.

Great advice as always, nisaba.

Don't be afraid to just calm yourself and take some time sitting with the cards while you absorb the message they have for your sitter. As nisaba said, they're online readings so you can shake and sweat if you want to. Who will know?

Not everyone chooses to read predictively (telling fortunes) but I do and I've found that even if your sitter says no way what you see in the cards can be true or come to pass, the highest percentage of the time, once time has elapsed, they'll learn you were right after all. Having read long enough to just smile and bide my time, it doesn't shake me up anymore.

You've been reading long enough that you've paid your dues and deserve to just dive right in and swim with the big fish. It will get easier the more you do it.

Thanks everyone for the replies!

After you lay out the cards, take a couple of deep breaths to centre yourself as you scan them, noting what "jumps out" immediately; start typing - don't think just type. As the readings will be online rather than face to face you can take your time, rather than feeling the need to speak immediately (as some newbies do) - you know your stuff, so you don't need to "prove yourself" as some clients want you to - by telling them their life story the instant they walk in & sit down (so annoying <frowns thunderously>).

Even online some clients will want to argue the outcome, dispute a card, reason & justify their behaviour - not wanting to accept your interp., don't take it personally - they may not emotionally be in a position to accept unpalatable (for them) information. If you become confused about a reading, walk away from it for a while & do something else - the meaning will appear when you least expect it!

Above all - trust yourself & have FUN!!!!

I second the "don't think, just start typing" and the same actually goes for face to face. Talk, and keep talking. Don't stop to worry if you're "accurate" and don't worry how you seem to be doing. Tell what the cards are saying. Even something you think couldn't be right is often exactly hitting the nail on the head. And never forget....time will tell.

I think what will help is to forget about being accurate or what the person will think of your reading while you are reading the cards. When I do readings for others I go into the Moment, and I let my intuition flow without hindrance. I worry about people's reaction, too, but I always tell myself if I have to worry, worry after the reading is done and sent out. I don't know if this makes sense but I believe what I "feel" while I read will affect the outcome of the reading, and I try to make my reading "pure" and "clean", if you know what I mean. XD

And stay with smaller card readings at first, the fewer the cards the easier it is to get a handle on the basics of the question.