Stating the question aloud vs. keeping quiet...

nisaba

When you do readings for others, do you prefer the querent to state their question out loud or keep it quiet, to themselves?

I never ask for a question. I haven't done so for decades. While they're shuffling I ask clients (and this is word-perfect): "Do you have a particular subject or area of your life you want the reading to focus on, or do you just want to see what comes up?"

Their answer to that gives me all the information I need to pick a spread, without giving me any back-story to mess up the reading.
 

nisaba

If they don't, I'll describe several spreads to them and see which one connects.

Doesn't this have a tendency to completely confuse people who don't know how spreads work?
 

Chimera Dust

I've never tried it with other people, but I think I'll do it soon. It sounds interesting.

Doesn't this have a tendency to completely confuse people who don't know how spreads work?

I'm not the person you were asking this about, but for what it's worth, I've sometimes consulted with people I was reading for whether they wanted me to use certain spreads. I've done it in situations where they're problem had so many parts that I didn't want them to feel like I wasn't sufficiently addressing everything, or at least whichever part(s) they felt were more important.

I've just explained it in a way along the lines of, "I'm going to draw X cards and each will be about a certain thing, so this card about this, this card will be about that" and so on. An even easier way to put it is, "This reading is going to cover (insert the stuff ascribed to each card on the spread), is there anything you'd like me to add?".

I find that this works really well. In 99% of cases people are ok with it or it doesn't make much of a difference. However, there have also been a few cases where from the sitter's question I wouldn't have guessed that something was really that important, but it turned out that for them as a really big part of it. I've also sometimes discussed whether that was already covered by something in the spread or whether it should have its own separate place.

I find that things like that really help add a more personal touch to the reading, and it makes it easier for the sitter to understand what I'm talking about.

Take this with a grain of salt because I'm not a professional reader. I can see how this would be impractical in a professional setting.
 

ghost271

I always ask my clients what they want to look at in their life or if they just want a general reading. I tell them not to give me any input until I have read the spread entirely, and then we can get into specific details. If the spread brings up money/work issues, and at the end they tell me they wanted to know about a new relationship, they are not going to be very happy.

I usually do a Lenormand GT first. Have a quick overview of whats happening around them and whats influencing them. After that, when they have specific questions about something shown in the GT, then I'll pull tarot and look into it from that angle.
 

Toxicmage

What if their question is.." Should I divorce my husband ? " or " Should my five year old brother stop taking his medication ? "

The book Tarot Face to Face by Marcus Katz & Tali Goodwin deals with this question and more.

I prefer to know the question so I know what I am getting into.