What is a good tarot reading?

Hi, I have been using tarot almost daily for maybe a year (I know it's not a lot). I am doing readings for friends and family too.

However I am extremely confused with some things. First I have never seen a good tarot reading done on me or anyone else (on YouTube, for example). I have no idea what should a good tarot reading look like.

When using tarot, I do not understand what are "elements". I know it's fire, air, water and earth. Why them? It makes sense that fire is related with work, air with mind (thoughts fly fast), water with feelings (like in Aquarius) and earth with food, body and things that are useful for body.

OK, I read about numerology and I've learnt some things about the symbolism of numbers and what do they usually stand for. I haven't studied the colors yet.

Now how to use all this knowledge? Tarot is such a big thing, so many books, so many decks, such a big business + I like collecting decks and I like shuffling. However I do not have any questions to ask. I am really not that desperate of knowing my future and when reading for others, I am not able to give them clear answers. It's all muddled up, my readings are so abstract, they can mean anything. A person could instead think of a question and open any page of the book and find their answer there. For yes and no, even I sometimes through coins.

Now how is tarot supposed to work? What for? (Please don't tell that I shouldn't use it if I don't know what it's for). I started using tarot for two reasons:

1) To talk to someone wise;
2) To learn the language of symbolism which I needed for my art.

****

Now about the readings. Let's say I have 3 cards. The question is "where does this (horrible) smell come from"?

The cards are: ACE OF CUPS - 4 OF PENTACLES - TEMPERANCE (Rider Waite deck)

So am I right saying that:

"The smell is definitely in the house and posibly in the kind of place in the house that is considered as "the fire of home", the centre, the coziest spot where the family likes to gather. It is also possble that this place is near water. (Ace of Cups)

Now the 4 Pentacles would talk about something extremely stable, probably on fours. I would thing the place is square, maybe a box, a shelf, a fridge, air conditioner, under the table where everyone gathers but on the bathroom direction. (4 or Pents)

Lastly the Temperance is showing some movement, some process of give and receive, again water, so I'm supposed to work out the object or is it showing an action? Is it a mobile phone? (box and connection of 2). Can it mean pipes or electricity?"

So I look at these 3 and I do not have a clear answer, I've looked under the fridge, sink and even in the AC but couldn't find the "dead mouse" that I'm looking for. If this doesn't work, I suppose I can't read tarot. Some people have come to me with help of using their car papers, golden earings etc However in both cases they couldn't find them. WHY???

*****

Another case. We were at friend's place and one friend's friend wanted a reading a lot. He didn't have a question or didn't want to tell at first. So we have a Celtic Cross spread. I don't have it by my hand but it had loads of court cards. I said there is some older man and I've no idea who he is but he seems important. It also showed the thing about NEWS.

I just told him the cards meanings and some hints: there is an older man, a relationship question that concerns the older man. Then he said he wanted to ask a question.
Then we did an answer spread where the cards that came out had many court cards. SO in short, the spread only reflected his problem and showed the true faces of the people in his life right now and showed him "not to mess with the old man" and his mother came in the spread (Empress) who has passed away. What doesn it mean when a person that passed away come in a Tarot reading concerning the current situation. She was the last card and as if she told him "not to mess with the man". After he told his story, I was a little shivering.

So how do you feel what the tarot is referring to when spread out? Do you have any advice on how to achieve more clarity and understanding of what the cards are actually saying and which of the cases is which? Also is there any good card reading sample on the net that I could get a look at?

After writing this lengthy article, I still don't know if I was able to express myself well. I feel that something is contradicting within me. Also people who constantly say that "tarot readers are frauds" (I've been watching some TV shows) put me off. They make me ask this question to myself. Why amd I using it, is it fraud, why is it fraud and what is it for? How can tarot help someone? Only reflecting them like a mirror? I think going further than that and saying things like "I see you were born near the sea and you had 2 siblings" when in "How will my work go? is a little unrealistic for me.

Also recently I was concentrating on lost thing readings mostly as they seem to be most in need. But when I tried to do a reading on Malaysia plane, it showed Moon, Star and Devil and I couldn't understand it. I would really appreciate any help, tips, sharings. Thank you.

Aina said:

Now how is tarot supposed to work? What for? (Please don't tell that I shouldn't use it if I don't know what it's for). I started using tarot for two reasons:

1) To talk to someone wise;
2) To learn the language of symbolism which I needed for my art.



Also recently I was concentrating on lost thing readings mostly as they seem to be most in need. But when I tried to do a reading on Malaysia plane, it showed Moon, Star and Devil and I couldn't understand it. I would really appreciate any help, tips, sharings. Thank you.

Click to expand...

Aina, knowing how well you have just wrote this post tells me you are good at communicating your thoughts something needed when expressing answers when doing readings?

Every reader will see the cards differently which can make each readings more unique to that person coming for a reading? i might see something in the above cards for the Malaysia plane that another reader might see slightly differently on what really happened? it doesn't mean that you can not read the cards properly or that another reader was more accurate or even better? its how we interpret what we see or don't see in the cards that can often surprise the querent?

Luna-Ocean said:

Aina, knowing how well you have just wrote this post tells me you are good at communicating your thoughts something needed when expressing answers when doing readings?

Every reader will see the cards differently which can make each readings more unique to that person coming for a reading? i might see something in the above cards for the Malaysia plane that another reader might see slightly differently on what really happened? it doesn't mean that you can not read the cards properly or that another reader was more accurate or even better? its how we interpret what we see or don't see in the cards that can often surprise the querent?

Click to expand...

Luna-Ocean, thanks. I know you're saying the truth, it's indeed like that but something within me feels that something's not working, something is missing or it could be better. I want more clarity in my readings. For querrent it seems like "cliche phrases" being told. I can feel they don't believe it, they don't even listen. I've noticed that the best reading is when the querrent helps me....(?) When they say "I know what this card is in my life!", then it works out in a way that he gets a better answer and I feel like I helped him to get his answer. Is it just practice, the time it takes? I always feel that the darkest hour is before the down" and when you feel uncomfortable with something, it's about to unsolve. So this discomfort with "I'm not sure if I'm on a righ track" has been lasting for a month, I guess. I wish there was some magical and helpful tarot course that will provide some "sure-ity". I think I just lack confidence and my low self worth and impatience is coming out when I'm doing a tarot reading. The other thing was when the distant relative started crying during a reading and after seeing her, I felt like crying too. I didn't know what to do, how to calm her down. I wasn't prepared for that.

Aina said:

Also recently I was concentrating on lost thing readings mostly as they seem to be most in need. But when I tried to do a reading on Malaysia plane, it showed Moon, Star and Devil and I couldn't understand it. I would really appreciate any help, tips, sharings. Thank you.

Click to expand...

Okay take the time to really study the cards three Arcana cards, Moon - for me this has the big Mystery surrounding it! the missing plane and passengers also alot of unforeseen danger with this card? Star - now with the likely location of the plane being in the water it looks very promising the wishes of the families being granted and them getting much hope and news? Devil - the search efforts are focusing very hard on finding the plane will need alot of cooperation from other teams? your interpretation will be alot different from my take on those cards but really that is how Tarot works?

Luna-Ocean said:

Okay take the time to really study the cards three Arcana cards, Moon - for me this has the big Mystery surrounding it! the missing plane and passengers also alot of unforeseen danger with this card? Star - now with the likely location of the plane being in the water it looks very promising the wishes of the families being granted and them getting much hope and news? Devil - the search efforts are focusing very hard on finding the plane will need alot of cooperation from other teams? your interpretation will be alot different from my take on those cards but really that is how Tarot works?

Click to expand...

Thanks again Luna-Ocean! I drew this cards before they announced that the plane crashed and all the passangers perished. I understand that we all will interpret differently but the truth should be one. So as tarot are multilayered, one might interpret one aspect and the other reader - the other one. So in a way that one reader would say that A,B and C happened to the plane. The second reader would say D, E and F happened to the plane, the other readers might complete the alphabet and eventually, after summing up the results, keywords and conclusions we would get a one common picture that would be the same picture (that each reader told but in more detail?).

According to what you wrote you are doing well. Reading for only a year you are still in the infant stage, you are just now crawling, just getting ready to stand. I had mentors when learning, but I had no internet, or no books,very different than today. Just this site alone would have been magical for me. You need to learn the alphabet of tarot before you can read it. The element are very important. I would suggest it is time to find a study group, not on the internet but face to face, or find a teacher. Learning tarot is one thing, reading is another. Opening up and listening to your intuition is very important. I guess am biased, I only do readings in person, very old school as they say. You are just beginning a wonderful jourey, I am at the end of mine I am no longer taking on new clients, yet I feel that I am still learning after decades and decades of reading for people. Take your time and enjoy the journey, your skills will develop in time, practice, practice, practice.

I agree that you're still a "Tarot toddler". When you're learning it's always important to make people aware of the fact that you're still learning. Almost anyone who becomes aware that you're using the cards gets excited and wants a reading. Either that or they'll want to save you from the fires of hell. But you should tell them how new you are and that you aren't fully able to give a polished reading. If they still want a reading, just do the best you can.

When I first picked up the cards I thought it would take me maybe a month tops to learn card meanings and I'd be a bona fide Tarot reader. Fun, fun, fun. Right? Wrong! Try 15 years...and still learning! I started doing readings for others for practice pretty early on, though, but I was sure to tell my sitters I was new at it and I never charged money back then.

There really isn't a particular way Tarot is supposed to work. If you dedicate yourself to the study of the cards and apply yourself, then the way it works for you will develop and in time it will get easier and you'll have more confidence. Spend a lot of time here reading posts, asking questions. Everything you need to know is here somewhere. There's a gold mine of information here. And for it, all you have to pay is attention.

hi aina,
well, i've only been studying the tarot for about a year and a half; i'm still a beginner too, so keep that in mind!
but yes, i know what you mean. i feel like learning tarot is like learning a language: you learn the words for things, you start learning how to make sentences, you figure out how to conjugate verbs... but how long does it take before you can speak fluently? when a native speaker of this new language starts talking to you, how long before you really know what they're saying? and on top of that, there's humor, slang, and tons of other nuances that take a while to get the hang of.
anyway, that was a really long analogy, but that's how i look at tarot: the numerology, color symbolism, kaballah, astrology... those are the verbs and the adjectives of tarot, and one day, if i keep at it, i'll be able to speak the language, and you will, too.

so - about the readings you posted:

Aina said:

Now about the readings. Let's say I have 3 cards. The question is "where does this (horrible) smell come from"?

The cards are: ACE OF CUPS - 4 OF PENTACLES - TEMPERANCE (Rider Waite deck)

So am I right saying that:

"The smell is definitely in the house and posibly in the kind of place in the house that is considered as "the fire of home", the centre, the coziest spot where the family likes to gather. It is also possble that this place is near water. (Ace of Cups)

Now the 4 Pentacles would talk about something extremely stable, probably on fours. I would thing the place is square, maybe a box, a shelf, a fridge, air conditioner, under the table where everyone gathers but on the bathroom direction. (4 or Pents)

Lastly the Temperance is showing some movement, some process of give and receive, again water, so I'm supposed to work out the object or is it showing an action? Is it a mobile phone? (box and connection of 2). Can it mean pipes or electricity?"

So I look at these 3 and I do not have a clear answer, I've looked under the fridge, sink and even in the AC but couldn't find the "dead mouse" that I'm looking for. If this doesn't work, I suppose I can't read tarot. Some people have come to me with help of using their car papers, golden earings etc However in both cases they couldn't find them. WHY???

Click to expand...

maybe you're asking the wrong kind of questions? finding lost objects is something i know people read on, but the result is either "wrong" or "right". tarot can also be used for more open-ended questions, like "what should i be doing to prepare for this upcoming change in my life?" or, "how can i improve my relationship with my father-in-law?". hard-and-fast, yes-or-no questions seem much more confusing and frustrating to beginners, from what i've seen.
that being said, it also seems that when locating a lost object, people often take the cards very literally. for instance:

i would say that the kitchen is a good bet: all those cups (dishes) and water! also, the bird holds a wafer in its mouth. then again, temperance is dipping her toes into the water, so possibly the bathroom as well? going back to the ace of cups, the bird seems significant; perhaps there is a painting with a bird, a room with lots of birds outside the window, something that has feathers on it.
but the four of pentacles - i always think of him as a miser. financially stable, yes, but tight-fisted. perhaps there's a link to frugality: some food that has been expired but hasn't been thrown out, an area where someone doesn't want you to go, some secret stash of something gone bad.

anyway, just a few ideas. i know i didn't answer all your questions, but i really think that if you hang in there, you'll just keep learning and improving! good luck!

Simply put, a good Tarot reading is a reading which gives you pointers for improving your life.

Your original question was very complex - I'll come back to it when I have more time.

Aina said:

Now about the readings. Let's say I have 3 cards. The question is "where does this (horrible) smell come from"?

The cards are: ACE OF CUPS - 4 OF PENTACLES - TEMPERANCE (Rider Waite deck)

Click to expand...

I liked the previous poster's interpretation about the kitchen and bathroom area's? the cups and water elements are also telling me this could be a ''damp smell'' coming maybe from a blocked drain - 4 of pents -this card is stable and also rigid i was just getting an out or inside drain image in my head don't ask me why?

Also Temperance can be to do with chemicals so this might mean you will need to try an unblock something using this?

Just some ideas