Readings for teenagers/young adults

horoskope88

I'm 14; been doing Tarot for 3-ish years now. I'm sure I'm as adept (or can be as adept) in using, understanding, and applying Tarot as well as anyone far older than me can. I read for my friends alot...admittedly, alot of times as a parlor trick, but other times my friends come to me for advice and I'll draw a few cards.

Ya know, most of us are not as impressionable/naive/immature/etc as you might believe.
 

dolphingirl

I guess part of it would depend on the young person, I would want to make sure that they are mature enough to handle a reading. That said I try to leave every reading on an upbeat note and I will often add a card to the end of most spreads which I call "Future focus" in which the reason for pulling the card is to give advce on what to focus on to accieve the "future" you want. :) THis card usually leaves people with a feeling that there are things that they can do to make the best of their life and situation and I really like using this.

The other thing I have done in the past is use a deck called the Self Care cards to pull the future focus card while doing the rest of the reading with my regular tarot deck. This is a super deck with stuning artwork in which one side has a image and the back has words of wisdome. One thing I like is that these card sare not religious or scary and if you haven't seen this dekc I highly recommend it.

Samantha
 

Aura Wolf

I don't think teenagers are any more vulnerable than any age group. All people are different so I just think it depends on what type of person you're reading for. I myself am still a teenager for another year or two.
 

Flavio

Have you noticed how many young people these days don't have tolerance for frustation? I have seen this phenomena a lot lately with young people from 15 to 24, they just can't cope with reality, the smallest obstacle depresses them and feel them like they rather be dead than facing life's challenges, they see a Tarot reading like a shortcut to get what they want and not a way to help on decisions that help them mature.

I can remember me their age and endured much worse things, that is why I do not like reading for that group; feel like I am losing my time trying to convice them that losing their cellular phone, missing a party, failing a driver test etc is not the end of the world. I wish some young people came to me asking advise for troubles than can help me grow as a reader like vocation, family troubles etc...
 

Knight of Wands

Hey, i'm 15, and I do readings in full view of people in school, before school, break, lunch,and sometimes in lessons if im bored. And no-one says anything, I mean, sure there are a fair few sceptics, but i do readings for frirnds alot,a nd have lsits of people wanting readings. No-one thinks i'm weird or supersticious, most people think its really cool. Like one lesson we wernt doing much so I was doing a reading for a friend and about 5-6 people gathered around us, and then so did the teacher, who was genuinly interested. Also, for my graphics coursework, i'm adverstising a new tarot company which is ok with the school. Also adults in my family have no problem with it, and some are genuinly intersted. I also did a reading for my 10 year old friends sister, and she was mature about it, and it acme out accurate. So I think age doesn't matter.


Knight of Wands X
 

Lady Maria

I think some (not all) teens are not given the credit they deserve. When I read through my journals from 12 yrs on, I realize how much wisdom I had then, some of which has been clouded over by sociatal responsibilities and expectations. I used divination throughout high school; mostly runes and Medicine cards, and they benefited me so much. I would never turn someone away who needed answers and a bit of light shed on their problems. How disempowering that could be. That alone could do more damage than them seeing a card with swords on it. If they are too immature, a reading can always be taylored. I do it every morning for my young children, and they love it- they feel so special that they get to pick their own card and look over it with me. (With them I do remove certain cards from the deck first). I just think it's great that there are young people who are into Tarot.

Light & Love, Maria
 

One Armed Scissor

Just had to give point of view on this topic

even though the last post was a while ago.

Almost all the readings I do have been for young adults or teenagers. Probably because outside of work, that's who I hang out with. I can't believe I still say "hang out" I'm 23 and I've found people around my age, 17 to 28 seem to be more open to the Tarot. Although I've done a few readings for kids as young as 15. I had mixed feelings about this, most kids that gae still see the Tarot as the devil's, evil, or maybe just spooky. I really didn't want to have them feel guilty for having their card read. I made a few exceptions, both, where kids in less than ideal situations. One was a runnaway that has been living around my neigboorhood, essentially homeless, for almost a year. Police always looking for him, not attending school, committing any crime to amke a buck, lots of drug and alchohol use.(not that much of negative since most kids that age, around here, drink and smoke ciggarettes and bud semi-regularly. I did since the age of 12.
I tried to structure the reading so I could use the cards to help them identify actions, attitudes, mistakes, and influences in their lives. Kind of illustrating for them the relationship between their actions and the consequences. Like a counselling session, showing them what they have controll over in their lives and what is out of their hands. A lot of kids really don't have a grasp on cause and effect and see their lives a completely chaotic. So I tried to explain it very clearly using specific events, people's names, specific actions ,what choices they made, and basically filling in as many lines in for them as possible.
Both these readings had negative outcomes, I remember very specifically telling them what would happen. (told one to stop selling drugs in his middle school) and what they had to do or stop doing to aviod that. They both seemd to be very moved by it, but of course both ended up jumping headfirst right into the conclusions that where layed out. (what'd I expect? they're 15 lol)

Hopefully they have a little better understanding now of how ther choices affect what happens to them, and how a lot of unhappiness in their lives is caused by them. I hope they'll see that they can also start acting in diffirent ways to create outcomes they want.
 

Trogon

Hi OneArmedScissor & thanks for finding this thread! I had missed it before.

Actually... it's odd - I think the youngest person I've done a reading for so far has been about 20 or 21. But then, I work at a university ... the people I work with are almost all over 21 (usually quite a bit older) and the people I do readings for are mostly coworkers.

However, I am considering starting to do readings on a more professional basis, perhaps do the occasional art-fair type thing. Or the occasional charity function. So, when I start going that way, I'll probably run up against the question of whether or not to read for younger persons ("young" in relation to me anyway ;) ). I suppose I should have some kind of "cut-off" age, where if the person would like to have a reading, they would need a parent's permission. But other than that, I don't think I'd really have a problem reading for younger people. While I'm not exactly "young" any more, I was once and can remember what it was like. ;)
 

Isaacrpgr

hmm

While I'm 15,and even thought i've only been reading for like a few weeks,i think to have become slighty more mature not about the cards but about genral things,I currently use the Vampire Tarot by natalie hertz which has fairly grotesque images in it.People in school are extremly immature and pervy ppl. I did bring my deck to school for bout a week or two but I'll think I'll just stick with a playing card deck or something i made instead of something i bought for 12:50(AND THAT WAS HALF PRICE!!!)
Im a pisce's and fairly intellectual before tarot I played Card games such as Pokemon,Yugioh,Magic the gathering i still do but not as often,theres some article bout it floating around the net somewehre according to my mother.

well ttyl neway,i lost my train of thought
 

InionAradia

I know this was ages ago, but it looks like an interesting thread.

Personally, I firmly believe it depends entirely on the person. I'm 16 and have been practicing Tarot for a few years, now. When I was younger, I did a reading for a boy who I thought was genuinely interested in getting a reading, only to have him mess around the entire time. It was disheartening, but I did learn to trust my instincts rather than my ego. Now, I would say, most people my age would only approach me for a reading if they were genuinely interested or had a problem they wanted help with; for those people, yes, I would read for them unless my instincts told me not to. I can understand legal issues with reading for young people- if you're charging for readings, of course, you'd have to obtain written permission from a parent or guardian before reading for a young person, I believe. However, I don't charge for readings, so I have that legal freedom to read for whoever asks me to, if I so choose.
I don't see this as an issue of "Oh, this age group is particularly impressionable," because, to an extent, yes. But every group of people is impressionable in one way or another, and I don't think it's necessary to label things exactly. I have never had a problem with people misunderstanding gruesome looking cards, or the Death card. Occasionally, I've been asked if the Death card means someone's going to die, but once I explain the card itself, there's never a problem.
Now, I hate to play a "I'm not like other people my age" game, because there's nothing wrong with other people my age. Young people take on a lot more responsibility than people tend to think, regardless of how they look or act or how many parties they go to.
Essentially, it depends on the person, not their age. Legally speaking, it's important to check out the laws about readings for under 18s, but other than that, young people as a whole are no more or less impressionable than any other age group. No one magically becomes enlightened at the age of 18- you just have to start paying taxes.