What is a good tarot reading?

PAMUYA said:

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.

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Grizabella said:

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.

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VioletEye said:

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:



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!

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nisaba said:

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.

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Luna-Ocean said:

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[/Q]

Thanks Luna-Ocean for the interpretation! It also makes perfect sense. 4 of Pents can mean "to be stuck", our pipes get blocked very often and often - cause of rain and leaves outside. In my readings, 4 of Pents almost always is "body", like human body, physical body, flesh etc. Maybe some "body" is stuck in pipes, like a small animal. Never knew the Temperance can be "chemicals". Anyway your reading gave me some good new ideas, thanks for that!

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poppiesrossi said:

Well a good tarot reading is the one who answers the questions of the sitter and also empowers the sitter.

I had my journey with Tarot, I had my journey with the tarot readers who abused their power to prey on the vulnerable to make money. I think if you come with the right intentions which is to *help people* and be an ethical reader, then you will do this community a great service.

There are some who are naturally gifted like any other profession and there are some who had to work for years to hone their craft. Every reader's journey is different. I do agree developing your intuition will only strengthen your reading abilities.

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Aina said:

When using tarot, I do not understand what are "elements". I know it's fire, air, water and earth. Why them?

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I like collecting decks and I like shuffling. However I do not have any questions to ask.

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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.

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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)

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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???

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So how do you feel what the tarot is referring to when spread out?

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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?

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Also is there any good card reading sample on the net that I could get a look at?

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nisaba said:

Because they're traditional. The Ancient Greeks thought that all substances were made up of those four things. Fire for the energy or life-force, Air for breath or spirit, Water and Earth for the physical.


<smile> So enjoy collecting and enjoy shuffling. Someone once said it's the easiest way to collect art: in a small house you can only hang a few pictures, but you can keep seventy-eight of them in your pocket and thousands of them in a small house.

There's no rule that says you can't own Tarot decks if you don't want to read with them.


It doesn't matter HOW it's supposed to work, as long as it does work. Think about cars. I am very, very good at driving cars. I don't know the first thing about their engines and about being a mechanic. I don't need to know how a car works in order to drive it.


You might be right in saying that, because if that is how yuou read the symbolism of the cards, that is how they will give you messages. If I read those same three cards for the question, though, the Ace Cups tells me that the small is coming from somewhere damp, or from a wet-room, a room with taps in it like a kitchen or bathroom. The Four Pentacles tells me it's coming from somewhere enclosed, so I'd be thinking bathroom cupboards or under sinks. And Temperance tells me that if I wait long enough, the smell will go away of its own accord. See?


Just today, I had a client ask me where her mother's grey cardigan was. I thought it was a wasted question.


I don't know. I just start talking and it all starts making sense.


I think it is just practice and experience. The older I get the more readings I have done, and the more readings I have done, the less often I get stuck.


Why not have a look at some of the readings in the exchange circles right here?

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Aina said:

I have tried a reading exchange but haven't received the feedback yet. I hope next ones will be more successful

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