Your meanings or mine?

In terms of what a particular card means to me, if it comes from my deck, that deck has taught me how to read it. Those meanings may not be exactly the same as someone else's meanings for the same card from their deck. The longer I work with a deck the more often I'll see particular cards and combo's turning up to indicate common scenario's. Those combo's and cards might be entirely different to someone else's for the same thing. I believe that decks take on our personal iconography and that's what we end up reading, once a deck is tuned to us.

For an example, I often see Death touted as having sexual connotations, but I've never once seen it occur in any reading from my deck in that context. That's because death and sex is not part of my personal iconography. My deck does not read that way. Doesn't mean it wouldn't have this meaning coming from someone else's deck though.

If I'm reading someone else's draws from their deck, as in the Your Readings forum, I try and stick closer to the book meanings of the cards because I have no idea how that deck talks to that person and like to err on the side of being bland but helpful than go really left field with how my deck speaks to me.

I do think decks become personal things and there isn't just one standard way to read the cards that is universally correct. Sure stick to the overall themes as a starter but over time even the different types of pictures on a card will take on various meanings that don't exist in books.

My Ace Of Cups today was telling me to get off my butt and paint a chest of drawers (because of the images on the card), you're not going to find that in any book.

I'm actually very much in the "shut up, the cards are talking to the reader" camp

However my beliefs are heavily influenced by some of the reads I've received from professional readers - sometimes I have NFI how they pulled meanings out of certain cards as I would have interpreted it very differently, but they are always right.

Ultimately, I feel like the cards are purely "keys" into that particular reader's intuition. If the querent is spending too much time obsessing about the keys, they're missing the bigger picture - ie what the keys actually open up to.

I often use the "my cards are playing charades with ME, not you!" line when explaining this to people (often when they get upset that their cards are not as "big" as they wanted). I tend to retaliate by withholding detail on which cards correspond to different bits of information, and hey presto! No complaints, querent leaves happy! I'M A GENIUS

JylliM said:

Thanks Aunty Anthea. I'm guessing your various copies of the Mythic read similarly for you?

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Strangely enough no. At the moment I only use two decks and they seem to read differently

I'm with everyone else---if someone else is reading for you, then their interpretation is the one to go with. Otherwise, why have someone else read for you?

I guess I am wondering if maybe (this is getting deeper into how it works I think) it just doesnt matter HOW the message is getting across to the person who is meant to receive it as long as its getting there. After all, life isnt all tidy, easy and clear.

I always try to work together with the querent, IF they are not a reader themself.
When I'm giving a reading, I obviously engage them - THIS is what I see in the card, HOW does it relate to you? Is the question I would go for.

With readers, it is different, because their take can be... Well, I just had quite an "interesting" reading by a very orthodox RWS-person and I was giving her a reading according to my own system (I don't even use the RWS deck), and she was quite condescending and tried to challenge everything I said. Honestly, I had a feeling she's going to pull out an RWS LWB at one point and fling it at me... "But this card is meant to mean THIS!!!"

That said, I do like getting a second perspective on things. I really enjoyed a blogpost from JackofWands where he explained that 4 of Cups signals patience for him - man, did that change my relationship readings! Before, I was always condescending about this card, with whichever deck... But the patience idea really got me going.

Not while I'm doing a reading now. Not even from a reader, but in general if a querent tells me what the spread is SUPPOSED to mean - I'm sorry, don't tell me how to play my sax solo. I used to be a jazz pianist back in another life and I guess that is how I treat Tarot as well - we all play the same standard, just in our own tune

I'm quite happy reading for myself most of the time and if proof is in the pudding my self readings don't seem to go too far astray. But there are some instances, some questions and some issues where I want someone not connected to me to weigh in on the issue. Mostly when my energy gets very fixed and stuck on an idea I tend not to be able to interpret the cards I am getting on it. I just feel very frustrated by the spread. In those instances I want to hear what the other person has to say, I already know my take on it and if that were the answer I wouldn't be getting frustrated.

Thats when I need to hear another person illuminate it for me. So I'm not going to reinterpret their take on it because I think they are telling me what I need to hear even if it isn't what I want to hear. I've rarely had a reading where absolutely none of it resonated with me. There are always aspects that are very on the money.

This is one of those "evergreen" questions that comes around now and again. It made me go dig up this quote from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the samr Door where in I went

Omar is basically saying that the great masters taught him absolutely nothing he didn't already know. Griz is right: if you're going to second-guess the reader, why bother consulting one in the first place? Or take the "great Argument" home with you and ponder it in private.

I encounter very few querents who are well-versed in card interpretation, so I don't get much pushback, at least not on a card-by-card basis. But then my observations contain as little mystical, high-flown "tarotese" as possible (other than the minor "showmanship" that comes with the calling); I try to render them in down-to-earth language and then ask my querents how those observations square with their own understanding of the situation. If we're miles apart, I back up and attack it from a different angle in light of the querent's feedback until something clicks, even a little bit. Once the lid is pried off, we can have a meaningful dialogue. I esxpect the same level of sensitivity and respect from those who read for me.

Barleywine said:

I encounter very few querents who are well-versed in card interpretation, so I don't get much pushback, at least not on a card-by-card basis. But then my observations contain as little mystical, high-flown "tarotese" as possible (other than the minor "showmanship" that comes with the calling); I try to render them in down-to-earth language and then ask my querents how those observations square with their own understanding of the situation. If we're miles apart, I back up and attack it from a different angle in light of the querent's feedback until something clicks, even a little bit. Once the lid is pried off, we can have a meaningful dialogue. I esxpect the same level of sensitivity and respect from those who read for me.

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This.

So this makes the occasional "but I have this book with me and it says....." even the more frustrating...

delinfrey said:

This.

So this makes the occasional "but I have this book with me and it says....." even the more frustrating...

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I once had a doctor pull out a college medical textbook to give me a diagnosis. Bah!

Just tell them that card meanings aren't like Lego blocks that you can just stick together, that the context of the question is critical to proper understanding of each card, and that the interpretation of any card is colored and modified by the cards and card combinations surrounding it. That should stop them in their tracks!