Why Tarot Readers Should Not Read Themselves

hi, it is a personal choice.

i do read for myself without emotional involved.

well, i even use tarot for magick.

AraLuck said:

When I am confused and chaotic and emotional, that doesn't stop me from reading. I indulge in whatever I am feeling and allow the cards to tell me what I want, if it's going to make me feel better at the time I am reading. I know I will be more rational after the event and will see things in a different light anyway. So if the cards tell me what I want to hear just when I need that, it's not something I refuse either. I am not delusional. I just get emotional sometimes and need their friendly pat on the back... knowing that they're just telling me it's going to be OK. Even so, when am in a frenzy and keep pulling the same cards over and over again, I know there's a level of truth there which cannot be denied. I don't think the cards can ever be manipulated. Just my two centavos!

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I LOVE this - I love it so much, I think I'm going to write in my tarot book. What a wonderful way to look at the cards, and really - at least for me, it's another way I can use and interact with my cards.

Tarot is definitely the hardest to read for self with. It is layered with so many meanings... easy to fool self.

If I do read for myself.. I notice I have to make a spread/use a pre-made spread or if I do a free style.. I only allow 3 cards to pull and I had to learn to play the devil's advocate. So I always write down as many scenarios I can think the cards are pointing to from as positive as possible to as negative as possible.

But I totally agree it is easy when reading for self to translate the cards to mean what we want it to mean...no matter how experience we become.

CosmicBeing said:

... But I totally agree it is easy when reading for self to translate the cards to mean what we want it to mean...no matter how experience we become.

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I disagree. It's about trusting your instincts and your inner voice and that comes with experience. Reading for yourself is a practice 100's of years old.

There have been a couple of times where my wife will do a reading for herself regarding a situation, then I do one for her regarding the same situation and we end up getting TOTALLY different responses.

This is telling me that if I do decide to start reading for others, I should consider getting a deck that is solely for that purpose.

While I am by no means a professional tarot reader, I read for myself almost exclusively. I consider objectivity to be one of my strengths. As long as someone is not abusing the cards (by over-reading or trying to justify their actions) I don't see any reason why someone can't read for themselves.

Most of my readings have been a strong kick-in-the-pants, and several have been profound.

Just my two cents.

Wow, I cannot disagree more! I can totally see where you are coming from, though. That fear is real.

But, for me... Well, I'm known for being a bit harsh with myself most of the times. I don't enjoy sugar coating stuff. And I find that the cards, sometimes, are like a little slap in the head, like "See? I told you so." Specially my TdM deck - freaking baby Jesus I don't even need reversals with that one, it simply scoffs at me sometimes. My decks bring me right down to earth when I'm lost in the clouds. They're for the most part really gentle. But I noticed a trend (and bear with me, I started this about two months ago): The cards warn me. They open my eyes. As with all things, I can choose to ignore them. When I do, and everything they told me happens, when I read for me again, they feel like my mother scolding me.

With that said, I don't get the whole "don't read while emotional". Emotion is THE most important thing for us to understand. Letting our emotions go everywhere with no sense of direction is the real killer. So far, my best reading was done while in a very emotional state. It grounded me. It helped me name things. Gave me pause and pointed the right road for me.

I guess we are all different and that's why this world is so interesting - but we can't make generalizations about such intimate things like tarot. It's going to be a completely different road for each and every one of us, and that's beautiful.

I'm a fairly novice reader despite reading tarot for a long time. My natural talent is astrology. I use tarot for myself and sometimes my kids, a few closest friends who read some too. I use the cards for self guidance. I do look for problems, ask when I don't see them. Do I sometimes try to justify or solve a foreseen problem?, of course, that's a natural human reaction. The cards were made to work with our humanity

We all have our own paths in Tarot and methods, we have seen on AT historically that some people find it impossible to read for themselves and some people can only read for themselves and not others. We all have our own way!

I think I give very good self readings but I do think it's easier to read for other people and I can be more impartial. However much I try, I sometimes need a different point of view. Sometimes I need to ask tarot friends or post the reading here to get a different viewpoint on my reading, also if I am too emotional or connected to the issue of course it's going to very difficult to get a neutral reading! But I do mostly get good readings reading for myself personally

When l feel it necessary l will do readings for myself. l find them very enlightening, they tell it like it is and l always get good advice. Sometimes the readings are comforting, sometimes they speak of truths that perhaps l do not want to know, but they turn out to hit the nail on the head.
When doing my own readings l put self aside after l have shuffled, stand back as it were, and read the cards as l would do for a sitter, though not out loud. It's good practice for reading for others.