got a professional reading

i agree- it was a bad reading. i would not have been happy either and i do feel she should have told you the significance of each step she had you do.

if you go to another pro again, instead of taking a camera as you mentioned you would do, take a notebook and pen, and list the cards as they are layed out as well as take notes. i allow my clients to do this, and if i do an email reading, i do this, unless i know for sure they just want the reading, and do not care about what card it came from/how & where it was layed out.

having clients take notes also helps them as things begin to happen for them. I am sorry you had a bad reading, but at least you learned something from the experience.

celticnoodle said:

i agree- it was a bad reading. i would not have been happy either and i do feel she should have told you the significance of each step she had you do

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Why do you think she should have told HeavensVault the significance of each step?

Everyone works differently and this woman seems to be more psychic than 'just' a card reader.

Like MercyMe, sometimes when I'm reading I go through each card but sometimes I don't... Sometimes the reading comes more in the shape of a big picture and there would be no point analysing each card.
Sometimes what I see doesn't particularly make any sense if you're going by the 'traditional' or 'standard' meaings for the cards.

HeavensVault - you say that you asked 'why are there obstacles in my way all the time!' and this lady went back to your childhood - maybe the blocks and obstacles that you see around you now have come from some time way back in your childhood and maybe this lady saw that.

Ultimately as the sitter then it's up to you to decide whether you got anything from the reading or not but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand just because the lady worked in a way that you're not personally familiar with.

HeavensVault that really sucks! I am in total agreement with Alissa here, pure smoke and mirrors. With all the court cards and swords there had to be some relevance to your question about obstacles, and she totally blindsided you with what she wanted to talk about, or did not connect it to your question for you so you could see the relevance. You have every reason to be outraged.

Like you, if I have my cards read, I like the details of the card in its position and then a summary of the reading, that is how I read cards. But it sounds like she did not even do a summary of the cards, sounds like she was rambling and simply laid out the cards so she could call what she was doing a Tarot reading.

I am going to the Renaissance Fair on Saturday and was thinking about having a reading done for fun ... after your experience I am not sure I want to ... specially when I have plenty of friends here at AT that can read for me, and I know they know what they are doing and it won't cost me anything. ~Shakes head~

I too feel a little on the fence here. We do all work in different ways, and may respond more postively to one style over another. I like to have things point blunt, right between the eyes with no flowering up. Others may prefer a sublter / more spiritual / more symbolic approach.

If you felt uncomfortable with the reading, then it may be that style is not for you. I think I would be open to asking probing questions to see what this all meant, and if the dice throwing was something bugging me, I would ask what it indicated or signified.

If after asking questions, and not getting clear answers, you would have every right to feel a little miffed. Style wise, it would not suit me.
Is the lady contactable? If she has a book published you may find a way of e mailing or contacting her? It might be worth asking how she uses the dice etc.

Davina

HeavensVault said:

The very first question she asked was, "What did your parents tell you about yourself as a child?" I knew then I was in for a theraphy session. One sure way to turn anyone off when you first meet them is to ask them about their childhood, unless of course your Marsha Brady.

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I might ask this in a reading if I took a look at the spread and saw certain cards that were hinting at some past baggage the querant might be carrying around. If the Emperor/Empress were present, or the 10 of pents, I could think, "Hmmm...there's a negative thought (swords) issue here, possibly related to her parents/family of origin." To make sure I'm on the right track I will ask the sitter a question such as she asked you.

You asked why you keep running into obstacles, right? She may have seen a certain negative thought pattern or patterns (that's maybe what was up with all those swords) or maybe it had to do with your way of communicating (again swords). In any case, her method might have been to try and help you come to your own realization, as most people know those are the best kind, rather than simply say to you, "Ok, this is what you're doing wrong."

If her asking about your childhood was off-putting, as it sounds like it was, maybe you could have asked, "Why is that important to the reading?" If it had been me doing the reading and you asked that question I might have said, "Well, I'm seeing a certain pattern here in the cards and I just want to be sure I'm on the right track." It happened to me just yesterday. I was reading for someone who was asking about a long-distance relationship. Three cards, Justice Death and Lovers, seemed to be telling me that a divorce had just been made final. However, the sitter had not told me that the man had been married and frankly, I didn't know if she knew. (You never know!) So I tentatively asked her, "I just have a question before we begin...the cards seem to be showing me a legal commitment coming to closure on his end, does this make sense?" She confirmed that indeed her lover had been in the divorce process and last she'd heard it was entering its final phases. I knew then that I was definitely on the right track. So I'm thinking maybe had you asked why she was taking that childhood route, you may have come away with more understanding about the reading.

I didn't like this reading, especially when lots of swords came up, and the Court cards with Queens and Kings and she kept focused on my childhood. That blew me away.

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I understand her style did not match your expectations and bottom line there is the sitter is always right. You didn't receive what you needed from this reading and although her intentions may have been good, it just wasn't a good match. However, without full participation from a sitter, without your comments and questions and even protestations where necessary, how was she to know her reading wasn't meeting your needs?

I didn't ask for a past life reading!!!!!! My question was, why are there obstacles in my way all the time!

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Maybe the root of the obstacles are there since your childhood. Maybe the way around them is by addressing some deep-seated issues that the cards were showing. Maybe if you had asked her again how what she was saying had to do with your question, she could have explained better?

Next time someone does a professional reading for me I am going to bring my digital camera long so I can snap a shoot at the cards.

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Why? So you can do your own reading later? Then why pay for one? Paying for a reading is paying someone else to interpret the cards, hear from the "ether," contact spirit, or the collective unconscious...however you see it. Otherwise, you can do your own readings for free.

I would chalk it up to a lesson learned. How to get the most out of a paid tarot reading is to be a very active participant, to ask questions, in order to gain more insight and clarification. If a reader is not open to that, then I'd have a problem. But I think you can hardly blame a reader for reading differently. We all read differently. Sometimes I read differently than myself -- it depends. Like Sulis said, sometimes I see the message of the cards altogether and I can't really parse it out card by card. It's as if the cards each say a word or two, not full sentences, but all together they complete the sentence or message. Other times, each card holds a message. Each reading is different and each reader is different.

I feel she should have told me the signifiance of steps, like the dice. Come to find out those are Astrodice. Whe I rolled them I should have been told what meaning(s) were rolled, because that could be helpful to me.

The childhood thing:

Recently my mother and I have had some fights about how 'she raised us kids.' So I think the reader picked up on that.

Another thing the reader told me to do was to make a necklace for the little girl I was, and then make one for myself. This summer I already did that. I made a necklace series(leaves and Goddeses) of a necklace I made as a 10 year old.

And I have come to terms with any deep-seated issues.

On the obstacles and meeting new friends:

Just today I met a woman that is divorcing her husband of 18 years, spent last summer in a sanitarium, and has had body twitches all her life. I threw her business card out. Nothing like being upfront you'll be a problem.



That's kind of obstacle I am referring to.


I just feel that at some point having your cards read has to be fun, or enchanting. Something that when you walk away you feel good, with some knowledge of what could be instead of what was.

Out of curiousity, did you ask her why she was doing things the way she did (the dice, etc)? Is this a situation where she refused to explain or did you not tell her you'd like the process explained?

Also, I'm not sure how a question about why blockages happen repeatedly can be answered without dipping into the past - you're asking about a pattern of experiences that have happened to you. Surely the answer will be somewhere in the past, just as the pattern begins there?

And while I agree that you should come away from a reading feeling satisfied, I'm having a hard time coming up with a hypothetical feel-good response that would have helpfully answered your question. "You're experiencing all these blockages because you so pretty"? (I'm being facetious there, but you see what I mean, I hope - if the question is about something that troubles you, the answer is likely to trouble you as well unless truth is tossed out the window in favor of just making you smile.)

Sullis, what i meant by the significance of each step, is that the reader had heavensvault:
#1- picture a rainbow, with one color leaving the group & wrap itself in a bow around heavensvault heart, & for h.v. to remember the color.

#2- picture a group of numbers 1-10 and remember which # stood out.

#3- roll 3 odd shaped clear dice with symbols on them

IN ADDITION to picking out some of the cards.

I don't necessarily mean EACH card needs to be explained---but the reader did not explain the significance of steps 1 to 3. as far as heavensvault is concerned, she did not find out anything from those steps.
it would seem to me if you are having your client go through all that, (which is not very common with a tarot card reading), then you may just explain why you are having them do this, or at least tell them what message you as the reader get from the client doing these steps.

i have been to one card reader that likes to hold something of yours that is metal--a ring/watch or something like that. since i don't quite like giving out my jewelry to people i don't know, i give her my keys. she holds onto them while reading me, and is able to pick up more vibes from them about me. another reader i go to has me bring my own deck of playing cards--used ONLY for a reading with her. however, i am told beforehand to carry these with me as much as i can before my reading with her, and sleep with the entire deck under my pillow before my reading. both readers are amazing. they had also both explained to be beforehand they ask this 'unusual request' as it helps them to pick up on more information for me. both readers are even able to bring through my deceased friends/relatives and tell me about them, as well as my spirit guides.

as far as i can tell, heavensvault reader did not get much/or offer much in the way of information from these extra 3 steps!

I went to a fairly well known reader a while ago and paid the price. He was very nice but I do not think he told me anything. He had this ratty old Adventurer deck ( it was literally dirty). He did not let me shuffle and I would not have wanted to touch them anyway.

He did a spread I had never seen and was watching closely. It was total nonsense. So I came away with his literature to join a course. Not likely. The only good thing was that his Mother was there or I might have called his bluff. Also my daughter was waiting and I did not want to ruin our outing.

I learned an important lesson. His gift to me was save your money. I can come on here or read better for myself. At least it is honest.

HeavensVault said:

I feel she should have told me the signifiance of steps, like the dice. Come to find out those are Astrodice. Whe I rolled them I should have been told what meaning(s) were rolled, because that could be helpful to me.

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I agree. I mean, I even tell clients that I use their DOB to figure their Soul/Personality/Year cards so they know why I am asking. I wouldn't have someone roll some dice unless I told them what information comes from them.

Just today I met a woman that is divorcing her husband of 18 years, spent last summer in a sanitarium, and has had body twitches all her life. I threw her business card out. Nothing like being upfront you'll be a problem.

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I know you're frustrated, but this was funny.

I'm sorry your reading was unsatisfying, and I can understand why it was. I guess it just disturbed me that it seemed people were saying she was a "bad reader" when, to me it just appeared that her style and manner didn't mesh with your needs and expectations. And it's not like she refused to answer questions, but you didn't feel comfortable asking them. And that sucks, it truly does, but you know...it still doesn't make her a "bad reader." But I don't know, maybe she does suck.