How do you do an effective reading for yourself?

I don't do predictive readings for myself, but use a spread called "the bridge" that a lovely lady used for a reading I had (Dwariko Von Sommaruga, creator of the Songs for the Journey Home Tarot). She is no longer with us, so I would like to pass this on here in rememberance of her.

Card one - to the left - where I am
Card two - to the right - where I need to be
Card three - in between the other two - how to get there

Objectivity isn't an issue because there is no "outcome" as such. It's a wonderful spread for journalling and you can either use just the three cards or three columns of three cards if you want something more in depth.

avalonian said:

I don't do predictive readings for myself, but use a spread called "the bridge" that a lovely lady used for a reading I had (Dwariko Von Sommaruga, creator of the Songs for the Journey Home Tarot). She is no longer with us, so I would like to pass this on here in rememberance of her.

Card one - to the left - where I am
Card two - to the right - where I need to be
Card three - in between the other two - how to get there

Objectivity isn't an issue because there is no "outcome" as such. It's a wonderful spread for journalling and you can either use just the three cards or three columns of three cards if you want something more in depth.

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I'm sorry to hear Dwariko has passed. Songs for the Journey Home been a wonderful tool for me. I am going to use tiger lily's tarot journal tip with this deck. Great spread.

Hmm, I do readings for myself. But it depends what I mean by 'myself', too! For example, since I'm a beginner I recently did my first Celtic cross spread. I asked a specific question about something I wanted guidance on. So, in a way the reading was 'for myself', but it wasn't *about* myself, if that makes any sense.

IMO it's obviously important to remember that your own reading about something that concerns you is likely to be biased by what you want to see/hear from the cards... but even that can tell you something about yourself, the story you see in the cards. For example, I did a reading only yesterday in which the 4 of Cups appeared; I saw that immediately in a positive light, whereas the written guidelines in the books tend to interpret it more negatively. Therefore the fact that I saw it as positive, reflects something back to me, that is important I need to know; it's giving me some insight into myself.

Oh, also I never do another spread on the same question... to me, it's not about if I 'like' the cards that came up or if I don't think they are relevant... I trust there is a message there for me even if it's one I don't want to hear or that I can't recognise for the moment.

Maybe I find it relatively easier because I don't see the cards as a 'prediction for the future' - more of a possible outcome (which I can change if I make the efforts to do so) or guidance as to what I have to watch out for or what qualities I should attempt to have (or not have!) in order to help the situation.

tarotbear said:

Everyone learns to read by doing readings for themselves, so don't take it directly to heart.

The problem is that when you ONLY read for yourself you lose the big picture and cabnnot distance yourself from the information you are given. It is best NOT to read for yourself every single day, and never ask the same question twice. One person on this forum came up with a great idea (using single card daily readings) to keep himself from re-asking the same question. Imagine that you've asked a question and got the Temperance (#14) card. Now you cannot ask the same question for 14 days.

I suggest you plan your question, shuffle and lay the cards out, then write the first thing coming into your mind and do not dwell on the meanings of the cards or search for hidden or intricate meanings. Just go by your first impressions and let it go at that. It's hard to keep objectivity when you start obsessing on something.

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Really?? You aren't supposed to ask more than one question twice?? I read for myself daily, and sometimes do ask the same questions. I guess I'm not supposed to do that....but from my understanding, it's interesting to see how the situation changes (and therefore, cards change) from day to day, or even week to week. Somewhat new to this, so not completely sure about "Tarot Protocol" yet.

I tend to write the question on scrap paper and place it under a couple of significators.

Maybe do some smudging before that but it's mostly my own psychological prep.

Depends what mood I'm in as well.