Reading Tarot Cards: Do Thoughts Matter? (2 Q.)

Hello! I'm still figuring out Tarot, and I have a couple of questions.. *blush*

Q1. Do you need to prep for Tarot readings? Or does Tarot always reveal cards that are pertinent/meaningful to the topic at hand?

*Whether or not you relax your mind and think about the exact question before you flip.

Q2. If you want to ask about something regarding a particular person, but only think about the person when drawing a card, does the card always reflect the tarot's opinion on your unmentioned query? Or something else...?

Thank you very much!!

pulsar said:

Q1. Do you need to prep for Tarot readings? Or does Tarot always reveal cards that are pertinent/meaningful to the topic at hand?

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I just shuffle, or get the client to shuffle. That's my prep.

*Whether or not you relax your mind and think about the exact question before you flip.

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Nope. Occasionally I silently ask my inner Tarot goddess to "let me read well for this person". That's about as far as it goes.

Q2. If you want to ask about something regarding a particular person, but only think about the person when drawing a card, does the card always reflect the tarot's opinion on your unmentioned query? Or something else...?

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I'm not sure what you mean. Draw cards. Read them. You'll learn what you need to know.

You have presented 3 questions.

Q1: Topic heading
There are plenty of results regarding thinking and it's effects on things around you...so why not the readings and your interpretations of your cards...

Q2:
There's no point in flipping cards if there's no thought or question involved...

Q3:
The cards have no opinion at all...the flipper has the questions and the opinions...Which draws us back to the first question...


If it's possible to do ...ask a question or visualise a person ...go into neutral mind ....shuffle ,draw...then turn back on your analyticals for answers...

It's horses for courses as you will find out shortly...

I think thoughts do matter when doing a reading, personal or for others. you need to find how it works for you though. Some people really have a whole method to do readings involving a lot of things and preparation. For me I do need to clear my mind and I have done readings just off the fly with nothing like that. I find I really have to relax a little and calm my thinking, a small amount of meditation and then I think of the question when shuffling and ask for a reading for that person (or for me). I had an embarrassing experience when I did a reading for someone else and the reading was for me It was an issue that was really on my mind and I was thinking of that and not the person when I did the reading! So now I ask to give me a reading for who it's for. But I think how much preparation you need before a reading is what you feel comfortable with before! Find your perfect method

I should add though I am still not sure if it was my lack of preparation and clearing my thoughts which led to a 'wrong reading', the message might have been so important it had to get to me and I did no personal readings for myself the week or two before. However the key is to experiment with what gets the best focused readings for you

pulsar said:

Q1. Do you need to prep for Tarot readings? Or does Tarot always reveal cards that are pertinent/meaningful to the topic at hand?

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I like to clear my mind and avoid distractions when I'm giving a reading, but I think that's more about professionalism. When I'm reading for a client, my attention should be entirely on the task at hand, and not on any personal thoughts of my own that aren't relevant to the business of reading.

As to whether Tarot cards are "always" relevant, my personal stance on this is that any of the 78 cards could come up in a spread and there would be some meaningful way to interpret them in the context of a querent's question. So in that sense, I suppose my answer would be yes, the cards are always relevant, but that's really a lukewarm, halfhearted sort of yes.

*Whether or not you relax your mind and think about the exact question before you flip.

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The cards are already in the order that you've shuffled them in, and by the time you get to the point where you're flipping cards, the same spread is going to come up regardless of what you're thinking of. Now, that said, I think that if you're focused on the reading, you'll probably have an easier time of interpreting the cards that do show up, but it won't have any effect on which cards turn up where.

Some readers believe that you should focus on the question while you're shuffling, and that doing so somehow arranges the cards so as to better answer said question. I personally don't hold this view, but if you find it helpful, you might want to give it a try.

Q2. If you want to ask about something regarding a particular person, but only think about the person when drawing a card, does the card always reflect the tarot's opinion on your unmentioned query? Or something else...?

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A large part of this depends on your reading style and personal beliefs. I tend to interpret cards in a reading as centered on my querent's behaviors and beliefs, so that I'm more likely to read the "Person X" card in a spread as "Querent's relationship to Person X" or "Querent's views of Person X". Other people may read it as an objective description of Person X's personality, or something else that's tangentially related. Ultimately, any card in a reading could easily mean a variety of things, and the best thing you can do is sort through and look at each of the possibilities before you decide on what you think the best one.

Your question was a bit difficult to understand, so I hope I answered appropriately. If not, let me know.

Good luck with your Tarot explorations!

I clear my mind and think of nothing.

I say/ask either to myself or out loud that "the divine source of light to flow through me and help me translate the cards for them in the best way possible. I recognize that everyone is seeking their own path back to the source/divine light and I ask the light to help guide me in the right direction to help them. I seek results within the framework of truth, light, and love. I am a channel of the divine mind and the divine light. I ask for this with an open heart."

and i'm paraphrasing here...

Laurelle said:

I clear my mind and think of nothing.

I say/ask either to myself or out loud that "the divine source of light to flow through me and help me translate the cards for them in the best way possible. I recognize that everyone is seeking their own path back to the source/divine light and I ask the light to help guide me in the right direction to help them. I seek results within the framework of truth, light, and love. I am a channel of the divine mind and the divine light. I ask for this with an open heart."

and i'm paraphrasing here...

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<grin> So ... "Let me read well for this person" again.

JackofWands said:

Some readers believe that you should focus on the question while you're shuffling, and that doing so somehow arranges the cards so as to better answer said question. I personally don't hold this view, but if you find it helpful, you might want to give it a try.

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I think this is the most important bit. Think of the specific question(s), and plan how many cards you're going to draw and the spread you'll use before, or while, you're shuffling.

No planning= you may get a wonderful pertinent answer and have no idea what the question was. Which might be very useful...or confusing!

It seems to me it really doesn't matter because I've done a couple of reading experiments where I've done the reading before asking for the sitter and it works, this one I did for Bluelyric and am satisfied it's not generic enough to sit with the majority but don't take my word for it try it for yourself.

In doing this however we're teetering on the boundaries of spiritual law under which we shouldn't invade another's privacy without prior permission so best not make a habit of it even if we don't know who it's for.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=230271

That said you still have to focus you request for your next sitter.

Tarot cards don't have an opinion; they are inanimate.

Cards have to be shuffled - even if only once - or you will still be reading with the last sessions' cards.

Whether you shuffle them one time or 7 times or 7,000 times, the act of shuffling is seen as an ordering process whether you ask a specific question or not. Elaborate shuffling rituals are just that - rituals; you create them for some need you possess. Question-asking rituals are the same thing whether you say them aloud, whisper them into the deck (it's been done) write them on a piece of paper and put it under the pack (it's been done) or scratch them in your forearm whilst drawing blood - all that is a ritual. The cards don't care - they are inanimate.

However - the mere act/thought of saying 'I think I'll throw the cards and see what they say' - is in itself already asking a question - whether you consciously think about one or not.

My two cents ....