what if a question is a lie?

What if a question being asked by the sitter is a lie.

What I mean is. What if they make something up.

The cards would be all messed up to me.

How would you know the differance?

Cosmoline

cosmoline said:

How would you know the differance?

Click to expand...

The cards would know, and they'd probably try to tell you, maybe flag you with the Tower, the 7/Swords and such, but we readers tend to trust the querent and so we might not get that the cards were warning us. We might try to do our best with what we've been asked.

The cards might also ignore the false question and focus on some other, real aspect of the person's life.

We're only human, and we can be fooled. The cards won't be however, and if you learn the truth, what the cards were really trying to say will become clear.

Thank you Thirteen

The reason I asked the question is that I wanted to get some practise with reading (outside the forum) with people.

Itseems though I get people who automatically say the dont think cards are (what should I say) valid.
Like today this guy asked me ( he was testing me which I did not like. I had nothing to prove. But put my ego aside and went along with his queston)

he asked me which man fault he detests the most.
My first reaction to that was. That he was an angry person. And detests something about himself.
Anyway, Like I said. I went along with his pessimism, shuffled he cards and got the Tower

(WOW you just said the tower)

Anyway, I told him "What youo detest most is being "TOLD" what you detest the most"
So, he says I`m wrong. But I strongly felt I was right.

So then he asks another wierd question (which was ok I guess)
"What human trait does he detest the most?"
So again I shuffled the cards and got the 6 of wands.
The only thing I could think of was "Some "type of pride. I should have said overbearing pride maybe. But I just left it like that.
Or I could have said something like when others are victorious - or cme out on top. But pride came to me first.

It was over email, so it wasn`t so bad.

But he still was like all negative.

Anyway. I find that. And it tends to through me off. It keeps me questioning myself. And I so badly would like to read for people. Like so I can help them and myself.
I think the more I learn about people. The more I have a better understanding of myself.

So how do you get past all that with people?

You're always going to get those who try to "test" you. When I do readings for others, I usually tell them upfront that if they want an honest reading, they must ask an honest question. They can waste their time and money trying to trick me, but they aren't going to get any value out of that (unless they get off on trying to make people look foolish, or whatever...then, I think karma will get them eventually, anyway. )

It's like going to the doctor with a nagging cough and neglecting to tell him that you smoke 3 packs a day. He may not challenge you on it at first, but his tests are going to tell the tale...just as the cards will tell the truth, even if we don't see it at first or at all.

I am doing my reading for free right now.

But I do understand what you are saying. It is sort of like what Thirteen had said. The cards will let me know.

And too. I think maybe I just have to start to trust my feelings even if people want to try and put doubt in my way.

Thanx for you input

cosmoline

cosmoline said:

What if a question being asked by the sitter is a lie.

What I mean is. What if they make something up.

The cards would be all messed up to me.

How would you know the differance?

Click to expand...

As Thirteen said, the cards -- or whatever intelligence controls them -- would know the truth.

Sometimes I am sure we ask the wrong questions, not always out of dishonesty, but sometimes simply from not consciously knowing what we really want or what we really need to know. The cards seem to come up with the answers we really need. Sometimes, when the cards don't make sense in relation to the question, it's because they need to be read independently of the question, whether the question was dishonest or simply wrong for the moment at hand.

Nevada

cosmoline said:

The reason I asked the question is that I wanted to get some practise with reading (outside the forum) with people.

Itseems though I get people who automatically say the dont think cards are (what should I say) valid.
Like today this guy asked me ( he was testing me which I did not like. I had nothing to prove. But put my ego aside and went along with his queston)

he asked me which man fault he detests the most.
My first reaction to that was. That he was an angry person. And detests something about himself.
Anyway, Like I said. I went along with his pessimism, shuffled he cards and got the Tower

(WOW you just said the tower)

Anyway, I told him "What youo detest most is being "TOLD" what you detest the most"
So, he says I`m wrong. But I strongly felt I was right.

So then he asks another wierd question (which was ok I guess)
"What human trait does he detest the most?"
So again I shuffled the cards and got the 6 of wands.
The only thing I could think of was "Some "type of pride. I should have said overbearing pride maybe. But I just left it like that.
Or I could have said something like when others are victorious - or cme out on top. But pride came to me first.

It was over email, so it wasn`t so bad.

But he still was like all negative.

Anyway. I find that. And it tends to through me off. It keeps me questioning myself. And I so badly would like to read for people. Like so I can help them and myself.
I think the more I learn about people. The more I have a better understanding of myself.

So how do you get past all that with people?

Click to expand...

Don't worry about that - some people hate to be found out and will lie when you tell them something true in a reading. The best thing is not to read for such people. I once read for my BIL, who had been persuaded by my sister to sit for me. He denied everything I told him (most of which was factual). My sister, who heard the reading, later confirmed all those facts as true. It's just that my BIL thinks tarot is tosh and doesn't want any of it to be true. I learnt my lesson and didn't read for him, or others who come in bad faith, again.

There's nothing wrong with open-minded sceptics, of course. But bad faith is another thing. Learn to pick them out then avoid them, that's my advice.


You get the other problem of people misrepresenting themselves in a reading, because they don't like the truth. Maybe they have something to reproach themselves, or maybe they only want one answer. It's difficult sometimes to pick these out, so learn to read body language as well as your cards.

The simplest thing to do is read what is there - it is not up to the reader to discern truth or fiction. Let the sitter decide what to do with any information you pass along.

Well for starters, many sitters think reading Tarot is a Psychic Mind Reading trick on TV, that you’re supposed to guess their life, and their question, pick facts out of the air, tell them about the lies, guess their sign, demonstrate your skill and amaze them.

So if the sitter is expecting one thing (the magic mindreading maven of the mystic), and you’re going to deliver something else – there’s going to be a chasm between expectation and reality.

You may want to tell them up front that you’re not a magic mindreading maven of the mystic, that you’re a Tarot card reader (without getting into a 20 minute monologue as to the difference).

Then just read the cards.

A lot of times I don’t have them ask the question. If you get a bogus question you get a bogus answer, so why mess with it? Just have them sit, and read the cards. If they cannot talk, they cannot lie.

The flip side is the sitter that tells you everything. Then you have too much information and personal bias crowds the card meanings, and you give opinions rather than a real reading.

So why even have them talk until you start in with the cards?

By-pass the question, by-pass the complicated spread, just read the cards...

And answer is right there in front of you.

Though I'm not a great fan of elaborate questions myself - I don't mind the "I want a reading about my job prospects" and such - I do like readings to be conversations. They are, of course, not totally balanced conversations, as I have the cards and read them, and my querents take their cue from that. But I find that querents are more engaged when they are able to take part in the conversation with the cards, via me. It's certainly what I always expected and asked for as a querent, so I can hardly offer a different service! That said, some people just sit in silence, and that's fine too.

As for lies - my (other) work taught me how to find them out and factor them in. As Balenciaga and Umbrae wrote, it's not up to us to expose our querent's lies to them. Simply, I find discerning untruths to be useful in my interpretation of the cards - one more thing that goes into the pot.

Of course, if you are faced with someone who just says - no, that's all wrong, when you have a strong inner feeling that at least part of it is true, you have a problem. Finish the reading and thank them, all the same. After all, it's their reading. If they want to lie or live in denial, it's their look-out. You give them the tools to look at the truth if they want - and that's it.