How often do you read for yourself?

I've been reading the forum for a while, and I get the impression that most people posting here do readings for themselves pretty frequently, at least compared to me. I've been doing more Tarot study exercises lately, but I haven't done an actual reading for myself in a couple of weeks. On weekdays I get a daily card as my computer picks one for my wallpaper, but aside from that, I often go months between readings.

So I'm wondering, how often do you read for yourself? Do you use a lot of cards or just a few? And how often do you do other types of Tarot activity, like games, study, or readings for other people?

Hey, Bridget. I still am a rookie with all this, but I know for a fact that I will read myself the Tarot ATLEAST once a week. I mean, I think it's awesome and fun and I don't even own a deck yet. I've ordered one in though I saw some readings on the internet and it takes at most thirty minutes. A scrub like me will probably send about an hour trying to read his/her spread (Yeah, I learnt the word "spread" from this website! Aeclectic Tarot FTW!), but you're much much more experienced than me, so it'll take you around twenty minutes. That's twenty minutes a week. You could even make the spread somewhere in your room and read one to two cards a day. I think that would be actually interesting ^^

I hope I helped,
Condoriano

I hardly ever read for myself. I know I should and it's definately something I need to work on but I tend to shy away from it because of any influence I might have on the cards. If the situation is important to me (which it more than likely would be) I already know/feel what I'd like to see happen and I'm afraid my interpretations may reflect that. I think my influence in certain situations that I'd read about for myself would be too great and probably do more harm than good.

I enjoy having others read for me on the situations because they don't have an idea prior to the reading about my thoughts, how I'd want things to go... etc and I attempt to ask questions that don't show what I may or may not want. Uninfluenced... I'll be there someday LOL

For nearly the entire 20 plus years I've been using Tarot, a good 90% to 99% of my readings have been for myself. I read for myself daily or every other day, though sometimes I go through periods in which I don't read at all -- for days, weeks, more rarely months. Other times I read for myself multiple times in a day.

Mostly I use 3-card spreads, but sometimes larger ones. Recently I've been using a 16-card Function Block Spread from Rose Gwain's Discovering Your Self Through Tarot, once a week or so.

My primary use of Tarot is personal. I don't read to know the future so much as for insight and a look at the energies at work in my life, and for added perspective, guidance, and advice. Tarot's main strength, in my opinion, is to help me get in touch with my unconscious and with the Divine. In some ways it's like journaling or dream interpretation, and in other ways almost a form of interactive prayer. Sometimes I happen to get insight about the future or the day ahead, but I've found readings done deliberately to know the future to be mostly unsatisfactory, so I don't think of my reading as fortunetelling style reading at all, and I certainly don't rely on Tarot for all my answers or decisions, just for added insight.

My readings for others are sporadic, usually for family members, and sometimes in the reading exchange here or for friends. I have thought many times of expanding to read more for others. In fact at one time I was about to start reading for pay, online. But one thing or another has always come up, and I've never felt I was quite ready or had time for that.

I think one reason that I prefer reading for myself is that I prefer slow readings, pondering over the cards for a while without words, letting the images and symbols sink in. This isn't very conducive to reading for others, at least not face to face. I actually prefer online or email when reading for others, for that reason.

ETA When reading for myself, I usually don't ask a question but only ask for what I most need to know now. I also tend to use 3-card spreads with no position meanings -- just build a story or sentence or scene in my mind from the three cards as a group. Since there's no real question, and no request to know my future, I find that fooling myself or not being objective enough isn't really an issue. Besides which, I can be pretty self-critical when needed, as well as self-analyzing, so maybe that helps.

Nevada

I almost never do. Not least because I cheat. As in - I get an answer and I can always relate it to something else if it wasn't what I wanted....

So I get other people to deliver the tough stuff !

gregory said:

I get an answer and I can always relate it to something else if it wasn't what I wanted....

Click to expand...

... add another reason to my list

I don't read for myself that often.. I always do a daily draw, but only do more personal reading every once in a while.. I find I can't be very objective when I read for myself, but it's something I've been trying to work on

I do the regular daily card pulls in various ways. Sometimes I will ask what event will happen that day and how I will feel about it. I also do readings almost everyday on long-term things that might concern me or immediate things such as a persons action or response to something said or done. I find that's it's easiest to read for myself intuitively 1 week prior to 1 week after a full moon.... in between time, I minds well not even try. haha It's easier to read for others no matter when I do it.

xx
Vad

I read for myself a couple of times a week if something "big" is going on, other times I go months without...I usually do what feels right, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I've wanted to do a reading for myself, sat there with the deck in my hands and decided it wasn't the right time...

Whitestar

Since I have tons of free time to play with the cards, I do 1 and 3 card readings, 5 card spreads and the Celtic Cross everyday and a few times too!

I shuffle, lay the cards out, understand the relationships between them, compare cards, and read the books.

I just love it!