How Often should i read?

[carbon]

I take a daily card each day but I wondered how often is too often to do a multi-card reading?

I have read varying things, everything from once a week to once a month. The mains reason given was that the cards would not be as accurate if you read them more often than this. Is this right?

Please forgive me i'm really confused.

[silver_rain]

I don't think there is a 'right' answer for this, you can read as often as feels good for you. There is no real reason to hold yourself back from reading the cards because you feel the cards won't be as accurate if you read them too much. I personally don't think this is the case.

I would say you would only read too often if you are obsessively looking for answers with the cards, asking the same question over and over for example. But if you want to read often to learn more about tarot I don't think there's anything wrong with that

[Briar Rose]

I agree with Silver Rain.

And then try some different spreads, or try making your own and see what cards come up.

[Grizabella]

I think the only thing that's "too much" is when you're asking the same questions over and over again about the same issue. You can read as much as you want to as long as it's about various topics or for various people.

[Esther]

Yeah, I think asking the same question over and over again is more of a problem than merely doing multiple readings. In my experience, if the first reading was unclear, it's not usually because the reading was done "wrong" so much as you don't want to face the answer or weren't in the right frame of mind to read in the first place, and trying again and again tends to only complicate things and add more factors to get lost in.

As for how many readings, in general, you can do, I don't think there's a magic limit. If you reach a point where you start feeling tired or like it's becoming harder to read, then you'll probably want to call it a day. If you feel doing multiple readings and don't experience any problems with it, then there probably isn't a problem.

[carbon]

Thanks for all the information. I always found it strange that there should be a time scale on your intuition.

What all of you have said makes perfect sense. I guess i'll have to stop worrying about it and just go with my instincts.

[Kalymura]

Originally Posted by carbon

I always found it strange that there should be a time scale on your intuition.

I've found what really helped was to keep a journal/record of each spread and reading. That way you learn what kind of time scale each deck or spread caters for, and see whether they are still accurate when you use more than one spread per day or week.

[Alta]

Just make sure you have spent enough time with each reading, to really mine the meaning. Don't just flip throw after throw and quickly scanning it before going on. If you do that your readings will never gain depth.

[Nimbus]

Most of the time I will make a photocopy of the spread/reading, along with notes to add to my journal. It is interesting to go back and see the issue from a different perspective.

I agree with the notion of reading for a given question once, or maybe even twice for clarification, if necessary. To keep asking the same question without contemplating and considering the answer already given is like asking for advice/guidance, and then not listening.

People have asked me this question- "how can those cards be accurate if it is posssible for me to go see another card reader later today, or tomorrow, and a whole different set of cards can be drawn"?

My answer to that is the importance of one's 'genuine intention'. To get the most out of a tarot reading, in my opinion, the querant would do well to consider the information gained as something like guidance/advice from someone who has the querant's best interests at heart. The information gleaned is to be considered and some thought on behalf of the querant as to how to move forward relative to the issue at hand would be most useful.

While I practice with hypothetical questions posed, creating spreads, etc., it never seems to be quite as interesting or as satisfying as a real question from a real person.

Thanks for posting the question- it is one I get asked quite a bit, actually.

~Nimbus

[coeur]

I think this might be a question of faith. The best thing to do is to write down all of your readings and go back to the original reading for help when the situation evolves or changes drastically. The real reason why many people do additional readings in a short period of time is because things are NOT changing; thus they become impatient and try to squeeze what they want to see out of the readings. The more you try squeezing, the less you'll get out of tarot. So the best thing to do is to write down the important points and keep them in mind. I would read again when the original reading no longer applies to the situation.