crazelion

Hi all,

I am having trouble making my reading longer. I feeling that short change my readings with all the short readings. I am not really good with words and have hard time writing.

Do have any ideas on how to make my readings longer?

celticnoodle

judging by this post, I am thinking that you only read 3 to 5 cards in a reading? why not try expanding to 7 or 10 cards. practice with that and when you become comfortable reading with more cards, then you can also continue to add more. there are quite alot of spreads here on A.T. that are medium (7 + cards) to large spreads, (12+ cards) and very large---using ALL the cards.

you can also expand on your short 3 or 5 card reading, by adding more cards to clarify a situation that appeared in your original reading. If for instance you read that a love interest will soon appear to someone because you saw the knight of cups, why not ask a few more questions about him-(the love interest)--what does he look like? what does he do for a living? etc.

when I began reading, I used a 15 card spread that, though it sounds like an awful lot of cards, it was quite easy. the first 3 cards would speak of the current situation the client was experiencing, the cards 3 to 6 would speak of their past, usually immediate past. cards 7-9 were immediate future up to 3mos., cards 10-12 dealt with the future 3mos-6mos. and the last 3 cards were for the far future up to 1yr. It is a reading I often fall back on, especially for a first reading for a new client. It covers a lot and on average will take 20 to 30minutes unless you expand on it with more clarifying cards.

there are many ways to expand on reading to make it longer. my suggestion is for you to just search for a few larger spreads at first and become aquainted with them and then expand on clarifying cards too---to get comfortable with reading larger spreads.

starrystarrynight

Hi Crazelion,

I remember a reading you did for me that may have been short (by your standards), but it was right on the money in many ways!

My problem seems to be the opposite from yours. I'm long-winded. But I think that is because I not only read the cards as a story, each with its individual meaning...but also, I connect each card to the others and try to look at how they play off one another. Once I go into all those inter-connections, the reading is a book, and I find myself trying to edit it down to a short story!

Maybe that is something you could delve into more deeply--intuiting the ways the cards play off each other in any given reading...

__________________
I never bend, fold, or mutilate. Unless I'm in a hurry.

Fudugazi

Many of the best readers I know are succinct and read from no more than 3-5 cards. What is essential and deep in a reading need not take more than a few sentences. The rest is - pleasant conversation, or additional information, or storytelling, all great stuff, but by no means necessary. If you are the kind of person that cuts to the chase, those short readings are probably the best for you. Don't feel you are short-changing anyone because you don't write long stories.

__________________
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy."
(Lewis Carroll)

celticnoodle

very well said fudugazi! I certaintly did not mean to give the impression that larger readings are the best and give more information. I am currently concentrating on doing just 3 to 5 card readings myself and not even in any spread. I just lay them out in front of me and interpret them as they are. It also seems to work well, and my clients are generally very happy with that. The whole process takes maybe 15 minutes---and I've yet to have anyone be dissatisfied.

I seem to be more like you, starrystarrynight--I too, am long winded, and write out too much! The above is a recent 'new thing' for me and I'm trying hard to adapt to it. So far, it's working!

Little Baron

Some people don't want all the flap that goes around it. The just want to know this and that. Often, I find that questions after interpretation are what takes the time. And I like that, because people will ask 'Do you think this card might mean blah-blah?' and then I can expand on that in the given context, which is far easier than just going with it cold. I then find that I can spend time explaining the whys and hows of how the cards mould together, or how they almost push away at each other in some instances.

LB

Briar Rose

You could make your readings longer by using the Shadow card at the end of your readings.

and/or

you could have the person ask another question, suffle the cards (after you finish reading a spread), and then use one more card.

you could start looking into a book about Tarot Combinations.

in the beginning of a reading you could use Astro dice, or even Tarot dice, or you could combine Crystals.

Gayla

You can expand and extend the reading a bit by exploring the dignities, such as elemental, numerical, sequence and zodiac.

__________________
Gayla
Seeking Truth, Clarity and Understanding

crazelion

Thank all for the sugguests. it has help a great deal. I am one likes to cut through the chase and not use a a lot details. I tried learning card meanings but they did not work for me. I now sit there and look at the picture and go from there. It has become a lot easy now.

Thank again for all the help.