Some people mentioned the cards not having feelings of their own- I suppose that is true, but I give inanimate objects feelings a lot of the time. I don't do it to intentionally shift blame or anything, and I know it's silly, but it's just how I feel. Logically, I know the cards don't feel anything, though they might carry energy or feelings in them. Sometimes I get angry at my computer when it messes up and I cuss it all to pieces, but then I feel guilty for being "mean" to it, so I actually apologize to my computer, since afterall, the poor thing can't help that it's "sick" and it's my fault for not taking better care of it, as well as the fault of the jerks who invented spyware and adware, etc. I guess that my thinking the cards will be upset, could be translated into, "I feel it is disrespectful to my spiritual beliefs" and is beneath what the cards are meant to do.
Anyway, I did feel bad about the people getting the readings because I don't like to decieve people about these sorts of things- and the people that do make me angry and frustrated. In fact, I often tell people I'm not the best at reading and the cards aren't magical, so the readings aren't 100% accurate 100% of the time, and if the reading sounds really wrong, then they need to consider that maybe it is wrong- a bad reading. However, I don't think any of the people at the party truly believe in tarot cards. I mean, most people let their imaginations wonder, "what if?" about all sorts of things, but I don't think any of these people really believe in it, and knowing them like I do (all friends and family or acquaintances at least), I'd say most of them forgot about it the next time anything half way interesting happened in their lives- such as a new crush, a test, or a birthday. I still wouldn't do it again.
Oh, and someone asked how I faked it. I might have read false meanings into some cards that weren't obviously happy ones, but I also somehow managed to make negative cards show up on purpose. I don't recall how I did it because I am not good with manipulating cards on purpose. I prob. used distraction somehow, since I don't know how else I could have pulled it off. I can't cheat at cards or anything- and while I did know one or two simple card tricks in the past, I don't recall any of them since I barely memorized them before I stopped using them. So, I'm really not sure how I did it. That was a few years ago, so I don't recall the details so well. I apologized to my cards later, as I felt I had been disrespectful and I intended to tell the people, but things got in the way, and I never did- most of the time when I see them now, it doesn't cross my mind since there is so much other stuff going on or running through my head. However, I know these people and they don't seem to be paying any mind to it. They prob. knew it was a trick, though, since everyone got terrible readings and I'm sure they discussed them amongst each other. Plus, I think I've told some of these people since then that the death card doesn't normally mean literal death, anyway. Even if I thought it did, I'd be hesitant to predict that. If I get the chance though, I think I'll tell some of the people that the one reading was fake. It was the one and only time I've ever did that and it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I usually let people shuffle the cards themselves, since I feel it is more affective, but if they do have me do the shuffling, I don't try to manipulate anything and I read the cards as I think they should be read, and usually involve the other person in interpritation.
I really don't understand the people who actually fake it on a regular basis for money and they actually try to make the people getting the reading BELIEVE it is real. A lot of those poor people take it seriously, worry over the bad readings, get false hopes over the good ones, make decisions based on it, and spend their needed cash on it. I couldn't stomach myself if I did that for a living. It sounds like easy money, but I just couldn't respect myself. I'd be haunted by guilt. In fact, if I thought that one reading of mine really affected anyone, I'd be feeling sick right now. I knew this one jerk who liked to pretend he had extrodinary powers, and so one day I let him give me a reading (no cards involved) for fun. I wasn't taking it seriously, but figured it might be fun and we were all so bored. He ended up offending me terribly when he said something rather cruel and I swear my chest is getting tight just thinking about it. Then he also filled my friend's head with BS and the sad thing is, my friend half-way believed him! I was upset with him partly because he had her dwelling on BS and partly because of what he'd said to me. I was even mad at my friend for believing what he said to her after what he'd said to me. It was terribly cold, and it was BS, so in my mind if she believed what he said to her, she must believe what he'd said to me. To think she could believe it offended me, as well. *sighs* Yeah, I don't need to dwell on this, it is making me angry.
Anyway, I don't judge people for taking money if they believe they are giving authentic readings, but I won't even do that at the moment because I don't trust my skill enough. If I was more confident with my readings I MIGHT. I don't know how I feel about that, but I don't judge others for doing it, as long as they try to be authentic. After they had me do my real readings (that was last year), my cousins told me I should charge and do it for parties. If the readings were genuine readings, I'd enjoy that, but I don't trust myself enough to charge money. I'd prob. do it for free, though. Out of curiosity, how much do people usually charge for that, anyway? I ask because I saw a lady around here at a few festivals doing readings and I was wondering if her price was average or not. She charged $10. I started to ask her for a reading because I like having other people read for me sometimes, but I really didn't have the money to spend on it, since I was low on cash, and me and my friend both read the cards. I figured I'd save the cash and let her read my friend readfor me instead.
