Client-led reading

[Healing Spirit]

I'm experimenting with a slightly different approach to readings, different to meat least.

I do a lot of work coaching and counselling people and want to apply a similar facilitative approach to Tarot.

Inspired by the book Heart of the Tarot (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1567180086) I want to have the client respond to what (s)he sees in the cards, with me facilitating the process as necessary.

Is anyone aware of any other resources that examine this approach, or does anyone have experience of working this way? I'd love to swap experiences.

Blessings, Light and Love,

Nic

 

[lionel]

Hello Spirit,

Awesome post. This is part of how I structure a good deal of my Tarot Lessons. I encourage the student to share their projections in relation to a card, and then we look at the symbolism to bridge their impressions with more common interpretations. This can be very informative, healing, teaching, and inspirational - the whole bag. It really helps them work through their personal messes to read clearly for other people.

Sometimes its incredible - Someone will see the Lion in the Strength card 'eating' the woman, and its a process of reality checking and reviewing our relationships to different parts of ourselves.

There are some great books on tarot and counseling. I have one I've enjoyed so far(I admit, I haven't read it all yet) named 'Tarot and Psychology' by Arthur Rosengarten. 'Tarot and Individuation' by Irene Gad is a Jungian psychological approach to the cards incorporating many different symbolic systems.

 

[Healing Spirit]

Lionel

Many thanks for emntioning those two books; I'm off to Amazon to have a look!

Blessings, Light and Love,

Nic

 

[nisaba]

I suppose you could use the deck as a sort of elaborate and different Rorschach Test, rather than a reading-tool, which seems to be what you are describing. I wouldn't mess with it unless I had clinical qualifications, though - using your own psyche, you are not running as much of a risk of causing harm. I've been in the presence of people abreacting to different kinds of psychological work, and it ain't pretty (and leads to lawsuits).

 

[Healing Spirit]

nisaba

You are absolutely right about not using this method unless you have the counselling/coaching/psychology tools to be able to deal with whatever comes up!

 

[Aerin]

Mary Greer takes a facilitative approach to reading (from what I have read of her work). If you haven't checked out her books or her blog then it would be worth your while.

I have the Rosengarten book and can also recommend it.

 

[PsychicLord]

My new Oracle-X cards were designed to be a tool to be used however their owner wished.

The cards are well suited to this approach, especially as they encourage the user (reader, or client) to learn to access their intuiton.This allows the user to drawn on her/his own intuitive and interpretative skills.

Once learnt, like riding a bicycle, never forgotten.

 

[Satori]

Oftentimes I have invited people to comment on what they see in a card. But I admit, I don't like having someone do their reading for me.

I'm all for collaboration, and at the same time, I had a facilitative reading done for me by a "Tarot Star" and it wasn't really satisfying at all. I walked away feeling cheated. I had spent a lot of money and I think that my reader spent less than 5 minutes giving me any insights. And the insights I was given were based on my own reading. Uh, how is that a reading? It wasn't. It was more of a study group, especially since I was a reader already, and the star spent most of their time listening....to me, another professional reader.

If people are into it, it is nice to have someone look at the card, and at the same time, I think there are people who feel that when they get to poke around the card they begin looking at you like, well that was easy, why am I paying you to do this for me?

If I ask someone to look at the cards and give me feedback I ask for specific information. I ask for them to show me the one image that most draws their eye. I might ask for them to show me their favorite part of the card, and the one I use the most is whether the sun is rising or setting, is the person leaving or arriving, is the action beginning or ending. Yes. Is the glass half full.....

And I obviously use that info in the reading.

Personally, I only think facilitative reading should be done for specific circumstances, and further, I don't know if you can really say that you are doing divination at that point.

 

[Healing Spirit]

satori

You may well be right about not calling a client-led reading "divination". It is not an issue that I have really considered as I think more in terms of "insights" rather "divination".

The client taking owenrship of the insights they have gained is important to me and I believe that they are just as likely to gain insights from the impressions the cards trigger in them as those triggered in me.

TO provide a little clarity; I'm not talking about the "reader" sitting back and just asking "what does that image convey to you". It's much more involvement than that, based on counselling and coaching skills.

Otherwise, as you write, the client may as well save their money and do their own reading.

Blessings, Light and Love,

Nic

 

[Alta]

I am sorry that I cannot recall if it were Mary Greer or Rachel Pollack, but one of them said that they do readings exclusively this way.

I will do readings where it is just me speaking but enjoy doing highly interactive readings. It has been a wonderful experience to watch someone key in on elements in a card and it always seems to be a helpful idea they have. Now this would be with folks who have no knowledge of tarot, with a fellow tarotista it wouldn't work like that as much.