Keeping it lighthearted

[greenseer]

Cenozoic, so would you suggest focusing on asking lighthearted questions to keep the readings fun and casual?

Barleywine, I'll try and keep everyone up to date from now on haha!

Funnily enough, I seem to get on fine with death and the devil, I would even go as far to say that death is one of my favourite cards. Swords are what I mostly struggle with. I'm hoping that as I get to know tarot and my deck more in depth, I'll be able to see the softer side of, say, the 10 of swords (the picture of the buffalo with swords in its back and eyes doesn't evoke the warmest feelings).

 

[ravenest]

Hey, if you're going to invent a new method of divination, at least tell us which end of the baby to start at!

My Tarot stall at the markets used to have a shop section ... all sorts of stuff including Tibetan stuff, like tingshaws. A couple with a little baby in arms were looking at them, bubba seemed fascinated and delighted so I showed him the tingshaws and dinged them - more delighted and his hand went out to them, so I gave them to him. Then I noticed he looked very Asian, and parents didnt, he had looked like a little Buddha, even had darkish skin. I said , 'He looks like a little Buddha." They replied a few friends said that too, and that there were no Asians in the recent family tree. Bubba didnt want to hand the tingshaw back ... he fought them and screamed. They were shocked as they said that was very unusual behaviour. I said he should keep them. But they handed them back when they managed to get them off him. He wasnt happy!

So, to answer the question ... the whole baby.

My experience as well, and it puts you, the reader, squarely on the spot. They don't necessarily give up their empowering content easily. There are constructive ways to read Death or The Devil, but you may have to muck about in them a bit to come up with it. For example, if he or she is in a bad way, Death could mean an end to that and the beginning of recovery. If someone is deceiving them, The Devil could help them recognize that and deal with it. It's kind of like the mathematical principle of two negatives added together make a positive.

Cant wait to LRichard reads that

 

[ravenest]

Cenozoic, so would you suggest focusing on asking lighthearted questions to keep the readings fun and casual?

Barleywine, I'll try and keep everyone up to date from now on haha!

Funnily enough, I seem to get on fine with death and the devil, I would even go as far to say that death is one of my favourite cards. Swords are what I mostly struggle with. I'm hoping that as I get to know tarot and my deck more in depth, I'll be able to see the softer side of, say, the 10 of swords (the picture of the buffalo with swords in its back and eyes doesn't evoke the warmest feelings).

Yes, thats not uncommon. The 10 of swords ... on a real basic level is ; too much thought that is unrelated to the aim or result needed; thought focusing on other things that lead one away from a clear solution - ie. into confusion.

If it came up badly aspected I would refer the person to the 6 of swords * , even if it wasnt in the reading, as a possible solution.

* http://www.eli-lsmerchantile.com/bl...74_csupload_49851249.jpg?u=635126881920296210

Note now, how the swords are 6 in number ( a more balanced expression and in the middle of the series and the related Tree of Life) and how all the swords are pointing in the same direction , at the 'heart' of the matter in question, from different directions.

That shows variant aspects of the mind or 'views' concentrating on and directed towards the subject matter.

Again ... Liber Librae:

" To obtain Magical Power, learn to control thought; admit only those ideas that are in harmony with the end desired, and not every stray and contradictory Idea that presents itself.

"Fixed thought is a means to an end. Therefore pay attention to the power of silent thought and meditation. The material act is but the outward expression of thy thought, and therefore hath it been said that "the thought of foolishness is sin." Thought is the commencement of action, and if a chance thought can produce much effect, what cannot fixed thought do? "

The opposite of this seems to be the 10 ...

http://www.corax.com/tarot/cards/thoth/swords-10.jpg

Here they are focused on the heart (sword hilt) of the matter but in a negative overtly critical way ... too much critical energy. The heart sword is starting to break up and is shattered.

Here http://shadesofmidnight.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/7-of-swords-thoth1.jpg

the variant negative aspects are exposed, each sword relating to a negative power of a planet in the realm of mentation.

I guess swords are a bit like exploratory surgery ... its unpleasant, but at least you can find out what's wrong inside.

 

[Cenozoic]

Cenozoic, so would you suggest focusing on asking lighthearted questions to keep the readings fun and casual?

I wouldn't suggest just keeping all questions lighthearted. Even if something sounds negative, you can always explain it in a fun way. It's how you say and approach something. I frequently impersonate or create a scenario while reading for others, so I act things out for the other person to understand what I'm trying to get at. So even if the situation is negative or serious, when I act it out it's really fun, and it'll get the message across (imagine acting as a serious parent, boss, or partner/spouse, it can be really funny). But this is just my personal approach (and that I'm a pretty bad actor too).

 

[Barleywine]

Swords are what I mostly struggle with. I'm hoping that as I get to know tarot and my deck more in depth, I'll be able to see the softer side of, say, the 10 of swords (the picture of the buffalo with swords in its back and eyes doesn't evoke the warmest feelings).

I don't think you'll ever get to a "warm, fuzzy" place with Swords. About the best you can do is make your peace with them. They are elemental Air, primary mental energy - anaylitical, calculating, decisive (or indecisive), intellectual as opposed to emotional, fair-minded but also merciless, swift, argumentative, dry, inconstant, irresponsible, carefree, capricious, abstracted, critical, mercurial, impatient, restless, subtle, hard to pin down, crafty, duplicitous - there are a lot of negative concepts mixed in with the positive - sort of a mixed bag. But if I had to pick only one of those, it would be "subtle," and it can be hard to tell whether that subtlety operates for good or ill. If you're a fan of Game of Thrones, think "Littlefinger." They often tell me about anxiety and indecision in a reading, or some kind of a quandary. But if not weighed down with worries and responsibilities, they can also be entertaining in casual surroundings. The cards that are lower in the number sequence - Ace through 6 - mostly have a less negative vibe because of their perceived purity, being closer to the "Source" (but watch out for that 5!). I use a deck that has marginally illustrated "pip" cards (the Thoth) , so I don't have to struggle with the artist's vision too strenuously.

 

[ravenest]

I wouldn't suggest just keeping all questions lighthearted. Even if something sounds negative, you can always explain it in a fun way. It's how you say and approach something. I frequently impersonate or create a scenario while reading for others, so I act things out for the other person to understand what I'm trying to get at. So even if the situation is negative or serious, when I act it out it's really fun, and it'll get the message across (imagine acting as a serious parent, boss, or partner/spouse, it can be really funny). But this is just my personal approach (and that I'm a pretty bad actor too).

Great!

I want a personal reading off you!

 

[Barleywine]

Great!

I want a personal reading off you!

Me too! That makes me think of the Monty Python sketch where the residents of Happy Valley "tenaciously frolicked away" because they weren't permitted by law to be discouraged or malcontent. Or Hamlet kicking up his heels and cackling gleefully! Sorry, I'll calm down now . . . that IS an interesting approach that probably has to be seem to be appreciated. I usually accomplish the same thing by using allegorical "what-if" scenarios, which serve to depersonalize the import of negative observations. I let querents draw their own conclusions from the message, think about it a bit, and then come back with questions. They're usually inspired to do so, and we move on from there.

 

[Barleywine]

My Tarot stall at the markets used to have a shop section ... all sorts of stuff including Tibetan stuff, like tingshaws. A couple with a little baby in arms were looking at them, bubba seemed fascinated and delighted so I showed him the tingshaws and dinged them - more delighted and his hand went out to them, so I gave them to him. Then I noticed he looked very Asian, and parents didnt, he had looked like a little Buddha, even had darkish skin. I said , 'He looks like a little Buddha." They replied a few friends said that too, and that there were no Asians in the recent family tree. Bubba didnt want to hand the tingshaw back ... he fought them and screamed. They were shocked as they said that was very unusual behaviour. I said he should keep them. But they handed them back when they managed to get them off him. He wasnt happy!

So, to answer the question ... the whole baby.



Cant wait to LRichard reads that

Errr . . . make that multiplied together? I lost my sign-juggling skills somewhere along the road. I think I better edit that post . . .

 

[nisaba]

and I was just wondering if anyone has ever struggled with keeping readings lighthearted?

It's not about being light-hearted - it's about being useful. If "negative" or perhaps more accurately, challenging stuff comes up, I deal with it. I use the cards combined with my own common sense to nut out courses of action that might improve the querent's lot in life, now or in the future.

That's what readers and readings are for, isn't it?

Have you ever got a negative reading for someone in a casual reading?

Yes.

 

[Barleywine]

It's not about being light-hearted - it's about being useful. If "negative" or perhaps more accurately, challenging stuff comes up, I deal with it. I use the cards combined with my own common sense to nut out courses of action that might improve the querent's lot in life, now or in the future.

That's what readers and readings are for, isn't it?


Yes.

When we aren't hired to do birthday parties along with the clowns and balloon-twisters! No, you're absolutely right. I never read for entertainment value, I'm just not wired that way. (I must cultivate your knack for "laser analysis." As usual, pithy and precise. Maybe I'll coin a phrase . . ."pithing my points"