The Altered State

[Laurelle]

When I do readings with or without cards, I have to be in an altered state. It's a basic meditation. It helps if I say a little "prayer" before hand, but I am definitely in a medative state.

I know some people read like a jigsaw puzzle, piecing things together to form sentences, etc. I find that challenging normally, for me.

Do you read in an altered state or do you view them as a puzzle that you can piece together without putting yourself in a semi-trance.

I have to note, the deeper the altered state, the more information I can gather. It's that place right outside your body that you can exist in momentarily while still remaining attached to your body. (I'm not crazy!)

 

[Padma]

Does it have to be one or the other? I read with a foot in either camp. I begin with the jigsaw puzzle, and let my basic card meanings and such connect me to the main overview. Once i have the frame fleshed out, I can then begin to allow my intuition take over, and then the flow of words just comes, unbidden. That is when my logical mind steps back, and I go into a bit of a flow trance.

 

[Aeric]

I do put myself in a kind of trance that I like to call my cardspace. I clear all distraction, turn off the phone, put on my ambient reading music, and prepare myself to concentrate on the reading. Sometimes I keep a notepad and pen nearby.

While I'm in this zone, it's like taking a test in school. My brain is completely focused on what's in front of me and there are no other casual thoughts intruding. Until I'm finished, Tarot is my only reality and there is nothing outside cardspace. Sometimes I feel detached from my body, like I'm floating somewhere an inch or two above my field of vision. The reading completely permeates every instant of my conscious self. All of my energy goes into it.

This can be very exhausting and I have to have a big glass of water and a small bite after. If I write things, on occasion the next day I glance down and see the pad and don't remember "seeing myself" write certain things, but there they are, I must have.

 

[Barleywine]

I do go into a light meditative state while the querent is shuffling and cutting the cards, doing a kind of silent mantra. This carries over into the first part of the reading where I'm pulling in a "big picture" or gestalt overview. When I get to the card-by-card and card combo analysis, I get decidedly more "clinical." However, if I have to shift gears and dig deeper into my intuition and subconscious impressions, I often "zone out" (or "in") again until I get a lock on the interpretation once more. In general, on those rare occasion when I read for myself, I'm not as bound to this since I have more time to contemplate and unravel the spread. In retrospect, though, I do believe that I experience a form of heightened or augmented awareness throughout the entire course of a reading, it's not just stacking things up like Lego blocks (or assembling a jigsaw puzzle).

 

[ravenest]

I am always in an altered state (and I am not crazy either ) .

 

[Barleywine]

I am always in an altered state (and I am not crazy either ) .

I think Zakk Wylde has your number

http://www.metrolyrics.com/crazy-or-high-lyrics-black-label-society.html

 

[Shade]

When I'm exchanging readings for cocktails, yes.

Also, I occasionally perform a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram before performing a Tarot reading and that generally does put me into a particularly open and elevated state.

I would try to combine the two but the bar patrons would probably take exception to the intonation of the Kabbalistic names.

 

[SwordOfTruth]

If I'm wanting to channel during my readings, like with my faerie rite readings I did recently then I will. Otherwise I don't if I'm doing a straight tarot reading, instead I just clear my aura but stay fully present in the here and now. Works both ways for me and I don't always want to put so much energy into it because it gets draining.

Also there's nothing wrong with flexing the neuron's while working with the cards either, pattern recognition, creative thinking, all of that.

 

[Laurelle]

Does it have to be one or the other? I read with a foot in either camp. I begin with the jigsaw puzzle, and let my basic card meanings and such connect me to the main overview. Once i have the frame fleshed out, I can then begin to allow my intuition take over, and then the flow of words just comes, unbidden. That is when my logical mind steps back, and I go into a bit of a flow trance.

I also do that, but I should work on combining them every single time.

 

[Laurelle]

Sometimes I feel detached from my body, like I'm floating somewhere an inch or two above my field of vision.

I'm so glad you wrote this, because that is exactly the way I describe it to people. I haven't really heard anyone else tell me this.