What makes a reading "accurate" to you?

[berrieh]

Interesting. I suppose we attract Sitters that are like us. My Sitters who return, all speak to accuracy (at least on some level). As a Sitter, I cannot imagine going back to a reader who was entirely wrong every time they read... nor finding their reading helpful if that was the case. Now, sometimes I get a Sitter who wants to examine something where 'accuracy' doesn't really play in as much, but that is decided beforehand... not determined after the fact.

To me, as a Reader, what makes a reading valuable is what the Sitter considers valuable at the time of the reading. I like to meet expectations first and foremost... if I can help beyond that, so much the better, but to me, disregarding accuracy would be disregarding what the Sitter has come for, in many circumstances. (And that seems more ego-driven than reading for accuracy, from my point of view, because it's me disregarding their values.)

 

[Baroli]

It seems to me you want a finite answer to something that may not have one. I can only judge by what the sitter told me. What you want, it seems to me, is to split hairs down to the atom on an answer and I do not believe there may be an answer. But I will defer to those who may be able to give better info. than I.


baroli

PS. Edited my last post.

 

[WaterSong]

Thank you very much for taking so much time to explain to me and others here, magenta. I really appreciate your doing that.

I am glad Solitaire, I thought that examples would work better, eventhough I went on babbling as always...

It's interesting that you mention this tarot reader kept a very detailed journal of card combinations. This reminds me of the way Lenormand cards are read. I've just been learning that in Italy and other parts of Europe, it's card combinations that reveal information and that Tarot cards aren't used as often over there as playing cards or Lenormand style cards are. Was this reader in Italy or here in America? I'm very interested in the concept of reading by focusing more on card combinations and I'll be devoting a lot of my time to studying that method in the near future. It's been less than 8 years that I've been reading cards so I consider myself pretty new at it, so I'm anxious to learn new things as I go along.

She was from Peru, a highly spiritual country were I met very skilled readers ...their culture is a mix of Spanish/gypsy/ african ( they had slaves there too, working in the sugar cane fields) and the native Indians, who have their own spiritual tradition, very powerful(they do divination with coca leaves and other means)...so these traditions have blended ...this particular lady followed what I beleive to be a gypsy/spanish Tarot tradition because of the books she showed me....I wish I had known then how inmportant the Tarot would have become for me and jotted down the titles, but what I remember is that in those books there were combination of cards that said different things in lenght and depth, as many others she had all over her bedroom(she was also quite a character)...during readings she would jump off the table and run and come back all excited to show me the combination "See? See? look what it says here!!" and I would look and don't have a clue, but I tried to learn...she also had come up with her own combinations( she started reading when she was 11 and at the time was 60) and was a bit psychic on top of everything....

She used the Tarot of Marseilles and would lay out a huge spread and would also use numerology, she uses number combinations...."Look number 15 is close to number 4...it says that..." and I was ...duh......

So her Tarot reading belongs to a different tradition and culture were I now see accuracy and divination are the main goal....Tarot readers are expected to be accurate or they would not have customers....people in latin cultures don't have the habit of "going to counselling", that is more of an american, anglosaxon habit...for that they talk with their friends and family or their priest....social life is still very active and there is a big sense of community still, social isolation is not a malady yet....the majority of people also grow up with a beleif in the spiritual side of life and they accept it as a natural factor...it is common for people to talk about they dreams and what they could have been predicting or to discuss ghosts and other issues with no fear of being looked at a bit suspiciously....if you know the books of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende you would have an idea of what I am talking about....so, at the end, a Tarot reader that only gives lots of good advice is looked at as a "babbler"....people also expect facts and precise guidance or data....what partner in this company should I really trust?
Will I get my visa to go to X? What can I do to make my business flourish and grow?
Will I be able to rebuild my house/my business/to find a job?

In these countries people face so many challenges everyday, life is not guranteed and stability and continuity are just words in the vucabulary...people are struggling every day with very volitile, changing conditions so they don't care much if the patterns of color and shape in their readings seems to show that they have anger issues...they want to know that tomorrow there is hope and there is life, and that in the middle of destruction and death, they have some sort of navigating light....

I wish I could tell you about the books Solitaire, but you can look into the Gypsy tradition, they do use card combination and is more geared towards divination....I beleive that being able to blend both traditions would make a terrific reader, both approaches have value and truth in it....also in Italy there is similar tradition, divination was very much part of Tarot reading and is still used that fashion today....

I know that Kathleen McCormack has studied the Tarot focusing on the gypsy tradition....maybe you could look at her books...

Solitaire, I have had reading done by you and I loved them...very...accurate

xoxoxoxooxo

 

[The crowned one]

Yes, the sitter. They are the goal. Not me, not the table that I sit at, the sitter is the goal. I don't worry about accuracy, I don't add up my "accuracy points" (nicely put Solitaire), and I don't advertise on a bill board my "accuracy".

Baroli

That is a good point and with your single statement " the sitter" you answered half of the eqaution of "what makes a reading accurate to you" for me.

Simple is often best, and Baroli's opinion is simple and as it applies to her likely works brilliantly.

 

[WaterSong]

Simple is often best, and Baroli's opinion is simple and as it applies to her likely works brilliantly.

Not necessarily, TCO....that is a statement that is culturally determined and also your own personal preference...in some other cultures elaboration and explaining carefully the points we are making are considered of importance...so, lets keep that in mind...for some people just saying "this is that" is not enough....Why is that so?
What makes you think that is so?


I personally don't take at face value definitive statements without having truly understood them and having taken the work to unravel the motivation behind them...it is not enough( and this does not reflect upon you Baroli, I understand where you are coming from) for me to be told what is best or what the point is...I want to know why you think that is the point....and because there is not just one tradition or approach to reading the Tarot...( by the way the Tarot originated in the "Old Continent"(some say Egypt) and was used a long time there before it even got to this new lands...so, there must be something of value and truth in investigating and learning about those "old" ways", specially because they seem to work as a charm)

xoxoox

 

[Grizabella]

Solitaire, I have had reading done by you and I loved them...very...accurate

Thank you very much for the compliment, magenta. I appreciate it.

So far I think you're the one who has done the most to answer the actual question at the start of this thread---"what is accurate to you?" I see the thread is trying to take a turn back around to people arguing whether accuracy is important or not, but you've done a very good job of giving good answers on topic. I'm very interested in what people consider "accuracy".

I think the word "accuracy" kind of explains itself. As it applies to a Tarot reader, I've always thought it mean giving facts that the reader doesn't or couldn't know except from the cards and the connection between them (the reader), Spirit and the cards. And of course, it probably also means making predictions about future happenings that actually come to pass.

If I were to put my focus on being accurate instead of just trying to read the cards to the best of my ability to help the sitter, I'd probably freeze up. It would be like I was standing on the "hose" that brings me information and choking off the flow.

Now, instead of that meaning I don't care about accuracy, of course I care about accuracy along the way. The point I've tried to make about myself is that if accuracy were my uppermost goal, I wouldn't have much of it. Spirit/Higher Power/God/Goddess works with those who are willing to become a channel for good. He/She/It doesn't work freely with those who are reading cards with a primary focus of accuracy because that's a selfish goal and they're "standing on the hose". Accuracy for the sake of helping one's fellow man/woman is necessary, of course, but accuracy for the sake of saying "Hey, come hire me to read for you because I'm really accurate" and hoping to get big dollars as a result is not an altruistic goal.

Let's put it this way. I'm thankful for whatever accuracy I'm allowed to have but my focus is on helping my sitters to the best of my ability through allowing Spirit to speak to me through the cards with the message I'm supposed to give to my sitter. Therefore, I can't take credit for accuracy. All I can take credit for is getting my "self" (over-inflated ego) out of the way enough so that Spirit can give accurate information through me. Sometimes I succeed at that better than at other times and sometimes there's nothing given to me because I'm not the one who is supposed to pass the information on.

What is "accuracy" to you?

 

[The crowned one]

Not necessarily, TCO....that is a statement that is culturally determined and also your own personal preference...in some other cultures elaboration and explaining carefully the points we are making are considered of importance...so, lets keep that in mind...for some people just saying "this is that" is not enough....Why is that so?
What makes you think that is so?


I personally don't take at face value definitive statements without having truly understood them and having taken the work to unravel the motivation behind them...it is not enough( and this does not reflect upon you Baroli, I understand where you are coming from) for me to be told what is best or what the point is...I want to know why you think that is the point....and because there is not just one tradition or approach to reading the Tarot...( by the way the Tarot originated in the "Old Continent"(some say Egypt) and was used a long time there before it even got to this new lands...so, there must be something of value and truth in investigating and learning about those "old" ways", specially because they seem to work as a charm)

xoxoox

I said as it applies to her not you or me.

She has likely defined it in her mind and has reduced it to this one statement...not that I am speaking for her, just taking a guess at her rational behind the short statement

 

[Sophie]

Not necessarily, TCO....that is a statement that is culturally determined and also your own personal preference...in some other cultures elaboration and explaining carefully the points we are making are considered of importance...so, lets keep that in mind...for some people just saying "this is that" is not enough....Why is that so?
What makes you think that is so?

That is my thought too - as are my thoughts about this discussion on accuracy. Everything you say about the differences in cultures I endorse, Magenta. I am myself from a Latin (francophone) culture, and only marginally anglo-saxon - factual predictions and accuracy are important to us, as well as advice that is detailed (based on the cards). We find practical knowledge and spiritual wisdom more empowering than counselling or psycho-babble.

 

[The crowned one]

magenta and Fudugazi, you two have lost me. I am only talking about how this idea presented applies to the person making the statement. Baroli told us what makes for a accurate reading to her. I observed that it is a simple statement that works for her and covered 1/2 of what I use to gauge accuracy in my readings. Nothing more.

Sorry I was not clearer.

I was not validating it or detracting from it. I was admiring its simplicity.

All the opinions presented so far are interesting to me and worth the time to read. I agree more with some then others, but as opinions they are valid wither we agree or not. " Accurate to you" that is what she gave us. I gave my opinion much earlier in the post (twice and it changed too based on what I read here.)

 

[Alta]

TCO, I agree that 'accuracy', as being used by we tarot readers, is fairly different than its strict sense. I agree that 'accuracy' here may have a somewhat fluid meaning depending on how the individual experiences the reading process.

In its strict sense, it would have to refer to a quantifiable event, with statistical scoring. Clearly that isn't possible, except for such statements as "You have six children". And, a statement such as "You will have six children" is unbound in time, and could refer to metaphorically to artistic works or even pets as is sometimes experienced. Accurate? possibly.... but never definitively.

Like some of the other posters, I don't find it useful as a single tool to judge a reading, mostly because of the time element, the level of uncertainty and the possibility of metaphor.

That is just my answer to how *I* perceive accuracy with respect to tarot readings.

Marion