Improving Self Reading

[Kosjitov]

Perhaps this sounds silly, but I find it easier to read for other people than for myself. I currently cleanse my deck before readings and shuffle with the query held strongly in my mind. My dragon tarot deck is the one I've chosen to read for myself with and I am journaling with it on and off. I do use spreads with positions. Yet... it still seems to escape me for meanings.

Suggestions for improving my own accuracy for self readings? Getting a deck to "wake up" and speak in a way I understand again?

 

[SloughSister]

I am going to reply, and be un-useful - except to say that, boy, howdy, am I right there with you. I've totally thrown reading for myself right out the window. It's so satisfying to Get It when I read for others. And so murky and confusing when I try for myself. I'd been resistant to the one-card draws I used to do years ago but I suspect they might be part of the solution here.

 

[gregory]

Joins SloughSister on the unhelpful bench.

I don't read for myself - not least because i suspect I would only cheat; find some OTHER area of my life the reading fits if I don't like it as an answer to the question, and so on. I find it FAR harder than reading for others.

You are Not Alone but I think one carders would work best, maybe.

 

[BodhiSeed]

Well, you might try "backward readings". Do a spread that looks back at your day, and journal about that. For instance: 1) What did I do well today, 2) What do I need to improve upon, 3) The wisdom of the day.
Or a five card spread: 1) Me today (card in the middle) 2-5) What surrounded me today (cards on the four corners of #1).
Sometimes I have to figure out how a deck responds to me personally. For instance I noticed when I drew the 9 of Wands I often had migraines. Hope this helps a bit!

 

[Kosjitov]

Well, you might try "backward readings". Do a spread that looks back at your day, and journal about that. For instance: 1) What did I do well today, 2) What do I need to improve upon, 3) The wisdom of the day.
Or a five card spread: 1) Me today (card in the middle) 2-5) What surrounded me today (cards on the four corners of #1).
Sometimes I have to figure out how a deck responds to me personally. For instance I noticed when I drew the 9 of Wands I often had migraines. Hope this helps a bit!

Honest to the powers that be, I will do *anything* to read with this deck and garner wisdom for myself. It was my first and when I didn't know the first thing about tarot and spreads I understood it more than I do now. Now it... just doesn't speak.

Sounds like a good thing to try. Seems I'll be doing this for a while. I like the backwards reading idea.

 

[Chiriku]

Perhaps you could go through a deck card by card (face-up, non-randomly), as many in one sitting as you have the time to spare, and make lists of the mental images from your life and environment that spring to mind from the image, almost like your own personal tarot meanings book, a la Anthony Louis' TAROT PLAIN AND SIMPLE. Then, when you eventually do random draws and full-scale readings, you will already have a mental dictionary that applies to your life.

For instance, you could take a deck and observe:

"This Princess of Disks really puts me in mind of my mother and my best friend Tom."
"This Four of Cups image really resonates with how I feel when I am obstinately refusing something I know to be good for me but am secretly to afraid to try."

Then, later, when those cards come up for you in a reading, you can have a sort of pre-determined guideline for how they might relate to your life.

This would probably work best with scenic minors, I'd imagine.

And there is a danger in limiting oneself to a pre-determined meaning. But that danger exists whenever one learns tarot as a fixed lexicon instead of using the images as jumping-off point for interpretation on the fly.

 

[Asbestos Mango]

Can't say I've had this problem, unless it's a particular deck that either doesn't speak to me or refuses to talk to me (my go deck will not give me a coherent reading when I'm at home).

I've found it helpful to ask the Holy Spirit/the Universe/the Universal Unconscious/whatever higher power or consciousness you invoke "What do I need to know about myself today?" This seems to work a lot better than asking for predictions.

 

[Zechariah13]

Perhaps this sounds silly, but I find it easier to read for other people than for myself. I currently cleanse my deck before readings and shuffle with the query held strongly in my mind. My dragon tarot deck is the one I've chosen to read for myself with and I am journaling with it on and off. I do use spreads with positions. Yet... it still seems to escape me for meanings.

Suggestions for improving my own accuracy for self readings? Getting a deck to "wake up" and speak in a way I understand again?

no. but i do have advice. Do the reading, and then have someone experienced in tarot look at it, not even knowing details of the situation. They may not be spot on, but they WILL see things that you would have ignored.

 

[Kosjitov]

no. but i do have advice. Do the reading, and then have someone experienced in tarot look at it, not even knowing details of the situation. They may not be spot on, but they WILL see things that you would have ignored.

The key is to improve self, not rely on others to translate for eternity. I do use the Xchange and the other forum. However, I would not want to monopolize others to interpret readings for me. But I appreciate the effort all the same Zechariah

 

[Zechariah13]

The key is to improve self, not rely on others to translate for eternity. I do use the Xchange and the other forum. However, I would not want to monopolize others to interpret readings for me. But I appreciate the effort all the same Zechariah

Well, then i suppose you could keep a detailed journal of every reading you ever do for yourself and at the end of the day re-read everything youve ever written about yourself to see if there is some pattern between card appearance, position or combination and the events or repsonses youve had during the day. But then again, thats true for getting better at tarot in general.