Reading for others without consent

[satine]

I believe that if your heart is in the right place, it's fine to do readings about other people-- how they are doing, what they might be dealing with right now, and so forth. If you are using the tarot for your own or another person's spiritual development and growth, then you have to recognize that we are all connected in different ways. No man or woman is an island. That said, even if you are reading for just yourself or another person who is sitting right there asking you to do a reading, you are going into questionable territory when you start using the tarot for superficial fortune-telling. This is the line you wouldn't want to cross in my opinion. If it feels like you are using the cards for a solely earthly purpose, then you should probably step back and take an honest look at your (or the other person's) motives, what you want to accomplish by the reading, etc.

 

[Sophie]

I THINK what this thread was about was people ASKING about other people as much as anything ? And I do think that's a bit off. Like snooping.

I disagree with you - I think it natural to ask about other people. We do it all the time:

- "Hey, how are you?"
- "Great, thanks, and you?"
- "Ticking along. Tell me, how's Joe? I haven't seen him around."
- "Not so great. I think he and his wife are having problems. He seems really depressed."
- "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Maybe that's why he's not answered my emails. I wonder if I can do anything for him at the moment."
- "Well, you could suggest a fishing trip. He used to enjoy that, remember? Or maybe just a quiet drink somewhere."
- "Yeah, you're right. I'll call him when I get home."


So - this is snooping? I hope if I am ever Joe my friends will snoop on me in this way - including asking all these questions to a pack of tarot cards if that's what they do.

 

[Sulis]

That said, even if you are reading for just yourself or another person who is sitting right there asking you to do a reading, you are going into questionable territory when you start using the tarot for superficial fortune-telling. This is the line you wouldn't want to cross in my opinion. If it feels like you are using the cards for a solely earthly purpose, then you should probably step back and take an honest look at your (or the other person's) motives, what you want to accomplish by the reading, etc.

What do you mean by 'superficial fortune telling' and by 'using the cards for a solely earthly purpose'?

I would say that most people who go to a tarot reader for a reading are interested in mundane matters.. Yes there are spiritual people out there and occasionally I get a request for a more spiritual reading but most people want to know about their relationships or about money or something else that is far from spiritual.

I tend to do as others who've responded here do and I encourage sitters to phrase their questions so that the reading focuses on themselves, they are the only ones that they can change so a reading focused on someone else usually isn't as useful.
Asking 'What do I need to know about my relationship with my boyfriend?' is far more useful and empowering than asking 'does he love me?' or 'What does he think about me?'. If folks come to me with questions like that then I work with them to rephrase the question.

 

[gregory]

I disagree with you - I think it natural to ask about other people. We do it all the time:

- "Hey, how are you?"
- "Great, thanks, and you?"
- "Ticking along. Tell me, how's Joe? I haven't seen him around."
- "Not so great. I think he and his wife are having problems. He seems really depressed."
- "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Maybe that's why he's not answered my emails. I wonder if I can do anything for him at the moment."
- "Well, you could suggest a fishing trip. He used to enjoy that, remember? Or maybe just a quiet drink somewhere."
- "Yeah, you're right. I'll call him when I get home."


So - this is snooping? I hope if I am ever Joe my friends will snoop on me in this way - including asking all these questions to a pack of tarot cards if that's what they do.

You know- that's odd. I know just what you are saying. But the idea of READING for someone for information about someone else seems more intrusive somehow. Maybe because it is seeking info that isn't known in the same way.... A bit like going through private papers ?

I shall have to go away and think about this. Damn.

But I do know quite a few people who HATE to be talked about when they aren't there.... I suppose what we have to be careful with is not to GOSSIP through the cards, too.... ("ooh, read the cards last night and that Mrs Biggles down the road seems to be having it off with the Prime Minister. Can't say I admire her taste, but let's tell the Mirror and get £5000 for the story....")

I think it boils down to where you draw the line....?

 

[firecatpickles]

What about information that comes up & you aren't asking for it? I wouldn't share this with a sitter, but in personal readings this has come up often. Hard to just "turn it off" then, isn't it?

 

[gregory]

I don't think there's a lot you can do about that except be careful how you use it....

 

[Sophie]

I think it boils down to where you draw the line....?

And that depends on two things: intent, and the wisdom to know where to go, how far, and when to draw back. I don't have a recipe for that one, I think it very much depends on circumstances and intuition - and tact. Fortunately, reading tarot about 3rd persons (or talking to mutual friends) is not regulated by law. We are allowed to be flexible.


I think we should always be careful in how we use knowledge, even when specifically asked!

 

[Seafra]

I just posted a reading about a third party. There's not a guilty bone in my body.

There is reading for others out of concern and reading for others because you want the scoop/advantage/weak spot (sooo unethical imo).

Just googled the Hippocratic Oath and am posting the beginning of same.

Hippocratic Oath -- Classical Version

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.

(This version ends with this)

If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

---------------------

As above, so below.

Almost sounds like the goal of members of AT, no?

Blessings - Seafra

 

[MareSaturni]

If it feels like you are using the cards for a solely earthly purpose

I don't see why is it bad to use tarot for earthly purposes. We live in an earthly reality - at least i do. Why is it right to peek in another spiritual life and a truly SIN to see how another is doing in an earthly level?
Makes no sense to me at all, since for me, all sides of life - emotional, material, spiritual, intelectual, social, etc etc. - are equally important.