Risk

[Knightward]

One thing you need to consider, is as Tarot Readers, we tend to have an ability which develops as we get better to face and acept the darker aspects of ourselves, we acknowledge our Shadow and slowly, I think, as we age become comfortable with it.

Most people have a difficult time due to social programing or whatever to accept their darker aspects, and so when left alone with them, fear them and ponder what is wrong with them.

Some seekers only ask for a Reading to illuminate various aspects of their lives. The ones who are so scared that several of their life decisions rest on the balance of what you tell them - are a much larger risk. Sadly, unless you are very good at reading people, you will probably not know which is which.

When talking to people, Body Language, Eye contact, voice Pitch (consistant or no) and the amount of pause between certain words can give away alot of what the person is thinking or feeling. Its an important aspect to any reader to know when you are in over your head so to speak.

For the people who can not accept there are two sides to everything and that things must always be good and go right tend to be in for a very rough awakening. Life does not function like that. There is a Risk when facing such people.

Sure, Thier Tower is toppled because the Lightning casts light on what they need to see, and they certainaly gain new perspective, but it can be a very long fall to the ground after the floor of that tower gives out under your feet. Sometimes people adjust and deal with it effectively, and sometimes, they can't and it proves to much for them, and they - like the tower, crumble.

I realize this is long winded. But the question I feel is a consulting question more then having anything to do with Cards per se' it is directly related to how you handle clients. As a Reader, people are placing alot of hope/trust/etc in what you may or may not see - esp if they are upset when they request the reading. That is the Risk. not the cards, nor the reading - but the actual interaction with another living Soul.

 

[Lady Orchard]

Interesting thoughts Aoife.

Somebody did a reading for me here recently and it suggested a lot of negativity in the future. She was worried about interpreting it for me and karmic obligation, especially as it was an issue I felt vulnerable over.
Although I wouldn't make any major decisions based on the cards, I admire that she told me this first. I expect that everybody on this forum is very good and moral in that sense, as they are here because they want to learn seriously.

But I agree that a reading could possibly have a big effect on somebody. Before I got into Tarot I had a very good live reading in Oct 04; he told me that my then relationship would end by xmas & I would meet somebody new the following March. Sure enough, both those things happened at those times. I have long since wondered whether my future was already set in stone, or whether I made it become a self fulfilling prophecy. Was my mind and heart more open to meeting somebody in March because of the reading? And what might have happened if he had relayed much more drastic changes to me?

However, as others have said - we are affected for good or ill by so many different people in our lives - parents, friends, partners, colleagues, strangers...tarot reader is just one more role. If somebody is vulnerable enough to make unwise changes or actions based on a reading, then they're probably doing the same based on words from "normal" people too.

 

[Alta]

ah, okay. I must have been having a 'brain-off' day yesterday. Wonderful thoughts Knightward, WalesWoman, Lady Orchard and everyone, and of course the thread starter Aiofe.

I now see your point Aoife. In my relatively limited experience, what concerns me most is the level of fear that folks bring to the reading. Not fear of the tarot so much as fear of what is happening in their lives at that point. Uncertainty, fear of loss, unfulfilled wishes.

Because folks seem to be living, in that moment, at the very edge of reality, they are sometimes close to edges which they should stay well away from for sanity's sake. Now that I understand your concept of risk, and constant self-evaluation (if I do now understand you properly) you may be speaking of our responsibility for folks in these extremely vulnerable points.

I have to agree. It is along the lines that psychiatrists and psychologists should always have their own counsellors, and for that matter pastoral care givers. Who guides the guide? Who keeps the advice giver balanced?

Self-evalution is a bit too self-referential, I think that others in life, Forums like this and others, continued reading and study are required to correct delusions, ego-based positions and the very stuff that makes tarot potentially dangerous to yourself and others.

Some folks are also very credulous, witness the folks who spend fortunes on readings and psychics, pretty well asking the same question over and over, hoping that the very asking will *make* the desired end occur. They are also in psychic danger, and folks like us who read and may come in contact with them must be very self-aware and not fall into the pit with them.

Yes, good thoughts.

 

[Asenath]

Seems they are speaking of the possiable impact that What we say can have on someone.

We have the ability, via communication to lift someone up, or to send them futher into dispair. Knowing which your doing is an important aspect to any reading.

I think that our vocabulary really impats what and how we communicate the readings. I remember posting a reading for myself on "Your Readings". One respondant replied explaining the reading better than I thought I did. Because the reading was for myself, I couldn't really say that my reading was inaccurate, but comparing the two texts, it would have appeared so, just because I couldn't /didn't clearly say what I meant.

 

[fyreflye]

You can't go wrong if you let clients do their own readings - that is, to keep your own comments minimal and neutral and proceed by asking questions about the card under consideration and by allowing the client to make up little stories about the characters and situations depicted. Tarot cards are mirrors into which the client can peer and see their own souls. The reader's job is to encourage them to look deeply into the mirror. For a really good book outlining this method I recommend Heart of Tarot: an Intuitive Approach, by Amber K. and Azrael Arynn K. This looks uncomfortably like one of those crappy "how to read" books that flood the market but I've found it to be the sanest approach imaginable for letting clients find their own way through a reading and accept responsibility for their own insights. If there's a problem it's that too many clients are looking for somebody to tell them what to do. Don't encourage them.

 

[Alta]

If there's a problem it's that too many clients are looking for somebody to tell them what to do. Don't encourage them.

I agree, or even worse, somehow magically *make* it happen.

 

[starrystarrynight]

Because folks seem to be living, in that moment, at the very edge of reality, they are sometimes close to edges which they should stay well away from for sanity's sake. Now that I understand your concept of risk, and constant self-evaluation (if I do now understand you properly) you may be speaking of our responsibility for folks in these extremely vulnerable points.

...which is why a great percentage of folks come for readings in the first place. (I would even say most people come at these kinds of times...) And as Marion points out, places a lot of responsibility on the reader's shoulders. How do we assess and labor under this responsibility, though?

If there's a problem it's that too many clients are looking for somebody to tell them what to do. Don't encourage them.

Exactly...

 

[Apollonia]

Personally, while I respect fyreflye's approach as valid for fyreflye, it is not my style to have the querent do the reading, and I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable asking them to pay for the privilege of interpreting their own cards back to me--why, then am I even there? I understand that dealing with people's desires, hopes, and fears is a daunting task, but if I get blamed for something, at least let it be something I actually said.

 

[firemaiden]

On the other hand, having been on the receiving end once, of a reading where someone really did take charge of my life for me at that moment, and was right, and it really helped my life, there is a to be said for the reader who has the insight, the compassion, and the skills to say the right thing at the right time.

 

[blackadder]

If there's a problem it's that too many clients are looking for somebody to tell them what to do. Don't encourage them.

I have to agree! Whenever I do a reading for someone that has limited knowledge of the tarot, I do caution them. I tell them to treat the reading like a piece of advise, just like they would get if they asked their family & friends about the situtation. The tarot can only give them advise about the situtation, but what they chose to do with it is their responsiblity.