telephone readings

[mollymawk]

Ghaa! Not what I needed to hear, cos I am thinking of incorporating telephone readings into my practise.

If you're working for a company, Rebecca, remember there are more than one type out there.

And that the moon is void-of-course just now, which always throws my readings off a bit. Give it a few hours.

One telephone place (with lousy pay) had this script where you had to say you had 4 things to tell the person. I can't remember the 4 things, but they tried to justify it somehow--blech. I got through it, but it wasn't enjoyable. And the pay was probably sub-minimum-wage when it came right down to it.

The other place (which I also didn't enjoy, cos they wanted you to have clients call back a LOT) was easier--people already had paid for their accounts, so they'd call, and you'd talk about whatever they wanted to talk about, instead of trying to cram in all this information in about five minutes. Better, but I wasn't keen on the whole concept of encouraging tarot dependancy. Still, that was $60 an hour, as opposed to the maybe $6 per hour of the other place when it all added up.

Keep looking--you may just need to find a place that's a better match for you.

And if you are offering readings via e-mail, IM, even telephone, it can be a good idea to have the person's phone number. I had a near-suicide, a woman who rang me from another country and had already taken rather a large amount of barbituates--that was when I was working on my own. Had I not had the phone number, I wouldn't have been able to raise the alarm where she lived.

That was the most tense, but I've spent quite a bit of time doing the crisis-counselling thing--it will happen in this line of work, it's just the nature of the beast.

 

[magpie9]

I do phone readings quite often. I'm no crazy about them--I much prefer face-to-face. But, they're not bad. I do them very differently than regular readings.
I always use a headset--amazing difference in comfort level.
If I'm reading for a client I know from face-to-face, I will usually mention what cards come up, and what I'm noticing on them, etc, as I would do in a regular reading. But I don't think they get as much out of that when they can't see the cards, so I do keep it to a minimum, except with clients who are very card-conscious. With many clients, especially ones who I have never read for f-t-f, I never describe a card at all, and often don't mention them. Mostly, they just want the reading results, not the bones of it. They also tend to be more time-conscious than f-t-f readings, (maybe they're looking at a ticking clock?) which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, since I charge by the minute in f-t--f readings.
I don't use a spread at least half the time. I'll ask them what they want to know, maybe do a 3 card to establish that we're all on the same page, and then do direct question and answer, grabbing cards at "random" from the spread-out facedown deck. It's all very immediate, quick, and can go in any direction at any time, at need. Kind of like the difference between knitting and crocheting.
I hope some of this is useful to you
It's a different approach, but with a bit of practice, I'm sure you can do it, and well.

 

[Apocalipstick]

I tried doing phone readings part-time a few years ago and it was less than stellar. The place had an astrology message you were supposed to tie in with your readings, whether it made sense or not, to encourage clients to call the astrology line as well. Not very ethical at all, imo.

Overall, it was a rather assembly-line approach. It was emotionally exhausting, particularly in those instances where the last thing the caller should have been doing is calling a $5/minute number. With some people, I just wanted to say, "do yourself a favor and never call a tarot pay-per-minute line again!" It's amazing I lasted almost two months.

That being said, doing phone readings can be rewarding. It's just you and the cards and, as another poster said, you get immediate feedback. It can be a great learning experience. It might help to give some practice readings to friends before trying out for another phone place.

Good luck to you!

 

[Whiteroom]

I just attempted, and failed spectacularly in an interview for telephone readings. HA!

Hi
Just cos you 'failed' that time doesn't mean its not right for you. With Tarot its practice, practice and practice.

I personnally think you are brave as I could not do this as I hate using the phone. As someone else said, having hands free phone will help. Don't give up or class this as a failure, you've tried and now you know what is expected of you and you know what you need to practice on, next time you'll be more prepared.

Good Luck

Whiteroom

 

[rebecca-smiles]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback folks!

I feel sad to hear there are such unethical companies out there: the one i was applying for has excellent ethical conduct; you have to remind clients of the time, and if people are expereinceing financial difficulties politely suggest that paying to use this service proabably isn't a hot idea. Plus they discourage dependancy and have a list of emergency helplines to hand. I felt comfortable working for such a company.

It was my first telephone reading ever! I'm not worried or disapointed about how it went. It was a bit of an experiment as i'm just over-keen to get to read for people.

I didn't prepare enough: layed out the cards all together face up- too much info and in too much of a hurry!!! and no spread!!! just sets of three cards for each question- great for online readings where you can sit with those cards in silence for a bit, but at £30 for 20 min- i wouldn't want to wait while the reader just sat and thought about it! rush rush rush. Yep, i needed a simple, spelled out spread.

I think i do prefer online readings as i get to put in the info i want at my own pace, and i do describe the cards like "all the characters are facing towards the centre" because i think the images are as much a part of the reading as the meanings of the cards.

Maybe i'll develop phone readings over time, maybe not. I'm still focusing on face to face as much as i can.

 

[Tara2007]

Exactly, Rebecca. The reader wants you to get your money's worth - and rightly so, it's expensive. What can happen is that you loose the flow of events, blending cards together, looking at the small details. That's what I look for in my readings, and it's hard to accept less than that when I'm paying for it from others. It can be frustrating and for anyone who knows even a little about tarot, disappointing. I think it would be hard to pursue and still keep the same set of standards, given the clock is running.

 

[New Hope Star]

I prefer to say that I choked on a reading rather than failed. The seeker brings intention to the reading. Sometimes people want the reader to "fail".
I call that the "let's trick the psychic" game. It's lose/ lose though usually in hindsight my reading was correct. Keeping those thoughts in mind ...your phone reading was an "interview". Who isn't nervous at an interview? That was the "intention" of the reading.

I have found that turning the cards more slowly on a phone reading helps.
In ftf readings I generally flip them over Like I'm dealing a poker game.

There is a website called www.keen.com where it seems that you can set your own prices and rules. I have not used it but, maybe some other members here have had some experience with it.

Keep reading...there are always going to be those readings that just don't go anywhere. It takes two willing participants to make a productive reading.

 

[rebecca-smiles]

I prefer to say that I choked on a reading rather than failed.

ROFLMAO! - rebecca spits cards out and sips some water.

your phone reading was an "interview". Who isn't nervous at an interview? That was the "intention" of the reading. [...]

Keep reading...there are always going to be those readings that just don't go anywhere. It takes two willing participants to make a productive reading.

Yep, interview factor didn't help; i couldn't help feel that even though i was doing a real reading for her real situ, she didn't need it (or perhaps even want it, given it's her job to test me). I just felt like going "pffff!" at how comically bad i was doing. It really was quite silly. Still because it was an interview i didn't mind getting it wrong. ok no job, but at least i didn't cuff up for someone who needed and requested a reading, eh?

So nice to hear all this encouragement!

Aeclectic could do it's own line in therapists and life coaches!

 

[satinangel]

Hi Rebecca-smiles,

I've been reading over the phone for quite awhile, with much success. I have a cassette phone recorder and mail a cassette copy of the reading to my clients when we are finished. (I do not work for anyone, just myself and my clients!)

Companies want you to keep the client on the phone as long as possible, and the clients just want the message, most of the time they don't want to know anything about the cards, what deck you are using, if you are even using a spread...

I will admit that phone reading is a bit different than reading face to face. However, one thing to keep in mind, not everyone wants to know why you are getting the message you are getting...it's just that you are getting it. ...And remember the reading is all about them.

You've received some excellent advice here...(the headset, Umbrae's post especially about turning over 1 card at a time (or two if you are using two cards in each position) and many other tips!))

Practice, practice, practice...set up some over the phone readings with friends and relatives, do as many as you can. I believe that this will raise your comfort level!

Good luck to you!

 

[bigcaat]

I just attempted, and failed spectacularly in an interview for telephone readings. HA!

I just went to pieces at the fact that the sitter wasn't there with me and couldn't see what i see. I hadn't realised just how dependant i was on visuals as a prop. I was not allowed to say what the cards where, what was on them or where they were in a spread. I know i don't need to mention these things anyway but i have always tried to include the person in *understanding* why i see what i see.

I also made the mistake of trying to read it all at once- she wanted general info on parents, house, travel and relationship, so because i didn't want to waste time putting the phone down and shuffling several times i laid three card readings out for each. Normally i have every faith that the cards that i draw are the right cards; the only thing that can go wrong is my interpretation. But this time as i laid the cards down, i was like "No. No. No."
I waffled through the first part of the reading, appologised and said i was not doing anything at all except struggling. Daghhhh!!

Anyhoo, i was wondering what other peoples expereince of phone readings were like; do you do them differently to other types of reading? do you have a preference/dislike of them?

I used to work for an in-house psychic line. I liked doing phone readings. I was very good at it. I didn't feel I needed the visual, I just tapped in telepathically.

Let me throw this out at you though. You may not be as bad as you think. Have you considered that maybe it was the person you were reading for? For one thing, I was astounded at this line: "I was not allowed to say what the cards where, what was on them or where they were in a spread."

Why the heck not? That's insane. I can tell you that after my company folded, I interviewed to get a job at a "work at home" line and had to give a reading like you describe. The woman I was giving the reading to was nuts. She didn't know the first thing about how psychic readings work. She kept asking something about a condo or something and wanted specific yes/no answers about it, and I kept trying to explain to her that the tarot is *not* about telling the future; I told her what the current energies around the situation were and that if she wanted the condo to be hers, she would have to follow this specific path. That was not good enough. I was a terrible reader because I wouldn't tell her that the condo would be hers. Period.

So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It may not be you at all. Many of these places are real pieces of work. They are business entities which have no concept about what psychic readings are all about.

If you'd like to trade a reading, I'd be happy to do that with you. I want to practice my webcam skills. I'll give you a reading via webcam, and you can give me a reading via phone.

Just let me know.

Best,
Caat