RickInBakersfield Posted November 22, 2024 Posted November 22, 2024 (edited) I personally do because of life experience in general (age 60 to 76). I also know that getting a tarot reading is VERY popular among the younger generation (Gen X & Millennials) The reason I ask you all the question is because I once had a tarot reading done for me by a younger type of reader (face to face), and frankly I wasn't very impressed. And this was very recent. What are your thoughts, opinions & ideas. Edited November 22, 2024 by RickInBakersfield add sentence
Raggydoll Posted November 22, 2024 Posted November 22, 2024 I’m not a fan of this type of generalization. I’m also struggling to see how you could dismiss all younger readers just because you had one bad reading by a younger person. This makes no sense to me. To me, what matters is how much experience and skill the reader has in interpreting cards. You can’t tell from a persons age how long they’ve read cards or how good they are at it. And I don’t necessarily think it’s always a good thing for someone to draw upon their own life experiences when reading for someone else. I think it’s better to focus on the cards and on what the client wants to know.
GreyBug Posted November 22, 2024 Posted November 22, 2024 (edited) I don't know if I would split it along generational lines, but yes, it's probably a matter of experience overall. Life experience, experience with the tarot itself. I've definitely seen people who have gotten into tarot during the pandemic and are already comfortable enough to be offering lessons... I suppose it's possible to reach a certain level of expertise in a short time span, but it's probably more rare than the claims I'm seeing. If someone is a beginner they should state that, so that you know what to expect from a reading. Part of the problem might be people don't know how much they don't know/don't know that after a certain span of time they might still be beginners. Edited November 22, 2024 by GreyBug
RickInBakersfield Posted November 22, 2024 Author Posted November 22, 2024 (edited) 37 minutes ago, Raggydoll said: I’m not a fan of this type of generalization. I’m also struggling to see how you could dismiss all younger readers just because you had one bad reading by a younger person. This makes no sense to me. To me, what matters is how much experience and skill the reader has in interpreting cards. You can’t tell from a persons age how long they’ve read cards or how good they are at it. And I don’t necessarily think it’s always a good thing for someone to draw upon their own life experiences when reading for someone else. I think it’s better to focus on the cards and on what the client wants to know. Don't get me wrong. I totally believe there are very talented readers out there in the younger generations. The young woman that I had a reading with didn't really have IMHO "a philosophy of life" and didn't really get into the symbolism of the cards that I think an older reader would have. I know that's just one reading by one reader at random...but it just made me ask the question, that's all. She was in her 20s BTW. Edited November 22, 2024 by RickInBakersfield add sentence
Misterei Posted November 22, 2024 Posted November 22, 2024 (edited) 4 hours ago, RickInBakersfield said: I personally do because of life experience in general (age 60 to 76). I also know that getting a tarot reading is VERY popular among the younger generation (Gen X & Millennials) ... What are your thoughts, opinions & ideas. To me, this question conflates 2 different factors: Are older readers better? Demographic differences in different generations As per #1: Given two readers with similar psychic or intuitive abilities, the older reader will likely give a better reading. Unless that person lived a very sheltered life, the older person has more lived experience. Obviously there will be exceptions. A young person who's traveled around the world and met people from all walks of life vs. an older person who's lived an easy life and never struggled. Some older people are quite childish. They're literally just children gown old. But if the older person fits the archetype of the Wise Elder, then yes, they're going to give a better reading. As per #2: there are real differences. I'm cusp of Gen X and Boomer. When I was young you had to really WANT tarot to get a deck and start reading. There were only a couple of books, a couple of decks. No internet. No video courses. You had to put EFFORT into studying your book and you couldn't dither around trying to find the perfect deck. You bought whatever your local occult store had in stock. And maybe you had a long busride or a long drive to GET to an occult store. You had to seek it out. You also were *different* if you were into tarot. You had to like it enough to deal with people calling you weird or crazy. Nowadays? Anyone can order any deck from Amazon and it arrives effortlessly to your doorstep. Too lazy to read a book? Just go on the web. Not worried about actually developing skill and accuracy? Just make a rule that tarot is only for personal reflection and NEVER for predictions. Want people to pay attention to you and think you're cool? Announce on social media that you're a "professional" tarot reader. Et voila! These demographic changes have impacted the tarot space. On the plus side, a talented and motivated young reader now has so many decks and learning resources to support their development. On the minus side, any lazy, shallow person with a knack for social media can announce they are a pro reader with precious little skill or effort to back that claim. Edited November 22, 2024 by Misterei
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