How to avoid readings from being vague?

[Saturn Celeste]

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=123936

by Golden Moon

This is an excellent topic, one that we should discuss also!

Does anyone have any tips in regards to this matter? Many people who go to readers say to other that the reading was vague. Now how does one avoid doing that? It's like my client gets The Strength card as his personality and I tell him "You have a strong personality. And then he responds by saying "Well yeah I know I do". How can someone go beyond that and tell the client things that no one knows? I hope I'm explaining myself clearly.

Thanks.

* The whole Strength card thing is an example.

[Raggydoll]

To me this seems very straight forward. The more in depth knowledge and experience you have the more detailed and layered your readings will be.

[HermitWriter]

With regards to the "Strength" example, it might do to not just tell the querent "you have a strong personality," but to also demonstrate why that matters to their current question. Something like " your strong personality will help you stand fast in the face of this adversity, but don't t let it keep you from accepting help when it is offered. "

 

This is also where it helps to ask a specific question/s. If the querent insists on "I just want a general reading," then the answers are also likely to be general in nature.

[Arch]

Tricky!

Being too concrete can often force your interpretation beyond merit.

 

I like to re-frame the issue if I don't know enough, until I know enough.

I'm after a trans-formative experience that makes them take some sort of positive action on their problem.

With a reminder that where they go from here is their and their choice alone.

 

Having a change of perspective is more important than gambling that you can predict facts or other minutiae.

People want to know what to do, and it is my job to make them feel able to make that choice, not to tell them what will happen.

[Saturn Celeste]

 

I'm after a trans-formative experience that makes them take some sort of positive action on their problem.

With a reminder that where they go from here is their and their choice alone.

People come to readers usually because they are searching for answers.  Given the negativity that can come with being a tarot reader (that we're out to just get their money) comes the responsibility of finding answers in the cards and passing those on to the sitter.  People have had bad tarot readings, so vague a child could look at a card and make up a little story about it. But to be an honest reader that can help others, the more precise you can be with your reading can hopefully give them more answers.  Are we always right?  NO!  But it is the feeling of responsibility to try to give them the best reading you can is what makes a reader stronger and their readings less vague.

[Grizabella]

Tricky!

Being too concrete can often force your interpretation beyond merit.

 

I like to re-frame the issue if I don't know enough, until I know enough.

I'm after a trans-formative experience that makes them take some sort of positive action on their problem.

With a reminder that where they go from here is their and their choice alone.

 

Having a change of perspective is more important than gambling that you can predict facts or other minutiae.

People want to know what to do, and it is my job to make them feel able to make that choice, not to tell them what will happen.

 

You are telling them what will happen. You prefer to think not, but you're saying "if you do this, then this other will (or won't) happen." 

[Raggydoll]

Tricky!

Being too concrete can often force your interpretation beyond merit.

 

I like to re-frame the issue if I don't know enough, until I know enough.

I'm after a trans-formative experience that makes them take some sort of positive action on their problem.

With a reminder that where they go from here is their and their choice alone.

 

Having a change of perspective is more important than gambling that you can predict facts or other minutiae.

People want to know what to do, and it is my job to make them feel able to make that choice, not to tell them what will happen.

 

You are telling them what will happen. You prefer to think not, but you're saying "if you do this, then this other will (or won't) happen."

 

Yes. And most clients also expect you to address the future or the ‘unknown’, that is probably why they chose to consult you and not, say, a regular counselor, a psychologist or a life coach instead.

[Grizabella]

I'm not as able to express some things as I used to be, but I want to try to explain how you can take a reading from blah to sizzling hot.

 

Let me use my Everyday Enchantment to illustrate. In this deck, the scene shows a little boy sitting at the beach holding 4 coins in his hand. A seagull stands by him with its mouth open, obviously squawking. He's sitting in what looks like an enclosure of some sort. A sand castle is behind him and in the distance some other children and a dog are playing near the surf.

 

The traditional RWS image shows a guy clutching  4 pentacles to him and there's a scene in the background similar to this one.

 

Now, usually we think of the image of the man and his coins as being a selfish miser or some such. Although once I saw someone say that she saw a man who was constipated sitting on the toilet, bless her. :eek:

 

However, when a sitter asks me a question, I look at the cards and the traditional meaning found in books flows through my head, but I don't necessarily just quote it by rote. In looking at this card from whatever deck I'd be using, I'd be also glancing at the scene and what's going on around the subject. Then, as I'm looking around, the answers come to my mind and I say what I see. In this case, the Everyday Enchantment card looks like the little guy with the coins is kind of hiding behind the sand castle and not wanting the other kids to see he's got these coins because then, they might take them from him.

 

Imagine that the sitter has asked me a question like "My boyfriend doesn't like it that I control the finances of the household. I've always done that but I don't understand what the problem could be." My response, looking at the card scene, tells me that he sees her/him as being stingy and secretive about the money they have and he'd like it if she were to be more relaxed about her budget tactics and would like to be more involved in what they spend money on so they could have more fun.

 

Now, this isn't the book meaning of that card. It's what my Muse (or whatever) is showing me is the answer for this sitter in this particular situation. That's not a blah, by the book reading. It's what the cards are saying about the situation we're reading on. The sitter actually gets an answer to their question that has a dynamic impact on them that they can use.

 

How do I arrive at that? I just say what I see. Only I don't drag in the squawking seagull and all that in the picture. I could, though. I could another time and another sitter see that the sitter isn't being careful enough with an inheritance, let's say. She's allowed an untrustworthy person know how much it is and where she's put it for safekeeping and when the blabbermouth symbolized by the seagull starts spreading the word, she might get robbed.

 

There are two things that used to give me trouble about this. One of them was that I was "imagining" a story and the other was that often my sitters might tell me I was wrong and it was hogwash. However, after 20 years, I've finally come to learn that that story I was "imagining" wasn't coming from me, it was coming from somewhere else and even if the sitter said it was hogwash, they'd come back and tell me I was right. Some would tell me two or more years into the future the thing occurred. I'm not 100% always right. Nobody is. But this has happened enough times that I've grown to just trust the way it works, relax, and not get too fluffed up if I'm told I'm wrong.

[2curious]

Excellent post, Grizabella. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

[Grizabella]

You're very welcome. I'm glad you got something out of it. Thank you for telling me. :)

[Jewel]

Grizabella[/member] that is how I read as well.  Taking in what I know, combined with the imagery on the cards, and my intuition.  Your post really explained it well.