Personal Reading Style

[Barleywine]

I recently had an interesting conversation on another forum about personal reading style. I sat down and captured everything I could think of about my own approach to reading the cards, developed over nearly 50 years of doing it. Here is the short list, and a link to the full narrative. Note that the "curmudgeon quotient" may be a bit high in some of this and it will likely push a few buttons. Don't take it personally, it's only one man's opinion.

 

https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2020/06/30/favorite-things/

 

Use of Formal (and Usually “Positional”) Spreads

“Subconscious Induction” (Client Shuffling and "How Tarot Works")

“Gestalt” Overview (First Impressions of a Spread)

Dignities of Various Types

Correspondences in General

Storytelling Tropes (e.g. Metaphors and Analogies)

“Clinical” Bias (aka “Just Read the Cards”)

Face-to-Face Reading

Client Point-of-View

“Changing Gears” ("Peeling Back the Layers of Meaning")

Reversals

Situational Awareness and Developmental Insight (aka “Fortune-telling”)

Edited July 1, 2020 by Barleywine

[Venus Rising]

That was a great read, @Barleywine - insightful and helpful.  I like your approach for having your ‘away’ clients pull their own cards or choose numbers, so it allows them to be part of the process. How do you deal with follow-up questions, or questions along the way of the reading when doing it by email? That’s the only problem I’m encountering when doing email readings - is not being able to engage them in dialogue/verify along the way.  

[Barleywine]

Just now, Venus Rising said:

That was a great read, @Barleywine - insightful and helpful.  I like your approach for having your ‘away’ clients pull their own cards or choose numbers, so it allows them to be part of the process. How do you deal with follow-up questions, or questions along the way of the reading when doing it by email? That’s the only problem I’m encountering when doing email readings - is not being able to engage them in dialogue/verify along the way.  

I include one follow-up email exchange in the price to answer any questions. My clients have been good about not abusing that. There's no good way to deal with "in-process" questions, so I try to cover all angles (court cards are a good example) when I work through the reading. It makes for a more detailed narrative than would be necessary when face-to-face but it works.

[Venus Rising]

59 minutes ago, Barleywine said:

I include one follow-up email exchange in the price to answer any questions. My clients have been good about not abusing that. There's no good way to deal with "in-process" questions, so I try to cover all angles (court cards are a good example) when I work through the reading. It makes for a more detailed narrative than would be necessary when face-to-face but it works.

Ahh, I see.  I wasn’t sure if I was missing out on a better way to deal with that, so thank you for explaining your process.  I find my email readings can get really lengthy (and time consuming) as I feel the need to almost over explain, if that makes sense.  Thanks again for sharing your wisdom and experiences @Barleywine I really appreciate it. 

[Albadawn]

I found this a most interesting read. I especially liked this point:

Quote

We may feel that we’re accurately “channeling the Universe” (or the Divine) via our intuitive epiphanies but we may just be indulging in self-deception fueled by naive trust in the unseen realms and the assumed purity of our own intentions.

I have just begun getting to grips with shadow work in my spiritual practice and this really struck a chord. I will be thinking about this a lot over the coming weeks.

 

I also enjoyed your remarks about how your approach to tarot has evolved over the years. I'm definitely getting more of an interest in the 'practical' side of tarot readings (i.e. 'what will happen next?') having put most of my energy into a self-development/empowerment approach over the years up to now. Interestingly, I've found that I lean towards 'practical' readings for systems like Lenormand and playing cards, but I've not done this much in tarot readings before. Do you have any words of wisdom around making that transition?

 

Best wishes,

Dawn

[Barleywine]

1 hour ago, Albadawn said:

I found this a most interesting read. I especially liked this point:

I have just begun getting to grips with shadow work in my spiritual practice and this really struck a chord. I will be thinking about this a lot over the coming weeks.

 

I also enjoyed your remarks about how your approach to tarot has evolved over the years. I'm definitely getting more of an interest in the 'practical' side of tarot readings (i.e. 'what will happen next?') having put most of my energy into a self-development/empowerment approach over the years up to now. Interestingly, I've found that I lean towards 'practical' readings for systems like Lenormand and playing cards, but I've not done this much in tarot readings before. Do you have any words of wisdom around making that transition?

 

Best wishes,

Dawn

I also prefer Lenormand or Kipper if a I have a really "nuts-and-bolts" question in front of me.  What I advised someone not long ago in dealing with the multitude of meanings in the tarot is to do the same thing we do with Lenormand: take a hard look at a bunch of interpretations from recognized "authorities," pick one or two that seem in your estimation to be most aligned with the images (good luck with the TdM 🙂) and use those for mundane readings until you feel the need to broaden the scope. With all of the material I've internalized over the years, some of it has risen to the top as being most useful for the practical approach I use now.