I notice that it's hard for me not to ask questions about a specific person in my life that there's any strong history with.9 times out of 10 I'll find myself 'coloring' the cards and getting upset if what I read doesn't reflect what I want it to be.I don't like reversals,it always drags me down and makes everything I read from the cards too negative and hard to see other meanings.It's too easy to get hung up on what a book or so and so says,and ignore what one's inner voice says even if it doesnt match the card but is persistant.Some of those out of the blue feelings can really hit the mark.That and avoiding readings when depressed or upset and angry,it's hard not to.I've always been one for possiblities and 'if you don't change this,this may happen',rather than set in stone such and such will happen /so and so will appear.Court cards appearance wise mislead me,and personality wise sometimes fits,other times not.I just find myself getting too mired in the details...obviously.

I think a lot of people take cards at face value - one card, one interpretation, period. There are so many nuances to the cards - it can take awhile to fully explore all the different facets available.

These are not absolute, but this video was helpful for me.


youtube.com/watch

I don't know if these are mistakes, but they are things that irritate me in other readers, so decide for yourself how you feel.

I don't like readers who lay out the cards one at a time and stop to read each card as it turns up. I find it much more helpful to lay out the entire spread and read it as a pattern. The cards show interrelationships within the spread that are never visible until you can see the whole pattern. Reading them one at a time is giving too shallow a reading to be fair to the querent. You never know a card's full meaning until you see what other cards appear around it.

I also don't like to see a reader lay out a spread, point to a single card and announce, "This card has a lot of energy." Duh, All the cards have energy, if that is the metaphor you prefer. This really tells the querent nothing. What kind of energy? Moving in which direction? Supporting or modifying which other cards? and in what way exactly? To say a card has a lot of "energy" is to babble inanely while you try to think of something to say that will mean something. I find it better simply to concentrate for a few seconds until something comes to me. Sometimes a reading doesn't open up at first, so there is a natural impulse to say something, anything to avoid the sound of silence. But a few seconds will bring in something actually worth saying, some insight or revelation that will be of real use to the querent, so why try to weasel around blurting out nonsense?

And I never use reversed cards. When I shuffle, I make sure to keep all the cards lined up in the same direction so none of them come out reversed. To me reversed cards are an unnecessary complication. Each card is designed (in a well-designed deck) to suggest both negative and positive interpretations. Which should prevail will depend on the nature of the question, the way the cards relate to each other and the intuition of the reader. There should be no set rule, nor any mechanism designed to insure that some cards land upside down. I look on this practice as a ruse to give an unsure or unconfident reader something else to factor in so as to avoid the labor of holding onto one's mental focus while reading--a bit of laziness in other words.

These, of course, are my own personal opinions and not Rules of Reading. Use them or not as seems best to you and trust your intuition to provide the information. It will, I promise; unless the reader is determined to resist the whole process due to lack of confidence or some superstition, one can trust one's intuition. Even if nothing comes to you at first, focus, concentrate and pay attention to what your intuition is trying to tell you. Look for the story the cards are telling. This is more reliable than anyone could believe. In fact, some of my most accurate readings have been those that I had litlle confidence in at the time. Even more, the one's to which the querent said, "No, that isn't possible because. . ." have usually been the ones on which I got an excited call a month or so later to say, "It happened, just like you said it would. Why didn't I listen? Thank you." Even better than saying, "I told you so," is not having to say it at all.

I hope some of this will be of help.

With love under will,

Bob, Adastra,
The Wizzard of Jacksonville

It is when they don't trust the cards the first time that they are drawn. Or when you don't trust your intuition enough to say what comes up the top of your head.

I think tarot card readers, especially when they are starting out, don't trust themselves as much as they should. So it's always good to surround yourself with encouraging people when you start out.

Thinking of them as cards or just as cards, they represent archetypes or living energies within you so you would benefit from letting the images awaken those energies within you and allow them to speak to you. To do that requires stepping out of mind or mental analysis so as to listen from a deeper level. I also think that if one really wants to get into Tarot developing a personal relationship with the archetypes represented is very powerful. This can be done by using the cards in meditation and/or studying their esoteric meaning through a mystery school.........

It takes 40 years to learn the first three arcanum, that is if you are a German Jew, much more for the rest, therefore there are errors on the way. The tarot is a mysterious galactic initiation approaching humanity with 3, 4 or perhaps 5 arcana. The forst three trumps are doors to divinity, but the 4th and 5th are reserved to transhumans. lulu.com/astrology

Hi I'm just seeing this post....

I think people put too much emphasis on the cards themselves....it's the person you are reading...the cards are tools to use your intuition through.

I find a common mistake made by both new and long time readers is in general reading to fast. This tends to be a problem when you're reading for yourself and your ether really like the way the cards fell or dislike the direction of the spread. It is always easiest to say eiter "ok I know where this is going" or This is to negative I must have made a mistake... so we break the reading and cast again or go on our marry way with out bothering to look for the deeper meaning and connection that are present even in the best outcome readings. As a teacher i'm often asked it it's ok to resuffle or swap out cards that are scary or difficult. I know it sounds funny but the question comes up time and again... remember that you ASKED for the information and guidance... however difficult the reading and whatever the feeling brought out by that spread the cards are there because you ARE ready to deal with those issues.... just don't rush into a panic, let the reading steep, in fact go make an cup of tea and come back to the reading.

For professional or long time readers, we can fall into the trap of thinking "ok... I know what this combination usually means" and again forget to look for the deeper more personal connections in the reading. As professionals that see similar clients at faires or other venues it can be hard to remember that this person's situation and story is unique even through they've come to you asking the same old relationship questions and detailing the same patterns of many others... forgetting that the subtile details will reveal a truly deep reading experience and help define this one person's paths. As readers we have to remember that even though the story sounds the same in the end the solution will be personal and unique to this one soul and their journey.

In the end... although all magic involves use of power, will and intent, divinations of any kind are works of subtly and should be treated as such... Sometimes the REAL answer is complex and takes time to come into clearer focus... go ahead and give yourself the time.

The death card in my mind is one of the most misinterpreted cards because of the austomatic assumption that it means their soon to be peril...
when sfatey and death are both shams and illusions anyways

It emans new beginings of the release of old and useless ways to lead to a more peacful and fulfilled freeer future existance.

If you look at the death card in the rider smith deck

you will see many thing to show this
Death is on a white horse meaning nobility , peace, femininity, mercy ( as I learned from the j pillar on another thread) anmd many other things. Death and its's horse hicked over a king! Showing the escape of all old ways that no longer serve us regardless of how great they look, that eventually all thing made of an illusion will come to pass and this includes evening the playing feild for all humans showing our own equal worth because we will all die, and yet in the background there is a sailing ship representing, travel, movement, freedom and change, shows that life goes on, for death is just the fastest and easiest way to travel to a 100% bran new place and exsperience without packing any bags! its of change!
as well as the sun and two towrs in the background, the male sun is setting and smith who spent much of her time in new york city is perhaps showing the old ways through the twin towers and their symbolism of phallus and masculinity as well as an illsion of strenght with their age coming to an end!

peace and love you !

heart**

S