Reading for others

[Kalosi]

Hello! I'm fairly new to Tarot, but I feel such an affinity for the cards. I'm getting to know my decks fairly well, but I will always be learning! I've been getting approached for readings, but I am uncertain how to proceed. I can do my own, but how do I do a reading for someone else? Do I shuffle the cards myself, or let them? Of the books I have, most are designed for self-readings and say little about how to do this for another person. Can you help?

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

Letting others touch your cards, is a personal choice. Personally, I do let the person I'm reading for shuffle and cut the cards just to get their energy into the cards for the reading. Others, prefer to do all the shuffling themselves. Either way is fine. There are some people that I would rather not let touch my cards, it's just a vibe I get from them, so for those, I shuffle myself while concentrating on them and their face.

You read for another as you would read for yourself. Lay the cards out into the spread, associate the card and the position together for the meaning, move to the next card, tying it in to the previous card(s) read. :D Mostly, use your intuition as to the meaning of the cards, I find it's more accurate than looking up the meanings in a book. Most those meanings are just a "jumping off" point anyways. Feel free to say anything that leaps to mind while reading. The "client" will let you know if you are off the mark.

Let them know that you are still learning, and that the reading is one of the moment. It's not written in stone and every decision they make after the reading, affects the outcome....for better or worse.

Good luck!

[Mithrea]

I did readings for a group of girls a few weeks ago. They know a little about the cards but not much. The went insane when I wouldn't let them shuffle the cards. I believe if I am thinking about the client and their question and they are thinking about the same thing, the cards will reflect the answers whether they touch the card or not. I don't believe the clients "energy" needs to touch my cards. It actually creeps me out a little.

Plus we do readings here on the board all of the time where it's usually impossible for the reader to touch the cards and it works anyway ;)

The thing I find people are always wanting me to do is not just explain the meaning of the card but to also help them apply that to their problem. It's very hard to lead them to their own conclusions without actually affecting their conclusions.

Another hint which may seem obvious but I always forget. You know what the cards look like so lay them out facing the client so they would lbe upside down to you.

[moonsnstarsgrl]

I'm fairly new when it comes to reading tarot cards but I have done a few readings for a few other people. I let them touch and cut my cards. Personaly I like having their vibes in the deck just to see the reading be more personal. I do however, clean my deck afterwards.

I would say have confidence and do the reading from your gut. Shuffle, cut and layout your cards as you would for yourself and letting them touch your cards is up to you and how you're feeling about the person. A vibe can tell you a lot about them. Good Luck and Happy Reading!

[Flar's Freyja]

I recently had a discussion about having confidence reading for others with another member. For a long time, I was afraid to do do this and once I started, all of the people I read for said that the reading was right on target. I never felt as comfortable reading for others with the tarot as I do with the runes, but I actually did a reading once over the phone for a relative and she was amazed. When I read the runes, I consider the meanings of each one and their position in the reading and let my intuition do the interpreting. I also tell people that I read for that the real interpretation is actually up to them.

I've also found that readings that other people have done for me will sometimes not apply to the situation we asked about. I had a reading three years ago that is still developing. The reader saw two different situations that turned out to be the same one - my meeting and marrying Flar :)

[tarotbear]

Now, I feel just the opposite of mithrea -- I believe the Querent ( the one you're reading for) should touch the cards. However, the cards I use for public readings IS NOT the deck I read for myself with ( is that good grammar?); My energies are my energies and I don't want them becoming mixed or diluted.

To answer your next question- I cleanse that deck of cards between each reading so that you do not mix energies when reading for a group. There are many easy ways to do this and none of them take a long time. usually while I'm talking to the next person I turn all the cards right side up, shuffle them 5 or 6 times and WHACK the long edge against the table to shake the energy out (similar to 'knocking on wood'). Works fine for me!

[Flar's Freyja]

Hmmm....I don't remember ever getting a reading where I wasn't asked to shuffle the cards or throw the runes.......and I do readings that way also. I just cleanse them when someone else has handled them.

[Silver Venus]

ditto, I believe it is essential to the reading for the querrant to shuffle and feel the cards or runes so the reading can envelop their energy and thus their answer's.