getting a tarot reading

What Do Your Readings Look Like?

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

I think you might have already read my response to this question, but I liked it and I wanted to include it here.

What do some of your readings look like? Do you go back and forth with the querent? Do you try breaking down their questions and reforming them if they feel a bit off? Do you go in and just see how it feels doing multiple pulls for a question?

Tarotholics Tarot Discussion Prompt via Discord on 11/7

When reading for others, I read in a variety of different styles. Keep in mind I am mute, so when I say I am “talking” to someone it means I’m either typing words out in response on a device, using a text-to-speech app, or writing things down by hand for communication purposes. This slows down the process so what was once a 10 minute reading back when I had a voice is now about a 30 minute reading or more.

In Person – Read then Discuss – In this method, I have a client face to face that comes to me with a question. They give me the information they want me to know and I draw cards to answer this question, and any additional rephrasing I might have that I want to add to the reading for clarification purposes. I do not look at the querent as I pull these cards, but instead I focus my attention on the cards until they are all laid out.

I take a few notes, then use either hand written, typed on a screen, or text-to-voice to convey the message of the cards in detail. Once that is done, I ask if they need clarification on anything, and if so, we talk about it and I might draw another card or two.

In Person – Free Form – Again, a face to face client sits down and we begin to talk about a situation or event that they need some clarity on. In this method, ass we talk I will continuously overhand shuffle the cards. Each time a card pops out of the deck, we pause the conversation and I use the card to help direct where the conversation goes and provide needed answers and advice.

When the discussion starts to circle back on itself, it’s an indication that we’ve reached the end of what the cards can give, and I ask if they need any further clarity. If they say yes, I might draw a card or two more if it is needed (or recap what has already been said if new cards are not needed), and then close things out.

Online – Read then Discuss – In this method, my client contacts me through digital means (usually through email or purchasing a reading off my website) and can share as little or as much of their situation as they want, as well as the purpose of the reading. From there, I draw cards based (usually) upon how many cards they’ve paid for being drawn (sometimes I draw more, which I don’t charge for).

I type out the interpretation of the cards and I send the reading to them including a picture of the cards, and give them the opportunity to ask for clarification on anything involved in the reading if needed. Said clarification may come with an extra drawn card or two, or may simply need to be a recap / rephrase of what the cards have already said.

Online – Free Form – I usually save this particular method for friends and clients that I still have that I’ve had since prior to losing my voice. Especially since the pandemic, as face to face readings are not as easy to manage these days.

This method is done using instant messages, texts, DMs or other instant messaging type of method, we talk about what’s going on with them and between my replies while they are typing and while I’m reading, I shuffle cards and allow cards to pop out to provide guidance, advice, and answers.

Like an in person free-form reading, this is a discussion. I take pics of the cards along the way and send them to my client/friend as we go.

When the discussion either circles back or starts to peter out, it means the reading is then drawing to an end and I make sure they don’t need clarification on anything. I then send them a picture of their full reading with all of the cards on the table to close things out.

What Kind of Reader Am I? #THEREADERIAM (non)VR to James Feeney

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

So although this tag originally comes from James Feeney on YouTube, it was actually first brought to my attention by Casper the BoyDiviner.

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What is the primary system of divination you use (as specific as possible)?

Recently, I’ve been sticking mostly to tarot cards, and the occasional image-only cards or oracle cards, unless I have a client making a request for something else specifically.

Who do you read for?

Paying clients.  Myself.  Friends and loved ones. Random occasional strangers when I’m feeling the urge to offer a free reading here and there.

What types of readings do you normally do? (ie: topics, spreads, time, medium)

I specialize in intuitive reading that incorporates an element of predictive reading.  I do well with the present and the future, but I do not do past readings whether that be past lives or someone’s personal past.  I also rarely do predictive readings that span more than three months ahead.

I’m good with a variety of topics with the exception of mediumship, which I am not prepared to offer. I usually let my moral compass guide me on whether or not a question or topic is okay to do… and I avoid those topics that could put me in legal jeopardy.

I prefer free-form readings over spreads most of the time, but do spreads on request or when reading for myself as reading for myself requires a bit more structure sometimes.

What is your reading style? (ie: analytic, intuitive, spiritual/ predictive or fortune)

I think I pretty much covered this above when I mentioned the types of readings I do.  My reading style is intuitive interpretation of the imagery, which I then augment by including traditional meanings of the cards as a secondary contribution to the reading.

The exception to this is excessively pip decks, lenormand, and playing cards.  With these three systems it is the opposite.  Because these styles of decks are not imagery rich, they don’t provide enough input for me to allow my intuition free reign off of the imagery.  In these cases, I lean heavily on numerology and/or foundational meanings within those systems, and then incorporate a more “directional based” intuition into that foundational knowledge.

Although my readings are not secular, that is between me and my concept of divinity (and possibly also my spirit guides), and therefore rarely reflects in my delivery to others.

What types of readings do you conduct? (ie: evaluative, coaching, empowering, reflective)

All of the above.  It really just depends on what the client needs.  In the case of reading for myself, it is usually either evaluative or guidance towards self care, life balance, and a healthy well-being.

ReadingWhat is your ideal reading atmosphere?

Outside. A picnic table.  Bare feet to bare earth with weather warm enough to make that comfortable but not so hot as to feel uncomfortable. Overcast or bit of shade and a slight breeze but not windy.  Not raining. Lots of grass and trees.

Reversals? Jumpers? Shuffling style?

Reversals – Occasionally.  Only when it really calls to my intuition that the card was meant to land that way and looking at it upright just feels… wrong.  Otherwise I use my intuition to tell me what message the cards want to convey, no matter the orientation of the card on the table or if that message is a reversal meaning or an upright one.

Shuffling Style –  When I first add a deck into my collection (or after I have reorganized it back into its suits for some reason) I will then riffle shuffle a deck at least 7 or 8 times before using it.   This is because mathematically speaking, you need to riffle shuffle a deck of 52 cards at least 7 times to effectively randomize the deck.

After that, though?   When I do a reading, because the cards are already randomized I will usually riffle shuffle about three times before handing the cards to my client for them to shuffle them a few times.

Jumpers – I use jumpers to pull my cards.   So after I have done the riffle shuffling, I will then shift to a seesawing overhand and, with my question in mind, wait for a card (or two) to fall out, then repeat for the next question, and the next, etc.  So essentially, all of my card pulls are jumpers.  If I receive more than two cards at a time, I will put them back in the deck and ask for a more succinct answer.

What is your delivery tone? (ie: constructive, positive, reflective, action-oriented)

All of the above, but not at the same time?  That is to say that deep down in my psyche, I’m essentially a “fixer”.  Meaning, essentially, that I don’t want to know things just to know things. I want to know things so that I can move forward, improve, or somehow adjust and/or fix something.  I have no problem delivering the hard answers or even the harsh answers, but I do it with a little bit… more.

So even though the question might be “how am I physically at this time”, when I’m asking the question? I’m really looking for more than just a status update… so when the cards answer me, they are going to give me more than just a status update. They’re also going to provide me with a path to improvement/betterment.

This is the same whether I’m reading for myself or someone else.

What are some of your personal reading quirks? (ie: correspondences you tend to draw on, habits you have, little details that you alone use and have)

I’m not exactly sure how to answer this, because in my observation everyone reads the cards differently.  Especially when you start delving into those that read the cards intuitively.   Just as there are many different ways for intuition to speak to someone, there are even more ways for us to take and utilize that inner voice in our tarot readings.

I think I’ve outlined a few of the oddities above.  Possibly the most notable being my method for pulling cards. I also think that my need to teach others is somewhat unique.  To be honest I’ve been doing this so long that it’s hard for me to tell anymore what’s the “status quo” norm of the masses, and what’s unique to me and my personal style.

My Most Important Tarot Reading (non) VR to Becca Tarot Night Owl

/ Twist the Leaf / 3 Comments

On YouTube, Becca Tarot Night Owl did a video that spoke of her first tarot reading, which was the most impactful tarot reading of her life.  I found it really interesting and I feel the want to share mine here.

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I don’t remember my first tarot reading, so I can’t really share much about that.  Because I come from a home where tarot (or rather, Lenormand) was a part of life and our faith, readings and card pulls have always just “been there”.   BUT, I do have a most impactful/important reading.

That would be a reading done by Z (with Tarot) when I was ten years old.  It was a Life Path reading, which involves thirty nine cards (plus any jumpers or clarifying cards that enter into the mix).   She does this reading for me every ten years, meaning that I’ve had it done again twice since then.

In this first reading, there was a great deal of information on the past, the present, and the future.  But, what really stuck out to me was the overall message that came at the end.

This was delivered gently, and with great empathy and understanding as she explained that the “moral of the story” for my life would be one of struggle, strife, and woe… BUT, that it’s okay to have this kind of life.  It’s okay to find your life filled with struggles and hurdles, strife and discord, woe and adversity.  These things are lessons in life that teach you how to become better.  Better at the things you want to do… Better at the way you find your joy… And, just an all around better person as a whole.

She told me that my life would have many, many things to overcome and work through, and that these things are there not to drag me down and make me miserable.  Instead, they are there to create strength and foster deeper roots within myself and my life with which to anchor me through the hardest parts, like a tree standing strong in a storm is anchored deep within the soil.

She was far more eloquent, and that moral of the story stuck with me in a way that the reading itself didn’t.   Ten years later at the age of 20, she did the reading again, with much the same result…. as was the case last year when I turned 30 and she did the reading for me again.

Most people would consider this reading  to be a bad one, but I don’t.  Not at all.  Because it prepared me for what was to come, and helped me to understand that I’m not a victim.  Not of people, or of circumstance.  I’m a survivor, and each hurdle I come upon (of which there have been many, and will surely be many more) is an opportunity for betterment in some way, not a road block.