From: redsonja@src4src.linet.org (Red Sonja)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: emotional tarot readings?
Date: 2 Jan 93 04:41:36 GMT
Organization: The Source for Source

In article <1993Jan1.202521.20605@serval.net.wsu.edu> bill@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu (William E. Johns;S23015) writes:
>In article <1992Dec31.215447.14317@porthos.cc.bellcore.com> jav@accolade.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (25853-lujan) writes:
>>>When I laid out the cards (using a celtic cross spread) the final outcome
>>>card was Death.  As soon as I saw it, I said "don't panic, that means
>>>more of a transformation than a physical death," but it was already too
>>>late.  Turns out, her daughter had tried to commit suicide earlier in 
>>>the week.  I knew she was worried about her daughter, but I didn't know
>>>what the situation was.  I kept trying to work the card into the reading
>>>as a whole -- one of our other housemates is dying of cancer, so death
>>>is on all of our minds lately.
>>-- 
>>Hi Dawn, I've been giving readings for about 11 years and
>>at first I had a hard time with cards such as "death", the "devil", 
>>and several others.  What helped me was, to meditate on those
>>cards to understand why they are necessary and why they come up on 
>>someone's reading.  I meditated on those cards time and time again 
>>until I felt confortable seeing them on a reading. 
>
>[the continued discussion omitted]
>
>I think you missed the point of Dawn's argument/concern.  She obviously
>has a handle on her deck.  Her problem was she did a reading for someone
>else who did not.  When that other person saw the cards and attached
>meanings to them, she was incapable of counteracting their immediate wrong
>impressions.
>
>The question is how you do this?  How do you overcome the fears/concerns
>of others in readings when they see or hear things that to someone skilled
>in the tradition mean one thing, and to someone not skilled means
>something else?
>
>I never have been able to figure this out, and for that reason am _very_
>reluctant to give readings to others.
>
>Comment?
>
>Bill

The way I was taught, a person gets out of a reading what they put into
it. They generate the question and are the one(s) most concerned with the
answer. There is no *overcoming* their fears or concerns because those
are an elemental part of the reading, without those fears and concerns
there would be no purpose to the reading. Death and the devil are, as
aforesaid, the toughest cards to explain to someone already afraid, 
upset and ignorant to the symbolism. 

If these cards show up in a reading, I try to explain their symbolism
to the querent in the most positive light. If they are too emotional to
hear me, I complete the reading and immediately do another one if they
are up to it. For the second reading I ask them to think about their
question or problem in a different way, even if it is simply rewording
it. The second reading is usually gentler 98% of the time, and mere
rethinking of the question helps the person to calm down and see that
there are second chances and multiple solutions. I am lucky also in
that I have a very powerful deck which was a gift from a wonderful
lady (hello Siobhan if you're out there!) and the only person it seems
to not be gentle with is myself...which, if you think about it, is how
it should be.

Blessed Be, all!


-- 
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redsonja@src4src.linet.org     \\\RS///    Self possession is 9/10 of the law.
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Newsgroups: alt.pagan