Let your readings BREATHE

Whenever I pull cards for a tarot reading, I always take a moment to see what's there.

I call this "taking a breath," and I find it works best when all of the cards are face up so that they can be studied as one group. 

But that long, quiet pause? Boy does it ever make some clients nervous! 

Sometimes people worry and ask if I'm "seeing something bad." Or they think I'm about to deliver the worst-case scenario.

But I’m only concentrating. Thinking. Taking it all in and looking for patterns between the cards, or making decisions about what strikes me as the most interesting starting points. 

Tarot takes a certain level of focus. Even though many of us associate with intuition, that shouldn’t mean we assume or expect it’s always going to be easy and instant.  

It takes practice to tune into your intuition – to figure out how your instincts kick in, and to separate any distractions from the messages at hand.  

Tarot readings can also rely on specific details, pattern recognition, and free association.

There can be a lot of layers of information and a lot of ideas coming together simultaneously when you are in the reader’s seat.

Quite often, I see several possible messages and entry points into a reading when I first turn over my cards. Which means I have to take a moment to prioritize what I’m going to articulate first: What is the most logical path to take without losing site of the other routes?

I know that when we have querents in front of us, it can feel like there’s pressure to launch into an answer immediately. Especially if the person you’re reading for wonders why we’re taking a pause before beginning the reading.

But cards are often working together in a reading. They can complement or contrast each other.  

Some of them might compete with each other for attention, and that can be telling, too. 

They can also feel unanimously dull, lively, challenging, or neutral.  

There are so many combinations we might see and consider in a reading, and taking a moment to breath, observe, and reflect before launching into an interpretation can be so valuable for me for all of these reasons and more.

So next time you are reading your cards for someone and feel pressured to rush to an answer, I encourage you to take a moment to pause and let your eyes take it all in first.

And if you are on the receiving end of a reading and your reader looks like they are puzzling over everything, don't read too much into it: Let them gather their thoughts and then sit back and take it all in as it comes. 

Until next time,

Liz

p.s. Do you ever feel like doing a tarot reading, but you're not sure what to ask the cards? Grab my list of 100 Tarot Practice Questions here!