When You Wish Upon A Card

I knew what I wanted going in.  I had a goal in mind and I was clear on what I wanted to see.  As I feverishly shuffled the cards, I felt a nervous anticipation brewing deep in my gut.  Would I “get my way”?  As I hurriedly laid out the cards, I saw a yes in the spread.  My heart leapt and I felt confident that things would work out to my advantage.  But months later, that yes never materialized.  What went wrong?

One of the hardest lessons to learn as a tarot reader is how to approach a reading without attachment to the outcome.  When we lay out the cards and our mind is all wrapped up in what we wish to see, we will find a way to “see” that desired outcome no matter which cards turn up.  For example, if you are an optimist, you’ll find a way to spin that 10 of Swords to tell you exactly what you want to hear.  On the other side of the coin, a pessimist will find a way to interpret the Sun as doomsday.

The best mindset for an accurate reading is a neutral one.  Here’s my advice on how to cultivate a more impartial attitude.

1. Do not do a reading when you are too emotionally invested in the outcome.  Leave it alone. Stew on it a bit. Breathe. Come back to the question when you are feeling more centered.
2. Meditate before you approach a reading.  This will allow you to come at it with a clearer mind. I am always able to get a better read when I meditate.
3. Stop caring.  In other words, do the reading as if you don’t care one way or another about what happens.  Visualize as if you are doing the reading for some complete stranger that you have no emotional link with whatsoever.
4. Lay out the cards and rather than interpret right then and there, write the cards down in your tarot journal.  Leave it alone for a day or two.  Go back and look at the spread and then try to interpret what you see.
5. If you cannot separate your emotions from the outcome, get someone else to read your cards.  Don’t do it yourself.  I had a situation a few years back where I could not get a read at all – I contacted another tarot professional who gave me an extremely accurate reading.  She didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear but she was dead on.

Similar rules apply when you are doing a reading for someone else.  In my own tarot practice, I meditate daily so that my mind is clear and present for whatever information arises during the reading. I also set strong boundaries with my clients so that I am never fearful about telling them exactly what I see – which many times, is not what they want.

Reading for family and friends can be tricky if you are worried about upsetting them.  I tend to avoid reading for loved ones unless I am sure that I can be completely unattached to the question being asked. On the same token, I also make sure that they are coming to the reading with the desire for truth only, not an agenda of being placated.

You cannot guarantee that you or your clients will ever be able to completely sever your emotional ties to the outcome but any effort to simply see what comes up rather than what you want to appear will lead towards a more authentic answer.

“The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results.” ~ Krishna

Blessings!

Theresa

How do you keep practice non-attachment in your tarot readings?  Are you able to do your own readings without your hopes and fears interfering?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below:

special thanks to taoxproductions for the image