What Happens When a Tarot Reading Fails by helela

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Question: What Happens When a Tarot Reading Fails?

I've been reading Tarot cards for a few years now and have been
practicing on family members and friends. Last week, I was asked to do a
reading for someone I had never read for before, and it was a disaster!
None of the cards made any sense, and I felt terrible afterwards. Is
this normal?

Answer:

While I wouldn't go so far as to say it's normal -- because that word
can mean a lot of things -- it's definitely not uncommon. Really, it
does happen, and it happens for a variety of reasons. Sometimes you, as a
reader, may just be having an "off" day. Maybe you're tired, not
feeling well, you have other stuff on your mind, etc. It happens.

Other times, it's the querent themselves. I once attended an event
where I was doing readings all day -- and by that, I mean, from 10 in
the morning until 7 pm. I made sure I took breaks when I needed to,
cleared energy out between readings, and so forth. Everything went
beautifully, and all of my readings were spot-on.

Until the last guy.

He sat down at my table, I spread the cards out, and nothing made sense
at all. It was this jumbled, tangled mess of hostility, frustration,
rage and confusion, and I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. Worse
yet, he kept asking questions, each one more specific than the one
before. I couldn’t help him, and with each card I pulled out and put
down, the spread got even more and more baffling. Finally, after
forty-five minutes -- normally I spend about 10 - 20 on a client -- I
had to give up. I told him, "You know, I'm not going to charge you for
this because I know I haven't been able to help you at all. I'm very
sorry, but it doesn’t look like I'm the person who can help you find the
answers you need."

Later, I learned from other people at the event that he had consulted
other readers as well, and had similar results with them. Looking back,
it seems that this was a person who wasn’t just desperate for answers to
his problems - he was looking for someone to fix things as well, and
none of us were capable of doing that for him. Although, this is a
pretty dramatic example, it has happened to me on a smaller scale a few
other times as well.

So, is it normal? Probably more normal than you realize. If it does
happen -- whether it's because of the querent or the reader --
understand that there's not much you can do about it, other than move
on. Let the person know that you've tried to help, and you've run out of
answers. If you think the blockage is with you, invite him or her to
come back another time and let you give it another shot. If the problem
is with the querent, and you know darn well that you can't help them, be
honest and tell them that. This will keep them from wasting their time
and yours.

By Patti Wigington, About.com