You can't make a positive reading out of negative cardsWell, you can – I almost did – but you shouldn't.
I pulled cards today for someone who had never had a reading before. Naturally, I wanted it to be a nice experience for her. So when I turned one neutral card sandwiched between two negative cards, I unconsciously went into sugar-coating mode.
Mercifully, we were doing this online, and before I started telling her what I saw, she happened to comment that she had a feeling her reading would be a bit on the negative side.
It was like being poked sharply in the ribs.
I looked at the cards again, realised I didn't really like what I saw, and turned the bottom card for confirmation. It was another doozy. So I took a deep breath and interpreted the spread accordingly.
It was a general reading, so it didn't present as "bad news". It was more a heads-up about something to be prepared to deal with. I'm pleased to say she took it well and believed she knew what it was about. And I hope, as a result, she avoids any potential unpleasantness.
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| Bottom card - I was misled and potentially misleading my sitter |
Many readers will tell you there's no such thing as "good" or "bad" cards. That all cards have positive and negative aspects depending on the situation being read for. And this is true, particularly if you use fixed positions, where the focus of the position calibrates the meaning of the card occupying it.
Nevertheless, we can all go through a Tarot deck and divide it into essentially good, bad, and neutral cards.
And I don't often use fixed positions. I lay down a line of cards and take them, initially*, at face value. With 78 cards at their disposal, if the answer is positive, there's no shortage of "good" cards that could appear in the spread. So if I'm given several negative cards, I should accept that they're trying to tell me something.
(*The overall combination of cards and their relationships to each other will temper their meanings. Fundamental #2 - One bad card doesn't ruin an overall positive reading, but likewise, one good card can't save a negative one.)
I was taught that honesty is the best way to go ... conveying what we read in the cards is important. Conveying the message with compassion is key. Well done, Judy.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I deserve a "Well done". Ok, I didn't intentionally set out to sugar-coat (I've added "unconsciously" to that sentence), but if the sitter hadn't made that comment, that's what I would have done. I actually thank my Guides for the nudge to look at her comments once more before proceeding. In fact, I thank them for making me read for her in the first place. And I use the word "making" deliberately - I've done no free readings at all this month and had no intention of doing any (because December), but as soon as this person posted I felt I *had* to read for her. I believe this was a set up, LOL, intended to teach me a valuable lesson.
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