tarot_scholar: An image of Norman Rockwell's interpretation of Rosie the Riveter (Rosie)
For someone besides myself, I take the question to mean.

The very first reading I ever did for another person was for B at some point in high school. It wasn't a particularly impressive reading—the only thing I can recall about it is that I only used the Major Arcana, for some reason, and that maybe even B had been out with me when I bought the deck (the RWS I bought to replace my Tarot de Marseilles and the deck I would eventually give to her a couple years later). We sat in the upstairs office she had turned into her computer room (it started out as a drafting office for her father, but he eventually became too sick to work) and I awkwardly shuffled the too-large cards and lay them out on the closed lid of her laptop before immediately consulting the LWB.

It was an awkward reading, to be sure: I was a totally novice reader and B was asking pretty heavy stuff that would have been better suited to someone more experienced and mature, both in life and with the cards in particular.

Except for a brief period of time doing readings for fellow members of a forum I used to frequent in late high school and early university (whose average member age must have been something like 15 or 16), I've avoided doing readings for others. My friends know that I have this hobby and sometimes they've asked me for a reading, just for fun (usually—B takes them quite seriously), and I've either made excuses and then grudgingly obliged only to get super nervous. Shaking hands, inability to make eye contact, the whole nine yards. That's why I don't think I could be a professional (or well, one of a few reasons why). I am content to volunteer my services via the Internet if a friend asks, and I can send it time delayed instead of doing it on Skype etc. IN REAL TIME, because nope.
tarot_scholar: An image of Norman Rockwell's interpretation of Rosie the Riveter (Rosie)
An LJ friend elsewhere put out the call for readings from her reading-type friends. I stepped up to the challenge and developed an original 11-card spread based on her current situation. In particular, she wanted to know about the general energy/environment surrounding her and her family (husband, three sons) and what she can/needs to do to improve it, as life is pretty stressful at the moment.

I was inspired by the layout of a spread I saw many moons ago on Aeclectic. Its original purpose was to help a querent stuck between two choices; obviously that isn't really applying here. I also drew from the layout and content of the classic Celtic Cross spread.

Each pair of crosses at the top represent an individual: the querent (far left), her husband (far right), and their two oldest sons (middle). The youngest son is only an infant a few months old at the time of this writing—not an age where I think Tarot is an appropriate or useful descriptor of behavior or inner psychology.

The first card of each cross "covers" the person in the traditional Celtic Cross sense: describes themselves, their general situation/mood/etc. The second card "crosses" the individual and describes the root of their largest or most pressing issue/problem.

The bottom row of individual cards constitute the advice specific to the querent. From left to right: keep doing this, stop doing this, and try doing this.

The rest of this post is taken directly from the message I sent to the querent, reproduced here with her permission.




The reading. )
tarot_scholar: An image of Norman Rockwell's interpretation of Rosie the Riveter (Rosie)
Umbrae's month of May rant on AT included two very interesting questions, ones he said anyone interested in reading Tarot professionally should consider:

Why do I want to read (for others)?

Why do people come to us?

I think these are important questions to consider no matter what you do with the Tarot.

Why do I want to read (for others)? )

Why do people come to us? )

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