Art on the Avenue

In most people’s minds, “Tarot card reading” means a woman in flowing robes, leaning over a small table in a candlelit room, foretelling impending doom.

But that’s not really what Tarot cards are about. In fact, they're not even really meant to tell your fortune or future. The Tarot aids in coming in contact with one's Higher Self, according to The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, "The most powerful sources of information come from within.”

But what the mean of that? In this article, we’ll look at the various ideas about what tarot cards mean , where are they come from,and how a deck of cards can possibly tell you anything about yourself. You'll learn why you don't have to be a psychic to do a Tarot reading and why it matters where the cards fall.

Readings Types
Question readings and open readings are two different types of Tarot readings.

Question Readings
You are addressing a specific question in question readings. Answer specific yes or no questions is not the intention about tarot. It used as a guide to help you make the decision yourself instead of most say it shouldn't be used to make decisions. For this reason, It's very important the way a question is stated. According to Joan Bunning, Tarot readers and teachers, questions should:

* Keep open options: before the reading, If you have the answer,then you're not allowing the cards to guide your overall decision. It is narrowing the scope of the true question by answering it before you even get started, For example: Asking how you could encourage your mother-in-law to move out, as opposed to asking how you can get along better with her.

* Find the best level of detail: Your question should not be overly detailed but focused. Rather than looking one side of the problem,find a way to look more aspects at it. Take a example, ask how you can better balance kid schedules and adult schedules but not to ask how you can make your home life less chaotic. That question is focused. That's too detailed--- do not go so far as to ask how you can coordinate baseball, soccer and Cub Scout schedules and still have family time --. In order to express what you want to learn from the cards only include the minimum level of detail needed.

* Focus on yourself: If the reading is for yourself, make sure your question focuses on you rather than on someone else who you think may be the root of your problem. For example, asking why your son is experimenting with drugs is not focusing on you, but your son. Asking what role you play in your son's decision to experiment with drugs brings the focus of the question back to you.

* Stay neutral:your question has to be neutral to stay open to other points of view and not convey a preconceived notion that your view is necessarily the right one. if you ask for the cards, it can give you guidance. For example, asking why you're doing more work around the house than your spouse isn't neutral; asking how you can get more cooperation from your spouse when it comes to housework is neutral.

* Be positive:Make sure state your question in a positive rather than negative way. Instead of asking why a specific event hasn't happened, ask what you can do to help make that event happen.

Open Readings
Open readings address the larger aspects of your life rather than a specific problem area or question. When you're entering a new phase of life, getting married, graduating from college or starting a family,They are usually done at this time. If you have a general area you want to cover,You can somewhat direct the reading,such as your career or health, but that's as specific as the direction gets.