As I have said over and over about tarot reading…the power, the knowledge, the wisdom, the insight, is not in the tarot cards– it’s in the Reader.  The cards are just a tool, a beautiful tool, that gives the reader’s sub-conscious a little jump start.  I believe that most tarot readers can actually learn to do readings without the cards.  I believe that we can teach ourselves to open up to our clients and connect in our own magickal way without any divinatory tool.  It’s just a matter of practice, of honing your skills, of learning to recognize and process psychic information, of learning to control any fear of being “wrong”.  It’s a matter of  trusting  yourself and listening to that little voice in your head. Below is my first tarot experiment, a blind reading.  Blind in that I have laid the cards, but I’m going to “read” them  before  I turn them, and then again afterwards. The Blind Reading: A female, and the feeling of distress, but not just physical distress, it’s deeper than that.  There is a family member from the past connected to a traumatic experience or memory.  a Baker– pans and pans (baking pans) of large loaves of homemade bread.  Coins (pentacles) slipping through your fingers, and the cheerful “ka-ching” metallic noise as they do so.

Other impressions:  peasant dresses, or a peasant skirt; those little Russian doll figurines, the kind that is one inside another, inside another, etc.; the song “I’m a little teapot…”; white lilies and calendula. After Turning the Cards: There she stands, the figure on the nine of pentacles; complete within herself, in a good place at the present time.  The energy feels like that of a “survivor”. On one side– a relationship, possibly long and enduring, but not without it’s ups and downs (the reversal).  It could also represent “something you’ve left behind”, and this makes me feel almost wistful. On the other side– the King of pentacles, a male family figure who has passed, or a man who’s influence still figures strongly in your life today. (And this influence feels all encompassing, whether this man is alive or not, you are– and have been– forever affected by his energy.)

Other impressions:  the idea of successfully “weathering the storm”; angel wings; sharing; standing at a threshold; “The Grapes of Wrath”; the ram– Aries.

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Note: The individual that I’ve chosen as the recipient (or guinea pig!) for this “Blind Reading” may, or may not, choose to leave his/her impressions publicly about this reading and its accuracy.  This reading is done in complete anonymity, and the only thing that’s really important to me is protecting the querent’s privacy and working on my own skills as a reader at the same time. I might also suggest other tarot readers try this and give us your impressions! What do you think of a Blind Reading?  Did a blind reading work for you?  Do you actually pick up information more clearly before you turn the cards, or after?  (Leave a comment, let us know.)