Reading for yourself could be dangerous?

Leila_selda said:

Hi all,

I had a interesting conversation with my friend today. She is wiccan and very wise and knows a lot of stuff about the spirtuel world. I told her that i sometimes do readings for myself. She told me not to do it anymore. That you should only read for others because its dangerous to read for yourself.

I would like to hear your expertise and opinions about this.
And why it could be dangerous.

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Leaving your house by the front door can be dangerous. Drinking too much water is very dangerous - it can cause permanent brain damage. Depends what you define dangerous as.

I was Wiccan in the nineteen seventies and eighties - I've grown into Shamanism. Though I don't see how that makes you any more an expert in Tarot than someone who is extensively experienced in Tarot over a great many years. I've also been reading Tarot since the seventies, and have been professional since 1981.

Reading for yourself is perfectly fine. For many readers, it is the only practice they get.

It's *harder* than reading for strangers, though. With a stranger, you only have the cards and your intuition to go on, so the messages are likely to be accurate. But when you read for yourself, you know ALL the backstory, and you are swamped with your emotions. The whisper of your intuition is a lot quieter than the shouting of your emotions, so it's difficult to read for yourself.

But not dangerous, as far as I can see, unless you get delusions that you're somehow superior to non-readers. Which can happen to us all.

This thread has me pondering why I even read for myself any more, since "practice" for me at this point lies mainly in reading for others in a public setting: it's more "honing my chops" than anything else. I find that when I do self-read, it's more for "tone" than "substance." A good case in point is the experimenting I've been doing with my "astrologically informed" daily draw spread. In the weeks since I started doing it, I've only had one case where actual events were indicated, when the Tower came up three days in a row in the "focus for the day" section of the spread. Everything else has been primarily "background noise."

That said, if I'm facing something like a major road trip, I like to do a spread to get a general idea of how it will go. But I'm mainly looking for potential interferences or inconveniences to be alert for rather than indications of whether it's a good idea to even go. It's pretty much how I approach astrological prediction on a routine basis. If I back away from seeking "hard" evidence of events and just look for possible tendencies or trends, I get on much better with self-reading. It keeps the "danger" of over-reacting quite low.

In my experience, when I read for myself, I feel more spiritual and more strong. I tap into a higher power of intuition and I feel less scared of any problems caused by myself, others, or nature itself.

Tarot feels like tapping into a strong silver thread inside of my heart, in conjunction with the golden thread that connects me to God. I don't think there is anything bad about self readings; if anything, they give us armor to protect ourselves, and make better decisions, based off the knowledge tarot gives us.

I do see some sense in her caution, though. Too much knowledge can make some people very undecided and worried, and make it harder to make a discussion. Maybe your friend thinks you're one of those types of people?

I think as long as the extra knowledge of tarot self readings doesn't overwhelm you, you're going to be fine.

My mom was like that too. She heard years ago that she shouldn't read for herself. She only recently started doing so.

I've been around tarot my whole life but only recently started reading and only for myself. I want to read for my mom but I told her I want to get more practice first. ☺

I sometimes cleanse my deck every now and then to keep the negativity out of my readings but I wouldn't say that it's dangerous. lol

Thank you morwenna for sharing this with me.

Its good to know that you can also read for yourself to know in what for state you are and what you can do to improve your sitiuation or what your blockages are. Or what the root is from your bad habits.
I will try this soon

Morwenna said:

Analyzing my state of mind, or my strengths and weaknesses, or my personality quirks; almost treating it like an astrological personality analysis, but also figuring in what the state of affairs is with me right at the moment, both internal and external. If I'm upset, for instance, of course I'll already know that, but the cards may give me insight as to just what in the upsetting situation is at the bottom of my reaction, and it may be something I was not consciously aware of but totally makes sense when I read it. You can analyze the roots of your bad habits that way too, or procrastination tendencies or whatever. And it can give you advice as to how to overcome it.

There are spreads that address situations like that, with positions that ask what is the problem, how are you hindering yourself, how are you helping yourself, what can you do for yourself, etc. Try the spreads sub-forum; there are a lot of interesting spreads there that are for personal analysis.

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Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with me about reading for yourself.
Ive learned a lot from you guys. And know now that it depends on the reader on how they interpertate the cards. And how the reader response to the reading.

My aplogies for my late reply. Ive been having the flue.

Thanx again for sharing your experiences with me

Based on my experience

Coming from my experience as a child I was experiencing a lot of paranormal or spiritual awakenings etc I am Mexican dissent and I went with my aunt I was about 6/7 yrs old then to a tarot reader who she would visit frequently she told me to wait outside and so I did. I had no idea who she was or what she did but I was curious as many people waited in line to be consulted in my head I kept asking why are all these people here? I guess I was thinking too much about it as quickly as my aunt went in the small house she came back out with the lady but the lady pointed at me and said what do you want to know? Ask me because you are making my head spin lol she then asked me for my hands looked at my palms and said darling you will find yourself doing what I do, years later I went to Mexico again and was curious to see her by then I was 15 so I asked my aunt to take me. When she seen me she knew it was me saying I been waiting on you took me to the room shuffling the cards she said never ever read for yourself we can see what others can't in plain sight and that is a gift to others but can be a heart break to you. She then told me to cut and pulled three cards she told me some past experience what was happening now ATM with my awakenings and what will happen. On my 17th birthday she sent me my first tarot cards, throughout the years I never read for myself only others. Five years ago I was in a turbulent relationship I loved him like I didn't ever experience or felt before. We were connected if something went wrong in his life I knew about it before he even told me and vice versa but we pushed each other to the limits bringing the worst in each other. I finally broke it off but when I sit there thinking of him almost immediately he call or text me one day I consulted my cards wanting to know if we would workout if he was the right one for me when I pulled the first three cards my heart dropped I felt this pressure in my heart and couldn't breathe I immediately picked the cards up and put them away I wanted to know nothing about anything. Three days later he passed away in his car his heart just stopped beating. His passing scared me for life, I felt responsible,angry at myself for not making things better before his passing etc it's been four long years of recovery, healing and mending moral of the story if your craft is helping others and reading for others stick to that the cards never lie and only the wise and mindful ones consult the cards with intention of following advice because it's not ego based. I think the danger dissipates when one is older because we understand death and life better. My opinion anyway

Leila_selda said:

Hi all,

I had a interesting conversation with my friend today. She is wiccan and very wise and knows a lot of stuff about the spirtuel world. I told her that i sometimes do readings for myself. She told me not to do it anymore. That you should only read for others because its dangerous to read for yourself.

I would like to hear your expertise and opinions about this.
And why it could be dangerous.

Click to expand...

If it IS - there are an awful lot of people in this forum who must be in VERY deep trouble

I'm sure your friend is wrong. Certain sure. The only thing that's dangerous is getting obsessed with reading - and that applies just as much to getting readings from others.

My apoligies for my late reply.

Thank you guys for sharing your experience and wisdom with me.
It gives me a lot of confidence to read for myself again