The sitter knows best - what to do?

For me, that sort of rude behavior would bring an abrupt end to the reading, and preclude any future attempts.

But it's been my experience, based on the way I've always believed tarot divination works, that such a sitter may very well "know best" regarding the nature of their personal reality, at least at the subconscious level, but has a flawed grasp of what the cards are trying to tell them. As has been said, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." If it's a paying client and I'm feeling especially nice, I might put on my "psychoanalyst's hat" and ask "What makes you feel that way about this particular card?" Let the sitter talk a bit and then feed into their observations with relevant insights that don't directly contradict theirs. Ideally, it will work around to your perspective without becoming confrontational.

One of my favourite anecdotes is the customer who said they needed a reading, for a 'fresh' perspective. They explained that they were familiar with the tarot, but wanted some different opinion.

Nonetheless, they talked over me as I offered my interpretation, 'correcting' me and so one.

The icing on the cake was their closing remarks. I reminded them of their original desire
- to have a reading that was a different point of view. I drew their attention to the placing of the Hanged Man and suggested that their ego needed to be set aside for a while.

Their reply was priceless: " I've no problem with my ego: I'm a Reiki Master!"

*smiles quietly to self*

velvetina said:

I drew their attention to the placing of the Hanged Man and suggested that their ego needed to be set aside for a while.

Their reply was priceless: " I've no problem with my ego: I'm a Reiki Master!"

*smiles quietly to self*

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That's brilliantly ironic and while I'm sure they were a hassle, at least you could close the reading with some humor!

velvetina said:

Their reply was priceless: " I've no problem with my ego: I'm a Reiki Master!"

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This reminds me of a line from the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon, which has Bullwinkle observing: "When it comes to humility, I am the greatest!"

Barleywine said:

This reminds me of a line from the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon, which has Bullwinkle observing: "When it comes to humility, I am the greatest!"

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LOL [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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Torann said:

What do you do when you have a sitter that knows a tiny little bit of tarot, and overrules your reading?

She had (amongst other cards) 10 of swords. She completely freaked out. " oh i know this card is trouble and only trouble. It is the most horrible card of the deck."

I tend to disagree

and she also had the devil. "Oh that's the sex card". I couldn't get it out of her head that the devil means a whole lot more than that.

So i just stopped the reading and didn't continue. She just wouldn't listen to my story/interpretation.

Have you experienced this and how did you react?

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Take comfort in the fact that how you read it is the message the cards were giving as they were speaking to you. Whether the message is actually accurate is another thing. With that said, if you feel disrespected then don't read for her again.

You don't have to read for anyone. you also don't have to tolerate disrespect. How you feel is justification enough. Personally, when someone corrects me I just let them. The message is for them not me. If they want to twist the message then they can go right on ahead.


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Torann said:

What do you do when you have a sitter that knows a tiny little bit of tarot, and overrules your reading?

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I offer them their money back, and very politely tell them that as I cannot compete with their great expertise, I suggest that they read for themself.

(My way of telling them to go to hell in such a way that they enjoy the trip there).

I explain there are no 'fixed' meanings & that the cards vary in context depending on the layers in any questions asked. If they still persist with their know all behaviour I let them know I don't feel the work is going anywhere constructive & end the reading; refunding them even if they protest that they want to continue.

I had something a bit similar happen years and years ago. I did an angel Oracle reading for a friend ages ago. Maybe she thought she was being helpful, I don't know, but it was just pissing me off. That experience really turned me off reading for others. I shouldn't have let it but there ya go.

I think in your situation it was right to stop the reading. Maybe explain why you're stopping and how your readings usually work and different readers do different things. Maybe she didn't realize what she was doing.

Torann said:

What do you do when you have a sitter that knows a tiny little bit of tarot, and overrules your reading?

She had (amongst other cards) 10 of swords. She completely freaked out. " oh i know this card is trouble and only trouble. It is the most horrible card of the deck."

I tend to disagree

and she also had the devil. "Oh that's the sex card". I couldn't get it out of her head that the devil means a whole lot more than that.

So i just stopped the reading and didn't continue. She just wouldn't listen to my story/interpretation.

Have you experienced this and how did you react?

Click to expand...

I actually did have an extreme case of this once. And the querent was not even a reader and yet she was SURE of what she believed the card meant and would not listen to me no matter what I said or did. She was just sure. Nothing I could do could change her mind.

It was very early on. In fact it was my first (and last) in person reading. When I was learning I always had a deck with me, in my purse. Someone at work asked me for a reading. And wouldn't you know up popped the Death card.

To say she phreaked out was an understatement. Her eyes almost spun around in her head. Sheer terror. I was telling her over and over and over that Death does NOT at all mean actual death...But she literally did not hear a word I said.

She just kept repeating over and over and over "I KNEW IT!!!!! NOW i AM GOING TO DIE!!!"

No matter how many times and in how many ways I told her that is not true or what they cards were saying, I could not break through to her. She just saw the card was convinced is now meant she was going to soon die and nothing I said or did could break through to her. And I so tried.

I never saw her again. And she was a co-worker. I don't think she up and died the same day so I presume she quit immeditately after the reading, like she could not stand to me in the same room as me??? Not sure but I never saw her again at all after the reading.

That was major uncomfortable as no matter how hard I tried she got an idea in her head and I could not get it out of there, even though I knew it was not what the card was saying.

That was the worst.

I don't know if you can always convince people even when you can see their ideas of Taort are not altogether accurate. You can try and tell them what you know and even why...But then it is still in their hands whether I they choose to believe you or not.

I would try to tell them that there ARE no horrible Tarot cards or Tarot card meanings. Tarot is a tool to HELP people, to make them feel better, more empowered, more confident, more relaxed and comfortable...Now how could "horrible" card meaning be helpful in a system designed to do that? There would be no purpose to having meaning like that in a system designed to help others.

Yes the cards can talk about anything in life, but they are designed to do so in a helpful and useful way. No card is always trouble. There is no such card. In fact no card is actually any one thing, always. As meanings are somewhat fluid and change in actual usage and from reader to reader. What the card means to her may well not be what it means to you. And since you are the one doing the reading, YOUR readings will be the ones that come up, not theirs. And to take heart that your meaning is not horrible.

I agree the Devil can talk about things other than sex as well. No card is that set either that it has just a one word meaning and can't get beyond that.

I think you were likely right to stop the reading there. If they would not believe you and trust in the meanings you saw no matter what you did, there's not much point. The reading is to tell you what you see in the cards so they can make use of the info. If they will not believe you it will not likely be helpful to them. Although you never know for sure when something you say in a reading might sink in weeks of months later. With an in person reading though they may not remember later exactly what you said if they did not believe it at the time.

Boy I wish i could had that option in my case. (sigh) But once that Death card showed up, and it was the first card to pop up, there was just no getting the cat back in the bag...

Babs