So what happens when the reading is inaccurate?

[feminine_mystique]

Have any of you read someone and the reading was hella off?

I've always wondered what I would do if I gave a reading to someone and it was crap lol.. I'd like to think I would handle it well but deep down I would feel so upset and probably cry of embarrassment.

Have any of you experienced an inaccurate reading to someone else? What did they do? What did you do? Did they come back to you?

[emoji8]

 

[Disa]

Well, I had a guy quietly tell me during a reading that everything I said did not apply to him. I just keep saying what I saw in the cards and told him I was sorry it didn't resonate for him, and maybe later after he's had time to think about it, some of it will make some sense. Later that day, his girlfriend came back to me and told me everything in the reading was spot on...

All I can do is say what I see and hope that it all works out for them.

 

[Barleywine]

I try to forestall this by telling my clients in advance that the cards respond to their shuffling and cutting of the deck, drawing on their subconscious understanding of the situation. In this way, it becomes their reading, not mine. I'm just the interpreter. This is the biggest single reason why I don't do on-line readings: my subconscious has no "inside track" on the querent's situation, so the reading becomes a "psychic fishing expedition."

 

[Apollonia]

Have any of you read someone and the reading was hella off?

I've always wondered what I would do if I gave a reading to someone and it was crap lol.. I'd like to think I would handle it well but deep down I would feel so upset and probably cry of embarrassment.

Have any of you experienced an inaccurate reading to someone else? What did they do? What did you do? Did they come back to you?

You have never given an inaccurate reading to anyone? I sure have. I've also gotten inaccurate readings, sometimes from very well known readers.

It has often happened that what the client claims is inaccurate is actually spot on. I have also had some clients who feel that the reading isn't accurate in the moment, but later returned and said that after thinking about it, it was actually accurate. I always tell my clients to take from the reading what they feel resonates, and leave the rest, and if there is something that doesn't resonate at the moment, to hold it in their hearts and it may have meaning at some point in the future.

The main thing is, if you are going to read for others, you can't take praise or criticisms to heart. If you do, you will be constantly second guessing yourself, and you will be miserable whether or not you feel you are accurate. Many of my clients who had less than 100% accurate readings from me have returned. I'm sure some haven't. I don't keep track, because again, wondering why someone didn't come back is just another way to make yourself miserable.

 

[Citrin]

For me it's all about being clear on who I am as a reader and what my reading style looks like. I don't make myself out to be some kind of "psychic medium who is always at least 99% accurate!" (yes, those readers are out there hmm...), so hopefully my clients don't expect that.

I've had maybe one or two clients write me this year and say "the predictions did not come true, why?!", and in those cases I have refered to my description of my readings (that the cards offer guidance, not hard cold facts), and that free will is always at play.

I get the feeling some people don't do their research that well before purchasing a reading, but I think that is there own responsibility to do beforehand, and that has resulted in that I'm going to raise my prices soon and hope that makes people value the service a bit better...

I believe that on some level ALL tarot readings are accurate, but sometimes the reader does interpret it wrong, and sometimes the client does not want to accept the message he/she gets...

I don't see tarot readings as scientific, and I'm honest about that, so if someone is not happy about their reading I try to just let it go, because I know that will always happen, no matter what work I do! When you work with other human beings - you will receive negativity at times, bad reviews, unhappy clients etc... It's inevitable, so might as well just accept and release it.

 

[Barleywine]

I've developed a method over the years to hedge against this. If a reading starts slightly off-target, as indicated by the client's feedback (which might just be quizzical looks, scowling or uncomfortable body-language), I will try a different interpretive angle. There are several levels on which to approach any question, which is why I always treat a reading as a dialogue rather than a monologue. There have been occasions where it ultimately went nowhere, but not for lack of trying or insufficient communication. I haven't been in an "agree to disagree" mode very often, but it does happen and it's by mutual consent.

 

[Grizabella]

No reading is 100% accurate. Striving for accuracy isn't even a goal for me. To be helpful is really more what I'm hoping for. If nothing is really relevant for the sitter, I just accept that. I don't even wonder why it didn't work. I've found that pretty often, a sitter will come back to me and say "you were right!" at a later date even if they didn't see it at the time of the reading, though.

There are many reasons why a sitter might not think a reading is right. And many other reasons why it's right but the sitter won't let you know you've hit it right. I just read what I see. I do have many repeat sitters, though.

Also I only expect feedback if I ask for it here on this forum. When reading for others it's a dialogue, as someone else said, especially if it's in person. In email readings, I may or may not have back-and-forth interaction, but I don't remember readings I do unless I write them down and file them where I can refer back to them. There are times when someone will say, "Remember the reading you did for me X number of months ago? You said something different then." First of all, I don't remember. Second of all, situations and people do change over time, so that's not surprising to me that things have changed.

My newest "thing" I'm doing is to write down my readings and file them away so it's not such a chore to refer back to them if a sitter wants to compare the readings from the past with what I get in a present moment reading. Trying to find them by combing back through my emails is really difficult sometimes.

I don't feel embarrassed if the sitter says a reading is off. I smile and thank them for the input. No reader is 100% right 100% of the time.

 

[UniversesCollide]

To borrow from a poker analogy, we play the hand we're dealt. I don't feel bad if my reading doesn't end up feeling accurate to the sitter. I did my part, I honestly and to the best of my ability read the cards I was dealt.
About 15 years ago I adopted a friend's habit of beginning with some presently verifiable things to make sure the reading is connecting. After establishing some of these reference points, before getting too involved or deep, I ask if the sitter feels there is a connection and would like to proceed with the reading. If they feel like the answer is no, I make note of the cards but then pick them up and reshuffle. It usually turns out that the first read was accurate, just not recognized by the sitter at first and the second attempt helps reword it for them. I've been on the sitter end of a reading like that where the reading felt off but then the second draw made so much more sense and even made the first spread make a little more sense. I really like having the sitter actively participate in taking responsibility for accepting the reading before it goes too far.

 

[Barleywine]

To borrow from a poker analogy, we play the hand we're dealt. I don't feel bad if my reading doesn't end up feeling accurate to the sitter. I did my part, I honestly and to the best of my ability read the cards I was dealt.
About 15 years ago I adopted a friend's habit of beginning with some presently verifiable things to make sure the reading is connecting. After establishing some of these reference points, before getting too involved or deep, I ask if the sitter feels there is a connection and would like to proceed with the reading. If they feel like the answer is no, I make note of the cards but then pick them up and reshuffle. It usually turns out that the first read was accurate, just not recognized by the sitter at first and the second attempt helps reword it for them. I've been on the sitter end of a reading like that where the reading felt off but then the second draw made so much more sense and even made the first spread make a little more sense. I really like having the sitter actively participate in taking responsibility for accepting the reading before it goes too far.

I do something similar to engage the sitter, but in a slightly different way. Rather than choosing a court-card significator or having the sitter select one, I have a sheet made up with the four Aces on it and some general elemental keywords related to the "usual suspects:" new projects or initiatives, love, friendship or family matters, ideas, plans or decisions, financial affairs or work, you get the picture. I have the client pick the Ace describing the main area of interest and use that card as a kind of compass to point out the broader direction of the reading. Since I don't ask for a specific question in advance, this "pre-filtering" saves some time and effort.

 

[AnemoneRosie]

Now, I'm an online reader, so take this how you may.

One of my problems is that I cannot tell if I'm reading the present or the future.
I've had people say that their readings were way off - until some sort of event happens which triggers a cascade of exactly what I read about. My most eerie was when someone wanted a reading on how he could have a good relationship with his mother. She was just not in the cards at all! So I mentioned that, and I sort of danced around how she didn't seem like the safest of people for him, emotionally, at this time in his life, and that maybe this was more about his own healing.

Almost a year after that reading my client got back to me. His mother's substance use had caught up to her shortly after he'd bought the reading, and everything that I'd said around her emotions, and substance use, and his healing, was spot-on.

Sometimes seeming inaccuracies are still accurate; it's just there is a piece missing that we can't yet know.Had I taken the initial feedback too close to heart I might not have been able to keep reading. He was pretty upset that the cards didn't answer his question even a little bit. He had wanted to become a reader in his subsequent correspondence to me because he saw how deep the Tarot can go in seeing things that we can't at the time.