What's a 'cold reading'?

[Allison70]

I've seen this term pop up in a couple of threads lately and wanted to be sure I understood what it meant. I'm anal about words LOL.

So what is a 'cold reading'? From the earlier contexts, I suspect it's a reading banged out fast with little concern, feeling or effort, probably by someone who wants you out the door so the next paying customer can get in. But contexts can be misleading!

 

[Alta]

There have been lengthy discussions and it can be interpreted two ways.

The way it is most commonly interpreted here is that is when someone coolly uses body language, information gleaned from conversation and card meanings that apply to almost anyone oin that sex and age group to give a grand-sounding but very general meaning. This works fairly well, depending on the gullibility level of the client.

"Cold reading" also gets used by some readers here to refer to reading a client without any background information. I, for example, feel I read better if I know at least the general area of concern (love, money, career or whatever) but a good many readers prefer to go in with no background because they feel it can taint their reactions to the cards. So, 'cold reading' also gets used this way.

That likely didn't help as much as you would like. But often 'cold reading' can be taken as 'scam reading'.

Alta

 

[Allison70]

Thanks Alta.
I wondered, since the second meaning you mention is similar to what I would have thought if it was a reference to psychic reading. But then the threads I'd seen here used it more in the other vein.

So it can be both. Good to know.

 

[Umbrae]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading

Most cold readers never even both with reading body language. They tend to use very broad statements.

Recently, Satin Angel and Baroli were with me when I took them into a store in Pikes Place Market in Seattle. I dug through a box of books and handed them two books on 'cold reading'. One was a book of 'scripts' which you could memorize, and the other was how to do fake readings with anything, dominoes, coffee, tea, dice. (my point here is that if you know where to look, there is some very dangerous information readily available - has been for years...).

Some folks use body types (Ectomorph, the Mesomorph, Endomorph), to figure out which memorized script to use.

On the other hand I suppose one could just read the cards...

 

[nisaba]

Amongst the readers in the area I live in, a "warm reading" is a reading where you already know the person, and so might be able to work on prior knowledge of their issues, whilst a "cold reading" is where you go into the reading with a total stranger, knowing no background.

I'm about to do a warm reading this morning for a girl who was a cold reading a few months ago.

 

[Baroli]

It seems to me that there are two definitions of "coldreading" here, one is on a positive note, giving someone a reading who you know nothing about, have no prior contact with and yes a total stranger.

The other is the one that Umbrae is talking about and one that a lot of members here have talked about,..... unscrupilous readers, who memorize scripts and general information and then spout it out, sounding like the reader has some remarkable ability to see into the querent thus giving a terrific reading. This is the cold reading I know. "In the Camp of the Enemy," of "the process" http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11390 gives a more detailed definition.

Yeah, that was an interesting find Umbrae,....I suspected there are books and pamphlets on how to cold read,.......never thought I would actually see one. That was a FUN day!!

 

[FatesLady]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading

Most cold readers never even both with reading body language. They tend to use very broad statements.

Recently, Satin Angel and Baroli were with me when I took them into a store in Pikes Place Market in Seattle. I dug through a box of books and handed them two books on 'cold reading'. One was a book of 'scripts' which you could memorize, and the other was how to do fake readings with anything, dominoes, coffee, tea, dice. (my point here is that if you know where to look, there is some very dangerous information readily available - has been for years...).

Some folks use body types (Ectomorph, the Mesomorph, Endomorph), to figure out which memorized script to use.

On the other hand I suppose one could just read the cards...

That is SO interesting! I would be tempted to buy them just to see what they were all about, but I would be too afraid someone would see them one day and think the worst of me, so no crazy script books for moi.

 

[Ambrosia]

Whenever I have done "Cold Readings" I have always intended it to mean that I will be reading with no prior question or background information.
That is what I learned the term "cold reading" meant when I read it in a book several years ago, (can't remember which book it was now).

Hmm, sounds like I will have to make sure my intentions are clear before reading in future, I was not aware there was another meaning for the term, I would hate clients to think I am trying to "scam" them.

I use this method sometimes to try to hone my intuition, to see how close I get to the issue in question without knowing what it is in advance.

 

[balenciaga]

Brrrr, and like it like that

All my readings are cold because I do not, and try not, to remember anything about a person's background or personal story. I like a straight, unbiased view, using only the cards when conducting a reading. I want the message to travel straight from the deck to the sitter. I am only the translator.
I think I am the most inconsequential member of the scene.

 

[Aerin]

'Cold reading' as in 'scam artist' is, I believe the most common definition outside the tarot community - I've always seen it as that anyway. It's like when a fake medium takes leads from the audience but people don't remember afterwards just how much information they have given. Derren Brown is very good at it (faking I mean).

I found some stuff on ebay recently to do with this, there's a thread about it somewhere: I was (naively I suppose) Shocked and Horrified. And yes, I mean the capitals there

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