A Bad Memory (and things that help)

Mi-Shell

Well, metaphysical stores are about mystique - and trust in the etheral sciences.
Trust, that you as a reader can SENSE and FEEL, INTUIT, what any given sitter needs to learn and to know. For this, no memory is necessary.
Being good at memorizing the book - or personal meanings - of the cards will not make you a good or better reader. It is just the very first step on a journey.
For a sitter any book you use, any promptings written onto cards will take the "mystique" away. They will also "lock you in" on just that.
Reading off or trying to read meanings on the cards while you use them, puts you in a stress/ on edge frame of mind and will engage your analytical brain and thereby to a very large extend subdue/ cut out your intuitive senses and the channels through which a good and deep reading flows.
 

Le Fanu

I think if you had a few, essential keyword prompts on the cards to ease your anxiety about the mind going blank - once you start reading, it will soon become apparent that you are saying and interpreting way beyond what the keyword says. I mean the client would know that you're not just "reading" words since surely the card reading itself would contain so much more.

The original Etteilla decks had actual keywords on them, as did the Petit Etteilla - not just the handwritten ones that Debra refers to, actual properly printed words and descriptions.
 

nisaba

Why not try just looking at the artwork? Don't memorise anything. Look at each individual image as it comes out. How does it make you feel? What colours or details are you particularly noticing on that occasion? Make up stories about what you see. You will find that you don't need anything to refer to after that. :)
 

Grizabella

Yeah, what nisaba said! :p

My first thought is that you could just read intuitively. No need for notes on the cards or referencing a journal that way. There would be no reason to use memorized meanings and to a degree, I think even people with good memories read largely intuitively anyway.

I think having a book to use, whether it's you journal or not, would be a bad idea. No matter what your reason for doing it, and no matter whether you explained why you use it, I think your customers would still have a niggling feeling that your readings weren't quite legit.
 

Morwenna

A friend of mine, who uses a TdM deck, has a few 3x5 note cards with keywords on them and she often refers to them, and she's been reading for years. And she's always had plenty of customers, because she presents herself very well.

If you have keywords for your cards, a good way of studying them before a reading session is to cement the concept of the keyword with the image on the card, and by the time you read the words won't matter because the concept will be there.

And what everyone else said about going with whatever the picture tells you.
 

Dogs&Coffee

No matter what method you choose to read with, good luck on your trial readings! That's so exciting! Please let us know how it turns out :)
 

Trogon

So according to Equal Opportunity and ADA laws if you can perform the job with or without a reasonable accommodation they can't discriminate against you for the position. I'd assume a little key guide (if you can get it down to one or two pages, that's better than a journal) should be ok.

To an extent this is true ... as far as being hired ... especially by federal, state, or other governmental agencies. It might even apply in the case of being hired as a clerk in a store. Unfortunately, it doesn't help if clients won't come to you, or refuse to pay.

I very much like the idea of either getting a Tarot deck with keywords printed on the cards, or writing your own on the cards. One of my decks is the Röhrig Tarot, it is Thoth based and has keywords, as well as snippets of notes on the cards. Unfortunately, my eyes are getting older and I can't read the reproduced notes, but the keywords are easy to read.

I have been to a couple of psychics, but no professional Tarot readers yet. I believe I would be a little put off if I was paying for a reading and they had to look up notes about the cards. If they explained that they had that handicap, I may not mind then. I think it would depend on how in-depth they were able to go beyond their notes. But I don't think keywords on the cards would bother me ... even if they were hand-done.