What does it mean when you receive ‘messages’ whilst conducting a reading? Where are these messages coming from and should you take any notice of them?
When you have been reading the Tarot for a little while, you may find that the way you interpret the readings begins to change. This change will not happen overnight and will be quite subtle at first, but eventually you will realise that a lot of the images and impressions you are receiving do not seem to be related to the actual cards laid out in front of you.
What causes this and is it an indication that something is wrong? To answer the second question first – no, nothing is wrong. In fact, the opposite is true. What is happening is that your intuition, psychic ability, telepathic skill (call it what you will) is beginning to take over and you are on the first stage of the journey to not actually needing to use the cards at all when conducting a reading. Many readers (myself included) do not really need their Tarot cards, but we continue to use them because – well, because we like to use them!
Let us imagine that you are conducting a reading for someone who is concerned about their marriage. Although nothing in the cards suggests this, you are somehow convinced that the person is being unfaithful to their partner (or that their partner is being unfaithful to them). No matter how many spreads you try, this feeling won’t go away. Should you ignore it, or act on it? If it isn’t shown in the cards, does this mean it isn’t really true?
There are several reasons why certain situations or events may not be shown in the cards, but ‘come through’ in some other way. One of the most common is that the subject of the reading is ‘blocking’ the information, probably unconsciously, perhaps because they can’t face the truth, or because they don’t want to admit that they may be responsible for whatever problem has brought them to you in the first place.
In other words, although they have succeeded in blocking the information in terms of what appears in the Tarot spread, they have not succeeded in blocking it from the telepathic or psychic communication that you are receiving from them. Obtaining information in this way usually means that it is coming directly from the subject’s subconscious mind and it is therefore important to bear it in mind when interpreting the cards, even if you don’t actually feel it is appropriate to voice it to your subject.
Often, more trivial, but nonetheless significant, details may come through in this way. I often receive names, ages, dates, numbers, letters, and such like ‘out of thin air’ and invariably a question such as “Who is Elizabeth and what was her connection with the number 9 and roses?” will bring forth a response along the lines of “She was my grandmother, her house was number 9 and she loved roses!”, together with much “oohing” and “how on earth did you know that-ing” from the client.
Of course, it may be that information such as this is coming spiritually. I am also a medium, so I often find that my Tarot readings are ‘aided and abetted’ by various visitors from “the other side”, who often take great delight in imparting various snippets of information which, although they may seem pretty insignificant to me, often mean a great deal to the subject of the reading. A recent reading, that I conducted via e-mail, brought forth the phrase “Just like Uncle Jack”, which meant very little to me, but was very significant to the person I was reading for.
When I first started obtaining these messages, I was very reluctant to mention them to my clients. I recall one reading I undertook, for a lady who also read the Tarot, when this happened. She had read my cards first of all, and successfully mentioned a couple of names that were relevant to me, and she asked me if I could tell her what her husband’s name was. I was convinced it was Bob (she hadn’t told me, nor did I know), but I was afraid of saying “Bob” in case she said “Well, it’s John actually, you’re not very good at this, are you”, so I said I didn’t know. “Well, never mind”, she replied. “Maybe you’re not ready to develop that way yet”. She then added “His name is Bob, by the way”. Of course, I told her then that I had been convinced of that, which of course was easy to say, but impossible to prove, and needless to say I was kicking myself for hours afterwards.
Messages don’t always come through in word form, incidentally. Sometimes you will obtain them through other senses, such as hearing, smell and taste. You may (probably only for a few seconds) suddenly be overwhelmed by the scent of lavender, or feel as if you have just eaten a strong mint. You may perhaps hear the strains of a particular song, as if someone had just turned on a radio.
The way in which you receive these messages will depend to a large extent on the kind of person you are, rather than your client. If you are a very tactile or physical person, for instance, you may find yourself receiving physical impressions rather than mental ones. Sometimes a physical message, such as a scent, will then immediately be followed by a mental image such as a name. If this occurs, you can probably safely assume that the two go together – for example, if you suddenly become convinced you can smell pipe tobacco when no one is smoking a pipe, then the name “Cousin George” pops into your head, it is more than likely that Cousin George, whoever he was, enjoyed smoking a pipe.
Not everyone receives these messages, of course, and not doing so is by no means an indication that you are not as competent a reader as someone who does receive them. Many readers, when they first start picking-up messages in this way, are uncomfortable with them and ‘turn off’, which eventually tends to result in the messages no longer being able to come through. Other readers simply never receive them at all. Everyone has different methods of reading the Tarot, which is, of course, what makes it so versatile and exciting!
You may be inclined to think that if the name of a person or place or whatever pops into your head while you are conducting a reading that it is simply your imagination, or perhaps you have put it there because you are trying too hard to obtain these messages. This is highly unlikely, especially if the name or whatever it is means nothing to you personally. If you hear the words “Aunt Gladys” and you have never had an Aunt Gladys, it is more than likely that Aunt Gladys (whoever she is or was!) belongs to your subject, or someone he or she knows.
So, if Aunt Ethel (or Uncle Albert, or anybody else), pops into your head the next time you conduct a reading, just casually say “You don’t happen to have an Uncle Cyril, do you?”. You may be surprised at your subject’s reaction!