So your boyfriend who cheated on you said he’s sorry and it won’t happen again. Do you believe him?
The job offer seems to be what you’ve been waiting for but the commute is going to be a killer. Do you take it?
Everything seems to be going well, but something is missing. What is it?
When there’s a lot at stake it can be hard to read for yourself.
Cards you are familiar with suddenly seem murky and confusing. What does the 2 of pentacles really mean?
Are you just seeing what you want to see?
Are you looking with too dark of a perspective or do you have rose colored glasses on?
It’s so hard to be objective when reading for yourself when there’s emotional involvement!
Don’t worry, there’s a solution — the blind reading.
I call blind reading any reading in which I do not know the question being asked.
Blind reading is a bit odd and a bit backwards for me, because when I read for others, I prefer to have a question.
However, if I am reading for myself with a high stakes question, its better if I DON’T know the question.
So how does this work?
How to Blind Read
- write 3 or more questions on separate pieces of paper
- place each question in a separate envelope
- shuffle the envelopes and shuffle your cards
- place an envelope in front of you, pull a card, and free write about the card for several minutes
- repeat the process for the remaining envelopes
Pros and Cons of Blind Reading
Pros:
- good for beginning Tarot readers if you can trust yourself
- good for questions you have a high emotional investment in
- helps develop your intuitve and psychic reading skills
Cons:
- not an analytical process
- might not work for beginning readers if they can’t trust the process
Let’s break it down
Step 1 – write 3 or more questions on a separate pieces of paper…
In this step we are trying to hide the question from ourselves so we won’t be biased in the response. In regard to the other questions, the only requirement is that they are something you truly want an answer to.
The questions don’t need to be as high stake as the question you want answered, or they can be. Just make sure you are not being frivilous with what you ask. The Oracle doesn’t like that.
You can put questions for other people into the mix here. That is totally acceptable.
Step 2 – place each question in an envelope
This is self explanatory. Each question goes in a separate envelope.
Step 3 – Shuffle the envelopes
The purpose of this is so you lose track of which question is in which envelope and to start the randomness of the reading.
Step 4 – Place an envelope in front of you, pull a card and free write about it for several minutes.
Write your standard “definitions”, what you generally know this card to signify. Describe the card. Hone in a detail or 2 of the card, describe the details.
Make up a story about the card. What’s happening? What happened before and what happens after the scene on the card?
What feelings are coming up? Does it seem light and fun? confusing? heavy? scary? Write it all down.
Note any memories that come up and write them down.
Hear a song or see a scene from a movie? You got it, write it down!
Are there people or animals in the card? Talk to them or eavesdrop on their conversation. Write it all down.
Do NOT worry about this being any kind of coherent message. In fact contradictory elements may show up. Just write it down. Do not censor.
Place the paper in the envelope.
Step 5 – repeat
Evaluating the reading
Once you have finished the free writing for all the envelopes/questions, take out the contents of the envelopes 1 by 1.
Read over what you wrote for envelope 1. Is it the answer you were expecting? When you initially pulled the card for that question and were answering, which question did you think you were answering?
I’m often surprised thinking I am probably answering one particular question, but I’m actually answering another. Do you think this impacts the reading in any way? That is if I think or hope I am answering one question, but am actually answering another, does this lens affect the reading? Just something to think about, don’t spend too much time on it.
So what does this blind reading indicate? Good ?, bad? neutral? Does it imply an action or next steps? Is it talking about a particular person in your life?
If you need more information you can pull another card OR ask for clarification and send it back and repeat the blind reading process.
Blind Reading Variations
- blind read both the card and the question
- read 2 or 3 cards for each envelope instead of 1 – careful this could really muddy the waters – not recommended for cards in the envelope
- place 1 card in the envelope for what you don’t know, and read 1 card outside the envelope for what you know (oooh spicy!)
- place an oracle card in the envelope along with a Tarot card – oracle cards have a way of summing things up