To insure there is no manipulation of emotions (to the consternation of Apprentice Tyler who insists that I should succumb to fear in order to have repeat “business”), I do not know the question of the enquirer. The overture of the reading consists of the statement “You can ask the cards any question, but it can not be time sensitive. For example, you can ask if you are going to win the lottery, but not ask am I going to win the lottery this week.”
While shuffling the cards, they are to think of their question and when they satisfied with the shuffling, they cut the deck. I take the deck, and with phrase “The Tarot knows all, tells all” I start the reading. I use the Celtic spread and tell the person what the location means and how I understand the meaning of the card. I tell them that they man understand the card differently and their interpretation is acceptable. I tell them the story of the cards and then I ask “Does that answer your question?” There is only one reading where I could not follow the story and the cards made no sense-The only time I was paid. Yes, to the irritation of Apprentice Tyler the Greatest Occultist of the Twenty First Century only gives free Tarot readings.
My personal readings have always answered my queries. There 78 pieces of paper can, through an unknown process, answer all questions. I do not reverse the meanings of “upside down” cards. I have often asked the identical question in successive readings-whether the same cards appear or not, the “story” of the cards, that is, my interpretation, remains similar, while the conclusion is the same.. Did I always know the cards were accurate? “No, but I believed. I believed.”
In my opinion, previous “famous” occultist, in the immortal words of a famous apprentice, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” Of course, when one witnesses the power, it is no longer faith, but knowledge that one possesses. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for…”. I do not question of the learning of the Crowleys, the Waites or the Halls, but where is their faith? They have knowledge, but where is their faith? Anyone of them, if they believed that what they wrote were true, would have taken the leap of faith and become immortal. I know of no “leaps of faith of the occult” from any occultists, great or otherwise. They are charlatans.