Back in 1997 I went to an International Tarot Conference run by the Tarot Guild of Australia. At that event a presenter asked the group if anyone read Tarot cards for themselves. I put up my hand. “I do. What’s the good of being able to read Tarot if you don’t use that skill? I thought everyone did readings for themselves.” The people in the workshop wheeled around and stared. “No, you can’t do readings for yourself,” they all said. “Sure you can,” I replied. “I read them for myself all the time! I use Tarot to find out what’s coming up and I check on various situations to see what choices will work out best for me.” Heads shook in disbelief. They said, “No, you can’t be objective when you read for yourself. You’ll only see what you are hoping for.”

I’m pleased to say this attitude has changed. At last year’s conference a presenter asked the same question, “Can you do readings for yourself?” This time just about everyone nodded their heads in agreement. There was even a whole workshop devoted to doing Tarot readings for yourself.

In the book ‘Tarot Masters’, an essay by Mary K. Greer includes the line, “A major breakthrough came when I realised that while all the books of the time said not to read Tarot for yourself, everyone I knew did.”

I just have this advice about doing readings for yourself: If you don’t like what you see in a spread, don’t put a positive spin on your interpretation, and please don’t gather them up and re-shuffle! Consider negative/challenging cards as a great opportunity for you to discover more about who you are and where you are heading. It’s an opening for you to face your fears and conquer them.

Can you do readings for yourself? I know you can. But it requires being honest with yourself…and surely that’s not too much to ask?