How to Prepare for a Reading

The most important part of a reading occurs before the card drop.

Were you to receive a reading from me, I'd help you define the question. That is a topic for a future post. Then, you would see me close my eyes and become quiet. I never explain to the querent what that is about and I have never been asked. I am doing the following.

First, I'm calling the creative forces of the qabala to purify the cards. This is in the form of the tetragrammaton, the unpronounceable name of God, YHVH. I send this word through the deck. You do not have to use the names of the qabala. Some people start out by visualizing a white light passing through the deck that either takes impurities with it or burns them off. This can become as simple or complex as you like. Professional readers have to do this quickly. You can take your time until it becomes second nature.

Secondly, I am praying to various entities. For me, those entities are:

Heru -- in the Golden Dawn tradition, this is the angel of the tarot. I ask him to make the images true to the powers they are intended to represent. You can substitute any deity, spirit or part of yourself that you feel can help form a link between the images on the card and their corresponding astral energies.

Hermes -- I ask him to help foster communication between hidden forces and myself, as well as, between myself and the querent. You can substitute any deity, spirit, or part of yourself that you feel can accomplish the same task.

My Holy Guardian Angel (HGA) - I ask him to open a link between myself and the querent. This allows my heart to understand and speak to my client's heart. When you are good at this part, you can really get a glimpse of your client's inner beauty. Such things are a privilege and a sacred trust. Your querent may not know they are trusting you in this process but you should know they are. See that you betray it not. Again, substitute whatever you like as obviously you cannot contact my HGA.

Lastly, I am quieting my mind. I am making sure I am totally focused on the reading. Someone has honored me by asking for help. I can only return that honor by giving them my full and undivided attention.

Those three tasks can take as long as five minutes or as quickly as a few seconds. The more you perform these procedures the faster you can accomplish them. Deities are capable of very prompt action. That said, take as long a as necessary to form a link between yourself and the querent. Your spheres must be one.

Do you feel you cannot do those things? Just ask the deities you think can best help and trust them. Deities respond to prayer pure and simple, even if you are unable to clearly to perceive their actions.

Lastly, it is important to break the link when the reading is done. I consider it very rude to follow someone home that has not invited me. In essence, that is what you're doing if you do not ground the link. You do that by asking the same spirit to ground it out that helped you create the link.

TIP: You never break a link. You ground it. Breaking a link is the psychic equivalent to stretching a rubber band until it breaks. The backlash is just as likely to hit you as your client.

In closing, I need to point out that I mention magickal techniques here including linking and grounding. I don't expect that all my readers will know how to do those things. If you don't, feel free to comment and ask for clarification. You can also do research on your own. I find it very healthy to obtain a variety of opinions on most topics.