Earlier today, I was giving a tutorial to a woman who comes to me to sharpen specific tarot skills. We always have enjoyable sessions and today was no different. Today was about engaging the readee/querent more actively during the course of a tarot consultation instead of her/him just sitting there listening to pronouncments from the reader/consultant. The largest body of what we came up with was a series of questions one can ask the client at the beginning of the session, during the body of the session, and at the end of the session. Here are some that we came up with:
AT THE BEGINNING:
- What would you like to accomplish in today’s tarot session?
- What would be helpful for us to explore today?
- What feelings have you been having that led you to the tarot today?
- What is the most important thing (in your life) to know or learn about at this time?
DURING THE SESSION:
- What in this image really grabs your attention?
- What’s happening in this card?
- How does it feel?
- What might this mean?
- If this card were a story, what would it be telling you?
- For me, this card can be about A, B, C, or D. Given your own experience, which of these makes sense to you?
- How might the things I’ve/we’ve said about this card relate to [spread position/question]?
AT THE END:
- How would you summarise everything we’ve talked about today?
- What do you most want to remember from this consultation?
- What one constructive thing can you do this week to help you remember the session?
In a wonderful moment of synchronicity, I encountered more questions at lunch-time. I’m reading the newly revised edition of Christina Baldwin’s Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice, and today’s chapter just happened to be — you guessed it! — The Art of Questioning. It contains delicious phrases such as:
- Our spiritual lives are defined by the questions we raise and write about…
- Through questioning we learn to hold our own course — to absorb life’s mysteries and keep moving through the territory questions release to our exploration.
- The comfort that comes from questioning is this: even if there isn’t an answer, there is response.
Whether over tarot cards, in our journals, deep in the process of council, or simply in everyday conversation, questions open us up to more of who we can be, to more of what life can be. So, dear readers, I leave you with this question today:
What is the burning question you need to ask right now?