collaborative tarot readings

Today on CARD TALK, I’ll cover:
-what collaborative readings are
-why reading cards with friends is great
-how to practically approach collaborative readings
-how to read as a pair or group for one person
-how to read as a pair or group for multiple people
-ways to find people to read with

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Find episode transcripts and more over on the CARD TALK website.

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Chapters

• 0:13 Collaborative Tarot Readings Explained
• 11:26 Collaborative Tarot Reading Techniques
• 15:46 Enhancing Tarot Readings Through Collaboration

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:13

My name is Meg Jones-Wall and you're listening to Card Talk, a mini podcast for tarot basics and evergreen insights. I'm glad you're here. In this episode, we are going to be talking about collaborative tarot readings. Now, collaborative readings are basically cards with friends. These are tarot readings where we allow multiple people to share their thoughts, interpretations, ideas and energetic impressions on the tarot cards that we pull in real time. Now, there are a lot of different ways to do this. There are a lot of different formats we can use. There are a lot of different structures that we can add into this kind of process. In this episode, we're going to talk about different ways that you can get into collaborative readings. We're also going to talk about some alternative ways to do collaborative readings, including showing cards that you've pulled in the past to someone else. But for the bulk of this episode, I'm really going to be using this working definition of collaborative readings, which is to say, when we pull tarot cards and are including another person, or multiple other people, in the full process of the reading, from developing and asking our questions to finding the answers through the cards.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Now, if you've never read tarot like this, you might be wondering how do collaborative readings work Like? What are they? What are we doing here? What are we talking about when we're doing a collaborative reading and really collaborative readings work because you're reading alongside people that you already trust there are really fantastic way to expand your perspective on specific carts because everyone involved in the process is going to be sharing their thoughts, their observations and their perceptions in real time. My personal preference for collaborative readings is to read alongside people that I know and trust already, people whose tarot philosophies I'm fairly familiar with, even if they differ from mine, people who I know are going to take a similar approach, even if we have different interpretations. But there are also community spaces and digital spaces where people will do card swaps or read in tandem with people that they don't know all that well, and so I'm going to give you some strategies for how to read with people, no matter how well you know them or if you've built this whole relationship outside of your tarot, so that you can move through this in a way that feels really safe and supportive.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Collaborative tarot readings work because everyone involved is getting a say in how the cards are interpreted and how they work together. So they really work best when everyone participating is on the same page with not only the you know techniques and mechanics of how the reading is going to work, but also feels that they have the space to share their own perspective on the cards, whatever that may be, and even or even especially if that interpretation differs from other people's. Collaborative readings can be helpful in a number of different circumstances, so I'm going to rattle off a few different times that I think collaborative readings are the most valuable or the most supportive in terms of a way to read tarot Anytime we want help being objective or seeing a situation clearly. Collaborative readings can be fantastic because they're immediately going to allow us to get multiple perspectives that can help us to not get lost in our own viewpoint. Sometimes, if we're having trouble being objective about a situation and we want to turn to the cards, having another person there can help us not see things through such a narrow lens or miss something that the cards are trying to communicate with us. Collaborative readings are also great when we're feeling really tender or anxious or stressed out about a situation. Having support not only from the cards but from someone else can make talking to the cards a little bit easier to get through.

Speaker 1: 3:37

This is also a fantastic technique to try out when you're new to the tarot or if you've been reading for a while but you want to try out a new deck, a new technique, a new idea, a new format for readings or anything else as part of your practice. Because exploring with someone else by your side can help take some of the pressure off of trying a new thing and they can also help you even if they're not familiar with the technique themselves. They can help you kind of look at it through some new perspectives, see things through a new lens really, and collaborate on the reading. Collaborative readings are also great when we want to learn and grow in our practice in general, because collaborative readings are really fun. They can make things feel a little bit more lighthearted, they can make things feel a little bit more easeful and they can make learning and growing and changing feel a little less stressful. We learn a lot about ourselves and the cards through this practice.

Speaker 1: 4:27

And the last thing I'll say here is that collaborative readings can be really great when we want to deepen a relationship with another person or with a group, because tarot reading can be really intimate. It's a great activity for talking through something with another person or for getting closer to another person. There's a lot of vulnerability kind of built into the tarot. So if you're trying to sort through something together, if you're trying to make a decision together, if you're trying to find the language for something together, pulling cards together can help to facilitate that conversation and can also allow us to see things through different lenses, see something through someone else's eyes, or just bring up some new things to talk about together. That might help expand the conversation and bring some things into clarity. One other thing that's really cool about collaborative readings is that if you have a friend that's curious about tarot, or if you have a group of people who have differing amounts of experience with tarot, you can read together and build a lot of confidence as a group. Collaborative readings are really great for beginners and they're just a really fun way to bond and connect and explore as a group.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Now, before I talk through some different kind of nuts and bolts, strategies and tips for digging into collaborative readings with another person, let's just go through some quick things to know and remember first. As I just said, let's just go through some quick things to know and remember first. As I just said, reading tarot can be a tender, vulnerable or sensitive thing. So I tend to not jump headfirst into readings with someone that I don't know very well or don't trust. But also you don't want to jump headfirst into a reading with someone who isn't excited to do the reading with you. Just like with so many other things, there needs to be enthusiastic consent all around. Some people are not interested in tarot, some people are afraid of tarot, some people are uncomfortable around tarot, so don't pressure someone to read cards if they're not ready or they just don't want to. This needs to be something that everyone's an equal and excited participant in.

Speaker 1: 6:20

You also want to make sure that anyone you're deciding to read with whether it's one other individual or multiple people, is that there's a environment of honesty in this group right, that there is a capacity for communicating in an authentic and truthful way. Collaborative readings can be more tender than just getting a reading from a pro, because if you're reading with a pro, they're pretty much guiding the reading, but with collaborative readings, you have multiple people weighing in, sharing their opinions and their perspectives, offering their experience or perhaps giving a insight. That might be uncomfortable. So you want to be aware and ask yourself is this someone you trust to take care of you, to speak with you respectfully, who's going to be real with you, but in a way that you can actually handle and perceive? Are you going to be able to share what you really need with this person, and is this someone that you know how to navigate conflict with? If they share an interpretation for the card that makes you unhappy or uncomfortable or frustrated or that doesn't feel good for you, are you going to be able to talk about that with them, or are you going to like retreat into yourself or get combative? You know, is this someone that you feel comfortable talking about sticky subjects with or talking about really intimate subjects with? I think it's really important, before jumping headfirst into a reading, to talk through the process, as well as your needs, the techniques you're going to use and any necessary boundaries. Before you pull cards.

Speaker 1: 7:43

You also want to consider what you might need after the reading is over, especially if you're reading about a tender topic. How do you generally respond to emotional or difficult tarot readings, and is that something that the people around you are going to be familiar with and aware of? What might you need? If this reading turns out to be really intense or emotional? How can the people around you take care of you, and how can you take care of yourself? Likewise, how can you take care of your reading partners? If the cards deliver a challenging message? What might you need from your fellow readers and what might they need from you? This is essentially just aftercare, right? You want to have consent before the reading and you want to make sure that there is some kind of communication around what you might need to recover after the reading, and it might not be intense. This might not be super necessary, but we don't always know where the cards are going to take us with a reading, so it can be helpful to at least take a minute to consider what's going to make me feel safe in this environment and what's going to help me recover from the reading If it's particularly emotional. I want you to really remember that whoever you're reading with is going to be your partner in this reading, for better or worse. So consider what might you need from them and what might they need from you. How can you support each other?

Speaker 1: 8:53

Now, I will say that a lot of people develop a habit of reading with another person, especially if it's like a partner or a roommate or a close friend or someone that you read with on a regular basis, or they have like a regular group that they're reading with on a weekly basis or on moon cycles or anything like that. It's very common to start to develop, if you like collaborative readings a habit of reading with the same people all the time, and so, as you get more comfortable reading with someone else or with a group, you're not necessarily going to have to talk through all of this every single time, but especially when you're getting started with collaborative readings, it's really important to be real and just talk through as much of this as possible so that every single person present feels safe and supported during the reading. Now let's get to the nuts and bolts. What does this look like? How do we do a collaborative tarot reading? First, let's talk about what it can look like to read for one person, which is to say that one person in the group or in the partnership has a question and you're going to do a reading together to get into it.

Speaker 1: 9:51

Now I like to start with the practicalities. What are you asking about in terms of your topic and your question? What do you want to receive from the cards and what do you want to explore through the cards. This is kind of around format, right. So we're talking about are you pulling one card? Are you pulling multiple cards? How many cards do you want to be included in the reading? Are you using a tarot spread or are you not using a tarot spread? Do you want to each shuffle and touch the cards and engage with the cards? Who's going to draw the cards right and who's going to share their insights first? Who's going to speak first? You also want to talk about the techniques you're going to use, especially if you have different reading styles. So if one person reads reversals and the other person doesn't decide together if you're going to use reversals in this reading or not. You also want to talk about are you going to include any other tools or rituals with this reading, like, are you going to pull any Oracle cards or use pendulums or crystals? Is there going to be any prayer involved or any other rituals involved, et cetera.

Speaker 1: 10:46

It's also worth considering being real about consent and boundaries. Like I said, is there anything you don't want to get into? Are there any hard lines or things that you're nervous about the cards bringing up? Are there any cards that feel really tender lately or that you're feeling really emotional about. It's worth talking about who's leading the reading if anyone, or if you want the other person to be just as involved in interpretations as you are. Depending on the topic, depending on how tender it is, depending on your relationship with that person and depending on the format you're using. You might want one person to be kind of taking charge of the reading, or you might really want to make sure that there's a really clean balance between the two of you or between everyone in the group.

Speaker 1: 11:26

Just talk about this beforehand and figure out what works for you, especially when one person and their situation or questions is the subject of the reading or the focus of the reading. That can be a lot right To have all these people putting their attention on you, offering you all these insights and advice and perspectives. It can be a lot. So you want to make sure that there's some built-in care on the other side. There's a lot of vulnerability necessary with sharing what you need with the cards and with other people. So give yourself a chance to breathe after the reading, right? Grab a snack If you need to grab some water, take some space or do whatever you're going to need to do to make sure that you're okay when the reading is over.

Speaker 1: 12:04

Of course, collaborative readings don't just have to focus on one person. There are also ways that you, with a partner or with a group of people, can read for everyone at the same time or for just for multiple people in the group at the same time. So let's talk about a couple of ways that that can look. Now, regardless of which format you use here, you should still talk about everything that I just shared. When you're just talking about one person, right? So you still want to talk through the different concepts that I just outlined. So, as a group, make sure you're talking about practicalities and techniques, as well as boundaries and safety.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Talk to about if one person is going to be leading the reading or taking charge of the reading, or if everyone wants to have an equal amount of participation. Now, this can be especially important if there are people who are really experienced with tarot and people who are newer kind of in the same group, or if you have people included that want to play around with the cards but don't necessarily know very much. It can be intimidating to read with people who know what they're doing, and if you've got someone who's never shuffled a deck before. They might not want to be as present in the reading as other people. So make sure everyone feels comfortable with their level of participation, that the expectations for how the reading is going to work is clear, and then everyone just knows what their role is in the process, how much they need to show up, how much they need to speak, et cetera. Now, one way you can do this is to pull one or multiple cards for the whole group at once and read it collaboratively. So this really looks like doing one main reading that applies to everyone that's present, or even just for a few people that are present. This is a really fun way to talk through something together, to bond as a group or to see something together in a new way.

Speaker 1: 13:41

Now, spreads, I find, are especially fun for this, because there's a lot to talk about. Then, right, you've got the card and the position. We've got all the cards together. You've got the broader topic as well as the individual cards. There's a lot of stuff to dig into. This can be a really fun way to do a community reading, because it kind of takes some of the heat off, right, you're not putting one person under the microscope and you've got multiple people who feel invested in the reading. You can talk about the cards popcorn style People can just jump in to share what they see. Or you can go around in a circle and make sure that everybody gets a chance to speak one by one.

Speaker 1: 14:14

But this can be a really fun way to facilitate conversation, connect people and dig into something that feels like it can apply to multiple people. You just want to make sure you pick a spread or do a format of reading that applies for multiple people that are present. But you can also do this in a different way, which is to say that you can pull a single card for everyone present who wants one and then go around the circle and let everyone kind of weigh in on what they see in that card. Now you can do this in a few ways, right. You can do this with a question that applies to everyone, which is to say, you know, asking what do we each need to know right now? Or what is each person's role in this project, or challenge or obstacle? Or like, what kind of advice does each person need to hear? And then draw a card for each person and think about that prompt and that card together, how it applies to each person that received their card, or you can have each person develop their own question and draw their own card, and this can be really fun if you know different people take turns shuffling and then you pull the cards like you um, draw them across the surface so there's a nice long line or make a big like kind of puddle or pile of cards, like you're playing go fish and let each person just choose their own card, but then everyone has an opportunity to weigh in on their own question as well as their answer, and they can speak to their own card. But then everyone else can also speak to their card and give some additional insights. It can be really fun for different people to be answering different questions simultaneously and it can make it feel like everyone's getting a card pull, everyone's getting a turn, everyone's getting some feedback right.

Speaker 1: 15:46

Sometimes, if we have a big group of people and multiple people want readings, the whoever goes first might feel like they're getting everyone's like really focused energy and by the time you've done a couple of readings together, it can feel like whoever might be going last isn't getting quite as much energy or attention. So if you have a lot of people that want readings. This can be a really fun way to help everybody get what they're looking for and feel like they get to have a reading and they get to have the attention of the group and have the support that they might be looking for. Now, what I've shared here with you know, focusing readings on one person or reading for multiple people at once these are just a couple of ways to go about collaborative readings. So please experiment, chat with your friends, chat with your partners, talk to whoever you might be doing readings with and experiment with different formats and structures. Test them out, play around. Don't limit yourself to the formats that I've shared here. Just use these as jumping off points, and I would love to hear from you how you do your collaborative readings, either on social media or you can shoot me an email 3amtarot at gmailcom.

Speaker 1: 16:46

But I love to hear about how people do their collaborative readings, because I really think that there's so much space to be creative and to be playful and to explore the cards as a group in ways that can really reveal a lot of new layers and depth in our readings. I always like to end these episodes with a tip or a trick, and in this instance, I actually want to talk about a phenomenon that I see happening a lot on social media, but also that happens in smaller groups like discord or other community groups, which is when someone pulls cards on their own, when they do their own reading, and then they bring that reading to a group and ask for help interpreting them. Now, there is not necessarily anything wrong with this practice or with this impulse, but I will say that for me, this kind of idea this like telling someone about a reading and then asking for help with it is different than a collaborative reading, because what you're doing is actually inviting someone to witness your reading and help you kind of troubleshoot and interpret, rather than including them in the process of the reading itself. Now, because we're not necessarily involved in the process, we're just looking at the results, I am generally pretty reluctant to weigh in on these kinds of conversations very often, and that's for the simple fact that it's hard to know what we don't know. I don't necessarily know the context of the reading, I don't necessarily know all of the facets and ins and outs of a situation or of the person. I might not know what's been going through their head or what they were thinking about when they pulled the cards, I don't know what they were looking for. I don't know what they asked exactly. You know there's there's just so many factors that can impact whatever cards came forward, and so it can be really hard to like diagnose a problem or try to interpret the reading for someone else when you're not the one who did it and when you weren't included in this process. So I basically consider this something else.

Speaker 1: 18:33

However, I know for a lot of people it can be really helpful to have someone else weigh in on that practice. So all I would just say is that if you're going to ask someone to help you process a reading that you've done on your own, give them as much information as possible, and if you're not willing to do that, then maybe consider another way of trying to interpret the reading. But I will also say that if you are someone that finds yourself doing this a lot, if you're constantly kind of craving support or validation or confirmation or deeper insights, if you like talking through your readings with other people on a really consistent basis, you might really love collaborative readings in any of the formats that I've offered or in a completely different style, because I think you might find that it gives you more of what you need and gives you that conversation about your cards that you might be looking for Now if you don't have someone in your life or a group of people in your life that you think you can read collaboratively with, or if you just want to connect with other people who read tarot. I just want to give you a quick reminder that I do manage a really lovely tarot discord server called the 3am tarot sanctuary, and it's available to everyone who's a paid subscriber to my newsletter or who is a participant in my monthly course membership called the 3am tarot conservatory. You are very much welcome to join at any time, and I'll throw a link to that into the show notes.

Speaker 1: 19:49

But if you're looking for a digital community where you can read cards in tandem with other people, that's one option for you. However, there's tons of amazing communities on the internet. Social media exists. You might also find local tarot study groups in your neighborhood, or you might want to start one. If you know you're someone that wants to be doing more collaborative readings, this could be something that you set up for yourself. So try some different things out and let me know how you like collaborative tarot readings. That's all I have for you today, but, as always, thank you so much for spending this time with me and I will see you soon on another episode of Card Talk. Card Talk is committed to staying ad-free for everyone, which is possible thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. To pledge your monthly support or make a one-time donation, click the link in the show notes. You can also find episode transcripts, more about me and additional tarot resources through my website, 3amtarotcom. See you next time.