What is a "Reader"?

A commentary about the aspects of a psychic reader by Quark Yifu

Before we go too far into the subject of Tarot Reading we must first talk a little about the curious creature known as the "Reader". (Sometimes called a Psychic, Seer, Diviner, or Scryer just to name a few.)

I don't think there is any clear, practical definition of exactly what a "Reader" is. Like so many things in the divinatory world, what things are depends a lot on your perspective. My perspective of what constitutes as a "Reader" comes from my brief experience of being a reader in my younger years as well as my proximity to, and close association with many Readers of great skill and adeptness. With that in mind, let me give you my view of what a "Reader" is and how they typically do what they do.

The Future:

Readers are generally just really smart people. They can see the future to the extent that they can see how the current set of events will culminate. If they're advising someone that intends some aggressive and forceful action they will be able to confidently predict relative disaster. They can do this, not because they can see the future, but because they know the aggressive and forceful things that emerge from aggressive and forceful behavior. If you ask a Reader if they can see the future they will probably explain to you some version of what I just stated. Many adept Readers have an extraordinary ability to discern future events far beyond what "ordinary people" could ever imagine and they do seem ethereal to us, but, most Readers will not try to deceive you into believing they have supernatural powers.

Perspective:

Let's take a moment to talk about perspective. Perspective is the choice of a context or a reference (or the result of this choice) from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience. Psychic Readers are generally adept at manipulating a subject's perspective. The point here is that we tend to conceptualize information and events in a way that it fits into our current perspective. If we get a little push into a different perspective everything changes.

Perspective manipulation:

One of the defining characteristics of a reader is their ability to facilitate the fluidity of perspective.

Here's an example of how a reader might manipulate your perspective. The subject says something like "My new boss doesn't know anything". The Reader can see the general perspective of the subject in the respect that it would be difficult having a new boss that doesn't know the job but the Reader can also see the perspective that it might be easy to take advantage of that situation because a new boss could probably be easily manipulated. Even further, The Reader can see that the new boss is probably also having a rough time and would greatly appreciate some sincere help from someone who knows the job.

The Reader might pose the following questions.

• Does your new boss seem malicious? Does he seem to be intentionally making things difficult for you? Do you think your new boss and you share the same overall goals in the workplace? Does your new boss seem to be having a hard time at his new job? Do you expect your new boss to be a long term influence on future events for you?

I think most people can see what's happening here. The 1st & 2nd Questions "Do you think your new boss seems malicious?" & "Does he seem to be intentionally making things difficult for you?" are intended to point out that the new boss is unlikely to be intentionally causing hardship. The 3rd Question "Do you think your new boss and you share the same overall goals in the workplace?" is intended to show that despite your differences that you probably both want the same things at work and thus the relationship is fundamentally cooperative. The 4th question "Does your new boss seem to be having a hard time at his new job?" is intended to point out that things are probably hard for the new boss as well. The 5th question "Do you expect your new boss to be a long term influence on future events for you?" is intended to point out the likelihood of a long term Relationship.

In this case, the Reader would probably point out the fact that it might be easy to manipulate a new boss to improve your work situation because the Reader knows that the subject will probably discover this on their own eventually. The Reader will then advise the subject to resist this temptation because of it's obvious bad long term relationship effects. (One could easily see how the subject may go to work the next day, discover the inevitable opportunity to manipulate the new boss's lack of experience. Resist the temptation as the Reader advised, see the naturally very positive out come of doing so, and declare "OMG How did the Reader Know!")

Perspective challenging:

When I was trained as a young reader many years ago, the actual goal of the "Reading" was not to divine anything as much as it was to guide the subject into different perspectives. If you get someone to talk about something that's troubling them, it gets them to think about their situation. If you're there challenging their assumptions, it forces them to see things differently.

Consider this example...

Reader: So this new position at work is troubling to you. Why do you think it will be a problem? Your current position was at one time a new position. Are you doing well at your current position?  Why do you think this new position will be a problem?

You can see how in this example the Reader forces the subject to actually think about and define their fears. In most cases, there is no valid reason for their troubling perspective. Sometimes, focusing someone's attention on the irrationality of their perspective goes a long way towards getting at the root of their dilemma.

Presence:

More than anything, this characteristic is what separates the good readers from the truly great readers. When you're with a great reader, you can just feel the intensity of their existence near you. It's as if they are looking through the many social masks of your outward identity and calmly watching your hidden fears and desires surface and submerge. Your own motions and tenseness seem like a firestorm of activity when compared to their empty calmness. A calmness that surrounds your body and pulls you in, flooding serenely into you as if you were breathing it in with the air.

How on earth do they do this? This trick alone is more impressive than any "Reading" could ever be. Is it a spell? A trance? A magic lotus potion? I'm sure they won't mind if I tell you their secret. Because it's more about what they're not doing than what they are doing. The reader is not thinking about what they're going to have for lunch, what they should say next or how a new plant might fill that empty space in the corner. Sometimes they're not thinking at all. The reader is living in the present.

This is one aspect I can not discuss at great length since I never did become proficient at it. But I can describe one of the training exercises for you to give you a sense of what it's like. It's called "Breath counting" and the idea is to think only of your breathing and nothing else. You count your breaths up to four and then start back at one again. (1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4) You feel your breath flow in as you inhale and flow out as you exhale. As errant thoughts enter your mind you just notice them and go back to counting. This is a very difficult exercise to get started with but if you can get through the initial anxiety and/or boredom it is actually quite peaceful.

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