Hi again!  I just wanted to hear some stories from other people on any rules, guidelines or exercises they use/do to avoid all those personal biases that might cloud a reading.  

I know that often times when I turn to the tarot, it is when I am in dire need of some guidance, some light of hope.  However, my state of mind is usually quite confused at such times and it really muddles my interpretation.  Either I can't make any sense of the spread or I can only see the negative aspects of it.  Perhaps these are times when you should be read by someone else but I've always believed that you know yourself best (unless your best friend also happens to be a tarot reader).

I mean, a stranger reading for you may be highly intuitive, but unless they are actually psychic (like eerie, they know everything about everyone psychic) or know key details of your life story, they can only extrapolate so much from the cards.  Most people even in desperate times still have enough of a sense of privacy to not want to divulge every dirty little secret to a complete stranger.   With all this said, the best reading should come from yourself and yet you are always your own worst enemy.  

The other case applies to when you are reading for someone else (a friend or a stranger, especially one you meet face to face).  We are only human and we can hardly claim to be absolutely objective.  Personal opinions and biases WILL crop up at some point.  

So I ask this of everyone, what do you do to avoid these pitfalls?  How do you beat down those elements interferring with a reading?

overall the best tool in overcoming those pitfalls is to get to know and talk to many people as possible!   listen to new people even if you disagree and ask more question and don't argue the answer they give.  always start with a positive but i don't understand what do you mean type of replies.  it seems to have worked for me but yet as you said we are all human and i still have some issues especially if someone reminds me of someone that hurt me or insulted me, etc.

as for Tarot readings and not letting them know every dirty secret.   i would say it not all that important what so every to say anything that you do not want known.   if you asking question that don't involve those secrets they wont really see that!  
there is a point to trusting the person you are asking questions to for a reading or what not.  sometimes you have to let go and trust to get that reading you may want but are afraid to ask.  overall do what makes you comfortable.  

as for reading for yourself that theory is disputed by meaning with a list of con and pros to it.  when i read for myself i find it to be completely accurate and hard to listen to to where i want to read different means to it all gets a little muddled and i lose track although at times it has helps me a lot when i didn't get in those states.   i've only been read, here on this board,  and found them have give more of a bias reading on things going and a little more easier for me to follow what they said.  i think it has its good and bad aspects to it.  

ttyl  

Hi Cyprine
before i start to read i clear my mind and do some deep breathing, until the everyday hustle and bustle stops, When i first started reading the cards i read only for myself which even in troubled times were completely accurate, i just didn't see it at the time. i now accept what I'm been told and have no problem. i knew the traditional meanings but sometimes different meanings started coming to me, so after doing Gems course i started psychic Tarot reading, i had the opportunity to practice on a perfect stranger the other day, that was more than satisfied, with her reading. when i read i look for no more than the answer to the questions they ask i do not even try to delve deeper
personal biases do not come into it just an open mind that doesn't pass judgment after a reading any information is completely forgotten about

Hello, Cyprine!

Interesting subject you have brought up. Many non readers ask how and if the readings work, and if they work better from a complete stranger or from one's own mother   (I would not try this one myself).

My own personal belief is that, just as in dream interpretation, we always work with the querent's inner guide. Through the card images, we try to bring to their conscious mind what they already know in their unconscious. You just tell him/her the story you see unfold in the cards before you, as if you were recounting a film or storybook. Her/his unconscious will do the rest by pointing out the relevant issues in the querent's life, no matter if they decide to share those revelations with the reader or keep absolutely mute during the whole proceeding in order not give any clues away  

Shame, really, because those who do give some feedback are likely to go on to explore further those bits that are still unclear through an expanded reading on the spot or a more specific spread. Of course, the reader can hardly offer those to someone who does not express a need for them.

As for reading for oneself, I find the readings I do for myself are very accurate and much more brutally honest than when read by others. It does not mean other readers are less accurate, but we usually try to be nice, positive and polite to those not ourselves. What I know is that I never bother beating around the bush when reading for myself, so I feel like the cards are giving ME a good beating  

However, I never found myself biased even when reading for people I know. I do not make up card interpretations to fit what I know about them. In fact, I am sometimes puzzled by the cards that come up till they tell me they do feel their situation is well described, but that does not stop me from reading them, even if it is in a questioning tone.

Nice to see everybody join in the discussion  

Meditation works wonders for me, even just for a minute. We so often forget to simply breathe. Once I can be calm and objective, I shuffle and choose my spread.