Protection
Before a reading
Before you shuffle, sit. Name the question. Feel the chair. You are here. If you skip this, you will drag the last hour of your day onto the table and call it a message.
What this is
A check. Have I eaten and drunk water. What emotion is loudest. What do I want this reading to say. Am I trying to get away from my body. If you are reading for someone else, add: am I available, or am I hoping their reading will fix my day.
Why it matters
Hungry, furious, heartbroken, half asleep, desperate for a particular answer. All of that sits down at the table with you. Naming it is how you tell it apart from the cards. That is protection of the reading, and of you.
How to recognise it
You are fit to look honestly, or you are not. If the answer is no, you can still pull a card for yourself as a mirror. You probably should not read for someone else.
How to use it
Ten seconds can be enough. Three slower breaths. Look at something ordinary, a mug, a window, a shoe. A hand on the deck. I will look honestly. I will stop when it is done. Then begin.
Light
Arrival. Honesty about state. A yes to the work that is actually available today.
Shadow
Skipping the check because you want to be needed. Reading to fix your day. A hungry reading worn as a badge.
Example
You had a row. You still have a friend booked. Before: I am already in weather, I will ground, I will keep this short, I will not dump my row onto their table. That check is the protection. Cancelling is also allowed.
Practice
State, then pull
Write your state in five lines: body, mood, want, fear, capacity to be honest. Then pull one card. Write what belongs to you and what belongs to the card. If you cannot tell, wait ten minutes, drink water, and look again.
Open the practiceReflection