What to expect from a reading, and what not to

A reading is a conversation with someone who reads something — cards, a chart, a dream, a feeling — and tells you what they see in it. Most disappointments come from expecting a different thing entirely, so it is worth being plain about both halves.

What you can expect

To be listened to without having to justify the question first. Nobody asks why this matters to you.

A point of view that is not yours and not your friends'. That is most of the value: your friends know your story too well to see it from outside, and they have an opinion about how it should end.

Plain language. A reader who says "the Tower means catastrophe" and stops there is not doing the job. You should come away knowing what was said, not just how it sounded.

A clear line between what is yours to decide and what belongs to someone else. Owen Mercer will put it in those words. Margaret Ellis will get there slower, and with more room for what you are carrying.

What a reading will not do

It will not give you a date. No reader here will tell you the day something happens, and if you ask, you will get an honest explanation of why not instead of a number invented to satisfy you.

It will not promise an outcome. Nothing said in a reading can make something happen or stop it from happening, and a reader who guarantees a result is telling you something they cannot know.

It will not tell you what another person is thinking as though it were a fact. A reader can offer a way of looking at someone's behaviour. What is going on inside another person's head is not available to anyone on a phone line.

It will not cover health, money or legal questions. Those are not left out for caution: they are out of scope, and the right answer to them comes from a doctor, an accountant or a lawyer. If you raise one, expect to be told so.

It will not make the decision for you, and it is not a crisis line. If you are in danger or in an emergency, this is not the number to call.

How to bring a question

Open questions give you more than yes-or-no ones. "Should I stay or should I go" tends to produce a flat answer. "What am I not seeing about this" tends to produce a reading.

Bring one question rather than seven. Two minutes spent on the thing you actually came for are worth more than ten spent on background the reader does not need.

And it is fine to arrive without a question at all. "Something feels off and I can't name it" is a real starting point and a common one.

If you do not like what you hear

Say so during the call. The useful answer to "that does not fit" is the reader going back and trying another way, and that only happens if you say it.

You can also simply hang up. The call ends when you end it, and you are charged for the minutes you used and nothing else.

The frame around all of it

Readings here are for entertainment, for people 18 and over. Kept inside that frame, a reading can still be worth the time: it is a half hour of undivided attention on your own situation, from someone with no stake in how it turns out.