The Silence tool in Reading?

by Bill Haberman | Aug 10, 2015 | Philosophy, Readings

How might the power of silence be applied in a reading?

As you have read in a precious blog from me, silence in the metaphysical sense is the ability not to react which allows a master to openly observe and then know.

I once had a tarot student doing a practice reading on a practice partner. One card in the reading was the nine of swords. When she came to it, she was stumped as to what to say.

What was she doing? She was thinking for how to react to the experience of having this card in this reading. That is what I would expect of a student, and not a master who would experience this card without reaction. She was not looking for silence but the correct reaction.

Trying to get her to just without a reaction enter into silence, I suggested that she describe what she saw in the card. Just describe it.

She thought for a second. I knew that she was now thinking and not seeing. She was trying to come up with a thoughtful reaction to the card. Finally she said to the practice partner, “I see a very beautiful card.”

That was not a seeing but rather an, albeit thoughtful, emotional opinion or reaction of her to the card. She was not being silent; she was reacting.

I told her that was her opinion about the card and not a description of the card. She was not seeing the card and not therefore in a position to know the card. In thinking she became frustrate and stuck.

I stepped in teaching by example. Looking at her practice partner, I described the card. “I see now the nine of swords. There is a person with nine swords in her back. Behind her there the sun is right below the horizon.” That is, without reaction, a simple description of the card.

I asked the student if she could see that. She nodded. I said now what do you KNOW.

She said, “I know that the sun is coming up.”

“Really.” I asked, “How do you KNOW that? You SEE the sun is below the horizon. How do you from that seeing KNOW that the sun is setting or rising?”

Once again she had entered into thinking opinion/reaction.

She said, “Well then what do you know?”

“About the sun in this card,” I answered, “I KNOW that I do not know if the sun is rising or setting. To know that you must see something else.”

Now she became more confused as to what to say to her practice partner. She was again thinking to react and not entering into silence.

The reading is about the practice partner. I KNOW that I do not know if the sun is rising or setting. I need to see more to know that. I then told her to look at the client and ask to see more. She looked at me lost.

I looked at the practice partner and asked, “Do you think that the sun is rising or setting now?” I waited in silence to SEE what the client would say. Finally, he said rising.

“Now I KNOW in the context of the reading and by extension the problem that the client thinks that the sun is rising,” I said.

I am not speculating the sun is rising; the client has chosen that. Now I KNOW that the practice partner expects a raising sun. Now there is another knowing to incorporate into this reading.

The next question could be, “Well in this card the lady had the problem of swords in her back, and you say the sun is rising. That means that the night is ending. How does that apply to your problem?” … SILENCE …

In that knowing the reader has entered into silence, just seeing and not reacting. He proceeds in KNOWING and not in opinion or reaction or speculation.

See now please the page on readings and blessings because there is more info.

Thank you.