Most online readings are held in /query mode, in /msg (message) mode, or conducted on a channel that the reader will open for the two of you to go to. Readers feel that a reading is a personal matter for both you and them, and so rarely if ever will you chance upon seeing an actual reading being done on the main channels. Granted, some readings have been publically held though . . . these are usually hosted by someone learning how to read thus feels unsure and wants the others of us "coach" them some as they work their way thru it . . . or sometimes someone comes on with a reading layout that they want others opinions on in comparison to their original interpretation of it.
When I am approached to do a reading, I first schedule a time and a date that should work into my life's schedule of events. *smile* I also sometimes give the person my e-mail address to contact me if something happens on their side and they can't meet me and I also tell them to /msg my nick in case I happen to be talking on a different channel and lost track of the time. I will even wait for a while after the scheduled time if you haven't shown yet, giving the benefit of the doubt about having to work over or traffic conditions. *smile*
Once we are settled in for the reading . . . which at first requires your full concentration, so don't chat on the other channels or in private to others at the beginning of it . . . I will tell you to type to what information I need if I care for any from you, which is generally of a vague nature, to conduct the shuffle on my side without your physical contact to the deck. I don't want you to tell me anymore than I ask for . . . I am one of them "general readers" so prefer *not to know* the specifics of your question(s) until near the end of the reading session. *shrug* That's just how I tend to read, I prefer to relay on all the things I see rather than concentrating on one area, feeling that knowing what you are asking about could possibly limit me to thinking to just that area and not "seeing" the full.
It is after you type in the information requested and I tell you to relax that you need to focus and concentrate on the reading as I shuffle the cards on my side. This is the time for you to think of what you want the cards to help you in ... or to reveal information about. When I am done shuffling, I will tell you so that you can more fully sit back and relax as I "talk" to you as I scan thru the cards.
I also warn folks that not only is my typing not always so swift while doing a reading ( I am a hand typist and sometimes I tend to type in what information or perceptions that I "see" without looking at the monitor to make sure it is coming across in total English fashion. Hahahah!!) but that I am not the swiftest typist with 10 fingers. *chuckle* A reading with me tends to last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, all depending on not only what I am relaying to you via the cards ... but also on how much we talk back and forth to each other. The shortest reading I ever had was about 15 minutes online ... this was mainly 'cause the person kept interrupting me telling me that my interpretations didn't match what her booklet said that should be of certain cards. Now, as I have read for a while online and in real life, I am used to some folks sometimes turing a reading into a self-reading (I am there only to conduct the shuffle for them) -- wether they are doing this to at an "attempt" to impress, I have no idea for I am sitting here wondering *why* they even asked me to do a reading. So ... after 2 times gently telling her that *I* and not the booklet was looking at the cards laid out on my side, I then just typed in the rest of the card names to her and let her to finish the reading herself with the booklet. *yep, sometimes I do tend to show a bit of my temper while online *chuckle** (Let me say that i am also used to being "tested" during a reading ... the querent making odd comments or no comments at all, a ploy -- yes -- but one done to make them feel more confident in you as a reader, and some readers themselves will "test" thier reader. Also, I can sense at times that the querent is trying to "throw me off track", thus telling me that they A) don't want me to know this facet about them, OR B) they just plain out don't want to hear it. I understand this, and *know* the difference between it and the story I had just relayed.) Each card has several meanings : General, Special (relating to the question(s) asked), and Intuitive (discovery of while examining the cards AND may be more reflective of a nature.) -- the latter, as a personal note, is one of the reasons why I feel that one cannot assign definitions to the cards but tell folks that they can look up the general meanings for aide in clarity. See, the cards are each assigned a list of meanings per card ... some of the words assigned to the cards though vary slightly in meaning or attachment. Now in a layout or a spread, one has to sort through the assigned meanings in their mind as they look over *all* the cards lying out on the table. The other cars in layout will affect the meaning or portent of a card as well in determining what that particular card may be hinting at in the reading.
The longest reading I ever had (outside of the sometimes "typical" 3 to 4 hour ones that spring up at times) was 7 hours long ... but not only were the cards just chockful little bits of information, but the guy and I developed an easy, lighthearted rapport during the reading. *laughing* I generally use a layout of my personal styling for readings ... it is similar to the Celtic Cross but with a slight variation to it that just seems to work for me. *shrug* I will guide you thru the past to the present paths ... and then delve slightly more into the present aspects ... then go on to show you where the present paths have the option to take you to as time goes on ...
Options??? I said options?? -- Yes, I said the word options. Even though I am reading a so-called divinational tool, that does *not* mean necessarilly that the future aspects are written in stone somewhere. Let me explain why I think this . . . as some readers do not necessarily agree with me about the option status at times. . .
Fate is sometimes an undetermined force in our lives . . . it can crop up at a moment's notice and take our lives down off to a sidestreet that intersects with the avenue we were happily traipsing upon prior. Sometimes one wants a reading to see what type of fate is in store for them ... so as to not be caught off guard so much by its appearance in thier life. BUT ... even so, once I tell you what I see in terms of future timed aspects, then I also feel you have then been placed a sort of "control" over the future. You have then been given options ... you can place what I say about the future in the back dark recesses of your mind and only refer back to them after some water has passed under the bridge,(I have even heard some readers use the line,"you won't recall me telling you any of this at the time, but afterwards you will recall me saying blah-blah-blah") ... or you can unconsciously, inadvertantly use the information I have relayed to you to change the course of your paths, ... or you can purposefully use this information to either attempt to speed things up or to deter it from happening. Once the information has been relayed, what you do with it is up to you in my opinion. (Although I do feel that an attempt to speed up events sometimes backfires and can delay them longer or prevent them from happening to start with ... *shrug* but that is just my personal opinion though.)
This is the reason I feel that sometimes the future can be unchangeable ... and that is if it is a matter of karmatic nature, something that you *have* to go thru, that it is a life "lesson" that you have to go thru. You still can attempt to use the information relayed from the reading to soften or harden the effects of this "lesson" that is meant to have you "grow" and "mature" more as an individual in relation to those around you. I know ... the latter one sounds vague and you could sit there and think that can be classified back to the options aspect. In a way I suppose that it could at that ... but then again, not really, as these "lessons" tend to be more spiritually affecting to the person -- not only touching them emotionally, but deep inside their being.
Near the end of my readings, I will more openly discuss back and forth about the cards in relation to the question(s) you had of them, you can reveal around this time just what you were seeking information about ... unless you sense that I am not quite ready to hear it or you are shy and don't care to reveal your question(s). *chuckle*
Some readers use an alternative method of divination along with thier primary one to work hand-in-hand with during a reading. Some also will have visions or hear voices while they are doing a reading ... and they will relay these "sounds" or "images" onto you, *chuckle* some will even per se warn you of this by saying "Don't think I am weird or crazy, but ..."
In essence ... an online reading is really no different from a face-to-face reading. The rapport between the reader and the querent is still visible and a "connection" starts to form (thus why we feel that readings are of a personal nature) between the two. The only real differences are that you won't touch the cards during the shuffle and we can't physically see what the other looks like. *chuckle* Which is great for those bad hair days that occassionally happen or I feel like "slumming it" in as far as to how I am dressed. *laughing* In fact, sometimes such a strong connection and rapport develops, that it is not unusual to have querents eventually become channel regulars to a degree or to only have one online reader that they will contact periodically. I have even been chatting on channels and receive a "just thought I would say hello" message from a "nick", who is online yet on a totally different channel, that I had done a reading for in the past. *smile* *hugs to them*