One of the things that I did that gave me more confidence and practice is go online to a chatroom and tell them that I am offering free tarot readings. People IM in droves, so you have to thin them out. I don't read for people who are rude, and demanding. Polite people get a reading.

Pick one and tell others to wait or ignore them. Ask the person where they are from and what their star sign is to help you tune into their energy. View profile if necessary. Tell them to ask you a question. Tell them it will take several minutes to do a reading and that you will email them the entire reading when you are done.

Do the reading all at once. Whatever the cards tell you, just type it all out, any impressions you get that are not in the cards, images that come into your mind, and the card's actual meaning. Explain to the querant how the cards relate to each other. Read the whole thing over, and edit out the things that you think don't belong, but don't edit out too much.

Email it to the querant, and wait for feedback.

I have found that the idea that online readings can't be accurate is a false assumption. Plus, it gives me a lot of practice and helps me to keep a record of not only the reading, but what the querant thought about the reading.

Don't be so hard on yourself... and good luck.

I know how you feel. I have that same fear. I"ve thought about it a lot, i know it's holding me back in many things. I'm just not sure/too scared to overcome it. I know the fear must have a reason. I ask myself why i'm scared, and just get lead around in circles...i wonder if that means i'm not being honest withmyself or am blocking myself from finding the answer? Maybe it comes down to just suckign it up and doing it? Maybe the fear centers around rejection and perceptions of it. On the one hand we are told mistakes are ok, cause its a part of learning; but on the other hand the world expects us to be perfect (or maybe we just think it does?). SO maybe the key lies not in over comming fear exactly, but being willing to make mistakes and fall in order to get to where we want to be.

Hello there. I saw you on the people page as a fellow kiwi and thought I'd say hi... and since I'm here, I thought I'd presume to give you some advice ;) please forgive any offense.

I don't often do readings for people, but when I do, I ask them their question and tell them to concentrate on it. I tell them what the cards mean in general terms, and what they could mean in this specific situation. But, I also say that readings are personal, and that I might not be able to see a significant meaning that they might be able to see.

They don't always work, but they're more likely to work when you have confidence in what you're doing. Don't be afraid of being wrong - it happens to everyone, after all, and you should remind the querent to take it all with a grain of salt; this isn't what will happen, but what might. I don't do "future" readings usually, but "insight" readings.

Finally, if you put back cards because you think they're wrong, and redraw, you might fudge a correct reading and end up with an incorrect one.