Hmmm... 'cold reading' is often presented as how the reader is 'playing a charade'...
In face to face readings I never wish to know the question they asked as I let them shuffle te cards. I'm not wondering consciously what is on their mind or gauge them, because for me this would intervene with the exactness of my reading. Once the cards are laid out, I try to shut off my logical brain and don't even think beforehand of what I'm saying... it'll just come as I move from card to card. The only activity I allow my left-brain to do is think "Nah, him/her having this or that on their mind? No way." Yet they would say in shock how close it came home.
It has occurred that the next person had almost the same cards, and yet without knowing their question, I stressed other aspects of the card and took it in a total different subject light.
Afterwards though, I have to admit to myself that they all gave hints about what is bothering them long before they even asked me to do a reading. My left brain never took note of it, but it was stored in my associative right brain anyway. For example, a man I don't know would converse with some of my friends at a dinner table about my friend's jobs, never mentioning much his own, aside the factual line of work - which is an easy get-to-know topic between strangers. He would seemingly ooze nothing but confidence. Not ever would I have logically dare to conclude beforehand that he was worrying about his career. If somebody had asked me consciously, I would have said he was happy about his work. And yet the reading would be about his worries over his job and career. Only afterwards did I realize that I had somehow picked up on his silence on his own career and steering the focus always on the careers of others, and that it's a sign of the exact opposite than confidence. Left Brain would never have picked up on that. Right Brain did. But I can't let the right brain speak or access it by consciously controlling it. Only conscious control I have is say to the Left Brain "shut off!" and to the Right Brain "speak!"
So, in a way I'm a cold reader... I'm good at picking up those cues. But I'm not a cold reader in the sense that I do it deliberately to cheat on people. It's just how I know I will help them with the most accurate reading. After all, why would you even want to do a reading that's totally off mark. It doesn't help the querent to do off mark readings.
I don't need Tarot cards (or dreams for that matter, or pictures) to let the Right Brain talk. But as has been mentioned, it can freak people out when you start telling stuff they so wish to hide from the outside world and from themselves, even though anyone who is empathic and open to any type of language other than the content of words has imo the potential to read in this way (you just need to learn to let go of left brain control... it's a bit scary to start talking without knowing beforehand what you're going to say the first times you do it). So, Tarot cards in a way are my screen to put people at ease and not make them feel ashamed that someone else can pick up on their secrets like that.
Anyway, "cold reading" imo does not work as it is often portrayed for most readers, because they're not consciously trying to sham someone.
The other reason I use the Tarot is out of respect to the querent. Without them I might start mentioning stuff they don't want to ask me anything about. The Tarot cards tell me what I should talk about. Since, I don't "see" any events or story beforehand (the most I can visualize are coloured balls that represent the person), but only start to "see" once I've said it out loud (or have written it down), I don't consciously know what they don't want me to know.
Lastly, the Tarot makes the images and storyline for me. I can visualize greatly when meditating, but when I'm not, it's all blank and I myself have to listen to what I'm saying as I speak. It feels just very strange to myself, like a blind man groping around their way, that way. My first love always has been storytelling. And the Tarot (and dreams) are like a storybook to me that I read out loud.
I give pirbid's explanation as well to querents if they ask me how it works... people are prone to remember what is on their mind, not what doesn't matter to them. Meanwhile the cards have several subtle meanings, and several cards show slightly different aspects on the same issues. Different cards might have different pictures and different aspects, but the story for them would remain roughly the same message. Systems using serendipity principles (coincidences + giving meaning to them) are prone to be highly correct. The chance that the cards are showing a correct storyline is just very high, certainly if you have another empathic human being sifting out the meanings for you.
All I have to do is remember a self-reading I did once while I came home from a late night out... I was drunk. Because I was drunk I couldn't make any sense of the cards... it was just a mumbo jumbo of disconnected cards, chaos, that did not make any sense with the question I asked. I concluded the Tarot was telling me, "You're drunk and I can't make anything out of your chaotic brain right now. Go to bed!" The same message could have been given by any other 10 cards, especially because my mind was too chaotic in the first place to even try and make a concise storyline out of the cards, even if there was one.
Anyway, that's just how I experience the workings of Tarot and reading it.
It's interesting to read how others have their explanation based on their own experience.
Life is like a rose. The most beautiful ones have large thorns. You only need the courage to grab for them.
