I actually had to read this article twice. It definitely has me thinking. You have some very valid points. However, I think what’s really important to remember is that the client is always their own best counsel. I think the best readings are the ones where both parties (reader and querent) participate. I do not feel that there is anything wrong in asking a client to participate by including their own interpretations in a reading.

Best to you,

Carolyn
Tarot reader and Webmaster of http://tarotreadingpsychic.com

Reading Tarot cards for a living is really tough; it drains you mentally, emotionally and sometimes, spiritually. Part of the reason I set this blog up was to re-find my love of the Tarot; I’d lost it after a particularly intense six month period of giving non-stop readings. My love of the Tarot had become obscured by my experiences with the clients I was reading for.

I’m not prepared to make some duff predictions, which may well come true but are certainly not based on any ‘psychic’ skills. Then of course I get accused of being a conartist, which isn’t true, as I always explain to clients in advance how I use the Tarot, and what sort of skills I use to interpret the cards for them. These skills include psychology, empathy, intuition, life experience and knowledge of the cards all combined.

This is similar to the approach I take. I’d rather give a client back their money than continue with someone that has unrealistic expectations. One way I found to combat this type of experience was to charge clients more money. I found that this helps them decide whether or not they want to have a reading by me; essentially, it helps them focus on what type of reading I offer, and whether or not they want to continue.

Anyway, as a result of my shift in thinking about providing readings, I have found myself getting more involved in teaching tarot, which I find much more rewarding. Helping people to help themselves and understand the system of Tarot. Demystifying the mystical, so to speak Showing people that tarot is really just a game – the game of life.

This is something that I’m enjoying through writing this blog. I can totally relate to the sense of satisfaction that teaching other people brings. Although I’ve taught people before, its never been an area that I’ve fully branched into, yet it’s certainly something I’ve been thinking about for a while.

I find it increasingly hard to deal with clients who want to know what will happen in the future; these people lack confidence and faith, have doubts, feel insecure, need reassurance, have worries etc. – predicting the future will not help them, especially when they’re told they’ll be miserable – LOL!

Haha how true. A Buddhist was once asked, if through his long years of meditation, he could predict the future. He said, “yes”. He was then asked if he would predict their future; he said, “your life will be terrible, it will always be terrible”. When I reflect on his statement, I can’t help but think he’s right. Projecting desire into a future fantasy will not help anyone find happiness in the present.

Osho is a brilliant writer and teacher. I’ve been doing his Dynamic Meditation every day and can honestly say that I’m feeling better about stuff. I’m able to express my emotion without rationalising it’s consequences. In many ways, it’s down to this meditation that I’ve been able to find some balance again as a Tarot reader.

Thank you once again for sharing your experiences with us

All the best,

Doug

I’m really glad I came across your post by pure chance today , because it expresses my own feelings about doing Tarot ‘for a living’: it’s not that rewarding any more, mainly due to clients’ unrealistic expectations. I’m not prepared to make some duff predictions, which may well come true but are certainly not based on any ‘psychic’ skills. Then of course I get accused of being a conartist, which isn’t true, as I always explain to clients in advance how I use the Tarot, and what sort of skills I use to interpret the cards for them. These skills include psychology, empathy, intuition, life experience and knowledge of the cards all combined. I always stress that I’m not ‘psychic’ A conman is someone, who deliberately wants to extort money from people by trickery. there’s something malicious about a conman. As long as you are honest to your clients about how you use the Tarot, then you’re not a conman.

Anyway, as a result of my shift in thinking about providing readings, I have found myself getting more involved in teaching tarot, which I find much more rewarding. Helping people to help themselves and understand the system of Tarot. Demystifying the mystical, so to speak Showing people that tarot is really just a game – the game of life. People over the years have come to me to learn tarot and without realising at the time embarked on therapy. In the process of learning tarot, they started healing their lives. For me this is a new and exciting way to go along my tarot path.

I find it increasingly hard to deal with clients who want to know what will happen in the future; these people lack confidence and faith, have doubts, feel insecure, need reassurance, have worries etc. – predicting the future will not help them, especially when they’re told they’ll be miserable – LOL!

Thank you also for posting a video of Osho, my hero. He was such a wise man; shame he succumbed to accumulating material wealth back in the 80s (look at the watch he’s wearing – Cartier I think…;-)) But he never lost his wisdom. Love the Osho Zen Tarot.

Best wishes,

Christiane

I’m glad you liked the post. I agree with you about detachment. A friend of mine has a saying, “bag it, and bin it”! He told me this right at the beginning of my career. It was only much later (very recently in fact) that I finally understood:

Bag the reading, and when it’s over – Bin it!

This is very similar to your statement, “All we do is read, move on and remain neutral.”

Although it’s not easy to do, I do think it’s one of the most valuable skills to learn in reading Tarot cards.

Thanks for sharing

I’m currently experimenting with different ways around this but so far my only conclusions can be that the ‘talking therapy’ aspect of Tarot reading becomes the most important. What I mean by talking therapy is the dialogue that can develop around the answers provided to the client’s questions. In this sense it is much harder for a Tarot reader than it is for a therapist because a Tarot reader has to win the trust of a new client within the first couple of minutes of a reading (a therapist, as a general rule, doesn’t have this problem as the perception of a therapist over a Tarot reader naturally encourages trust). This situation can actually get much harder if most of your clients are over the phone, or via some other method rather than the standard face-to-face.

I think, because it makes it easier for both the Tarot reader and client if there is some level of mutual trust in the process, that developing a report with a client using techniques other than Tarot, are naturally learned by a Tarot reader (I’m actually very cautious about making this to generalised to include all Tarot readers) as means of encouraging this report – rightly or wrongly.

It was great hearing from you and I really enjoyed reading your comment.

I was referring to women who have been raped and are then lead a group of women who share the same experience. The problems that were encountered (although to be fair there are studies that indicate that rape advocates, which is different to what I was referring to, can assist in the healing process by displaying anger and fear) are no different to a police officer who is ‘too close to the case’ and unable to detach and act professionally.

In the group context, Post Traumatic Stress was encountered which was counterproductive to helping the other woman within the group. It’s similar to Social Workers finding themselves involved in a Children and Families case that brings up difficult memories. This can distract them from being completely focused and responsive to the case they are involved in. Likewise counsellors tend to receive counselling themselves as part of their professional practice. This can help them work through any personal or difficult emotions that this type of work can bring up.

This is what I was meaning when I was referring to a general (there are always exceptions) rule in group therapy. If the person conducting the group does not have a direct experience of something as painful and devastating as rape then, in some sense, they are able to be more responsive. This is usually done through the staff members of these groups receiving continuous training and in some cases counselling to help them act professionally and in the best interests of the people they are helping.