I am fortunate to mentor many talented tarot professionals. Watching them grow their careers is one of my greatest joys.

Once in a while I see a trend amongst my pro tarot students. This is a helpful way to read the needle on general trends within the tarot world.

The trend I have spotted recently is this. Tarot pros, when discussing what they do, whether on their website, social media or conversations with clients, focus on explain what tarot is not, rather than what tarot is.

When discussing tarot, we seem to begin the conversation on the defensive, trying to educate people about what tarot isn’t. We might discuss the ways in which we work with tarot isn’t fortune-telling, or why tarot isn’t evil, despite what you may have heard.

We begin our conversation this way because we often feel defensive. Tarot is often under attack, and that attack is often based on misunderstanding.

Yet, we dispel misinformation just as effectively by explaining what tarot is, and the process by which we use it. The power in being informative rather than defensive is significant.

Not everyone is familiar with tarot, and many people cultivate misinformation about tarot. As tarot readers, we are ambassadors of tarot in the world. That’s why we are so anxious to dispel untruths about tarot.

I think we do that best when we approach from a positive direction.

It’s also true that sometimes we tarot readers do better marketing ourselves and the results we can offer versus discussing the tool we use as a way of selling readings. Carpenters don’t spend a lot of time discussing the tools they will use to build your house. Rather, they discuss the product. The same can be true in marketing tarot readings.

Yet, there are times when we need to tell the world about tarot. Sometimes there are opportunities to teach about tarot history, culture and art. When we step up to tell the world about tarot, we are working to dispel the negative mythology. We do that best when we let people know what tarot is, rather than what it isn’t.