Tarot: Try it Standing Up!

Tarotists, here’s a question for you. Have you ever done a tarot reading standing up?

I’m often hired to entertain at cocktail parties and receptions. Sometimes I choose to stand at a cocktail table rather than sitting at a traditional table.

In the cocktail party setting, keeping the client standing helps keep the line moving quickly. It also allows me to use my body more in reading.

How does one use their body in tarot reading? I can think of two ways. First, the psychic connection happens as energy flows through the chakras along the base of the spine. When we stand, the spine is straight. Our feet are firmly on the floor, connecting us to the grounding and sustaining energy of Earth. As we connect to spirit with the crown chakra, the standing body forms a straight line of energy.
I have to think this standing posture is helpful in handling the psychically-challenging work of tarot reading in a party setting.

The second way I use my body is in expressing the reading. While standing, it becomes possible to act out scenarios and use body language to make the reading more entertaining and understandable.

This weekend I had the experience of performing longer private readings from a standing position. I was working a private party, and the table provided for me was a large, high drafting-type table. The chairs were low folding chairs. It was impossible for me to sit in the low chair and do a tarot reading on the high table – the angle was all wrong.

So I had my clients sit, and I stood at the table, kitty-corner to my client’s chair. From there I moved the cards around, laying them out, pointing out the images and moving them like puppets around the table. Sometimes I felt like a military general playing out scenarios over a model battlefield.

I was on my feet for four hours. At the end of the party, I felt energized. Think about the posture of the Magician. Surely, this is what I felt like, giving readings at the standing tarot table.

There are limited opportunities to perform tarot readings standing at high tables. When presented with a high table, even unexpectedly, take off your heels and give a full-body standing tarot reading.
As your perspective over the cards changes, your ability to see things might increase. Your standing posture will energize you, and connect you more easily to your psychic guidance.