Tarot Stamina

Here is something for professional tarotists and those who are considering become professional readers. This might be of interest to those with serious personal tarot practices as well.

Something you will hear from some tarot readers, even professional readers, is that tarot reading can be very tiring. This has never been the case for me, but I have heard this complaint from many friends and students.

I had always assumed that when readers complain of being tired, drained, or unwell after a reading or two it is because they are not working with energy appropriately. I was pretty sure that if they learned to manage the energy of a reading correctly, they would develop stamina. A great deal of stamina is needed to do eight hour-long readings in a day, for example, or to do twenty fifteen-minute readings at a psychic fair.

An astrologer friend disabused me of that notion. She said that some people’s astrological charts seemed to support their ability to effectively channel energy more than the charts of others did. That said, she agreed that energy management techniques could always help.

I see amongst my students that some readers can emerge from a day of tarot reading feeling more energized than they did when they began, while others are just wiped.

Both types of readers give great readings. Some just seem to have a capacity for managing the energy of tarot readings more than others.

I am going to share four energy management practices, which I refer to collectively as ‘psychic hygiene’. If you find yourself tired, drained, nauseated or headachy after a reading or after performing a series of readings, see if these things help. If they do, you have the stamina to be a full-time reader.

If you are still having some issues even after establishing a good psychic hygiene practice, you may be better being more selective about when, where, and how often you read for people. That might mean that you aren’t cut out to be a fulltime tarot pro, but you might be able to develop a great part-time practice.

There are four components to my psychic hygiene practice. None of these components are original or unusual. If you need direction learning exactly how to do these things, there are many books, teachers, and classes that can help you.

The first is to do a lot of chakra meditation and to get comfortable running energy up and down the spine and through the chakras.

The second is to energetically connect to the earth with the root chakra, and to heaven with the crown chakra. Then you can draw on the limitless power of both earth and heaven to support your work.

The third is to cloak yourself in the energy you raise in order to keep yourself free of extraneous energies, client issues, and empathic drain.

The fourth is to be like a straw in a client session. Give nothing of your own energy to the client. Take no energy or injury from the client. Use the energy that you draw from heaven and earth to power your reading. Be a conduit for that energy.

If you can do these four things successfully, and if your own nature includes the capacity to do this, the only thing that will get tired from a full day of readings might be your voice, from talking, or your hands, from shuffling your cards.

Chakras and Aces

There are many associations between esoteric systems and specific tarot cards. Some are centuries old, conceived by the first tarotists. Others are more recent, conceived by modern tarotists. Sometimes we don’t all agree on particular associations. As with most things in tarot, each of us interprets and understands the cards in unique and personal ways.

A concept that has come to me very organically over the years is to associate the aces of the Minor Arcana with specific chakras. Culturally, there is clearly no likely original connection between chakras and tarot. But, since I find the chakra system and tarot both so innately logical and important it stands to reason they would ultimately merge in my mind.

Tarot has a way of doing that in general. Tarot is able to deftly communicate about technologies that did not exist at the beginnings of tarot divination, for instance.

I am not the first person to make connections between certain cards and the chakras. For me the chakras are aces.

In addition to the typical meanings of new beginnings and new energies, aces are to me about openings and essences. For me, that makes them very like the chakras. In readings the aces can sometimes come up to indicate particular chakra issues.

Typically the first four chakras are associated with the four elements. That would clearly assign tarot aces, or even tarot suits, to the first four chakras. The fifth chakra is associated with the fifth element, spirit or ether. My system strays a bit from these traditional associations.

I associate the first chakra (root or base) with the Ace of Pentacles. Since this is the Earth chakra, that is not a stretch. The first chakra is about basic physical needs and our ability to survive. The Ace of Pentacles is a grounding energy that helps us connect to the Earth, just as the root chakra does.

I associate the third chakra (solar plexus) with the Ace of Wands. Since this is the Fire chakra, again, not a stretch. Here sits our will and our motivation. The fiery wand ignites our passions just as the solar plexus helps us keep our will strong.

I associate the fourth chakra (heart) with the Ace of Cups. Typically the heart chakra would be associated with the element of Air.  There are many reasons that traditional association is both meaningful and valuable. However, I see the Ace of Cups as the open and healed heart chakra, and for me that association works well.

I associate the fifth chakra (throat) with the Ace of Swords. Typically this is the chakra of ether. For me the Ace of Swords is about the ability to know and speak truth. As such it helps us use the throat to give voice to what is true and right.

Practically, I sometimes am called to interpret these aces as specific chakra issues when they come up in a reading. I also use these cards to heal the chakras. I may hold the Ace of Swords to my throat before I need to speak in public, for instance. I may hold the Ace of Cups to my heart to help release sorrow. I hold the Ace of Wands to my solar plexus to give me the strength to know and enact my will. I will literally sit upon an Ace of Pentacles to help me stay grounded and healthy.

While this system is not traditional, it works for me. If it resonates for you, perhaps it will be helpful to you as well.