Helpful Tarot Love Readings

Whether you are a tarot pro, a tarot enthusiast, a tarot client, or merely curious, you know the trope. There is a perception that the primary consumers of tarot readings are the lovelorn.

There are real reasons for this. There are many, many cautionary tales of psychic addiction that stem from the pain of uncertain relationships and the false belief that a tarot reader can tell you, for certain, the destiny of your relationship. There are an equal or greater number of people who rely on wisdom from tarot to help them navigate difficult situations with great success.

We humans tend to over-spiritualize romance, often to our detriment. I think that is because so many of us are driven, either by hormones, societal conditioning, or genuine desire, to find a workable relationship. At the same time, workable relationships can be hard to find, and hard to maintain.

When an attraction or connection with another person catches us, it can feel spiritual, whether it is or not. That crush, or new relationship, or amazing sex, can be captivating. That sense of connection with another human generates for us all sorts of questions. Where better to take those questions than to your own tarot deck, to a friend with a tarot deck, or to a professional reader?

Skillful work with tarot can indeed help us with all aspects of navigating relationships. That includes finding love, choosing a partner, building a healthy relationship, ending what doesn’t work, healing problems in a long-term relationship, healing from a breakup, and handling the grief of widowhood. Yet, tarot in the hands of naïve or manipulative people can sometimes make things harder.

How Unskilled Tarot Hurts Us in Relationships

Sometimes people stay in abusive relationships because they believe that tarot told them they were meant to be together. Sometimes people mourn the ending of an unhealthy relationship because they believe tarot told them that they were soulmates, or that their lost relationship was their only possibility for partnership.

I have seen readers encourage clients to believe that a spiritually ordained ‘soulmate’ relationship would be without any conflict or difficulty and would not need any maintenance work to prosper.

I have seen readers give false hope to clients for relationships that are obviously over, never to return.

These are but a few of the ways that unskilled use of tarot can hurt us in relationships. In this age of livestreamed collective tarot readings, there are also those who conflate a collective reading on YouTube or TikTok with a specific one-on-one reading. This can lead to a great deal of misunderstanding and misguidance for those already in emotional turmoil.

How Tarot Can Help

Good practices in relationship readings require asking the right questions and managing expectations.

Collective readings on social media can be fun, interesting, informative, and even profound. However, do not assume that the collective reading about “where your relationship is going” is necessarily a valid piece of helpful information for your individual situation.

Do not assume that the future of a relationship is always predictable at all. Love is a choice that each partner must make every day. It may be impossible, in a single reading, to predict what two people will choose each day for the rest of their lives.

 “Will we stay together?” “Is he the one for me?” “Is this the right relationship?” “Is this my soulmate?” are very often not helpful questions, or questions that can easily receive an accurate answer.

On the reverse side, if the cards clearly suggest that a person might be dangerous or abusive, and you have other substantiating information or history, it might be a good idea to trust the cards and use caution, no matter how attached you may feel in your heart. If this is the case in an ongoing relationship, asking the cards about options and solutions can be very helpful.

When we ask, “What does this person feel about me?” or “What does this person think of me?” we may get a valid answer that is helpful. Or we may get an answer based on a passing thought or mood. Even in very stable relationships our moods and feelings can shift from moment to moment. A snapshot of a particular moment might be misleading. Asking that sort of question could also be a gross invasion of privacy.

There are many questions we can ask of the cards to help us navigate relationships.

A single person may receive great counsel by asking, “What can I do to attract the right partner?” or, “What can we know about the possibility of a new relationship for me in the near future?”

Tarot can be helpful in vetting possible candidates. A reading can give us a heads-up about potential good matches, and those who might be incompatible and inappropriate.

When you want to access the potential of a new relationship, a two-question reading is helpful. Ask “What is the worst this relationship could be?” and “What is the best this relationship could be?”

Another helpful question to ask any time in a relationship timeline is, “What can I do right now to make this relationship the best it could be?”

In a relationship, tarot can help us improve communication with our beloved, and can help us meet their needs, and get our own need met. “How can I help my partner?” can be a great question to ask. “How can I communicate my concerns to my partner in a way that they can hear me?” is another helpful question.

Tarot can help us know when it is time to leave a relationship, and how to heal. Tarot can keep us in communication with our loved one in spirit after they leave this earth.

If you have questions about love, romance, and relationships, tarot can provide helpful answers, but only if you have the skill to ask the right questions and interpret the cards thoughtfully, or if you find a good, intuitive, intelligent tarot reader to do those things for you.

If you are reading for yourself on your own relationship, it is helpful to remember this. No matter how intuitive you are, no one should fully trust their intuition when it comes to matters of their own heart. It is almost always impossible to discern the difference between desire and intuition when we are in the throes of heartbreak or attraction.

Follow your heart, certainly, but keep your head, and attend the wise counsel of tarot in a way that is healthy and healing. It is better to use the cards to help us make wise decisions, understand our feelings, find solutions, and know our options.

Many relationships feel like fate and destiny, but only a few of those truly are. Even a relationship that is a brilliant match can suffer from neglect and poor communication.

Many people think that the cards can help us know our fate. I think the cards do a better job helping us understand ourselves and those around us so we can make good decisions for the best possible future, in love and in life.

This week in tarot: smart, provocative blog posts

In most any professional field, blogging is a way to share ideas with colleagues and clients. Blogging adds to the body of knowledge in a dynamic way that couldn’t have been accomplished before the age of social media.

I’m sure every field has its share of bloggers who need grammar lessons, or who don’t bring anything new to the table. Consistent posting can equal internet cred, whether or not the posts are original or informative.

Nowadays, it is de rigueur that serious tarot enthusiasts, whether professional or hobbyist, blog about tarot. I expect that, within the course of any week, there will be some new stories, techniques or commentary to read about my favorite topic.

With so much tarot talk flying around, and with more than two decades of my own full-time professional tarot journey under my belt, very few tarot posts stand out to me as remarkable or significant. That is, until this week when two unrelated tarot bloggers published really provocative, important pieces.

I saw Benebell Wen’s piece first. I immediately wanted to write a post to promote her piece, share my angle, and to continue the conversation she had begun.

Then, I saw Ste McCabe’s piece on Biddytarot.com. What is going on astrologically that has inspired all this tarot brilliance in just a few days? At a time when I bemoan the dumbing down of modern society almost daily, these genius tarot posts are a breath of fresh air, earth, fire and water!

I feel like I want to write a book about both of the topics these tarotists treated in their recent blog posts. What I have time to do is a few short paragraphs about each, with the hope that you will follow the links and read these important contributions to the body of knowledge that is tarot.

One might think that Benebell Wen and The Tarot Cat, Ste McCabe, don’t have much in common beyond tarot. One is a corporate attorney, the other a punk musician.  One has published a groundbreaking book on tarot, the other has dedicated their tarot practice to helping members of the LBGTQ community. To me, this a testament of the diversity of talented people who count tarot amongst their tools. You will see that they both honor tarot as a sacred tool, and that they both have a high standard of tarot ethics.

Please take the time to follow the links and read their posts, and to read my thoughts on each. Most importantly, please spend some time deciding what your thoughts are on both important topics.

I’ll address the posts in the order I saw them, so first up is Benebell Wen’s post, “Tarot and Social Inductive Reasoning”.

In this post, Benebell Wen discusses “cold reading”. Often, we readers are accused of using “cold-reading” tricks to make ourselves appear more psychic.  Wen’s concern is that perhaps even the most ethical readers might do this accidently, without the intent to mislead.

She compares “cold reading” with Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a technique that is often heralded by New Age practitioners, including tarotists.

Benebell Wen’s understandable concern is this. To her, tarot, divination and the intuitive process are sacred things. In her own tarot practice, she wants not even a hint of the flimflammery of which we are so often accused.

One of my favorite aspects of this post is the way she describes her feeling about the possibility that she and other well-intentioned tarotists might be fooling people as we try to enlighten them. It makes her feel “icky”. That icky feeling is something I’ll bet most ethical tarotists know well, but few dare to speak about. The word I use to describe that feeling is “smarmy”.

In typical Wen style, she researched NLP extensively, and created a free download comparing social inductive reasoning to tarot reading. Her hope is that we will come to understand social inductive reasoning, and learn to use this tool properly without fooling people into thinking we are more psychic than we are.

This is the first time I have ever known a tarotist to publically discuss this topic in this candid way. Brava, brave Benebell!

Wen frames her concern this way. She feels that, in truth, “cold reading” or “social inductive reasoning” is somewhat akin to the intuitive process. That kinship is what makes her ethical concern so pressing.

Is it possible that none of us is actually “psychic”, that, in fact, we are all just really good at reading people in this mundane fashion? That is what our critics would like you to believe.

Wen is clear to point out that, even when certain personality traits are communicated through mundane observation versus sacred intuition, those same traits will be revealed in the cards, and through astrology.  I concur.

Her concern is that we not fool people into thinking we are being psychic, when really we are just being smart and observant.

One of her suggestions to avoid this is something I always do in readings, and had never before heard another reader discuss. If we receive information from some mundane source, she advises us to be quick about confirming why we are saying what we are saying. That is, revealing where the information came from.

I will often say, “This isn’t psychically derived, it’s just an observation” as a way of separating information derived through reason versus information derived through pure intuition. It pleased me that Wen was able to quantify this technique, and teach it.

Wen also brings up my first line of defense when someone suggests my career is based on “cold reading”.  That is, cold reading can’t be any kind of factor when performing distance reading.

Wen does lots of email readings these days. I do much of my work over the phone, reading for people I have never met in person, nor seen in a photo.

Clearly, if we can do accurate, comprehensive, insightful readings for people we have literally never seen, the cold reading argument becomes null and void, doesn’t it?

Wen relates that social inductive reasoning involves noticing things about people, and interpreting those things. In her download, she includes accepted interpretations for body postures and clothing choices.

These, I am sure, are valid and accepted techniques, and helpful in many life situations. Wen suggests that using these techniques in our in-person readings could be helpful, as long as we do not use these techniques to make people think we are super-psychic, or to trick people to buy in to what we are saying.

I can agree to this in theory, but I have another angle to share, in the form of three specific points.

First, I agree that cold reading and intuition are often very similar. We need to be clear about separating the two when appropriate. However, I suspect that sometimes those mentalists who insist they are cold reading are actually truly using their intuition. Yes, the problem could exist in reverse.

Both cold reading and intuitive reading are things we all may do innately. So our very detractors could be, themselves, a lot more intuitive than they realize.

Second, in my book “Fortune Stellar” I share techniques that I developed through trial and error in my own practice. One thing I learned early on is this. In an in-person reading, I try never make observations based on a person’s physical appearance.

That’s right. Although cold reading suggests that a person’s appearance is the whole of where we get our information from, I have learned to disregard what I see with my eyes, for two reasons.

First, many people like to try to fool the psychic. They take off their wedding rings, they wear clothes to the reading that they wouldn’t normally wear, to see if that influences what I say. It doesn’t, I promise you, because I make certain not to notice the physical when I am working with the intuitive.

Secondly, sometimes it’s inadvertent. The construction worker may be dressed in a suit because he’s on his way to a funeral. If I looked at his attire, I might not visualize his career correctly. If I look at him instead of his attire, I will know more true things about his life.

Finally, there is basic practicality. In some professional tarot settings, people need showmanship. There can be an appropriate theatrical, performance aspect to what we do. At a party, we are hired to entertain. That I can perform real psychic work and give real insight in that entertaining environment makes me feel like an under-cover agent for real personal change. Sometimes we need to appear a little larger than life to get our message heard.

Here, the difference between performance and fraud is exactly as Wen advised earlier. I think it is fine to use a few techniques to help people invest in the process, relax and have fun, as long as we are not using those techniques to actually fool or defraud people.

For example, when the Christopher Reeve Superman movies came out, their trailer tagline was “You’ll really believe a man can fly!” We all knew that Christopher Reeve couldn’t fly, but that didn’t make us think he was less of an actor. (I realize this example just dated me big-time.)

As long as we are honest in our intent, and make sure that we do not mislead people about our actual process and abilities, using select techniques to increase the value of a performance isn’t a problem, in my opinion.

Of course, not every reader does “performance tarot” or “tarot entertainment”, so this won’t apply to everyone. We also must remember that sometimes needy people will put too much faith in us, and not enough faith in themselves. We need to be careful not to engender that, nor capitalize on it if it happens.

Psychic fraud is a real and dangerous thing. I would not want to conflate the showmanship of a dynamic presentation with convincing a bereaved parent to trade family heirloom jewelry to keep their son from doing drugs in heaven. (Yes, this really happens in 2015 in the western world.)

I applaud Wen for starting a deeper conversation on one of my favorite topics, tarot ethics. I hope this reminds each of us to tune in to our inner smarm meter and make sure that we are taking steps to be truly within our integrity.

There’s a payoff for that, too. The clearer we feel, the clearer our intuition will be.

The fact is, tarot reading and fortune telling have always existed in the shadows. I often call psychic work the “second profession,” that is, second after the first profession, which is prostitution.

A new generation of tarotists is working to bring tarot out of the shadows. I believe I am a part of this movement. However, not every tarotist is thrilled with the idea of shining that bright a light on tarot.

That brings me to Ste McCabe’s article on Biddytarot.com, “Tarot in the Mainstream? Thanks, but No Thanks”.

In this post, McCabe imagines a world where the mainstream embraces tarot to the point that tarot becomes a dishwater-dull dumbed-down version of itself. He cites a few of the many examples of what happens when the (m)asses discover something cool.

McCabe is a musician. Like him, many of the examples I can think of to back up his point are musical. We all know what can happen when the general public discovers your favorite previously-obscure band.

I have always been an advocate of making tarot more accessible and acceptable. In fact, at TarotCon (Florida) 2015, Jenna Matlin and I led a Trance Dance Tarot magickal spell for exactly that purpose. Our stated magickal intent was to make tarot more accessible and acceptable.

McCabe’s article caught my attention specifically because of this. The day after our Tarot Trance Dance, a colleague suggested we had done magick to make tarot “more mainstream”, and that she didn’t think it was a good idea. Clearly, she would appreciate McCabe’s point here.

I was kind of shocked that she conflated being “more mainstream” with being “accessible and acceptable”. To me, those are two entirely different things.

As a full-time professional tarot reader for more than two decades, I have dealt with my share of harassment and discrimination. I would like my career to be as acceptable as my friends’, the yoga teacher and the massage therapist.

I know that there are people who are hungry for the wisdom that tarot brings, but have no access. For example, I was a popular teacher in adult education programs for many years. My tarot classes always filled. One year, my classes had no sign-ups at all! What had happened, I wondered?  It turns out, a new employee at the adult ed program had a personal prejudice against tarot, and refused to let anyone register for the class.

Because of this person’s prejudice, people in our small town who wanted access to tarot were denied it. In the days before the World Wide Web, that was kind of a big deal.

While the web gives us access we did not have before, access to tarot is still limited to those who know to look for it.

McCabe’s concern is that if tarot were to be mainstream, it would be essentially changed, and not for the better. We’ve all seen that happen to many beloved cultural icons.

One of the examples he gives of a potential change is that Major Arcana Thirteen, Death, would be removed. Honestly, that’s already happened. Doreen Virtue’s Angel Tarot Cards are to me the grossest example of this, but there are plenty.

The lovely Chrysalis Tarot made me sad because they demoted the Hierophant to “Divine Child”.

The thing is, while I find these sorts of decks silly and disrespectful, and, like McCabe, I would hate to see a world full of them, I know two things to be true.

First, these dumbed-down decks bring wisdom to people, and bring people to divination who wouldn’t otherwise be there. When people develop an appreciation for tarot through these channels, they become more accepting and open in general. To me, that’s helpful.

Second, that these hairy-fairy decks exist does not cause deeper, more traditional decks to cease to exist.

I am not sure that tarot could ever become mainstream in the popular culture as McCabe fears. It’s very nature may prohibit that. However, there are certainly “psychic fads” that I’ve observed and, frankly, profited from. When psychics are popular because of a movie or TV show, I work more. That’s not a problem for me.

When the fad is over, my work continues. The shallow interest falls away, but a few people who were brought in by the fad stick around and become lifers like me.

In truth, I was brought in to tarot by the New Age fad of the 1980s. I don’t regret that.

One of the things I appreciated most about McCabe’s post is this. He tapped into a significant question about tarot; one that has been debated in prior centuries.

Long before we had social media or used words like “mainstream”, early tarotists debated whether tarot was “esoteric” or “exoteric”.  Was tarot a tool to be used in secret, only by adept masters, or was tarot a tool for everyone?

Tarot is certainly about everyone. But truly, the very word “arcana” means “secrets”. Clearly, there are points to be made on both sides.

The assumption that anyone can find value in tarot is a modern one, credited to tarot author Eden Gray. We’ve embraced that idea firmly as a community over the past thirty years. It may be time for some young voices in our community to cry out to protect tarot’s esoteric nature.

Although many tarot enthusiasts are tarot businesspeople, we must resist the urge to monetize tarot to the point that it become meaningless. This, I think, is McCabe’s essential point.

So there you have it. Two smart posts from two modern tarot bloggers. Our tarot world is in good hands, I think.

If you have tarot thoughts to share, you may share them here, on my Tarot Community Blog.

Give Some Thought to Tarot Ethics and Professionalism

Here is some material from a class I teach on Tarot Ethics and Professionalism. You can use these ideas and questions to help you form your own sense of what it means to be an ethical practitioner.

We define “ethics” as the moral principles that govern our behavior.

We define “professionalism” as the competence and skill expected of a professional.

In the world of modern tarot and psychic work there are divergent beliefs about what is ethical and what is professionally appropriate. Perhaps the most important part of each person’s commitment to ethics and professionalism is this. We must each examine our own beliefs, priorities and behaviors to create an individual code of ethics and professionalism that will govern our own behavior. We owe this to ourselves, our clients and our community.

Let these questions challenge you to define your own professional and ethical values as a tarotist.

Define your purpose and goals as a reader and you are well on your way to defining your ethics.

Are there some basics upon which we can agree? What about:

Referrals: Always refer to appropriate professionals (mental health, doctors, attorneys, etc.).

Confidentiality: A tarotist or psychic has the same responsibility to confidentiality as does a priest or a doctor.

Are there others?

What constitutes professional behavior?

Appearance (in person, reading area, online presence)

Courtesy and Respect (toward clients, colleagues, competitors, community members, business associates)

 Knowledge, Skill, Expertise

Fair Business Practices

Common Pitfalls: Gossip, “Witch Wars,” Personal Opinions, Oversharing. What else?

Questions:

Is it professional to express a political opinion in person or on-line?

Is it professional to share something about your personal life with a client during a session?

Is it professional to work and market yourself under an assumed name?

How do you define your tarot profession? Are you a fortune teller, a tarot reader, a psychic entertainer, a tarot counselor? What are the differences? Are there different ethical expectations?

What should be considered when defining your tarot ethics?

• Charges Will you charge? How will you charge? What will you charge?

• Services What services do you offer?

When defining your services, there are some specific questions to consider, including:

Future Predictions: Do you predict the future? With what certainty? What do you tell your client about future predictions?

Magick: Do you do magick-for-hire? When is this appropriate? What constitutes ethics here?

Children: Do you read for children? Under what circumstances?

• Boundaries

Is it appropriate to date clients?

Is it ethical and professional to share your personal stories with clients?

• Topics

Death: Do you discuss death? In what context?

Health: Do you discuss health issues? In what context?

Questions: Do you answer your clients’ questions as they are presented? Do you rephrase questions?

Religious Beliefs: Do your religious beliefs affect your readings? In what way? What happens when your clients’ have different beliefs than you do?

Third-Party Readings: Will you answer questions about people in your client’s life?

Representation of Tarot: What do you tell people about tarot itself; its history, power and uses?

Answers to Your Questions about Tarot: Tarot Slavery

If you have a question about tarot, email me!

Today we have another question from Matteo. He writes, in part:

Today I would like to ask you another question that is bugging me. In your opinion, when may a person be considered a "tarot slave"? And how would you deal with him or her? I like to read for my friends, but I've noticed that some of them have become totally unable to make their own decision without asking my deck's advice, often over and over. Now, I think tarot is a great tool for self-discovery, and it’s priceless when it comes to giving useful insights, even on the future. But isn't it dangerous to rely solely on tarot reading? In other words, doesn't it defeat the purpose of a tarot reading? I would love to know your opinion on the subject.

That’s a great question, Matteo. I’ve never used the term “tarot slave,” but I know what you mean. I might call it a tarot addict, or a psychic junkie.

With this question you touch on the very heart of something that is both a blessing and a curse with tarot. Whether or not we like it, whether or not we focus on it, and whether or not we can explain it, tarot can work in a predictive way. When get hung up on the idea that tarot might give us a glimpse of the future that we desire, or the future that we fear, we can become a psychic junkie, or a tarot slave.

The real work of tarot is, as you say, self-discovery and introspection. But that is not the part that people become addicted to. People are sometimes motivated by their anxiety to seek readings to confirm or assuage fears about the future.

Beyond their own concerns and anxieties, when some people they have a profound experience with a predictive reading they assume they have found an inside track on the Universe. They have, but not in the way they think, because they are thinking too small! They aren’t taking the time to contemplate the subtleties of fate, karma, destiny and free will.

Most addictions are born of laziness; the search for easy answers. Psychic junkies want to use the cards, and readings, to get easy answers, without ever using the cards to contemplate the really important questions.

Another type of tarot slavery is born of folks who have found tarot to be helpful to the point that they don’t trust their own decisions, and want to consult the cards about even the most trivial matters. To me that’s like killing a mosquito with a machine gun.  You can do it, but why would you?

Often the folks who become tarot slaves in this way have some core self-esteem issues. When they learn to trust themselves they won’t feel the need to use the cards in such an anxious way.

It’s important to remember, and to remind these folks, that a good tarot reading aligns with reality and common sense. The truth you see in the cards will be reflected in life – the cards are not the only source for that truth.  The more we see truth in the cards the more we learn to simply see truth around us.

On a professional level, there are some unscrupulous readers who take advantage of these kinds of clients. There are other readers who, when they identify this type of client, will “fire” the client so as not to contribute to the addiction.

Each reader needs to be aware that they will encounter these “tarot slaves,” or psychic junkies. Each reader needs to have plans and policies in place for handling these situations.

One thing I keep in mind is that sometimes people go through phases where they may have a lot of readings.  If they are using the readings to help process a difficult situation, sort out emotions and stay focused on positivity during a difficult time, I am happy to read for them, no matter how frequently. When they get the closure they need they will no longer seek out readings so frequently.

I also think a person becomes a “tarot slave” because of an imbalance in their own thinking. Call it anxiety, call it fear, call it lack of faith; people put inordinate faith in something outside of themselves at times when they really need to have faith in themselves and in their Higher Power.

Often when the client is barraging you with anxiety-laden questions you have the opportunity to refocus the reading onto the real problem, which is the client’s anxiety, fear, and lack of faith.

Be ready to ask questions of the cards such as:

What is the real problem here?

What does the client need to do in order to feel better?

Why does this situation upset the client so much?

What can the client learn from this?

This technique will also work for us tarot readers when we find ourselves anxiously consulting the cards again and again, rather than listening to their counsel. We must change our line of questioning from the anxious rephrasing of the same question to questions that help us get a handle on why we are so upset and how we can using the situation as an opportunity for growth.

Divination, cartomancy and psychic work can give us guidance, support and inspiration most of the time. They can give us a glimpse of the future when it’s appropriate. Psychic junkies are looking for the predictive fix, the assurance that they will get what they want.

Tarot slaves are often best served if we use the reading to help them understand their attachments and anxieties. Sometimes we have the opportunity to turn a tarot slave into an empowered tarotist.

Enjoy the video!

Christiana Answers a Question about Tarot Slavery

Video of Christiana Answers a Question about Tarot Slavery

Defining Ethics and Professionalism

On Tuesday, August 27^th I will be presenting an online class for the Tarot Guild entitled “Defining Ethics and Professionalism.” The contents of this class will be available in archive on the Tarot Guild website.

Whether or not you are a Tarot Guild member, defining your ethics as a tarotist is extremely important.

Since we all have different perspectives, beliefs and skills, we all have a different code of ethics. The purpose of the class will be to get people thinking about their code of ethics – answering the hard questions about what is right and wrong for them.

Here is the text of the class material I have developed for this class. Use it to help you define your own tarot ethics.

Defining Tarot Ethics and Professionalism

A Tarot Guild Class with Christiana Gaudet

We define “ethics” as the moral principles that govern our behavior.

We define “professionalism” as the competence and skill expected of a professional.

In the world of modern tarot and psychic work there are divergent beliefs about what is ethical and what is professionally appropriate. Perhaps the most important part of each person’s commitment to ethics and professionalism is this. We must each examine our own beliefs, priorities and behaviors to create an individual code of ethics and professionalism that will govern our own behavior. We owe this to ourselves, our clients and our community.

Let these questions challenge you to define your own professional and ethical values as a tarotist.

Define your purpose and goals as a reader and you are well on your way to defining your ethics.

Are there some basics upon which we can agree? What about:

Referrals: Always refer to appropriate professionals (mental health, doctors, attorneys, etc.).

Confidentiality: A tarotist or psychic has the same responsibility to confidentiality as does a priest or a doctor.

Are there others?

What constitutes professional behavior?

Appearance (in person, reading area, online presence)

Courtesy and Respect (toward clients, colleagues, competitors, community members, business associates)

 Knowledge, Skill, Expertise

Fair Business Practices

Common Pitfalls: Gossip, “Witch Wars,” Personal Opinions, Oversharing. What else?

Questions:

Is it professional to express a political opinion in person or on-line?

Is it professional to share something about your personal life with a client during a session?

Is it professional to work and market yourself under an assumed name?

How do you define your tarot profession? Are you a fortune teller, a tarot reader, a psychic entertainer, a tarot counselor? What are the differences? Are there different ethical expectations?

What should be considered when defining your tarot ethics?

• Charges Will you charge? How will you charge? What will you charge?

• Services What services do you offer?

When defining your services, there are some specific questions to consider, including:

Future Predictions: Do you predict the future? With what certainty? What do you tell your client about future predictions?

Magick: Do you do magick-for-hire? When is this appropriate? What constitutes ethics here?

Children: Do you read for children? Under what circumstances?

• Boundaries

Is it appropriate to date clients?

Is it ethical and professional to share your personal stories with clients?

• Topics

Death: Do you discuss death? In what context?

Health: Do you discuss health issues? In what context?

Questions: Do you answer your clients’ questions as they are presented? Do you rephrase questions?

Religious Beliefs: Do your religious beliefs affect your readings? In what way? What happens when your clients’ have different beliefs than you do?

Third-Party Readings: Will you answer questions about people in your client’s life?

Representation of Tarot: What do you tell people about tarot itself; its history, power and uses?

9 Ways Tarot Readers Work against Themselves

It’s no secret that there is a lot of misinformation about tarot reading floating around. What makes matters worse are the many psychic scam artists that give tarot reading a bad name.

Even worse, sometimes we ourselves make our jobs harder.

There are many full-time, part-time and aspiring professional readers. Most of us are quite good at what we do and quite dedicated to the study, compassion and hard work that is required.

But even the best of us sometimes make decisions or cultivate attitudes that may make our jobs harder.

How many of these things have you done?

1. Automatically Assume Lack of Support
How many times have you pre-judged someone, thinking they are not familiar with or do not approve or believe in the work you do? So often it is those very people who have a tarot collection, seek monthly readings and attend classes.
Likewise, some readers preface their introduction of themselves with an apology, “I know not everyone believes in it, but I’m a tarot reader.”

If you want support from the people you meet, assume you already have it.

2. Fictionalize your Profession
There is a recent trend amongst tarotists to use words from Harry Potter and the like to describe their life. Readers who work a day job may refer to it as their “muggle” job, for instance. Some refer to their “powers” as if they were Samantha Stevens.

Tarot is real. The work we do is real. Don’t compare yourself to fictitious characters. Fiction doesn’t have to be believable. You do.

3. Be Undependable
If you are the kind of reader who can’t perform when you have stress, a headache or aren’t in the mood, be a tarot hobbyist. Professionals keep their commitments and never let their clients know if they are not in tip-top shape.

4. Be a Diva
I know readers who have a list of rules for house parties that make Mariah Carey’s performance rider look simple. If someone is willing to bring us into their home to read for their friends and family we need to do our best to suck it up if they don’t have a ready supply of Voss Water for us.

5. Be Apologetic about your Prices
Set a fair price that makes sense to you. Then, be proud of it. Don’t hem and haw, and don’t apologize. You know you’re worth it. Make sure the rest of the world knows too!

6. Neglect Current Technology
Do your best to make it easy for your clients to find you. Have a website that reads well on a mobile device, for instance. Use a good email service and have good payment options. Make it easy for your clients to connect with you and pay you.

7. Fail to Have a Sense of Humor
By all means, take yourself and your work seriously! But not so seriously that you can’t find the humor in things. Laugh at the psychic jokes told by nervous clients, even if you’ve heard them a hundred times. Tarot can be funny, and that’s ok.

8. Become Intimate with your Clients
Having sex with a client is just abusive. It happens more often than you would think. A reading is a very intimate thing, but have good boundaries. Don’t let the reading lead to true emotional and physical intimacy.

9. Misrepresent Tarot
You would not believe the number of professional readers who have not bothered to learn tarot basics. That is, basic tarot history and traditions. It is ok if you have different theories and practices than the norm, but you should at least be well-versed in current thinking. Don’t be guilty of spreading tarot superstitions or untruths to your clients and students.

Our profession as tarot readers is very flexible. Each of us is unique in the way we do what we do. We honor ourselves, each other, our clients and tarot when we do it the best way we can!