What Tarot Readers See About the World

We tarot readers are known for what we see about people. It’s also true that, as a full-time tarot professional for more than two decades, I have been in a position to see societal trends from a unique perspective. I am sure this is true of every busy reader over time.

I had been working as a reader full time for fifteen years when the Crash of 2008 happened. Many people asked me if the Great Recession was something I had predicted. In a weird way, it was.

Back in the first few years of the new millennium, in my office in Central Village, Connecticut, I remember seeing client after client asking about the new homes they were planning to purchase. As I looked at their cards, all I could see was financial difficulty and loss. “I don’t think you can afford this house at this time,” I said gently to at least three clients a week in those few years. Each time, their answer was the same. “My loan has already been approved”. Their reassurance never made me feel better; the cards were very clear. The term ‘predatory lender’ wasn’t yet in our collective vocabulary. Logic told me that if the bank said they could afford it, they were okay. Should I tell my clients they would be better off trusting their tarot reader than their financial advisor? My ethics wouldn’t allow me to suggest that. In hindsight, perhaps I should have found a way to question those loans more stridently. Yet, the few times I did, clients looked at me as if I were crazy.

When the Crash hit in 2008, the memory of all those readings came rushing back. Suddenly, those same folks who had so confidently dismissed my fears for them a few years back were now calling to discuss their new situations; homelessness, short-sales, under-water mortgages and layoffs.

Another sad example of how what’s happening in the world shows up at the tarot table is the devastation of the opioid epidemic. When I first started reading professionally in the early 1990s it was rare that I spoke with someone who had lost a family member to a drug overdose. Things are a little better this year, but over the last few years I spoke with one or two people a week who had suffered this tragic loss.

Many of us do readings about the state of the world, but it’s hard to do such readings without filtering them through our own fears, opinions and beliefs. It’s interesting to note that, if we read for a lot of people, we are de facto performing a reading for the world, over time.

Another sad trend I notice is that year after year, corporate America becomes less and less geared to the well-being of the workers. I wish I could say that I see this trend turning around, but so far, it’s not.

I see trends that I view as positive, as well. There are fewer parents at my table distraught over their children’s sexual identity, or that their kids are marrying outside of their race or religion.

I am often impressed by the younger people I see at my table who are insightful, intelligent and hopeful for their future. Those young people give me hope for the future of the planet.

I suppose we all view the world through a lens given us by our profession. I’m glad that my chosen vocation offers such a crystal-clear view, not only of the individual, but of our society as a whole.