Welcome to my personal blog.
Here you will find my musings, thoughts and observations, all inspired by my experiences as a full-time professional tarot reader.
Psychic Protection for Empaths and Readers
Everyone talks about the need for psychic protection, but no one tells you how to accomplish it! Here is the method I use.
Psychic Protection for Empaths and Readers
We hear the term ‘psychic protection’ quite often. Less often do we receive clear information on what that means and how to create it for ourselves.
You might wonder, who needs psychic protection?
The two categories of people who most urgently need psychic protection are empaths and psychic readers.
Empaths are people who naturally feel what others feel, often both emotionally and physically. Empaths need to develop two important skills. The first is to be able to differentiate their own feelings and sensations from those of others. The second is to learn to protect themselves from other people’s energies.
Because empaths so often and easily pick up other people’s thoughts and feelings and read them as their own they are incredibly easy to manipulate. This makes empaths the natural prey of narcissists. That means that empaths need to learn to have good boundaries in all their relationships, and a good sense of self, self-esteem and self-love.
Truly, psychic protection is just another type of boundary that we need to have in our interactions with people.
Psychic readers are those who do psychic work for others, either professionally or casually, using clairvoyance, mediumship, and tools like tarot and other oracles. Psychic readers need to utilize psychic protection for two reasons. First, in day-to-day life, naturally psychic people need to shield themselves from picking up information when it’s not helpful or appropriate so to do.
Second, in a reading we need to be able to give information without taking on the emotional and energetic burdens of our clients.
The difference between empaths and psychics (some people are both) is that empaths feel what others are feeling, and psychics know and see information about others.
Both need to be able to utilize psychic protection every day, and especially when interacting with others.
The psychic protection method that works best for me is quite all-purpose; it’s good for daily life and also for formal readings. I call it the “Fountain of Light” because that is the visualization of the energy we raise and use to cloak ourselves.
Often methods of psychic protection are called things like a ‘bubble’ or a ‘shield’. I don’t like either of those terms. A bubble is too flimsy, and a shield is too war-like. Honestly, the best analogy for this type of protection is a condom because it allows us to safely interact with others in a pleasurable way.
While we may use things like prayer, incense, essential oils, crystals and stones to enhance the protective energy around us, all true psychic protection comes from the energy we raise. Wearing a crystal or reciting a prayer may help, but it won’t do the job completely if we don’t do the energy work.
All energy work begins with conscious breathing, and that is how you want to begin your Fountain of Light meditation. Bring your attention, and your breath, to your root chakra. From there, send your energy into the earth to ground yourself.
Bring energy from the earth back into your root chakra. Then, move that energy up your spine until it gathers at your crown chakra. Open your crown and send the energy out of the crown in all directions like a fountain, falling around you and creating a moving layer of energy around you. Send that energy into the ground, and cycle it back up into the root chakra and once again up the spine and out of the crown. Keep the energy moving around you and through you throughout the day, and throughout your interactions with others. Give the energy a color that feels protective and comfortable.
Once you get comfortable with this quick meditative technique you will find that, throughout the day, you can check in with your energy field and feel the energy moving around you, grounding you, refreshing you, and protecting you.
We are Oracles
The word “oracle” is common jargon in the psychic and divination community.
I’ve long suspected that we don’t always understand the word, or use it correctly.
Some divination decks are appropriately titled with the name “oracle,” such as Ciro Marchetti’s fabulous “Oracle of Visions.”
Some people use the term “oracle” to denote specifically non-tarot decks of divination. This works to help us separate tarot from non-tarot card decks, but it mistakenly implies that tarot is not oracular.
Some psychic professionals clarify that the readings they perform are oracular in nature, meaning that they use cards, or some other tool of divination. This is an erroneous use of the term.
“Oracle” is not synonymous with “random token divination” or “cartomancy,” or “non-tarot divination deck.”
While slang and word usage change all the time, I don’t believe the meaning of the word “oracle” has changed. I think it is just misunderstood and misused, often by we oracles ourselves.
I think we oracles would be well served to learn the meaning of the word, and use it correctly.
The word “oracle” is a brilliant gift, and has no real substitute in the English language. The word “oracle” comes from a time and place when oracles were valued, perhaps more than we are today.
According to Merriam-Webster, an oracle is a person through whom a god is believed to speak, or a shrine in which a deity reveals hidden knowledge.
An oracle is also the answer or message that is given by the oracle.
A reading itself is an oracle. Each and every reading is “oracular” in nature, regardless of the tools or methods used.
The reader, his or herself, is an oracle.
The sacred place where people go to receive readings can be called an oracle, although usually is not. That’s probably good. I don’t want to refer to my office as an oracle. Although, hey, maybe that would be cool! I’ll give that one some more thought.
According to Dictionary.com, an oracle can also be “the agency or medium giving such responses.”
I think this is how tools of divination, such as cards, might have become known as “oracles.” A tarot deck, or other device, is certainly an agency or medium giving responses, and therefore, an oracle.
An oracle is a shrine, temple or house of prayer where divine message are given.
An oracle is a person who gives divine messages.
An oracle is the medium used to receive divine messages, whether that is a tarot deck, a non-tarot deck, a Lenormand deck, or a cup of tea leaves.
An oracle is the divine message itself.
Every reader is an oracle.
Every reading is an oracle.
Every tool for divination is an oracle.
The sacred space in which readings are performed is an oracle.
Depending on how we use it, the word “oracle” can refer to much of our sacred practice of divination and psychic work, or it can simply be a meaningless buzzword we erroneously use to make ourselves sound mystical.
We are oracles. We are mystical. Let’s honor our sacred history by learning to use this special word in keeping with its unique traditional meanings.
Words have power, even on a spiritual and mystical level. When we use the nomenclature of our ancient spiritual work correctly, we can harness that power.
Professional psychics are often portrayed as imprecise, silly, and stupid. The way we talk about our work, and our traditions, can either contribute to those unfortunate impressions, or change them.
Five Ways to Feel Energized After Tarot Reading
I’m always concerned when I hear tarot readers say they are exhausted after a reading, or after an evening of readings. I believe that if you are tired after reading tarot, you are missing at least one important step in your process.
Tarot reading is not just laying out some cards and interpreting them. Tarot reading is a spiritual process. If we don’t observe the necessary steps it is easy to become drained, or worse, to take on our clients’ energy. This can be a true threat to our physical and emotional health.
Each of us must develop our own way to safely read tarot for others – there is no one right way. I’m pretty sure, though, if tarot reading makes you tired, you haven’t yet found your right way.
There are some physical concerns around tarot reading. I once was diagnosed with “tarot elbow!” It was actually tennis elbow, that is, tendonitis, from the way I shuffled. Reading full-time means I shuffle quite a lot. So there are physical occupational hazards for tarot readers, included repetitive motion disorder.
Another physical problem can be voice strain. If you have to read in a loud environment or for an extended period of time you need to be careful not to strain your vocal cords. Some tricks include good throat lozenges or sprays, taking aspirin before starting work to reduce the swelling, and sucking on lemons. The old adage of lemon and honey in tea doesn’t work – tea is drying to the vocal cords. But lemon really is fabulous.
Make sure, too, that when you talk you keep your chin pointed downward. That reduces stretching your vocal cords.
Overall, though, I think the tiredness folks tend to describe is more psychic strain than physical strain. Here are ways to prevent it.
- Always read in sacred space. It doesn’t matter how you create sacred space. It does matter that you take the time and energy to do so before each reading. This creates an environment where you are more easily able to connect, your client is more easily able to hear and process the reading and the spirits around you are more able to assist in the process.
- Connect yourself to earth and heaven. As part of creating sacred space, take a moment to ground to the earth, bring energy up through your chakras, send energy from your crown chakra to heaven, invite in spiritual help and bring the energy down around you as a cloak of protection. Draw on the limitless supply of energy from earth and heaven rather than on your own energy to do the reading.
- Consciously put your issues to the side. Whether you are hungry, troubled, have a headache, are wondering what to make for dinner – whatever your issues of the moment are – put them in an energetic box and put them to the side. It’s hard to handle your own issues and your clients’ issues at the same time. If your own issues are out of the way you will experience relief, and be able to focus easily on your client.
- At the end of the reading, release your client. Make a constant effort to release your clients’ energy at the end of the reading. Say a prayer for them, wish them well, shake your hands off, whatever works for you. The important part is that you release their energy completely. Your job with them is finished.
- Be a straw. See yourself as a conduit for energy. In a reading you do not need to give of your own energy, nor take energy from your client. Just be a straw.
Following these guidelines will make your readings flow more easily and leave you feeling refreshed and energized when you are finished. Tarot reading is psychic work, psychological work and intellectual work. Tarot reading is also energy work.