What I Want to Accomplish as a Professional Tarot Reader
Helping people build the lives they desire
I understand why there are a lot of misconceptions about Tarot card readings. There are many stereotypes out there related to Tarot and Tarot readings.
Tarot readers are usually seen as mysterious in dimly lit rooms, with flowing garments and glittering jewelry, speaking with exotic accents in hushed tones about a future that is immutably carved in stone.
If Tarot is depicted in a drama series or in a movie, you can almost set your watch by the fact that the Death card will appear. Scriptwriters are interested in advancing their storyline via the plot device of a card reading, rather than in providing an accurate depiction of Tarot.
Their main goal is to insert the most dramatic cards possible into a reading. Since it’s hard to find something more fear-inducing than (insert ominous music here) The Death Card it’ll be the card making its jarring entrance on screen at some point during the reading, while dissonant strings fill the soundtrack.
No wonder the folks for whom I am performing their very first reading are often nervous. Who wouldn’t be, when introduced to the topic of Tarot via such tropes? It’s amazing that anyone requests a reading in the first place when their only prior knowledge of the subject looks and sounds like that!
But the first question you should ask is, “What are Tarot readings for and why we should resort to them in the first place?” The truth is that if the readings are being done in the correct manner, their purpose is not to frighten but to inform. I
In fact, I would imagine a properly performed reading would be entirely unsuitable for movies or TV, precisely because it would be done in a matter-of-fact without one note of spooky music in its undertones.
There’s nothing spooky or dramatic about Tarot. Tarot is a tool for gaining insight. There’s nothing about Tarot that is intended to frighten the recipient of a reading.
While working for a psychic phone line for several years, I made a point of expressing this perspective at every opportunity. For example, the first thing I had to do, upon being hired, was to create an online profile for myself as a reader on the phone line’s website.
I emphasized right at the start that readings are tools that we can use to build our lives. I self-identified as “The Reader Who Gives You Homework”, and I meant it.
Instead of asking questions that were phrased to reflect a future that was unchangeable and fated, I would help my callers rephrase their questions so we were asking what they needed to do in order to create the future that they wanted to create.
The purpose of Tarot is to give us a snapshot of our current situation.
Then we can look at all the details of that picture and decide which aspects to keep and which ones to change.
I understand why some folks would still have some vestigial nervousness, even after having been reassured that they are about to receive a reading that is designed to instruct and provide insight rather than alarm.
After all, it can be frightening to realize that the truth of a situation is comprised of details that we have been actively trying to ignore or discount.
When we come to the realization that we have to face those ignored facts before we can truly take control of our lives, it can be a scary thing.
Confronting the reality of our situation can be a lot more intimidating than seeing an entire deck’s worth of Death cards pop up with a spooky music score in tow.
I often tell the folks for whom I’m reading that Tarot is like a GPS. It can tell you what direction you are heading. Then you can decide whether that information suits you as it stands, or if things need to be done differently to accomplish the things you want.
If you set your GPS to direct you toward a destination in the east, but your screen shows that you are headed north, you can interpret that knowledge to mean you need to change course in order to reach your goal.
Seeing that you are headed north does not mean you are fated to go north forever and that you can't reach your destination. It means you need to evaluate your situation and decide what to change so you can start heading towards your desired destination.
Knowing you are going in the wrong direction, you can determine how to correct your course and begin heading toward your destination.
If your GPS tells you that you are headed in the right direction, that is not implying you can just stop the car and turn off the ignition because you’re fated to reach your destination no matter what you do.
You keep driving the car in the right direction because the moment we stop striving; we stop making progress, and we can deprive ourselves of reaching our destination if we don't take action and keep moving forward.
Tarot readings should be utilized in the same way. When you are asking about a particular aspect of your life, you most likely have a goal in mind related to that question.
Once you have the cards drawn, interpreting them will grant you some insight into whether you are doing the things that will help you achieve your goal. If the cards tell you that you’re not heading toward that goal, that is not the time to give up because your goal is unreachable.
You review various aspects of your life and decide which adjustments to make to make progress toward that goal.
If the cards describe a situation where success is likely, based on the things you are doing, that’s not the time to stop trying assuming reaching your goal is assured.
Rather, what the cards are telling you is to continue your current course of action, because only then will you accomplish your desires.
For anybody curious about Tarot, I want to encourage you to seek a reading from an honest and skilled advisor. It is worth it and the insight you gain will be worth overcoming any nervousness you might have about talking to a Tarot reader.
When the reading is done, go out and use the information you’ve received to build the life that you desire.
