What Tarot Reading Taught Me about Human Nature
My adventures on the tarot line
When I started studying tarot at age 14, there were only a few books to read. Back in 1978, we only had a few books and decks available in the bookstores. There weren’t many options. But today, thanks to the internet, there is a limitless choice of books, decks, podcasts, and videos to learn from.
Back then, the two easiest decks to get were the Smith-Waite and the Thoth decks. While reading Eden Gray’s books, I learned the two most common Tarot question topics are love and money.
That detail stuck with me over the years. When I was only reading for family and friends, or for myself, I did not have the opportunity to put that information to practical use.
When I read for folks I know, they usually ask about a specific aspect of their lives, and the insight they were seeking could be about anything.
When the great recession of 2008 hit, I found myself between jobs after having been downsized. Unfortunately, the kind of jobs I was looking for were the ones that were being eliminated.
Lots of people with skill sets similar to mine were all on the job market simultaneously, and that caused a lot of frustration during my job search.
I reviewed my other skills to see what other jobs I could do for a living that did not land me in direct competition with thousands of other people.
This was when it occurred to me that I am a Tarot reader and have been for decades. It was an option to earn some money.
I was hired by a psychic phone line after an interview process that had me doing phone readings for various members of the company’s staff. They liked my work; I liked them, and I looked forward to this new chapter in my life.
Within my first hour of working, I finally saw what Eden Gray had meant when she said that most Tarot questions are about either love or money. 90% of my calls were about relationships and the rest career-related.
People called for relationship advice. One lady called because her beau was adamant that a particular woman was just a friend. She had suspicions there was more going on between the two of them.
Tarot tells the truth we dare not tell ourselves — Anonymous.
As much as I wanted her suspicions to be wrong, the cards were telling me she needed to trust her instincts. I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but I had to tell her the cards she was getting — I had to tell her the truth.
Despite her suspicions, she was willing to stick with him, until an inexplicable technical glitch brought everything to light. Her beau had a phone that tended to pocket-dial. His phone pocket dialed her and the call went to voice mail.
The voicemail was from her soon-to-be-ex beau in flagrante delicto, sharing physical intimacy with this alleged female friend who is just a friend. She reached out to me to ask if there was any possibility that this audio was not what it appeared to be.
The cards, unfortunately, only reveals the truth. When her relationship ended, her reason for calling me ended as well. That was a bummer. I liked her.
People think the tarot is about being psychic and getting so-called psychic powers. Actually, the original meaning of psyche is soul. So the real power of the tarot is that it can help you live your psyche, your soul, with more creativity, more awareness, more imagination, more clarity, more understanding, and more joy ― Philippe St Genoux.
There was the time a man asked me if the girl of his desires was thinking about him. This was not an uncommon question for people to ask. However, this time, the cards were exceptionally adamant that she was absolutely doing no such thing. She wasn't thinking about him at all.
I try to be diplomatic when telling people this, being mindful that their feelings are involved and the answers matter to them. I launched into my usual, “If you want to be on her mind, reach out to her.” But twice, he cut me off mid-suggestion and asked again Is she thinking of me? I want to know if I’m on her mind. Does she want me?
I pulled more cards, more of the same emphatic negative answers from the deck, more of the same advice from me. Finally, after the third time, he blurted out I can't contact her. That would violate the restraining order.
That certainly put things in a new light! Here we have a person who, upon having a restraining order filed against him, resorted to calling psychics to gain information about her that way.
No wonder the cards were so unequivocal in their no’s. I spent the rest of the call advising him that his best bet would be to start fresh and turn his attentions in an entirely new direction, but I don’t think he heard a word of it. I’m sure I was neither the first nor the last tarot reader to hear from this caller.
The company I worked for partnered with some international phone lines, so I sometimes got calls from outside the USA. India was one place from which I would receive calls, especially given the time zone difference and the fact that my shifts were late at night in my time zone.
I noticed a pattern in my calls I had not encountered with any other localities. Women would call me asking about men they are dating. In every case, dating these men was going against his family’s wishes. Sometimes to where I believe they were seeing each other secretly.
The men would profess their love to these women and swore they'd ignore the family’s wishes and be with them. But they ended up just ghosting the women. His parents would arrange a marriage for him, and he would go along with it, leaving the first woman heart-broken and calling a psychic line for insight.
The cards were clear on the fact that my caller’s best bet would be to turn her attention toward creating a new relationship when she felt ready to do so. I’m sure there are some cultural aspects involved in this behavior pattern that I am missing because I come from a different continent and background than these callers. It was a pattern that repeated itself often that I noticed it.
Fortunately, not all relationship questions were centered around situations that range from problematic to flat-out toxic. Sometimes, the caller is using the insight from the reading to craft their relationship strategies.
One lady had fallen in love with a man she knew. He seemed interested, but was also very career-driven, putting that ahead of other things in his life. Through several calls, the cards she got helped her decide how and when to approach this man to get to know him better.
After months of such calls, when she finally let me know that she had been on dates with this man, I was so happy for both of them I was ready to dance in the streets.
I always end my readings with something positive to make their situation better. I redirect my callers’ attention to the things that they can control. I get them to focus on the future. I get them to take the steering wheel of their lives, so they can create the future they want to see.
While we can’t control every aspect of our life, we always have the choice to make a difference in other aspects of our lives. That is what the Tarot cards are for. We can use them as a tool to create the lives we want.
