Tarot Readers' Image

I've seen the odd tarot reader and had my palm read in various countries and explained to me in many strains of broken English. Did I believe a word? To be honest, I didn't understand much, but I loved watching the presentation. ~ Simon Baker 


OK so Simon loved watching the presentation, is this why people have readings, is it why they go to a Tarot practitioner, is it a bit of fun, a bit of entertainment?



I look at images of Tarot readers and Tarot Masters on line, no doubt the know their stuff, but there are a good number of them who seem to live in a romanticised notion of Tarot reading, they dress up, act out a role, even perform in theatrical sets they call palours, lounges or studies.

Have they got it right, are they pandering to the public's perception of Tarot readers as fortune tellers; do the public take the readings seriously ( no doubt the amount some of them are charged they do), however others like Simon walk away having enjoyed the experience but either don't understand what they've been told or can't remember the information having been distracted by the 'performance'; is this providing a dis-service to Tarot readers as a whole and to their client's; have these Tarot readers missed the opportunity to allow the querent to pick up that actually there was some very accurate and insightive information being given?

I am all for creating the right atmosphere, dimmed lights, candles, incense, music, a comfortable and relaxed setting to place the reader and the querent in the right frame of mind, in the zone and a theatrical setting and dressing up is great for a fund raiser or where the reader is invited to carry out readings at a fun event. During a recent visit to Brighton I saw street Tarot readers, dressed up, which added to the general flavour of the area.

The majority of Tarot readers are there to provide their clients with the serious counselling they seek from the Tarot without the need to indulge in some romanticised Gypsy fortuneteller or Occult Master fantasy  life style.

So whose right, just because I don't want to dress up and play the part in a theatre doesn't mean others can't, they do. The world is full of individuals, some are more eccentric than others, they add colour to the human race, my concern reading Simon's statement was that he could of missed out on something that could have had a perfound effect on his life, just because he didn't understand what he was being told.

How does the Tarot work, a personal view.

Two Of Wands - Choices and consequences

When you mention you read Tarot or are asked to do a reading, most people are curious and ask questions, the main ones being - "How does the Tarot work" and "Can the Tarot cards predict the future" which is what most people think.

I recently read this quote and for me it goes a long way to being able to answer those questions

We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not in the sense that our grandparents had a future, or thought they did. Fully imagined cultural futures were the luxury of another day, one in which 'now' was of some greater duration. For us, of course, things can change so abruptly, so violently, so profoundly, that futures like our grandparents' have insufficient 'now' to stand on. We have no future because our present is too volatile.... We have only risk management. The spinning of the given moment's scenarios. Pattern recognition.

WILLIAM GIBSON, Pattern Recognition

This quote is basically saying that there are too many variables in our lives, these variables change with our own actions and reactions, those of our family and friends, in fact anyone we come into contact with, as well as environmental influences. 

The Tarot is not about predicting the future but about recognizing energies and patterns and giving likely outcomes based on those energies and patterns, as they are NOW and giving insight and guidance on how that outcome will be achieved.

Risk Management. - If the Tarot can give us insight into what may happen, what the likely outcome will be, we are empowered to consider it and change the circumstances to change it, if we wish to do so.

The spinning of the given moment's scenarios – The given moments are shown by the Major Arcana cards and I feel that these are the closest that we will get to predetermined events or outcomes, they are events that are likely to happen and if you try to stop or change them they will find another route and appear again later. Most events are changeable and represented by the Minor Arcana cards.

Pattern recognition. If you can see a pattern emerging, this will give a chance of 'predicting' a likely outcome, by looking at a sequence of event or comparing it with other patterns to see how they resulted. If you don't like the likely outcome, you break the pattern.

What the client does with the insight and guidance given in their reading is for them to decide, we all have free will, we can choose to follow or ignore what the tarot gives us, the Tarot is empowering us to make informed choices to go with the proposed outcome or change it.

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.

Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.

The chances, the changes are all yours to make.

The mold of your life is in your hands to break.

J. R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit

So how does a reading work?

The client asks a question or states a situation or issue they want insight or guidance to.

The Reader, using their intuition, gives this insight and guidance, now many would say that this is just the reader applying common sense and in a lot of case this is just what we fight doing, but why?

Using our common sense brings into play our own morals and judgement, this at times will not benefit the client and may not allow us to give an unbiased reading. Using the tarot allows us to focus on the cards, these act as tools to stimulate our intuition, yes we have all trained and learnt the meanings and a set of key words for each card, but a one size fits all approach doesn't cover the individual need of each client, the reader needs to know how a card or set of cards relates to that client's question and use that understanding to relate the insight and guidance the client needs.

There are times when a Reader's intuition will step in on it's own and the more experienced and intuitive Reader doesn't always need the cards to be able to give the guidance and insight sought,  however the Reader will still use the cards as a prop, to keep them on track and to allow the client feel that they have got what they have asked for, a Tarot reading.

Once the Reader has established what the client's question is, they will break it down into key elements and devise a spread / layout which will best give the insight in a orderly manner. Each card position reflects an aspect of the whole, the cards are then shuffled and drawn from the deck and place in a position relating to how they were drawn.

The mystery is how are the cards needed to complete the reading end up in the correct position in the deck in to ensure that they are drawn or are they?

A skeptic may say that the cards are randomly drawn and that the Reader then makes the cards fit the insight that the Reader wants to portray, OK that may explain how the Reader can give advice which may or may not be accurate, which if it fails to be accurate it can be pushed aside by saying that circumstances change because they, can as it says in the quote above.

What it doesn't explain is the numerous occasions where the likely outcome comes to fruition  where aspects of the clients life are revealed, where events and people from there past are identified or the card that the reader cannot make fit but the client can.

As I have said the Tarot is a tool, an aid, it picks up and tunes into energies and it recognises patterns or is it a tool to help the Reader do this? Whatever way, why, how does it? There is so much in the world, especially the natural and spiritual worlds that we don't know or understand, so much that is a mystery to us, so much that science doesn't recognise, let alone study.

How does the Tarot work ?????????????????????????????????????????????

Spiritualist Church - The Dark Side

Last night a friend who is an exceptional medium was working at a local Spiritualist Church, so my partner and I went along to support her.

The church has it's own building which although tired has at one time been full of energy, now I'm sorry to say it is only full of shadows of what it once was, there is no energy, no warmth and no atmosphere.

As you walk in you are met by the woman who runs the church, we asked if we paid or if there was a collection, "£3-00 each, all churches charge now, we have to pay the medium you know" not the warmest of welcomes.

There was initially six of us, then three more walked in, and another two after the "service" started so 11 congregation, the organiser and the Medium.

There were flowers on the platform, but they were wilting. The medium asked some of the congregation to put various people's names in the healing book, did the church have one, yes it was in the office, why, what use is it there ?

The organiser had instructed the medium to start with an opening prayer, followed by leading the Lords Prayer before stating "As you know I don't go to the front (the platform at the front of the church), she conducted the service and made announcements from the back, rude.

Before the "service" started we were asked to make sure our mobile phones were turned off, no problem I always turn mine off on arrival at a church. However during the "service" the medium turned to the organiser and started to give her a message from a loved one, when in the background we could hear a phone ring, after two rings the organiser said "I'm sorry, I have to get that" and walked out of the room.

Now not only did this upset the flow of energy and the "service", it also showed a high lack of respect for all those present including the loved ones who had come through to contact her and astonished the medium.

The organiser returned a few minutes later explaining it was another medium that she had been trying to contact for another service, as though that justified her interrupting the meeting.

The medium tried to get back to the reading she had started, when she then started to pace up and down the room, then she asked the organiser if she had a Native American guide, to which she responded yes, "Well" said the medium "he appears to be agitated he's just pounding up and down here, do you know why?" to which the organiser replied " Well I do suffer from anxiety, maybe he is showing you that". The woman had completely missed the point.

In England the established church and spiritualist churches do seem to be suffering a decline, why? Well I think this is the worse example of what some of the causes are.

 Before I moved, I attended another spiritualist church, there was a warm welcome, a beautiful atmosphere set by candles, low lighting and music. We started with a song, then opening prayers and another song, by the time the medium started the room was buzzing with energy.

I know the churches are run by a limited group of volunteers, some who have been doing it for years and for some churches this is the problem, old fashion service, antiquated hymns and when new people take over the old ways are still followed.

This church had been a lovely little church and with some TLC it could be again and give support to the local spiritualist community.

We need to energise and modernise our churches to make the services more enjoyable, to attracted new members and to make the mediums work easier and invigorating rather than draining

The Tarot Closet - Coming out to colleagues

So how do you come out to business colleagues without sounding a complete nutter and without them losing complete faith in you and your abilities?

Well I see three groups of colleagues: ~

Those who jump in with – Oh great, can you do mine?

Those who think - What a load of piff-paff - you can try to educate them but may or may not succeed.

Those, the bosses, who think – Maybe we need to start planning an exit strategy to get shot of this person.

Now we all know that there is more to the Tarot than simply learning a few meanings for the cards, Why are some interpretations total different to the book meaning? How do the right card or combination of cards come together when randomly picked from a deck? To what extent do our spirit guides and other forces help and influence the interpretation? and we all have our own ideas on how readings work but do we want to jeopardise our reputations and careers by trying to explain this to our bosses.

So I’ve come up with a little question and answer for them -

Do you know exactly what Tarot is?

No, OK, well Tarot is using the symbology on 78 picture cards as a tool to stimulate your intuition into providing advice, guidance or answers to your own or other people’s life issues, concerns or questions. Tarot cards are not a resource for predicting the future or future events, once the Tarot card reading has been delivered, the person receiving it, through free will, can act either with the reading or against it, thereby changing the circumstances the reading was based on and thereby affecting any likely outcome.

And if they still look dubious –

When we need to make a business decision, we use, reports, graphs, statistics and other resources, but these can’t tell you what to do or guarantee that the decision you make will succeed, you still need to go with your gut feeling, your intuition, your resourses only guide you and that what the tarot does.

OK sounds good, just need the courage to put it into practice.

Me and Wolves

Aren't they just beautiful, they are misunderstood, misinterpreted and given a really bad name in fiction, films, the press and media.

I have always had a love of wolves, during trips to the zoo or safari park you would always find me spell bound by these wonderful creatures.

Now my partner knew I liked wolves and last Christmas bought me an up close and personal encounter with Arctic Wolves at the UK Wolf Conservation Trust http://ukwct.org.uk/  this was a dream come true, an experience I will never forget and I didn't shut up about seeing / being with them, so my partner now knows how deep my feelings are for these creatures.

But there is more to my connection with wolves, I started off, as far as I know, with a Native American Spirit Guide, who is still with me and for a while I had a Chinese guide join him but when I attended a Christian Spiritualist Church I was often told that I had a wolf with me, from time to time he was joined by an eagle and at other times by a bear and other birds of prey but always the wolf was with me and while I thought I knew my Native American Guide was with me, I do know when the wolf is with me, I feel him at my side, I feel him lean against me, I have felt his fur against the back of my hand.

And there is more, although still not great at meditation I am beginning to get better at it to the stage now where when using meditation just to relax, my wolf is there at my side but not only that, I run with him and have at time been a wolf, in my meditations, running with other wolves, seeing my legs and paws stretch out before me, feeling the exhilaration of running with the pack through the wild open spaces.

Do I imagine this, am I nuts or are there just things we don’t fully understand, I don’t know but it feels so real to me, the images are so vivid and I am prepared to believe that wolves are part of my life and part of me.

The lady who runs our circle is, among other things, an experience and gifted medium, she has told me that I am an old spirit and at a recent circle meeting she said that she saw me as a Native American with the Sun casting my shadow in the form of a wolf’s.

I recently came across this and posted it on FB and friends responded that it described me to a tee, they also know that I'm not a mixer, I am happier to stay to the side of a crowd, watch and observe, just like a wolf

Positive or Negative - Right Reading Doubts

Has that doubt hit you, you have just pushed the SEND button and it hits you “Did I do the right reading?”

This week I received a simple question “Will my boy friend propose sometime soon?” Now not being sure on yes / no readings I plumped for a relationship reading.

The Spread, one out of the Biddy Tarot Starter Kit.

What you want from the relationship.

What they want from the relationship.

Where is the relationship heading.

The cards (randomly taken from the pack, not straight from the top).

5 of Coins                            6 of Coins                            Strength

Simple version of my reading (positive)

5 of Coins - She has wants           

6 of Coins - He wants and is able to fulfill her wants, as he wants it to.

Strength - Relationship gets stronger.   

Reading done, happy with it, PRESS SEND, Oh heck - did I get that right or was it all negative

5 of Coins - She has wants           

6 of Coins - He’s a selfish pig wasting all his cash and time on friends etc

Strength - She is going to have to find an inner strength to maintain the relationship or end it.

OR

5 of Coins – She’s a money grabbing cow who wants more and more of everything.

6 of Coins – All he does is supply her with more money, more gifts, more everything

Strength - He is going to have to find an inner strength to maintain the relationship or end it.

And I should think you could come up with your own interpretations.

But on the face of it a simple question and a simple 3 card spread

Was me initial reading right?

I am a fairly positive person, seeing good in most people and things, did this influence my judgement  and reading did I unconsciously want to give a good positive reading?

As you see, there were no cups in this reading, no emotions, relationships, matters of the heart, I took this as we didn't need to touch on this, as their feelings / love for each other are secure OR is it that love is missing from one or both people, was she asking about him proposing to her for reasons other than love?

So you buy a Tarot Card Pack and you learn what each card means, someone asks for a reading, you shuffle the cards, pick the cards, lay out the spread, you look at the cards and explain what they mean, sounds so easy, doesn't it but we know better.

At the time of this reading, what I was getting fitted, felt right and flowed, I am referring to books less and less and not at all for this reading and I am relying on my intuition and instincts more.

So again was my initial reading right, I think so, I believe so, I feel so but as you know I have to wait for the feedback to know so.

A general question

Just had my first non-specific question, just a general reading request, what a whole different feel.

Apart from a date of birth and a name, you have nothing to go on, how nerve racking is that.. They did want it as Past, Present, Future, which is even worse, they know their past, they know whats happening to them now, for us readers it's instant judgement, did we get it right, are we even close, O M G the pressure.

I suppose its just having faith in ourselves, we did our best, we just have to sit and wait for the feedback, please make it soon, I'm on tenter hooks, do these people know what they put us through.

If it's wrong I can't blame the cards, I can only face up to the fact that I misinterpreted the cards and what's that going to do for my confidence???

Well I'll just have to take it on the chin and hope the next reading is better.

And the really silly thing is I haven't got the feedback so am I worrying about nothing, me thinks a bit of P.M.A. is required