Confessions of a Tarot Snob

At the weekend I had the luxury of a few hours in town & a mind-body-spirit fair on. I decided to treat myself to a Tarot reading, or two….

As I looked around the stalls I was amazed at the sheer diversity- psychic, runes, heart centred, occult- it was lovely just looking at the different angles the readers presented themselves from.

I decided to choose three readers-

#1 I thought was much like myself “old school” dressed fairly normally, reading the Celtic cross with Rider-Waite Tarot (my preferred deck) But I didn’t feel drawn to her as a person.

Nice & simple-don't judge me- some one who just read Tarot, and proper deck at that.

#2 Had many things that I normally shy away from- including Reiki healing as an additional service & Doreen Virtue Tarot & Oracle decks. But I did feel drawn to him as a person.

#3 Was simply weird, reading using a combination of numerology, major only Marseilles deck, and an Oracle deck that I suspect he made himself. I was intrigued by him.

#1. She struggled to get any accurate information about me at all. It’s not that I was testing her- I asked her about my work and was open to talk about the reading. But despite having the High Priestess & Hermit as key cards she asked if I worked in an office and made no mention of intuition or guiding/helping people at all. When I said I didn't work in an office she continued with "when you worked in the office" to which I had to reply "I never have".

I was very concerned that with the 8 of cups as the near future she said I would leave my current job in 8 weeks time. This is the worst of tarot reading- making big leaps of assumption and telling clients something WILL happen, but giving no clear advice about how to handle it. I mentioned I was self employed & was concerned at the idea of not working in 8 weeks time as I needed an income, and that I loved my job. I asked if she could she offer any more insight as to whether this was a good thing, or by choice. She had nothing further to offer. That is what she saw in the cards., I needed to accept it.

So despite reflecting much of what I admire in tarot- the simplicity of a classic deck & simple spread. She actually said nothing that reflected my current life- and if I hadn’t have read the spread for myself I might have left feeling very worried. (I rather liked the cards, and they reflected similar readings I have done for myself)

Put simply she read the cards with no real attempt to offer any helpful information. I was left with various odd statements “you need more support from a person like a parent, or an older person” which could be relevant to just about anyone.

# 2 Had all the hallmarks of what I struggle with in a reader. He mentioned my dead Nan was there. Spotted & described my spirit guide standing behind me (he described him as looking like James Bond- I am blessed with a devastatingly handsome guide who laughed out loud at this). He only laid a handful of cards which he didn’t even really look at – and the they were some kind of Doreen Virtue deck (so not my style)

Mostly he just talked, a fair amount of chat. But a good portion of what he said about my work and my family was very astute.

What I loved most was that when I asked direct questions & for clarity on things he said- he answered them as best he could, and when he couldn’t connect to the information he said so.

For me choosing the right person worked so much better than the right style of reader. I left the reading feeling he really understood me, and my family and work. I left with some things to ponder, and a good sense of how to best move forward with my work.

#3 A curious mixture of surprisingly accurate, and total misses ( he thought I spent a lot of time alone, was single & didn’t have children- three massive fails) But then strangely the things he said seemed to become more accurate, it was almost as if he needed time to “warm up”.

As the reading progressed, he started to focus more on my work- which he suggested was heavily to do with writing and teaching. There were some really key points- that were amazingly helpful to me and I will be considering for a while.

One strange thing- not that anything is strange in tarot- both #2 & #3 said very similar things about the next two years, and I am hoping they are right because it is changes I would like to see coming.

In fact #2 took a punt and put in a time frame, told me to write it down & have his card so I could let him know if it actually happened.

I rather loved his strange blend of angelic connection yet quiet confidence in his what he said.

I will remember to choose readings where I feel a connection to the reader, and let my slightly old school attachment to "proper" decks go.