I love watching the joy of beginners discovering the tarot, which occurs sooner or later, every time I run an introductory tarot course. Students know in theory that the tarot works, but when they are in the position of the reader, watching a client’s life revealed, card by card, the excitement and wonder are palpable. This is usually followed by an immediate desire in the reader to ask the cards a dozen trivial questions, simply because he or she can. These might include:
“Should I have my hair cut this weekend?”
“Is it wise to text message that guy / girl I like?”
“Should I pick up a cheesecake for dessert tonight?”
I remind beginners that the tarot is a powerful tool and that it deserves respect, but at this point it’s a bit like telling a teenage boy in a sports car not to drive recklessly. Students smile and nod, with a glint in the eye which suggests that the moment I turn my back they’ll be furiously cutting the cards as rapidly as they can formulate questions.
During the recent Adyar tarot workshop several students who read Angel Cards and other types of cards mentioned that clients had asked them if they also read the tarot. It seems that in the market place, clients expect the tarot because they are familiar with these cards.
During reading demonstrations students crowded around to see the reading process first hand. The volunteers laughed, nodded and occasionally squirmed as personal hopes and fears surfaced before an expectant gathering.
It was during an advanced tarot course six or seven years ago that I discovered how much students learn from watching the tarot reading process. They laughed when a student confirmed my statement by denying it.
“It seems that you are a bold, assertive person, who is not afraid to say what’s on your mind,” I said to her in a general reading.
“No that’s not right. I’m shy actually,” she stated loudly.
The card shuffling procedure and the act of tying a reading together cannot easily be described in a book. Watching the process helps it to make sense to the beginner.
When you have given several hundred readings, you learn to persist when clients cannot relate to the information you are giving them.
The client isn’t deliberately making the reading difficult for you. In many cases he or she doesn’t recall the incident you are describing for the past.
This occurred in an introductory course some years ago. A woman in her fifties asked about love relationships during a demonstration reading at the end of a session. I explained that she wasn’t open to a new love relationship, as her faith in men had been eroded in the past. I asked if there had been a particular situation which might have done this.
“No,” came the reply.
I scanned back through the years clairvoyantly and 1979 came to mind.
“The issue dates back to 1979,” I suggested.
“No there was no incident then,” she replied.
Some readers might have given up at this point, doubting themselves and moving on so as not to waste the client’s time. Instead I persisted, as I felt that this was an important part of the question. How was I able to tell this woman that no new men were likely to approach her for love relationship until she resolved the past, if I couldn’t accurately pinpoint the past incident in question.
“Were you in a love relationship in 1979,” I asked.
“No.”
“What was happening in the year. I’m sensing broken trust from an incident which occurred during that year.” She scowled impatiently and nodded, answering just to help us to move back to her question about a possible new love relationship.
“My husband went missing in that year.”
“He went missing?”
“Yes. He left for work and didn’t come home one day.”
“And how long was it before you saw him again?”
“No one has ever seen him again. He’s missing, presumed dead.”
“Presumed dead. I’m going to ask you what might seem like an obvious question now, but it’s really not that obvious, because I’ve never experienced this type of situation. Can you answer this for me please. How did it feel at the time?”
“It was devastating. I didn’t know what to think.”
“Might this be a form of betrayal?”
“Yes, you could say that.”
“By a man?”
“Yes.”
“Did this erode your trust in men?”
“Yes, it did,” she sighed, as her dark eyes gazed down at the cards before her. For a moment, her tired, lonely expression revealed the pain of the years of uncertainty. The student in question wasn’t trying to make the reading difficult, but she did not immediately relate to the description of events I gave her. Instead of moving on with the reading I probed, persisted and asked questions until she recognised how her history with men was affecting her current relationship opportunities.
Over a typical three-Sundays course there is sometimes a chance to see a prediction unfolding, such as when I asked a student during a demonstration reading if she was planning to leave her job.
“No, not at all,” she replied.
Two Sundays later she arrived to tell us that she had been unexpectedly retrenched. “That will be ten dollars,” I said immediately, and she laughed.
Discover the Tarot
Extending this visual learning tool I have produced an introductory tarot DVD entitled Discover the Tarot. It offers a glimpse of the tarot in action, along with psychic cleansing tips, techniques for building your intuition and three simple yet practical layouts.
It is suitable for beginners and experienced tarot readers, and for people who want to make the most of their next reading. Together with my first book The Tarot Revealed, it offers a complete beginners tarot package.
Including footage of actual readings, Discover the Tarot covers:
- tips on developing your own intuition
- how to word your questions for increased accuracy
- the importance of cleansing yourself after each reading
- the issue of tarot dependence
- the importance of free-will in all predictions
