When you get a tarot reading, one of the extras I include is a digital image of the spread using whatever deck you chose for the reading. Here's a sample Celtic Cross using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sample Celtic Cross JPG
When you get a tarot reading, one of the extras I include is a digital image of the spread using whatever deck you chose for the reading. Here's a sample Celtic Cross using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
Why I Charge for Readings
I charge for tarot readings. I base my rates on what is customary in my local market, on what I feel is a fair value for what I offer. There are two main reasons I do this:
1. It helps value what I do, which makes me a better reader. To offer readings for free isn't exactly pearls before swine, but it does set up a situation that is out of balance. Too much giving without any giving in return dries out the well, and a dry tarot reader is a lousy tarot reader. The current vocab for this kind of give-and-take is "energy exchange." Sounds reasonable to me.
2. It helps my clients value what they get. It's a truism across the board -- people value things more when they have an investment in them. Services such as tarot are no different. I always say that during a reading, my client is the one doing the hard work, and that's true -- I'm the interpreter, the guide, the helper (which is hard enough, this is true, but no matter how well I do MY job, if the client isn't doing HER job, then all my efforts are in vain).
1. It helps value what I do, which makes me a better reader. To offer readings for free isn't exactly pearls before swine, but it does set up a situation that is out of balance. Too much giving without any giving in return dries out the well, and a dry tarot reader is a lousy tarot reader. The current vocab for this kind of give-and-take is "energy exchange." Sounds reasonable to me.
2. It helps my clients value what they get. It's a truism across the board -- people value things more when they have an investment in them. Services such as tarot are no different. I always say that during a reading, my client is the one doing the hard work, and that's true -- I'm the interpreter, the guide, the helper (which is hard enough, this is true, but no matter how well I do MY job, if the client isn't doing HER job, then all my efforts are in vain).
Monday, August 24, 2009
Why I Don't Practice Fortune-Telling
Ever heard someone say, "It just wasn't in the cards"? As if fate and destiny come already gift wrapped, and all we get to do is pull the shiny paper off our future?
This isn't my tarot philosophy. I believe in the power of choice and free will. I believe the tarot shows us our options, and by doing so, allows us to make informed decisions about what's happening right now. It's a simple formula -- the only way to change the future is to change the present. Consequence follows cause. And tarot does an excellent job of showing the forces in play at the time of a reading so that you can decide whether you want to go with the flow . . . or swim upstream.
Knowledge changes the flow of events. Understanding puts the rudder firmly in your hand.
Of course, some forces are larger than the individual. Hurricanes. Recessions. The breaking dawn. Tarot shows this aspect too. It's actually two decks within a deck: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The former refers to big universal energies, archetypal powers, huge forces. The latter are the personal energies, the day-to-day ways that we make our choices manifest in the world. It is the interactive tension between these two that makes our lives so interesting. Sometimes we can turn the tide, and sometimes we can only ride it out. Tarot shows us these forces at work in our lives, so that we can act in wisdom and truth and love.
Or not. My job is to help you interpret what the cards mean to you, not tell you what to do about the situation. I work with you so that you can access your own inner guidance, so that you can keep what works for you and change what doesn't.
The cards don't reveal your future -- they reveal your present moment. And that is the more valuable gift.
This isn't my tarot philosophy. I believe in the power of choice and free will. I believe the tarot shows us our options, and by doing so, allows us to make informed decisions about what's happening right now. It's a simple formula -- the only way to change the future is to change the present. Consequence follows cause. And tarot does an excellent job of showing the forces in play at the time of a reading so that you can decide whether you want to go with the flow . . . or swim upstream.
Knowledge changes the flow of events. Understanding puts the rudder firmly in your hand.
Of course, some forces are larger than the individual. Hurricanes. Recessions. The breaking dawn. Tarot shows this aspect too. It's actually two decks within a deck: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The former refers to big universal energies, archetypal powers, huge forces. The latter are the personal energies, the day-to-day ways that we make our choices manifest in the world. It is the interactive tension between these two that makes our lives so interesting. Sometimes we can turn the tide, and sometimes we can only ride it out. Tarot shows us these forces at work in our lives, so that we can act in wisdom and truth and love.
Or not. My job is to help you interpret what the cards mean to you, not tell you what to do about the situation. I work with you so that you can access your own inner guidance, so that you can keep what works for you and change what doesn't.
The cards don't reveal your future -- they reveal your present moment. And that is the more valuable gift.
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