I’m currently tutoring in the Tarot Association of the British Isles‘s (TABI’s) free (if you’re a member!) Tarot course. The first lesson asks the question: What Do You Believe? As in, about the Tarot and how it works and how card reading works in general. Student answers are always interesting, because if you choose to read the cards, you do have to decide, I think, what you believe or more accurately what you intuitively know, or I think you’ll have a difficult time providing good readings for others.
You can decide that it’s all a manipulation of the querent and nothing more than a magic trick with some amateur psychology thrown in, but if you do, then I don’t understand why you bother to read; there isn’t a ton of money in it, for example.
It’s All in the Energy
I really do believe the readings work in the sense of providing insight into both the querent’s attitudes (that psychology bit) and the actual emotional and other energies surrounding a situation (coming from other people, nature, the stars, whatever). Here’s how it works for me.
I believe in the power of the unconscious, both individual and collective, to move energies at quantum level that effect events in the present and potentials for the future for as long as those unconscious intentions last. We do, in fact, create our own reality, and therefore, we influence how the cards fall. So, there is real personal value to each individual reading as it reveals the intentions of querent and reader.
The collective consciousness also influences what goes on around us, so the cards can pick up on those influences to provide insight into daily life and relationships with others. I come primarily from Jung’s archetypal perspective, so I am still cultivating the ability to read for querent’s questions about their surroundings and the people in them.
Spiritual Journey
I used to be more of a “Major Arcana” than a “Minor Arcana” reader if you will, finding the messages that provide insight about psychology and the individual’s spiritual journey more easily than the influences in daily life. As a result of my training and practice in doing free readings for TABI clients, I have made great strides in daily life readings and have learned to call ’em like I see ’em, with a strong focus on relating cards to each other, which I’ve taken from my study of the Lenormand reading method and applied to my tarot readings with excellent results for my querents.
And that’s what I’m here for: To provide validation and insights for tarot clients that actually work in their lives today and tomorrow, and still empower them to make changes based on the foresight and insight that my interpretations of the cards can provide. That’s my belief. 🙂
