If you are lucky you’ll live many lives before you actually die.  One of my many lives involves being a professional tarot reader at an independent metaphysical bookstore.

I hate the word “psychic” -- which is ironic, because I work with them all the time.  It’s ironic because so many people who come to see me expect me to be psychic.  I’m not really sure I even know what it means to be psychic. It’s the kind of word that is so overused that it is now devoid of actual meaning.  It’s also terribly misused by people who want to be somehow raised to an extraordinary level by asserting some kind of mystic power beyond what normal mortals possess.  But when you do what I do, people want you to be psychic.  They are disappointed if you aren’t.  I have a running joke with a friend of mine, a gifted palm reader, that both of us could up our income significantly if we would only refer to ourselves as a “psychic tarot reader” or “psychic palm reader.”

It’s not that I don’t believe that psychics or psychic ability exist.  I just don’t know enough about how to recognize them to claim that I possess them.  I’ve never been tested for it.  While I do think I have a relatively well-developed and trustworthy sense of intuition, which I use when I do readings, I don’t know whether that translates as being psychic. 

It’s also not like tarot cards themselves are magical either.  What many people do not realize is that the old chestnut that tarot cards are some sort of mystical book of knowledge from ancient Egypt is a load of crap.  Historically speaking, there is not an ounce of difference between the origin of the 78 card tarot deck and the 52 card deck you buy at the drugstore and play poker with.  Tarot originated as a 15th century Italian card game, not unlike bridge. While there is plenty of contemporaneous evidence that religious orders considered Tarot a problem, it was because of its use in gambling, not because of any magical connection. The divinatory aspects of the Tarot did not emerge until 250 years later when the freemasons got a hold of it.  The history of Tarot is the history of people using the images and structure of tarot to further their own self-conception as powerful mystics, ascribing assertions to the cards that have no basis in fact.

So why do people pay large sums of money to have me read a bunch of cards for them if I am not psychic and the cards have no mystic properties? 

I wish I could offer a better explanation than the one I have.  It just works. The images on the cards are powerful archetypes, and when used properly in a spread do operate to form a coherent storyline.  A person who understands these images and how they work together can read this storyline.  I tell my clients that reading the cards for me is like reading a comic book – I look at the pictures and they tell me a story.  And the story has a remarkable way of being true. 

I wish I had something more to say about the mechanics of why tarot works other than some vague genuflecting to Jungian archetypes.  But it just does.  I do not prep my clients in any way. With the exception of a couple of regulars, I do not know much about the people I read for when I sit down with them.  So when I pull out a spread and start talking about what I see about what their problem is, I am not fitting it to what I already know about a person.  And yet I am nearly always right.  Scarily so, in fact.  I’ve had clients come back to me, more than once, saying, “you know, I wasn’t sure about it when you said X, but then it happened!”  I’ve never had a client ask for his or her money back.  I get a lot of clients who have been duped by other readers, who genuinely appreciate the fact that I know what I am doing, and am honest about it.

That said, I try very hard to make sure that my clients understand what I can and can’t do in a reading.  I have a written code of ethics I have developed, that I observe and make available to my clients.  When I first “turned pro” and decided to seek a reading gig for money, the first thing I did was look for professional associations and certifications I could get.  Having been an attorney, I understood how much a certification process provided comfort to clients.  I wanted to assure the people who sought me out knew that I cared enough about what I offered to be reviewed by my peers in the industry.  I ultimately completed the first two levels of certification of the Tarot Certification Board of America, and joined the American Tarot Association. Part of my certification was to develop that code.  You cannot become a member of the American Tarot Association without agreeing to ascribe to their code.

In the course of my career in this industry, I’ve learned a lot about the good and the bad in offering metaphysical readings.  I’ve seen very reputable, genuinely talented individuals. I’ve seen base charlatans who treat readings as a con game.  I’ve seen people who are scrupulous in how they deal with clients and their affairs.  I’ve seen people who are exceedingly careless with people who are at delicate junctures in their lives.  When I teach tarot to others, my course always includes a segment on ethical reading. 

At the store I work at, the owners specifically screen every reader they work with.  They have turned away dozens of people who want to read there because they didn’t make the cut.  We know we’re the best of the best in this area.  We care about our clients, and we talk to each other sometimes when we encounter difficult situations that require us to tell the difference between the ethical approach and the expedient approach.

The only reason anyone who is not a reader should care about a code of ethics is that it does provide an interesting guide on what you should be looking for if you ever want to get a reading, psychic or otherwise:

1)    A reader will never try to tell you that you can’t make your own decisions or that you haven’t got a choice about what you do.  A reader who says “you must” or “you have to” and is insistent about it is not respecting your free will and has boundary issues.  Likewise, a reader that encourages your dependence on him or her to make decisions is not to be trusted.

2)    An ethical reader reads only for a person who has granted permission.  “Spying” or “proxy reading” should be discouraged.  I can tell you what you need to know about your relationship with your mother in Cleveland.  I cannot do a reading FOR your mother in Cleveland without her consent.  A person who is legally unable to give consent (a minor, a person who is obviously intoxicated) should be refused a reading unless the consent issue may be rectified.

3)    A reader should tell you exactly what he or she sees in the cards, not just what you want to hear.  He or she should be open to your inquiry as to why you are saying what you are saying, what specific cards mean, and to reasonable, related follow up questions.  A reader should never, ever try to scare you by telling you that you have “bad energy” or “a curse.”  Reputable readers try to make every reading a positive experience, even if they are delivering bad news.

4)    A reputable reader treats your reading as entirely confidential.  It should take your consent or a subpoena to get it out of them.

5)    Readers should never require you to purchase any other goods or services as part of your reading.  The most common scam in this category is readers who tell you that you’re under a “curse” that you must pay them extra to remove for you.  Generally speaking, tarot readers shouldn’t be offering to do spells for you unless you ask for them.

6)    A reader should NEVER, EVER attempt to give you medical, psychological, legal or financial advice.  A reader who does not flag these issues for you when they are raised, and explain to you in no uncertain terms that such advice should be obtained from appropriate licensed professionals, is both a scam artist AND a fool.

7)    If at any time you are not comfortable with your reader, you have the absolute right to terminate the reading.  A reputable reader will allow you to ask for your money back.

8)    A reader should always be able to tell you about their experience – how many years they’ve been doing what they do, what kinds of certifications they possess and any professional memberships they maintain.  A reputable, professional psychic or reader will not hesitate to tell you these things or make you feel bad about asking for them.

I don’t have any illusions about what I do.  Many of my clients find my readings helpful.  I am happy that I am able to help them.  But I am not the answer to everyone’s problems, nor am I always right. No one, not even people with demonstrable psychic ability, are 100% right.  If you’re hiring a psychic because you think that they will provide the magic answer to everything you are looking for, you’re kidding yourself.  But for the person who wants to take a different approach to looking at their lives, or even just have a little fun, a reading with an ethical professional can be a very useful experience.