10 Rules for Tarot Reading Excellence

10 Rules for Tarot Reading Excellence

These are ten things that I believe make for an excellent Tarot Reader that has nothing to do with your level of experience or background.

Hi, Tarot Lovelies,

Today I’m going to be sharing some of the things that I believe make for an excellent Tarot Reader. This can be true for Oracle Card readers, Angel Card Readers and energy workers of all kinds. We often vibe on the same frequency anyway!

The ten rules I give today have absolutely nothing to do with your background, ancestry or level of experience. You don’t need to be a Witch to be a great Tarot Reader. You don’t need to be psychic to be a great Tarot Reader. You don’t need certification to be a great Tarot Reader.

These are my views, and I’m sure I haven’t thought of everything either. So take what resonates with you and leave the rest.

1. Passion

A genuine passion for what you do with the precious time you have in life, whether it’s your job, hobby or general interest is a wonderful start. Passion isn’t measurable, and passions can change. However, if you have passion for the Tarot, chances are it’s going to always be there on some level. Passion encompasses an emotional connection and enthusiasm. If you look at the Tarot and have a desire to want to know more, then you’re on the right track.

magic-and-manifestation-cards2. Thirst for knowledge

I am a total bibliophile; I love to read and write. I want to learn about everything, and this is something I feel makes for a wonderful Tarot Reader. Curiosity means that we’re going to look beyond what we see on the surface. We’re going to ask questions and look at things differently. Beyond this personal thirst for knowledge, a constant desire to learn about the Tarot and your understanding of the Tarot is excellent, as the Tarot itself is always evolving. So is your understanding of the individual Tarot cards. This can be through a personal experience that is related to one of the cards or through reading other people’s interpretations or artists’ representations of the Tarot Archetypes.

I want to add a desire to know yourself. The Tarot is a reflection of human and spiritual growth. The more we learn about ourselves, the more we can go deeper with our knowledge of the Tarot.

If you want to read the guidebook that comes with your deck, do it. If you want to write notes all over the book and keep it on hand as your little Tarot Grimerior, do it. If you don’t ever want to look at it, then don’t. Reading the book and then putting it aside is a common practice. It gives you a good base knowledge and then lets your intuition take charge. Do whatever works for you.

3. At Least One Tarot Deck That You Vibe With

I have said many times before that you don’t need to have a monster collection of decks to be an excellent Tarot reader. Nor do you need only one deck to be one either. I have recently heard that some people state that you should use one deck, and that is it. What works for you is all good, but it’s not a hard line for rule for everyone. As long as you have one Tarot deck that you connect to and vibe with, then you have the only tool you need to excel in this field.

If you’re looking to buy your first Tarot deck, I have the guide for you. If you have a new Tarot deck that you want to learn to connect with, check out this post.

Beyond what anyone else thinks of your choice of Tarot, as long as you love it, it will work for you

awakened-soul-oracle-gift4. A Desire to Help Others

I guess you can boil this down to the question of motivation for becoming a Tarot reader in the first place. If your reason for becoming a reader is to make it rich, I suggest you pick another profession. I put a desire to help others on this list, as that is what I want to do with my tarot practice and business, from the Clients that I have the pleasure to connect with to what I do with my money in the real world.

Most of us in the field want to help others. I would even go so far as to say that most people want to help others (I can believe that Humans are inherently good, right?). Using that desire to help others with a transformational tool like the Tarot is pretty amazing.

I’m not saying we all have to be healers and spiritual as fuck to be amazing Tarot readers; you don’t; you could be all about dropping truth bombs and walking away with little care for what happens in the aftermath. However, I haven’t met too many of these Tarot readers who last. If the corporate and political world has taught us anything, it’s that you can be a total prick and be good at your job too.

5. Authenticity

If you are authentic, you will be more successful with the Tarot. You will have your style of reading, and you should embrace that. Don’t try to be someone else. Don’t jump on the latest bandwagon because it is trending. Don’t try to copy someone else’s style, web copy, ideas and services. Many Tarot readers will offer one-question readings or love readings of some sort, for example, but it should still be aligned and delivered in a way that is authentically you.

I’m silly, loud and a total geek. I swear, sing and get super excited about a new Tarot deck or Wonder Woman trailer. That is me. If people visiting my site or watching my videos don’t like it, they will book with another Tarot Reader, and that’s okay.

6. Practice

Reading the Tarot is like any skill or muscle – you don’t use it, you lose it. If you don’t have anyone to read, offer free readings for testimonials via your favourite social media avenue. Or read for fictional characters or your stuffed bear. Offer to do free readings at an event. Practice on yourself. Practice one card draws, combinations, new Tarot spreads, no Tarot Spreads, reversals, not using reversals, Major Arcana only readings, Court Card only readings (go on, I dare you!). It all helps, and it can be wildly fun.

This goes a level deeper when you start to get a good understanding of the kind of Tarot Reader you want to be. If you want to be an intuitive reader, practice your intuition skills. Get some counselling skills and qualifications if you want to be a healer and more of a tarot counsellor. These are all ways to strengthen your Tarot muscles and grow as a practitioner and person.

Money Magic Manifestation Cards 17. Listen and Be Open

We don’t know everything, nor should we. Listening, really listening, is an excellent tool for a Tarot Reader. Listen to your clients. Sometimes, while listening to a client, my Spirit Guides have already started to show and tell me things. I will very rarely interrupt a Client when they are being vulnerable and sharing with me.

People usually don’t book with a Tarot Reader for no reason. Be there for them. Be present, be all about them. Be like you are on a first date with the person of your dreams. Turn off the phone and get rid of distractions. Show up!

Openness is also multi-layered. Being open to what other people believe, experience and view as valuable are essential when you are a Tarot reader. Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, you’re going to come across clients who have some points of view that you think are entirely WACK. But, you can still be respectful (unless they are a skinhead. In that case, wrap it up and say bye, bye).

Be open to the Tarot, possibly showing you something new about a specific card or a situation that you wouldn’t have seen or even agree with. I recently had a reading with a client who was telling me about an ex they wanted to get back together with. Now, if this was my friend and I was giving some real-world advice, I would have said something along the lines of ‘look forward, not backwards and move on.’ However, the Tarot showed just the opposite. I had to put what I thought aside (another aspect of being a great reader) and deliver the message for my client as the Tarot and my Guides were saying. I had to tell my ego to calm your farm and be a professional.

Openness to ways of thinking, feeling and being are pretty great qualities anyway.

8. Communication Skills

We are connectors and communicators. That is at the heart of what we do. If you find that you struggle with your communication, then there are so many resources you can access, most of which are free. Join a local toastmasters group. Practice speaking your readings out loud; this will help you get more confident with delivering the messages of the Tarot. Get some feedback from a friend or trusted mentor about your reading style. As I said before about being authentic, you don’t have to change who you are. You can choose email readings if you don’t like to talk. But even those who write their readings need to communicate.

9. A Good Mentor

This is optional, but I have found that having someone I can talk to in confidence has been invaluable over my many years of being a student of the Tarot and a Tarot Reader. It has helped me grow, and I don’t feel so isolated. Trust your gut when you choose someone to work with on that level.

awakened-soul-oracle-vision

10. Rebellious Heart

Fuck the rules, fuck the books, fuck haters, fuck people who say there is only one way to do things. If you’re a Tarot nerd, lover, collector, reader or student, chances are you are a little rebellious at heart. Embrace it.

So that is my little list of what I believe makes an Excellent Tarot Reader. Did I miss anything? What do you think it takes to be a kick-ass reader? Let me know!

Until Next week...

17 thoughts on “10 Rules for Tarot Reading Excellence”

  1. Thank you so much, Ethony, for sharing this post here. I’m walking a hard route right know as a tarot reader, and this post gave me refreshing insights to trust again in what I’m doing. Blessings for you.

  2. Beautiful article, simply Love It!!! I feel “Tarot found me” & I finally discovered what “Passion” is all about, So its amazing to see your first point in the list being “Passion”. Very inspiring article for young new beginners like me, especially point# 10. I feel proud of myself being one of the “little rebellious at heart” :p Thanks Ethony !

  3. John Glenn Wrubel Jr

    Hi, And WOW Everything You Said Resonated With Me a Thousand Percent Thank You so Much Oh and as A side note most of those ” Successful”Psychics / Readers / Astrologers are using These divination Methods as Tools in Their Professional Coaching/ Counselling Practices And Thus are Charging Office Rates for readings. )But anyway I’m Very Much Into Alchemy And Have Developed My Talents At Combining different Divination Methods For Readings this was an Intuitive Thing For Me and I guess I’m Predominantly an Intuitive Reader But I really Enjoyed this posting so Much Thank you again Miss Dawn.

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