I have been very blessed to have read the Tarot for over half of my life. I have treasured spending time with Clients and friends in sacred space. I have witnessed healing and breakthroughs with my Clients. It has been a very fulfilling, challenging and interesting ride.

I wanted to share some of my lessons learnt from reading the Tarot for over a decade. These are certainly not all of the lessons that I have learnt but they are the most predominant.

Have you experienced any of the below? Let me know in the comments.

1. You may not always work with the Tarot.

There may be a period of time where you don’t read the Tarot and you aren’t drawn to using it. Life happens but you can and will pick it back up again if it is the tool you are meant to work with. I encourage all of my students who start to work with the Tarot to look at all of the Divinatory tools available to them to explore all of their options. Some people will work with more than one and that is more than okay. It is another tool in your tool belt.

Tarot has always been my go to tool but there was a time years and years ago where took a mini break for a few months. I feel this was linked to my confidence as a reader. As soon as I decided that I wanted to read Tarot and teach it as a business I never stopped working with them.

2. There are days you will question your guides and your abilities.

This can happen all of a sudden when you draw a blank in the middle of a reading or at the end of a long day of readings when you just don’t know if you really helped anyone. It can be horrible if you are conducting a Tarot reading and you are struggling to connect with your Client. Or you are just not getting any help from your Spirit Guides and you wonder if they are pissed at you for some reason. This is all normal and happens from time to time. Hopefully it isn’t happening all of the time. At the end of those days this is what I prescribe:

Download either by writing it out or speak to a mentor + 1 cleansing candle lit bath + glass of wine or chocolate (or both) + Taylor Swift’s Shake it off.

You will feel better in the morning.

3. There are days you will feel very lost in the crowd.

There are a lot of us out there reading Tarot for people. A LOT. When you start out it may feel like there is just too much competition and that you are never going to carve your own little corner of the Tarot world out for yourself.

If you keep doing your thing well and consistently you will.

We are all different and offer a different reading experience for our Clients. The only thing that you need to focus on is being authentic to who you are as a reader and producing the best work you can. Comparison is a killer. So when you find yourself comparing your business or practice with someone who has been in the biz for years remember they started somewhere.

4. You really don’t need every deck that is available.  (yeah I just said that)

This is coming from a very big Tarot collector. But the fact is that you do not need every Tarot deck that available for purchase. You really only need one. One deck that resonates with you is worth more than 20 that don’t. In reality most readers only use one deck at a time to conduct their readings.

If you have the cash then by all means collect as many as you want. They do take up space and are very heavy to move. I have a system where I allow myself a certain number of decks a year. That way I get new ones and I don’t over do it.

5. Some Clients don’t want to hear it.

They are not going to hear what you have to say. What these Clients really want is for you to tell them things that are not in the cards. Some people will also only hear what they want to hear. They will ask the same question in ten different ways hoping that the outcome will differ.

I have had it happen to me and I have heard it happen to my colleagues. There is nothing you can do about these Clients. They may as well have rung a psychic hotline, they would have probably been validated and not had to think about it or their lives.

You have a choice when this happens. You can continue the reading or you can politely stop it and refund their money if they are a paid customer. It is not worth it.

6. You may question your worth.

Even if you don’t charge for your readings your time is an important and valuable asset. There have been arguments online about charging for readings, for giving free readings away, asking for donations and the list goes on. I don’t get involved with that. I say you do what you feels right for you and I do what feels right for me.

You are worth being treated well by the Tarot community and by your Clients and by people in general. Wouldn’t that be an amazing world to live in where we were all just decent to each other?

Don’t let a negative comment or review bring you down.

Don’t let one persons bad day make you question your work in the world.

If anyone makes you feel less than a superstar look to my prescription in point 2.

7. Your Tarot reading style will change and evolve as you grow as a Tarot Reader

This is one of the very cool things about Tarot, there is always something to learn. As grow as a Tarot student and reader and as you experience life you will change how you read the cards and how you conduct your Tarot business, if you choose to have one.

Most of the time this will feel very organic to you and you may not even notice that you have changed all that much. One of the ways in which I find my practice evolving is the way in which I connect and understand the cards. When you go through new experiences in life they can change your view of the world. For example, when you have a child or when you travel. These experiences will change who you are. This then will be reflected in how you connect to different cards in the Tarot, because the Tarot is meant to represent different aspects of living.

You will connect to The Nine of Swords very differently if you have ever had an anxiety attack or suffered from mental illness. So when this card comes up in a reading for a Client you have first person experience on how this can feel, which means you can connect to your Client in a deeper way too.

But if you wake up one day and find that the deck that you were really connected to no longer speaks to you or that you want to look at adding something to your practice then *high five* you are just evolving as a Tarot reader. Time to get another Tarot Deck! There is also this video for you if you find that your Tarot deck just broke up with you.

8. Not everyone is going to like you or book you.

This one can be a real killer if you try and spend your time catering to everyone and trying to have a service for everyone. Not only will you be exhausted but you will also have no real voice as a Tarot reader.

If you communicate with your own voice and are true to who you are and how you want to be of service to others you will find your tribe.

I used to read Tarot at very large venues where there would be 15 readers offering different services and prospective Clients could walk around the hall and check everyone out. I still read at events where this happens. People walk past me all the time. People don’t book readings with me. I am perfectly okay with that. If I wasn’t it would have broken me a long time ago.

It hasn’t stopped me from having a successful business. We all like different music, food and movies. We are all drawn to different people and Tarot readers are the same.

9. Like everything that is worth it, it takes time.

Most people work hard to get good at something. It can take time to become comfortable as a Tarot reader and confident enough to start a business. (if you so choose) Don’t pressure yourself. Take your time. It is your journey.

10. It is the most rewarding work if your heart is in it

If this is what you love then you will always come back to the Tarot. People really do know whether you are passionate about what you do. They sense it on an energetic level even if it is hidden on your face. Being a professional Tarot reader is not for everyone. Be practical with making sure you do what you need to do to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly etc but also do what you love, even if it is not full time to begin with.