Here I will discuss the different kinds of Tarot readers and the style of readings they may use.

1) Divination.

2) Guidance.

3) A combination of divination and guidance.

1) The clients that want a pure divination reading are looking for information into the future. They want to know what will happen .

They may ask about career choices. Is their job secure? They may ask about love. Will their relationship last? Will they find their true love? Will their ex come back? They may ask about a law suit. Will they win? You get the idea.

2) The clients that want a guidance only reading are not interested in the future as much as in working with the present.

They want to understand: What is going on? Where are they coming from? How are they sabotaging them selves? What can they do to help the situation?

3) The clients that want a combination of both are open to see what the Tarot has to say. As in:

How are they emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually? Where were their priorities in the past, now and what will they be concerned with in the next 6 to 9 months?

They may want to look into areas of their lives to get a more objective view of the situation. They may look at the facts, their perspective, what roles other play in the situation. Where their personal strengths and weaknesses are. In other words, those clients want to peek into the near future as well as examine their present and their options.

I believe there is room and purpose for each style of Tarot reading. Each has dangers, benefits and limits.

The same reader can be perceived as great by a client and bad by another. It is a matter of expectations.

What kind of reading does the client seek? What kind of reading does the reader provide? Are they a good fit?

Client 1 tend to believe in destiny, that their future is set and there is not much they can do about it.

They just want to know. They do not take responsibility for it.

Their reader must share their belief and be accurate all the time. Client 1 would be very unhappy with a Guidance only kind of reading.

Client 2 does not believe in destiny.

They want better understanding of themselves and their situations. They want readings that will give them knowledge, understanding and the power to affect the situation the best way they can.

They are on a journey to understand themselves and life at a deeper level.

Client 2 would not be happy with a Divination only kind of reading.

I believe there are different kinds of readers that provide this kind of counsel.

Psychologists that do not read cards, but use their images to help their patients  talk and examine situations.

Knowledgeable Tarot readers that use the images of the cards to guide their clients.

They pose deep questions to be probed by the clients, who will look for answers in the cards. The reader helps the client explore by posing the right questions at the right time.

The reader provides more questions than answers, but those questions are very helpful to the client that is ready to do the work.

The danger, in my opinion is when the reader has not done the work to learn the meaning of the cards. She is not a trained psychologist, but will interpret the images for the client often using her personal beliefs to guide her in the situation.

Two people who have no knowledge of the cards, or the meanings of the symbols depicted in them, can look at the same card and get two very different stories. Why? Because their interpretation comes unfiltered from their emotions at that moment and their life experience.

I have a problem with this kind of untrained reader. I worry she may project her fears, her personal beliefs and indoctrination into the reading. The client may simply end up with the personal advice of the reader masked by the “authority” of the cards.

Client 3.  Are open to explore different views of the situation they are experiencing. They are curious. They have questions. They are ready to assume responsibility for their lives. They engage in the reading. They listen to what is being said with an open mind. In the end they make their own decisions.

Their kind of reader is open to read in both a prognostic kind of way, as well as a guidance kind of reading.

This kind of reader does not believe that the future is set in stone.

She looks at life like a road with many twists and turns. Where our choices affect our present and therefore our future. Where we can control a lot, but not all, as we are not islands and everyone around us with their own actions affects our reality.

In a way we control our choices and the way we react to events. This kind of reader will try to help you make the most with the situation at hand.

She will give suggestions, but leave the decisions up to you. She will tell you what the Tarot advise even if that is not what she would personally suggest, but she recognizes the client is there for the wisdom of Tarot, not her personal beliefs.

To sum it up. I am a good fit for client 3. I respect honest readers in all 3 groups.

I wish all clients to be aware of what they want, that way they can find the reader that matches their expectations and needs.

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