You don't have to be a professional tarot reader, to read tarot professionally.
What's that you say? How does that work? Of course I need to see a tarot professional, otherwise I'm seeing a beginner, someone who's going to use me for practice. I don't want a trainee plumber mucking about under my sink, or a trainee electrician wiring my house, so why should I settle for a trainee tarot reader?
Truth be told, there's no 'right way' or 'wrong way' to read the tarot, and so attending night school for 3 years, learning the various ins and outs of symbology, mythology, numerology, astrology, of Neuro Linguistic Programming and counselling, of life coaching and business coaching, while admittedly awesome (and why *isn't* a combined course like that offered at my local college, for goodness sake?!) doesn't necessarily lend to a readers connection with the cards. Some readers use an intuitive approach, some use a psychic connection, others connect with their spirit guides and read through them. Still others eschew the esoteric aspects, and focus more on the counselling, coaching and guidance of practical advice, their readings influenced by the cards directions. How do you 'standardise' that into a set of teachings or learning that gives the same results? Why would you want to?
So, really, the difference between readers then is experience, right? I mean 20 years experience is better than 2, yes? Look at the number of one-hit wonders we see in the music charts. If music is a 'career', when why do we see so few bands successful for 10, 20, 30 years? The ones that do are great, but there's a lot of mediocre tosh out there, with artists pumping out a few albums, usually when they need a bit of cash, and not really putting their hearts into it, before they disappear. Meanwhile, the chart usually has an artist or seven who have never been heard of before, will likely never be heard from again, and yet they release a song that just captures the essence of the 'now' - they connect with the mood of the times, they connect with the moment, and they produce something that gets everyone tapping their feet, singing along and declaring it to be 'the song of the summer', or 'the song of my youth', 'the song that got me through my hospital treatment', 'the tune that got me through some pretty dark times'... Tarot reading can be very similar to this - being in the right place, at the right time, to connect, to have the fulcrum lined up just right, to jam the lever in at just the right place, on just the right angle, and then to connect, to haul on that lever, putting their all into it, and to move mountains in the process for the Querent. Never underestimate the power of a novice tarot reader to connect with you, and your situation, in this way. They might not be able to articulate *how* they made that connection, or even explain that connection to themselves, but it's there, and they express, passionately, and with a raw honesty and integrity, what you need to assist and guide you, just at that moment. Their connection with the divine hasn't been tempered or sanitised with frameworks and guidelines, rules and regulations. It can come from the source itself, and it's down to the individual reader as to whether they're a one-hit-wonder, or whether they then understand what just happened, and tap in again to create melodies and magic time and time again.
I've been reading for over 20 years, but I continue to learn, and surround myself with my tarot tribe, getting inspiration from people reading the tarot for the first time to those who are still very much on their 'beginners learning curve', because their fresh take, their lack of having read this book, of having used that deck or these particular spreads, can trigger a connection in me between my experiences, my knowledge, and my intuitive connection to the cards.
Taking a leap of faith and giving up the day job, hoping that you can feed a family of four on the revenues you make from offering tarot readings can galvanise some readers to be the best that they can be - they eat, breathe, sleep their art, driving themselves to be at the top of their game so that they can continue to attract more clients through word of mouth and recommendations. Conversely, it can paralyse some readers, fear of the unknown, and not receiving a regular, guaranteed pay packet, making them so afraid of making a mistake, of failing, that they dim their shine, sticking to what works *now* and they stop innovating for future readings, because they're too worried about their own circumstances to effectively connect with those of the Querent.
But the truth is, whether a reader is offering 1 reading a day, scheduled into their day somewhere between getting home from work, cooking dinner and getting the kids off to bed, or whether they're offering 8 readings a day in hourly slots from 9-5, Monday to Friday, you don't have to be a professional tarot reader, offering only tarot service, in order to actually connect with your Querent and to offer a professional, top quality reading, with all the bells and whistles, and to really impress your Querent by going the extra mile.
If your reader is prepared to establish that connection, to offer guidance and insight, and can make you feel like you're receiving their undivided focus and attention, then that's half the battle won already. If the reading is presented to you in a way that ensures that you get the information that you need to tackle your situation, then, again, it doesn't matter if your reader is offering 1 a week, or 8 a day. In a professional situation, your reader might need to 'push back', they're not necessarily going to pander to your every whim or insecurity in order to cut through some of the bullshit to tell you what you *need* to hear, not necessarily what you *want* to hear - but if they can do so in a way that doesn't leave you feeling like you're reeling from a particularly vicious backhand, or as if there's accusation or blame, giving you options rather than hemming you in, providing you with hope where previously there was none, or helping you formulate a plan to carry you forward - those are the hallmarks of a professional reading: can that kind of quality only be delivered by someone who works 45 hours a week in their Tarot-sphere, or can it equally be delivered to you by a reader who 'connects' during the single session that they schedule in a week to dedicate to a Querent, to you, as their sole client?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
