Tarot reading is a deeply personal experience, which can make reading for others incredibly daunting! I’ve found, through trial and error, some actions I can do before a reading that help me to relax and to access my intuition so that my readings will be calm, safe and accurate.
Sleeping Beauty by Kinuko Y. Craft
Rest
First things first: everyone functions better after a good night’s sleep (and what constitutes a ‘good night’s sleep’ is different for everyone, so don’t try to force yourself to get more or less sleep than you need. You know yourself the best!) so it’s vital that you make sure you get some shut-eye the night before a reading. Always keep a dream journal by your bed and pay attention to any dreams you have the night before you meet with your client.
Read
If I hop off the bus and straight into a reading, my mind isn’t going to be quiet enough for me to hear my intuition guiding me (I’ll be too busy cursing the jerk who stepped on my foot). I’ve found that an excellent way to calm my mind before a reading is to… well… read. But not just any book will do, otherwise my thoughts will be whirring around, wondering what’s going to happen next so that I won’t be able to focus on the cards. Instead, I read myths, fairy tales, legends and anthropological studies thereof. The reason these stories pre-date civilisation and have survived to present day is because they speak directly to our subconscious minds: the trials of the hero are our trials, the shadowy villains are our shadow selves. Like dreams, these stories speak in a language our unconscious is already fluent in; reading them before dealing the cards alerts your mind that you want it to be receptive to symbolism, you want to access your subconscious. This tells your mind what you expect of it and will help you to connect you to your intuition, your cards and – most importantly – your client. For the curious, I’ll attach a recommended reading list at the end of this post.
Alice in Wonderland by Milo Winter
Be Early
This will give you plenty of time to centre yourself and prepare for your reading. I always arrive half an hour before my client and I use the time to set up the room (from the mundane setting up of tables and arranging seating, to the ritual I’ll mention next) and to meditate and read. Occasionally I might draw a card for myself to see if there is anything I should be aware of during the reading (this could be anything from a card telling me to be sensitive or stern, or a subject my client might need extra help with), but only if I feel it won’t bias me during the reading. This part is up to you!
Morgan le Fey by A. F. Sandys
Create a Ritual
I empower my cards before every reading (including when I’m just reading for myself); I also light incense and a special candle, and I expand my empowerment ceremony to protect the room, myself and my client. I also find playing a CD of meditation music very beneficial (no vocals, though! You want the querent to be focusing on your words, not the musician’s). I recommend Koyasan by Deuter and Healing Ragas by Mandala.
Doing a ritual works in the same way as reading myths: you’re letting your subconscious prepare for the reading ahead by giving it a warning as to what is coming next. This will help you relax into an intuitive state much more quickly. The ritual itself can be anything you want it to be: if you work with angels, call on them. If you have a guide, ask them to protect you and your client. The key is to find a ritual and stick with it: do it every time and don’t make any sudden, dramatic changes; let your ceremony evolve with you naturally over time.
After the Reading
- Cleanse your deck and the room either by smudging or adapting the empowerment ritual. Always make sure that if you called guides to watch over you during the reading that you release them and express gratitude.
- Ground yourself by eating a little something, like fruit or nuts. Aim for something natural – don’t be tempted by cheap chocolate bars!
- Bathe in salt water (pour sea salt crystals into a bath or water spritzer bottle) when you get home.
~*~
Everything I’ve explained here is what I’ve found to work for me – you might find you’re moved to create a unique ritual using Native American practices, to read something else or to skip the books all together in favour of a long meditation. That’s fine! There is no authority stronger than your own self, just follow your intuition and be authentic in all that you do. Trust yourself!
Recommended Reading List.
- Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
- The Moon and the Virgin by Nor Hall.
- The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.
- The God Beneath the Sea by Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen.
- The Celtic Twilight by W.B. Yeats.
- The Grimm Fairy Tales.
- Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales.
- The Arabian Nights.
- Poetry by Christina Rossetti; Byron; Keats; Shakespeare and Poe.
Put down the Disney! Once upon a time, a scientific experiment was done on hummingbirds: scientists swapped the nectar the birds usually ate for a low calorie sweetener. The birds, unsurprisingly, died of malnutrition on their new diet. That is what Disney has done to our heritage of myths, legends and fairy tales; we are the hummingbirds and we cannot exist on such saccharine, low-calorie stories. So keep Disney for entertainment, but if you want to find the true richness of our storytelling heritage, find the bones of the stories either in their original form or in the veracious retellings by writers like Angela Carter and Clarissa Pinkole Estes.
Hummingbird genera Doryfera. Credit: University of Alberta
