If you’re thinking about becoming a professional tarot reader, I’d like to let you in on a little secret: tarot reading is hard, taxing work. You may wonder how this could be, as it appears like the reader is just sitting around tossing a few cards on a table and chatting with people. Well, on the outside it may look like “having a good time” hanging with clients, but truth is, this career demands a lot from those who intend to walk the walk. Many fellow readers tell me how drained and burnt out they can feel at times. Over the course of twenty years as a professional tarot reader, I too have experienced this myself and have had to develop tools to help me remain grounded and balanced.
Self awareness is the first key. Over the years, I’ve learned to become more sensitive to the warning signs when my energy is unbalanced:
- Feeling depleted/ lethargic/ drained
- Depression
- Addictive behavior (for me excessive eating of sweets)
- Putting on excessive weight
- Less psychic sensitivity
- Irritability/ impatience
When you are doing any sort of spiritual work, you collect negative energy from the people that seek your services. Understand this: it’s not deliberate on the part of the client. A tarot reader has to be open to the experience – and often times the querent may be coming with a lot of emotional baggage or heavy issues, which can be absorbed by the reader. Once the reading is over and the client leaves, this energy remains with you. And over time, this can build up, layer by layer and begin to affect the quality of your readings – or in extreme circumstances, your health. You may not notice it right away but eventually if this negativity is not released, it will weigh you down and undermine your ability to remain a clear channel for your clients.
For me, this happens less these days as I make my self-care and spiritual health a priority. I have found that it is vital to keep your psychic tools sharp, clean and maintained if you want to continue on this path without jeopardizing your sanity or health. It all starts with boundaries. I maintain the strictest of boundaries and put limits on a client’s access to me. My guidelines, for example, are:
- All appointments must be scheduled in advance. No last minute appointments
- I do not answer “quick questions” over the phone
- A 3 – 6 month wait between appointments (sometimes longer for some clients)
- If a client sounds extremely distressed, I may make them wait until they are more calm and focused
- No-shows get banned
You’ll have to choose what boundaries are comfortable for you. Some readers are a bit more lax and it doesn’t seem to affect them at all. For myself, I have found that I function better with structure and this allows my readings to remain objective.
In addition to establishing some ground rules with your clients, it is also important that you create time and space for self care. Not only eating well and exercising, but also tending to your spiritual life. There are a few things I do to keep my chakras balanced, energy stable and psychic channels clear:
- Meditation - spending time with your inner self connects you to the guidance within and allows you to quiet the mind. Meditation helps to work out your own issues and allows you to become friends with your SELF. This leads to greater compassion, and that benefits YOU and your clients.
- Exercise – negative energy can get stored in the body. Taking time every day to do some sort of physical exercise (I prefer yoga) will insure you are not holding on to difficult emotions or bad energy, which could lead to illness or a feeling of being drained.
- Pace yourself – I keep a schedule and only read tarot 4 days a week and I limit the number of clients I see. Avoid over doing it as that is the surest way to burn out.
- Bodywork – Massage is a wonderful way to release trapped energy and restore the mind, body and spirit.
- Eat well – it’s no secret that I love to eat. Good nutrition paves the way for a healthy body and mind. However, when I am absorbing too much energy from my clients, I’ll go on mad candy binges! I try to limit my sweets but more importantly – if I am choosing to eat poorly, I look at my work and see what needs tweaking. Perhaps a day off or an extra yoga practice could fend off the poor eating habits.
- Salt baths – at times, my boundaries may be crossed by some really negative client and I find myself completely drained. A salt bath will cleanse the aura and restore my sixth sense. It’s very simple to do – fill a tub with warm water and about a cup (or more) of sea salt. Soak for a good 20 minutes. Air dry. This works wonders and I swear by it!
- Candles – I’m a huge fan of candles for cleansing my tarot room and charging myself and my cards. I use the Tarot Tools candles by Coventry Creations, which were made especially for tarot readers! The Energy Boost and Psychic Cleansing candles are a MUST in any tarot reader’s arsenal!
The wise tarot readers will make sure that they keep themselves in tip top shape, from head to toe to soul. It makes all the difference not just in the quality of the readings but in the quality of the reader’s LIFE.
Blessings!
Theresa
image courtesy of taoxproductions
How do you keep yourself sane and balanced? I’d love to hear your suggestions! Post them in the comments section below!
This is a very good article with lots of sound advice. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Helen recently posted..A Journey through My Tarot Decks: The Lovers
Hi Helen!
Thanks for dropping by and thank you for your comment!
Blessings!
Theresa
Omg that explains why I am eating so much! lol Dam Tarot. Wonderful article!
G-Fresh
HI G-Fresh!
Thank you for your comment!
Yes – if you are overdoing the tarot readings, the body begins searching for “energy” – and for many of us – myself included – it leads to overindulging! I have to stop and question why I am doing mindless eating. Often I find it has more to do with my energy levels than really being hungry!
Blessings!
Theresa
I’m not a professional tarot reader but as a Reiki practitioner, what you’ve written is equally applicable. I’m learning (quickly) how important it is for healers to protect their own energy. I’m not great at boundary setting because A) I want to help people and sometimes feel like I’m not doing that if I’m setting boundaries and B) I don’t always realize when my energy is compromised until I’ve eaten an entire bag of tortilla chips (my drug of choice I guess!)
Thanks for the great ideas
Jessica recently posted..Technical difficulties make me sad
Hi Jessica!
Thank you for your comment. I agree that these principles could apply to anyone in any healing profession. Because we give so much and take so much in, it is easy for us to get drained.
Setting boundaries was really hard for me to learn – and I learned the hard way. I’m a friendly person so it is sometimes hard for me to be so hard core but I have found that firm boundaries is healthy for me and the client.
Blessings!
Theresa
Great post, Theresa! I like your list of sefl-care items, and I especially like your comments on setting boundaries. This is really important.
I know some folks have (or will have) problems doing this because they truly want to help people and not turn anyone down, but here’s a perspective that may help alleviate this dilemma: Note that doctors, psychiatrists, life coaches and other health-care professionals set boundaries when they work with their clients. I’m sure they all want to help everyone they can, too, but they know it’s important to set these boudaries if they are going to be able to help their clients in the most effective manner possible. Tarot readers are no different.
Also note that setting boundaries helps to set expectations, which is another paramount thing a good Tarot reader should do. Clients who know what to expect from their Tarot reader and what their Tarot reader expects from them are far more likely to build good, effective working relationships with their reader.
Thanks for the great post!
Mike Hernandez
HI Mike!
Thanks for dropping by and for your comment. I think setting boundaries is one of the hardest things to do – but you are so right when you said it “sets expectations”! Ah, if we all knew what to expect from each other, wouldn’t that make life easier?
Blessings!
Theresa
Another awesome post Theresa! Quality information that you addressed for sensitives in the field!
Hi Suzi!
Thank you for your comment! Glad you enjoyed the post!
Blessings!
Theresa
Theresa, thank you. I have just featured you on my site and will be sharing these excellent tips by way of link, with my pro reading students and several of my friends, because they also apply to non-Tarot readers in the helping professions who are high sense perceptive. You and I use the same boundaries, it seems. They have worked very well for me over the years.
Ferol Humphrey recently posted..Here is an excellent little blog from Theresa Reed on a topic of importance. See what you think, and please comment. Send to your friends, why dontcha? I will be sending this to several of my students.
Hi Ferol!
Thank you SO much for your kind comments. I am glad you found the post useful. My boundaries also worked very well for me – although it wasn’t easy to establish them at the beginning.
Blessings!
Theresa
Excellent advice, as always, Theresa. Meditation is hard for me–being consistent with it, that is. But when I am consistent with it, it has a very positive impact on my work. I like the salted bath idea, too. I like water magic almost as much as I like candle magic, although I don’t practice it as often. This is a good reminder to do so.
Shine brightly,
Barbara
Hello Barbara!
Thanks so much for your comment! Oh yes, meditation is hard – but the benefits are many. I think all tarot readers – well, all people in general – should meditate. The calm connection with the divinity within makes such a difference in the quality of our readings – but also in the quality of our lives. Imagine how the world would be if everyone stopped and meditated every day? You could say I’m a dreamer…..
Blessings!
Theresa
If you’re in the New York area, there are some great workshops about how to keep yourself clean from negative energies, no matter how you come by them – from yourself or from others. Check out http://www.wbso.org/. Sometimes you can’t shake something no matter how you try, and that’s when an aura cleaning can really help. Steve Quinn (on that website) is great for that – he’s helped me a lot. I also have a meditation on my website that helps you detect the nature of gemstones, and sometimes having the right kind of gemstone out during a reading can help the atmosphere. Amethyst can cause cooling and calming, and rose quartz can be generally good for women.
HI Susan! Thanks for your tips!
Blessings!
Theresa
Wow…I could not agree with you more!
Hi Nancy
Thanks for stopping by and thank you for your comment!
Blessings!
Theresa
I love some of these tips and recommendations! I’m definitely another sweet-tooth when stressed or drained :duh: One thing I feel differently about, though, is the time between readings. I go to therapy once a week, and don’t feel that a tarot reading is much different in its aim to enlighten and empower. Obviously, it depends on the individual client…
Thanks for an interesting perspective, Theresa.
Blessings,
Chloe
Hi Chloe
Thank you for your comment! I understand what you mean about a tarot reading being similar to therapy – but I am talking about the client who comes to a tarot reader too often and asks the same question over and over – in order to get the answer they want.
No harm in coming to your reader often unless you are being obsessive!
Blessings!
Theresa
A wise post…interesting comments…I was drawn in by the amusing title. The fact of having clear boundaries is a promise of delivering full and unrushed attention, as well as being necessary for the reader. I found energy buildups used occasionally to manifest as loose kinetic energy…small ‘poltergeist’ incidents. Now I will ‘shiver the timbers’ and clear the air after an intense reading and regularly anyway, by using sound, administering a few whacks; 3 or 7, 9 or 10, to a small Tibetan singing bowl I keep in my working room.
Hello Katie-Ellen
Thank you for stopping by! I am glad you enjoyed the post. I love the idea of a Tibetan singing bowl to clear energy! I need to get one!
Blessings!
Theresa
Excellent advice Theresa, and I PROMISE myself to take a “heaping helping” of it! May I say that your ethics so mirror my own. Even more importantly, you’re the FIRST Tarot reader aside from myself that I’ve ever encountered who won’t answer “quick questions” and believes in a three to six month waiting period between sessions!
My Admiration Knows No Bounds!
Smiles,
Anna Cook
HI Anna!
Thank you for dropping by! Yes, those boundaries are SO important. I find quick questions rarely are quick – it often leads to me giving away my precious time and these people never pay. My time is very valuable and I want people to respect my time as much as I respect theirs.
Blessings!
Theresa
i think that spiritual life is much more important compared to our earthly life.,..
Hi Scarlett
They are both important. You cannot neglect either one.
Blessings!
Theresa
Thank you for this in-a-nutshell reminder of the importance of listening to your body and spirit… I know that I am not doing it even nearly enough! Sometimes I am so worn out and tired and influenced by energies of others that i can’t even go to bed and keep on sitting ay my laptop swimming the internet. Salt baths sound like the easiest and quickest way to put myself back together and quiet down a little bit so I can meditate and do yoga!
Hi Victoria
Salt baths are AMAZING and really do leave you feeling clear! I highly recommend them!
Blessings!
Theresa