To the Blossoming Tarot Professional: A Love Note (p.I)

Its highfalutin time for me to write ye olde "professional tarot reader' rite of passage called the "Blog about How to Become a Professional Reader'. Google that term and I am sure you will find pages of worthy information for your eager eyes and searching heart.

​Here, in this 3 part series, I offer my own sagely advice based on my own business and also in helping others achieve their own. May it contain something to sustain you on your journey, colleague!

​Tarot is a Passionate Calling

To be a full time tarot practitioner is to undertake some of the hardest, most exhausting, most rewarding work you have ever attempted. The burn out rate for readers is extraordinarily high, and even the best of us need regular breaks from reading.
It is not uncommon for readers to even take a break for a few years if they over extended themselves reading tarot.

The people who don't make it are people who just thought it would be an easy source of side income, or just something to do in retirement; these folks do not last long because the act of reading tarot and running a business needs everything you got. People come to tarot because they feel lost, or scared, or anxious, or empty and from an emotional standpoint it can take a toll on a reader; just like any social service. The people who stick around for longer than a hot minute are passionate about the tool of tarot, are in love with the process of reading, cannot see themselves doing anything as exhilarating and amazing as bringing  the art of tarot to everyone.

Tarot cannot be about making money (though I did enjoy making my tongue in cheek pic above). You MUST love tarot enough to allow the work of tarot to transform and support your life. People who come into it to make money end up leaving, or outsourcing their readings to other people. Tarot is about finding your calling, and if you are brave and a very good reader, you will be able to make a living. Tarot comes first, however. There are so many people who need and want a tarot reading, the demand is there, and they deserve a reader who loves helping them, and loves the magic that is tarot.
Be that person, and you will not thirst.

Trust your Calling.
 
 
You Do Not Have to be Perfect

In fact, your broken places make you a better reader. Being a professional tarot reader means to be supremely compassionate and understanding of the person’s journey for whom you are reading. You are not a guru, you do not need to have a perfect life in order to give advice. This is because a tarot reading is not about you, and you should not be projecting your life, agenda, needs, or hungers onto your client. You need to read the cards, hold space for your client, and be a bridge rather than a guide; be the book binding rather than its letters. The information is what you share, not who you are. Reading for others though, will have the effect of granting profound wisdom onto you own life and about the spirit of humanity as a whole. Being witness to suffering, helps you understand your own. Truly the gift you get from tarot and from clients is far, far greater than the one you bestow.

Trust your Gift.
 
 
Always Run the Numbers

If you are running a business, run it as a business. The container of your business is what allows you to read professionally. It protects you and allows you to do more than you could ever do without it. Before you say yes to that house party, reading out of that New Age Store, or starting an Etsy shop, my friend, RUN THE NUMBERS. Look at other readers doing similar, how much are they making? Is this really worth your time? It can be so exciting to make something look like a business on the outside but if you are not bringing home the bacon, it’s not really a business; it is your hobby.

Do your research before you say yes. YES, your time is worth this, YES, your business deserves this. Running the numbers does not mean you are some evil capitalist bourgeoisie pig. Running the numbers has nothing to do with your spiritual feelings or your tarot practice. Running the numbers ensures that you are taking care of yourself, and a well-taken cared of you means a reader who can serve more people, better serve people. If you find yourself having a hard time with this, look deeply, it might mean that part of you is attempting to sabotage your dream. The biggest saboteur is you. Your ability to show your inner saboteur that YOU are the boss of you is the GREATEST factor in your success.

Trust the Numbers.
 
 
Mind Your Mind

This is by far the biggest determiner of your success as a tarot practitioner. Inside each of us is an inner guide and inner saboteur. The saboteur runs on fear, he resists change, he wants to keep your vibration low and he is tricky, no one knows you as well as he does and he will create all kinds of ‘problems’ to derail your success. Expect to feel fear, anxiety, sudden physical problems, relationship problems, every 1,001 reason why you cannot, should not, please don’t, do not– it is ridiculous anyway.

Listen, you are the boss of you. You are the grown up in this equation and the better you can learn to first, identify when the saboteur is talking (he amazingly will sound just like you but when he says things it’s to make you small, rather than big.) Once you can identify him that is half the battle, the next step is to move forward despite him. Cause, you also have an inner Guide, and he wants you to live your calling.

This topic alone requires so much more than I can give in this blog post; to start read
The War of Art. When you are finished, start in the beginning and read it again. Highlight it, dog­– ear its pages, rail and scream and pump your fist to the heavens. Fight, baby, fight! You are so worth it. You know it’s true, feel that part of you that says yes? That’s your Guide.

Trust Your Guide.
 
 
Be a Professional

Don’t feel like giving a reading? Too bad. Scared of reading at that party you booked? Get over it. Have a client who isn’t ‘playing along’? Sorry, Charley, but you are a professional and as a professional you need to suck it up, show up, and hang it up. This is kind of part two of the saboteur above, that Saboteur will give you every single reason under the sun as to why you can’t. Don’t give him any power. You do that by being a professional. Treat yourself as the professional you are by taking good care of yourself (boundaries) and also by how you treat your clients. This also extends to your social media, how you email people, how well you respect them and yourself. Be kind. Be generous. Take an extra minute to say thank you, even if you aren’t getting what you want. Build relationships, not transactions. Stay for the long haul, the world needs your professionalism, it is in critically short supply. Even if they are mean, suck it up, you know it’s not about you anyway.

​Trust your Ability to Show Up.

Did that resonate, sugar plum? If so, there is more where that came from! Keep your eyes peeled over the next few days as I drop part II and part III. You can always subscribe to my blog, and email me with any questions and yes, I do mentor tarot practitioners. Here's to the rising tide, and the wonderful Spirit of Tarot that makes it so...