Ethics and other considerations

When you are reading for other people, you should have a set of rules or guidelines about what you will do for other people and how you should read the cards.

The Tarot Guild of Australia has a set of ethical guidelines http://tarotguild.org.au/about/coe1.htm however I find myself that it is often necessary to be more comprehensive than this when reading for clients. My rules are as follows:

1. I believe personally that certain things should not be predicted by the Tarot for other people.

These include:

i. Matters of serious health

 ii. Death

iii. Questions about other people

Number iii may seem unreasonable, however some questions often are phrased so that the person asking you may want to know about someone else's future. Unless that other person has given permission for you to read for them, I feel that this is unethical and facilitating psychic 'spying' on others. I sometimes make exceptions on this for parents wanting to know about their children, however generally, I do not read for others.

2. Card meanings should be made available to the client and you should be able to express these to them.

I feel that it is important to be transparent when reading the cards so that the person that you are reading for knows what the cards mean and where you are drawing your interpretations from. I do not feel that it is helpful to say "this won't happen", unless you explain exactly how you came to that conclusion. This gives the person the opportunity to offer their thoughts, instead of you being the expert on their lives. It can be daunting if you are having your cards read and can make people feel as though there is no hope if the outcome is negative.

3. No guesswork. Unless the cards say it, I don't.

Sometimes this means that my readings are not as detailed as other readers. However, although not more detailed, readings are more accurate if you stick to the deck and the interpretations there. It is also important to offer possibilities if you feel that there could be several outcomes to the question.

4. Be considerate of the clients' understanding of the Tarot.

If the person is scared of the Tarot, then I feel that it is even more important to be transparent about meanings of the cards and where you are drawing your knowledge from. You should put people at ease when you are reading and not further scare them by making them feel as though the Tarot has the final say in their lives. After all, there are always many things we can do to change certain outcomes.

These are my basic rules, and I probably have even more that I can't remember at the moment! As you read you will come up with your own rules too and these may change as you go along. Often I refuse to read for family members, because I know that I will not be objective, however when I was learning I used to practice on them all the time.

If you are learning the Tarot AS SOON AS YOU START reading for other people, it is important for you to tell them that you are 'learning' and that your readings might not be right. You would be surprised at how many people will take your words very seriously, even if they are skeptical or know that you are still learning. I feel that it is always worth re-emphasizing to them that you are learning throughout your readings until you become more expert. Also, be sure to diarize and follow up on your readings to see how accurate you were. You would be surprised how many people will say to you, "You said...... And this happened." Six months or even years after you read for them.