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This January I’ve been busier than usual with readings, with many people wanting to gain extra clarity about how to create a fresh new start and build some momentum for the year ahead.
I’ve also been doing a lot more face-to-face readings than before. Back in my October email update, I mentioned that I’d attended an intuitive tarot workshop, which I walked away from with increased confidence about the potential to use tarot cards as one of my main tools during a reading. I mentioned on the way out, "I feel like I could be a professional tarot reader!"
Within a week of uttering those words, I was called seemingly out of the blue and invited to be interviewed for a tarot reader position at a centre offering alternative therapies and new age products. I had been in contact with this lady once before, but at no point had I ever mentioned any knowledge of tarot cards or a willingness to practice with them. Shortly afterwards, I was contacted by someone else who I’d never met, again asking if I could attend an interview for a tarot reader position at another store.
It was certainly a new thing for me to have to read for an interviewer as part of an application process, not to mention being asked to do a test reading at a busy food court in the middle of a large shopping centre! Shortly afterwards, I found myself providing tarot/psychic readings and energetic healings at three locations in Sydney’s Eastern, Northern, and Western suburbs.
For most
readings I’ve done previously, there have been no tangible tools used such as
cards. I’ve enjoyed using tarot cards for face-to-face readings though, because
it allows people to look at each card they’ve selected from the deck, and to
recognise for themselves if the same card appears significant due to being
chosen multiple times. In contrast, when the same message or theme pops up over
and over again during a card-less intuitive reading, it doesn’t quite have the
same effect; rather than emphasising an important message, there’s the risk of
coming across as a broken record!
It’s also interesting that whenever a card flips out while a person is shuffling, it’s almost always relevant to the question being asked. No matter how much more shuffling is done, and even though there’s a 1 in 78 chance of selecting that particular card, the majority of the time that card will show up in the next tarot spread. Sometimes, a person will even start turning over all the other cards as though in disbelief, perhaps suspecting that there were several cards displaying the same picture. This doesn’t seem explainable by coincidence, and I believe that there’s much more to a tarot deck than simply a collection of illustrations on a bunch of cards.
I don’t quite understand how the tarot works, only that it does. Just as I don’t fully understand how electricity works, but I know that when I flick the right switch a light will turn on, in a similar way I feel it doesn’t matter so much how the cards work as much as the fact that they have such potential to provide answers and direction. Some have described the tarot as very helpful and healing when there’s the opportunity to explore the meaning, themes, symbols and issues associated with each card as they are pulled out.
If we believe that the universe reflects what’s going on for us, and that everything in our outer world (our home, relationships, environment, circumstances) can help bring insight into our inner world, then perhaps tarot cards are simply a part of that and are no different in their ability to reflect what’s happening within us, and to zone in on important issues that need focus or clarification.
Perhaps people are guided to select the most relevant cards that will help them on their journey because they’ve set that intention for clear guidance as they shuffle the cards – kind of like using the Law of Attraction and manifesting answers in a super quick way through the cards!
Despite the recent busy-ness and fun with offering lots of readings lately, I’m considering switching my focus from readings to concentrating more on intuitive consultations this year, and I’d be keen to get your opinion on this if you’d like to share it.
It was almost four-and-a-half years ago when I gave my first reading to a complete stranger over the phone. I remember how nerve-wracking it was, having to say a whole bunch of stuff about different areas of that person’s life with no information from her until I’d finished sharing what came through. I received positive feedback at the end of the reading which, unfortunately, did not seem to do too much to alleviate my anxiety before the next call.
My confidence grew slowly, and eventually I offered readings as a professional intuitive. After roughly four years of giving readings, I can say that it’s been incredibly rewarding and there have been a lot of positive changes I’ve made in my own life as a result of pursuing this path.
For example, what was originally introduced to me as a technique to use before tuning in before a reading, I now use every morning because I love the sense of lightness and spiritual connection I experience when I use it. Whether or not I have any readings scheduled, I’ve been using that ‘pre-tune’ method on a daily basis for years. I also seem to notice more quickly when I make the mistake of ignoring or dismissing my intuition. Encouraging others to follow their own intuition means it’s hard to ignore the importance of doing this for myself!
There are a couple of reasons why I suspect that it could be worthwhile to concentrate more on consultations from this year onwards, whether that means offering more consultation options or even phasing out some or all of the readings for a period of time. When I first started offering intuitive consultations, I wasn’t sure what to expect. At the very least, I thought it could be a fun way to help people get in touch with their own chakras, spiritual connection, and ability to receive answers.
I didn’t expect to receive such immediate and positive feedback from clients shortly after completing a consultation as well as months afterwards, to let me know about sustained changes in their lives or increased confidence with accessing their intuition. Some of the changes that were described included: initiating difficult conversations with a spouse or other loved ones, having a job opportunity suddenly pop up following the consultation (after months of having waited for that opportunity), starting a new spiritual practice, and continuing to meditate regularly.
One interesting bit of feedback I’ve received has been that the level of clarity gained during a consultation would have been difficult or impossible to achieve without direct experience. I was told, “If I hadn’t felt that for myself, I don’t think there’s anything you could have said that would have given me the same understanding”.
If we compare a reading to navigating a maze, it’s like you’re standing outside a maze and I’m running in and out of the maze to share with you what I can see inside. You then either accept that information or you don’t, since you haven’t observed it for yourself. A consultation is like going into the maze together, each of us pointing out things that are noticed or seen as we walk through, and then coming out with a more shared understanding of what was inside.
There have definitely been many people who’ve said they were motivated to change their life for the better after a reading too. However, it’s also quite common for clients to book a reading and admit that they’ve continued to feel stuck, having made no changes or taken action suggested from a previous reading (even if those suggestions had really resonated with them).
For some people, reliance on readings can become more disempowering than helpful. It was only yesterday I spoke to someone who said she had received several readings recently with various different readers in a short space of time but still felt incredibly confused and lost. She felt that none of the readings provided the answers she needed (interestingly, she mentioned that a few of the readers gave her the same message which she dismissed as irrelevant. I mentioned that if the same message comes up more than once, especially if it makes its way to you through three different people, then it’s worth paying attention!)
I’ve also done numerous readings where fortune-telling was desired (e.g. “I’m still with my wife, but please describe my future wife to me and when I will meet her”), rather than wanting clarity to create a more fulfilling situation now. I strongly believe that we need to take responsibility for how our own life will turn out, rather than sit back and wait for a pre-destined future to unfold. A few times, the same question has been asked repeatedly in the hope that the answer will change, with an explanation given at the end of the reading: “I kept asking because you weren’t telling me what I want to hear, even though I agree what you said is probably right”.
When someone feels something for themselves, there’s less need for explaining, clarifying or convincing. During a consultation, by getting to a space where answers come through more clearly and people are able to receive those answers for themselves, there’s a level of certainty that isn’t always present after an intuitive reading, so it’s more likely that action will be taken afterwards. A common bit of feedback I hear from people after consultations is that they feel empowered to tune in to their own intuition and to receive their own answers in future.
When I think of the difference between readings and consultations, I’m reminded of that quote, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life’. Doing readings sometimes feels a bit like I’m handing out fish (i.e. answers), whereas providing a consultation is like inviting someone into the fishing boat with me and travelling out to unknown waters (i.e. exploring consciousness), explaining how to use the fishing rod to connect to the fish (i.e. using the ‘line’ of your intuition to connect to your own energy and spiritual connection), before finally giving instructions on how to catch the fish and reel it in (i.e. how to ‘catch’ and receive your own answers so you can do so again in future on your own).
For a consultation, I rely on the same intuitive ability that I use during a reading. It’s just that rather than targeting my intuitive ability in a certain way in order to give you answers to help you on your path, I’m directing that same ability to help you get in touch with your own intuition and to feel the answers yourself in terms of what you need to help you on your path.
As you can probably tell from this update, I am leaning in favour of expanding on the consultation side of things and limiting readings or even phasing them out altogether later in the year. However, I don’t actually see this shift as giving up on readings per se. To me, a consultation is like a shared reading. We’re both reading your energy and spiritual connection, and then having a conversation about it, which can often lead to a level of clarity that’s not as easy to achieve if you were to tune in for the first time by yourself.
If you do have a strong opinion either way, please let me know how you feel about consultations vs. readings, or about any other service you’d really like that I may not have even thought of!
There will be another email reading to be given away next month, after which I’ll consider offering a free consultation each month instead of email readings for the remainder of the year, depending on your feedback :)
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