Are There Ethics With Tarot Readings?
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1st Peter 4:10
Are There Ethics With Tarot Readings?
This is one of the most important things that every beginning spiritual healer needs to learn for their own protection and the protection of their clients and those you read for. It also affects your karma and the karma of your client. This is always a really important topic in psychic development because healers will often just go out and start doing readings for people, and it's really important to understand that sometimes if you give someone a reading at a certain time or certain people that you give readings to, you can actually be causing some damage to yourself and to others according to universal law. So this is just a way to help you give readings in the most supportive and safest way possible, that's going to be for your best and highest good.
Some reading this article may be put off by it or be offended as every healer will have a different version of what they consider ethical when it comes to giving oracle card readings. So you might see some of the suggestions offered here that you know that other spiritual healers feel differently about. Just take what information feels right to you, and if you continue to remember to have the intention that you're always reading for the best and highest good of yourself and the person you're reading for, then you'll have a much happier experience of being an oracle reader.
Your Energy
It's really important that you never give a reading for yourself or anyone else when you've been tired, when you are vulnerable, when you're raw, when you've had a shock yourself. It's really important to have boundaries when you're doing readings. It's better that your energy is completely clear and that you’re giving them the best possible reading. So if you have a client booked or you've offered to give someone a reading and your energy is just off, you’ve had a bad day, or have had some crisis, please give yourself that space and ask that person just to postpone it for a little bit and apologize just so that you know that you're giving them the best reading possible and you're also not damaging yourself and giving yourself time to recover from whatever crisis or thing that's happened to you.
3rd Party Readings
One controversial topic is third party tarot readings. I know other spiritual healers may have other opinions, but from my experience it's never okay to use your gifts to spy on people. This is not only karmically not good as you might be creating a connection between you that is not going to be healthy, but you are breaking someone's free will. This is considered stalking and you would probably be very angry if somebody did this to you.
So what is a third party reading? It is where you are doing a reading for someone who is not present for your reading. For example, a client may want to know what her ex-boyfriend is doing, or if he's now seeing someone else. It's best to only ask about people that you are directly involved with and who wouldn't be angry if you asked about them in a tarot reading.
However it is completely okay to ask about the future direction of your husband's business because that involves you and your finances. So it has direct influence on you and therefore becomes your business. However, you really shouldn't ask questions about your ex- boyfriend's financial affairs or anyone else he is seeing because that is no longer part of your business. Also I recommend never to do healings for people who haven't asked for them. So if someone comes to you asking you to do a distance healing for a friend who won’t come see you because they don’t believe in spiritual healings, It is advised not to do it. You have no right to access information about someone who has not wished for you to do it, and the healing will most likely not work as the person must have faith and belief in spiritual healings.
There is an exception to this rule in regards to your own children, siblings, and parents as you are connected with them in a very unique way, and it is okay to ask about their well-being and send them healing. An example - how will my dad's surgery go? This is okay to ask this because if something would have happened to your father, this would affect you directly, but to ask a healer to investigate what your dad's new wife is up to, it's not ethically appropriate. This is an ethical universal law so please no reading for people who are not present.
Alcohol and Drugs
Alcohol and drugs can act as barriers to guidance and prevent you from being able to access your angels and guides. It's really important that you don't attempt readings if you have been heavily drinking or taking any drugs that can affect the mind. You could be opening yourself up to dark entities, or you could go into your ego while you are reading instead of accessing the pure light and the wisdom. Also, I suggest not to read for people who have been heavily drinking or taking drugs. Most likely they will be blocked and not be very open to receiving what you are communicating to them. When people have been drinking, they can bring in dark energy, they can pick up dark energy a lot quicker, and so they can get a little bit darker in their intensity and they might not be as open to spiritual information. If someone wants a reading and you can see they're hungover you may prefer to use Oracle cards instead of Tarot as they tend to be a bit more gentle because if you're hungover, they’re going to be vulnerable, exhausted, and tired, their energy is going to be all mixed up, and may not be receptive to any information that comes through. So it's good to avoid reading for people when they're really hungover or they're really sick.
If someone contacts you and says they're sick, they have a cold, or feeling the flu coming on, etc. Tell them to wait until they get better. Again, it's the same thing. You want the person that you're reading for to be as clear as possible, and for yourself obviously, if you're sick, you want to make sure that you're as clear as possible. And you also want to avoid getting sick.
Medications: it will depend on the medication, if you're taking a medication that you've had for a long time and it doesn't make you feel like a zombie and it's just normal medication, then that won't necessarily interfere, but if it's something that really impacts upon you, it makes you feel tired or worn out or exhausted, then it is probably not a good idea to be taking it and trying to do readings. You want to make sure that you're not opening up to dark entities and also you might get some cloudy readings.
Emergency Readings:
If your client has experienced a recent trauma in the past 48 hours, such as undergoing the loss of a spouse whether from separation or passing away, the loss of a job or something equally traumatic, it's not a good idea to see a psychic straight away. The soul needs time to process all your life experiences, and frequently when they are in a state of shock, or grief, or deep mental anguish, they will have a clear idea of what they want you to say and possibly end up feeling worse if they don't say what you want to hear.
It's also never a good idea to give a reading if you are feeling under pressure if you're really busy and know that you've got a lot going on in your personal or professional life. Channeling is mentally and physically exhausting and you need to be really clear and well-rested to be an effective psychic. Even if you feel like you are letting someone else down by saying no or canceling an appointment, it's really important that you look after yourself first.
Free Readings:
No free readings. This will drain you! This is a hot topic and I want to be really clear about this, especially with so many readers making videos and putting them on video platforms. I added this section because I want to make sure that you are not giving too much of yourself away.
This is a classic error in my opinion. The universe has a pattern of giving and receiving, and if you are giving something, you should be compensated for it. People that give too much often find they are overwhelmed and resentful or experience illness in their body from the stress of not being able to have enough time for themselves.
When you start tapping into your psychic gifts, you are going to get tremendously excited about practicing your new skills. You might feel a strong sense of new awareness and most likely want to rush out and practice and validate your skills. This is a good thing. However, I strongly urge that you do not rush out to the first party or social gathering and tell everyone that you are now psychic and offered to give free readings. The reason this is because a lot of people are skeptical about psychic phenomena and will try to challenge you, which will lower your competence levels really quickly and also because people can start to take advantage of you. It is understandable to be excited about doing readings but you don’t want to end up drained and spending hours trying to tune in and becoming really turned off about the idea of being a psychic. Most professional psychics do not let their friends or family members pump them for free advice. Again, this is about valuing your services. Always make sure you are getting something in return, even if it’s not a monetary payment. You can barter or do exchanges.
Timing Your Readings:
When it comes to the timing of readings, it is actually really not okay to have a reading that goes for more than an hour. It's extremely exhausting to channel straight for an hour and all the information a client needs about a particular situation can easily be covered in this time frame. If you have a client who has multiple questions such as their love life, career, finances, family, going overseas, having children, investments, etc then suggest they choose one thing that they would like to focus on for a 30-minute reading, and one or two things for a 45 minute readings, and no more than two to three things for an hour reading. By the way, a healing is different to this. As it is a deeper form of reading and it cannot take much longer than an hour.
Over extending your readings is very common and it will get you serious burn out if you don't monitor it. The problem with this habit is that you might think you're doing your clients a favor offering them free extra time, but you are not. If you give people extra time, you may end up feeling drained and resentful, and they may not be as happy with their readings as if you hadn't given the extra time. You might feel sorry for them and want to offer them something for free. However, the universe is very conscious of the value of exchange, and if you give something away for free, there is an imbalance in the universe. You must charge what you are worth. This is not ruthless or mercenary, this is just value in your services.
When I talk about going overtime here, I'm talking about up to 10 minutes. If you have gone over by five minutes in a reading, this is not such a big deal. But if they are asking you a question that hasn't been covered yet and you're about to finish your reading, always ask them to extend the reading if they want this answered.
Boundaries:
All healers need really strong boundaries. This is absolutely vital when you are doing readings for others. Again, in regards to your timing, but also in regards to your regular clients. Only read for people that respect readings. You don't need to prove yourself to anybody. If you come across someone who says, I don't believe in Tarot, you know, tell me what's going to happen then, you don't need to prove yourself to that person. If they don't believe in Tarot, that's a personal choice, you don't need to prove them wrong. Also if they don’t believe in Tarot then their reading may come out cloudy or inaccurate, one must have faith in what Spirit is saying.
You need to make sure that you are not only protected after your readings by disconnecting, but also that you do not end up in a situation where they're demanding too much of you once the reading has finished. If you have a client who texts you a few days after a reading or calls you attempting to get a free reading with words such as - Hi, I've just started dating this guy, I'm not really sure about him, what do you think? Or I'm looking at moving to this new house, what does the universe say about this? You need to very, very politely reply that they need to come and see you for a reading. Even with this scenario you run the risk of ending up drained; developing a codependency between you and your clients that is not healthy as they won’t learn to trust their own intuition; and you will never get a rest from your job!
It's very important that you also create boundaries during your readings. If you ever feel uncomfortable about reading for someone or something doesn't feel right, just say no, or terminate the reading and apologize. It's important to trust your instincts on these, and it's much better than giving a bad reading. Healers are human too and we do have bad days as well. Just kindly apologize and do not charge them for your services if the reading has already started, and say that you are not feeling well.
It's also very important to keep your ego in check when you are doing psychic readings, and what I mean by that is do not rush out and tell everyone that you are a really gifted psychic. The universe will find a way to humble you. Be quietly confident and avoid boasting to your friends if you start getting a lot of truly successful readings. Treat your gifts as a precious object, not to be squandered or flashed about, but to be revered and used for the good of others and yourself in a divine way, not just satisfying the ego.
Judgement:
When you are truly connecting with guides and angels, your messages should have no judgments. This can be testing for a human as we are programmed to see the negative and can be very quick to judge others. If someone comes to you with a really difficult problem, you must avoid putting your own personal stuff onto the reading. It is not your responsibility to judge the actions of others as the angels certainly don't judge. They merely convey the information that comes through. And it is up to you to convey the information that comes from all of your guides.
When you are in a situation with a client where they are doing something that you do not morally agree with and you have personal wounds from, and it does happen, you must work really hard to make sure that your guidance is coming from the loving space of the angelic realm and not your own personal experience.
Please remember, you are responsible for someone else's emotions and their life when you do a reading for them. Proceed gently and from a place of the highest and best good for them, not what your personal opinions are.
Much Love,