Your Most Regretted Reading as a Tarot Consultant (my story enclosed)

[Wyrdkiss]

A serious personal story:  About 25 years ago, I read tarot for a man on the cusp of homelessness, Outside a cafe. Complete stranger. While I was just  beginning to slowly charge for my services, he saw me studying my Thoth, sat down across from me, and simply said, "please." Agitated and dirty, gaunt and exhausted, I saw the despondency on his face as I had him take three deep breaths, felt his suffering as I shuffled. He and his girlfriend were being evicted in three days time.

 
I pulled just one card, and began to speak about the definition as I understood from my books. I completely missed the mark, as I yet did not yet understand the full process of interplay, of listening, of intuition. He hardly got a word in, there was no connection. I blew it. He needed me to hear him and assess, to share based on his needs, not just rattle off a card meaning. As soon as he walked away, no better off than when he sought my support, my heart ached -- as the message I was to deliver was suddenly plain as day. The burning cauldron, the transformation image of metamorphosis inked on the Thoth card. You see, they were on meth, and this was his window to accept family support and seek treatment. His alchemical opportunity to turn suffering into consciousness. Their time to awake, and surrender. The encouragement and hope I was to offer drifted away in the hot valley wind. I never saw him again. I still think about him.

 

Do you have a reading experience you look back on in this manner? (maintaining confidentiality of course). 

[Misterei]

36 minutes ago, Wyrdkiss said:

Do you have a reading experience you look back on in this manner? (maintaining confidentiality of course). 

Yes. But first I will say that sometimes these spectacularly painful failures are what help us develop deeper compassion and become better readers.

 

When i was much younger, I graduated from college and the local economy crashed. There were No Jobs. I was lucky enough to meet a guy in a bar who knew a lady who worked for the 1-900 Psychic lines. Which were big business back then. I got a job working from home on this 900 line. Paid by the minute of talk time. I had been reading for 15 years for myself and friends, but had never read for strangers.

 

Most callers were romantically obsessed. I understood this well enough.

 

One day I got a call from a man. The cards were horrible. Tower, swords, Death, every bad card you can imagine. I froze. I tried to lie and sugar-coat the reading. He screamed, "I'm dying of Aids, bitch." and hung up.

 

Like you, I was haunted by my failure to help this person. But I never sugar-coated a reading again. In all my days since I have always read honestly what the cards say.

[Wyrdkiss]

21 hours ago, Misterei said:

Yes. But first I will say that sometimes these spectacularly painful failures are what help us develop deeper compassion and become better readers.

 

When i was much younger, I graduated from college and the local economy crashed. There were No Jobs. I was lucky enough to meet a guy in a bar who knew a lady who worked for the 1-900 Psychic lines. Which were big business back then. I got a job working from home on this 900 line. Paid by the minute of talk time. I had been reading for 15 years for myself and friends, but had never read for strangers.

 

Most callers were romantically obsessed. I understood this well enough.

 

One day I got a call from a man. The cards were horrible. Tower, swords, Death, every bad card you can imagine. I froze. I tried to lie and sugar-coat the reading. He screamed, "I'm dying of Aids, bitch." and hung up.

 

Like you, I was haunted by my failure to help this person. But I never sugar-coated a reading again. In all my days since I have always read honestly what the cards say.

Thank you for sharing this. It's a powerful story.

[dippingin]

I don't have experience like others on this site, but the chances are if they are on meth they may not have been ready to accept the truth. 

 

The fact you feel guilty after all this time shows you have good intentions and they probably picked up that at the time. 

 

 

[RickInBakersfield]

I was once in a Starbucks with my cards and my shuffle pad when this Asian lady in her 50s approached my table. I wasn't there to do readings for others, just relaxing with the cards in hand, and she asked me if I could do a reading for her. Before I could tell her yes or anything else...she told me "I want to know if I am going to be with my boyfriend in the afterlife?" I prefer not to know the question from the querent, but I was really unsure just how to handle a question like that.

 

I did a 5 card layout and none of the cards came even close to her question, so I sort of mumbled and told her what the cards meant...and she gave me this weird look as I didn't answer her question. Because I really didn't. I didn't know what to say.

 

If I had that question again, I'd know how to handle that.

 

Rick,

[Natural Mystic Guide]

34 minutes ago, Shuffletracker said:

If I had that question again, I'd know how to handle that

... and could you please share with us how you would handle that question if you had it again.

[RickInBakersfield]

Well, I don't know if this agrees with the whole tarot philosophy, but I might answer her question like this...

 

"Some people have different views of the afterlife, Christians believe they will live in heaven with Jesus, some people believe they will reincarnate to another life here on earth, some people believe they will return to the Source as pure positive energy. The truth is we don't really know what's going to happen to us when we make our transition to the non-physical realm. For the card's purposes, maybe we can both come up with a question without your boyfriend not being here like..."What action can I take to become irresistible to him?"

 

Something like that. I am sure you all can come up with something better.

 

Rick,

 

Attn: Mod I couldn't find a way to get off of this BOLD writing. Can you fix this post with normal sized letters. TY

[DanielJUK]

Fixed the writing for you in the post @Shuffletracker 😀. There is a bold at the top of the input box, a B, on that toolbar. It might have accidentally come on but it turns off on that as well as on.

Welcome to the forum if you would like to introduce yourself sometime, you are welcome to start a thread in our introductions section here 🙂  Just saw you have done that! 🙂 

[Natural Mystic Guide]

6 hours ago, Shuffletracker said:

maybe we can both come up with a question without your boyfriend not being here like..."What action can I take to become irresistible to him?"

Very interesting situation.  Would it even be desirable for the two of them to be together later or not?  It's unclear to me if this boyfriend was still living at the time she asked.  It seems like she was mildly obsessed...  I would probably go with something like:  What am I supposed to learn from this relationship?  

[RickInBakersfield]

6 minutes ago, Natural Mystic Guide said:

Very interesting situation.  Would it even be desirable for the two of them to be together later or not?  It's unclear to me if this boyfriend was still living at the time she asked.  It seems like she was mildly obsessed...  I would probably go with something like:  What am I supposed to learn from this relationship?  

Yes, the boyfriend was living. I asked her.

[Misterei]

10 hours ago, Shuffletracker said:

Well, I don't know if this agrees with the whole tarot philosophy, but I might answer her question like this...

LOL, yes, I can see how it was a strange encounter and a question for which any of us might be unprepared.

 

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the whole tarot philosophy ???

What CARDS would indicate being together in the afterlife?

Or do you see this as not a valid question for Tarots?

 

 

Edited July 23, 2024 by Misterei

[RickInBakersfield]

42 minutes ago, Misterei said:

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the whole tarot philosophy ???

What CARDS would indicate being together in the afterlife?

Or do you see this as not a valid question for Tarots?

 

 

Doesn't tarot have its own philosophy? Just like anything else?

I have no idea of what cards mean being in the afterlife together...

All I am saying is that we don't know what the afterlife is like until we get there. There are people who have died and came back to life to tell some incredible stories, there on YouTube. I am not an atheist. I used to be one, but I am not now.

 

Rick,

[Misterei]

9 minutes ago, Shuffletracker said:

Doesn't tarot have its own philosophy? Just like anything else?

I have no idea of what cards mean being in the afterlife together...

Hmm. Tarot is linked with Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, and Alchemy [to name a few]. But I don't think we can say there is a "tarot philosophy".

 

I would look for Lovers, Star, and Wheel of Fortune to see lovers reuniting after death. But that's just me. ymmv.

Anyway, I've gone off topic so I'll end here.

[Wyrdkiss]

I want to follow up with this, and share that I've experienced some amazing sessions reading for querents in the last year.  So if you relate to my original post, learn from your experience but by all means stick to if it you enjoy it. We all should strive to improve.  

[Chariot]

I think it's quite important—unless you are 100% psychic 100% of the time—to interact with the querent before and during a reading.  Before you start, tell them you don't do 'magic,' but are willing to help them understand what the base of their issue is, using the cards, and to help to find ways to improve the situation.

Your cards will show certain relationships to each other, but I believe you have to know where the querent is coming from. Maybe really really good, experienced readers can see all this in the cards ...and I am in awe, if you can.  But the main insight I'm getting from this thread is:

a) the reader was inexperienced at the time

b) the querent wasn't forthcoming regarding their situation or dilemma

 

Only experience gives you experience!  But whatever your experience level, you can certainly ask the querent for orientation before you begin a reading.  I always do.

Edited July 21 by Chariot

[Pierre-Yves]

I'm not psychic most of the time. I rely on synchronicity to bring out the right cards. And I always ask the person I'm reading for what they see in the cards before I say anything. (I prefer readings with one or a few cards) I ask them to share with me the first thing they thought when they saw the card. Often the person's reaction tells me a lot. And if the person has a lot to say, I go into listening mode and sometimes don't even talk about what I know about the card. This is the first approach I learned with psycho-tarot, where cards are used as a projective tool. And I find this approach useful in any reading.

 

When the cards don't answer a question, I try to see the refusal as a message. I act as if the tarot were an interlocutor free to answer or not to answer questions. And, sometimes, the cards may overlook a question to express something of greater importance.

 

I also believe you have to be indulgent with yourself. 🙂

[WhiteMoon]

On 7/20/2024 at 8:28 AM, Wyrdkiss said:

he saw me studying my Thoth, sat down across from me, and simply said, "please."

This is only somewhat on topic, but I will say that any time I show my cards in public, they magnetically attract people who beg for readings, even if it's just one card. The same has even been true in quasi-private situations, like housekeeping staff at a hotel seeing my hotel room altar.

[gregory]

In pubs too - even back in the days when I didn't read and just showed cards to my friends.

[Wyrdkiss]

On 7/27/2025 at 10:46 AM, WhiteMoon said:

This is only somewhat on topic, but I will say that any time I show my cards in public, they magnetically attract people who beg for readings, even if it's just one card. The same has even been true in quasi-private situations, like housekeeping staff at a hotel seeing my hotel room altar.

That makes sense, and normally I would ask for compensation -- even a pastry and cup of coffee.  This situation of course was different. Thankfully on several occasions with cards out I do get a business card into interested hands and we set something up later if they are serious.