The 3 Pillars of Tarot: How to Read Tarot like a Professional
As a professional tarot reader of nearly a decade, I’ve developed a tripartite curriculum for teaching tarot to my students. In this blog post, we’ll explore an introduction to the three pillars of tarot reading: classics, psychics, and ethics.
Teaching tarot is so special to me because tarot is an endlessly renewable resource, emotionally and financially. Whether you read only for yourself or others, the skill of tarot reading is a lifelong gift that keeps on giving.
Personally, tarot has helped me make smarter decisions about my personal and professional life, allowed me to provide invaluable guidance to my friends and clients, strengthened my relationships with family members through the bonding experience of reading together, and funded my graduate school education.
Because tarot is such an emotionally intimate experience, it is crucial to have the knowledge, skills, and ethics to provide readings that help, not harm, yourself and your clients. While each pillar is important, we need them all to function as constructive, compassionate, and high-quality service providers.
Classical tarot training: How to learn tarot without memorizing all 78 cards
Let's not sugarcoat it: learning tarot can feel like a huge undertaking, and the overwhelm inhibits a lot of people from even trying to learn it. The thought of memorizing 78 individual cards' meanings would make anyone grimace (myself included).
Thankfully, that's not the way you have to (or should) learn to read tarot. In this letter, I'll give you a window into the classical tarot training I teach my students.
Tarot is a system of numerology, elementals, and associated spiritual systems like astrology. Learning these systems of tarot helps the deck feel less like 78 individual cards, and more like a simple math equation.
For example, let's use the four of swords:
4 is the number of stability.
Swords is the suit of air (the mental: thoughts, communication, logic, mental health/illness, mentality/perspective, etc).
Put together: the four of swords is, in essence, mental stability.
We can see this in the imagery of the traditional (Smith Rider Waite) imagery of the card: someone putting their swords down and resting in a place of sanctuary.
Psychic tarot reading: How to give a personalized, valuable, and unforgettable reading
Psychic abilities. Intuitive languages. The clairs.
You've probably heard these terms before (unless you're very new to my world). But how do they make a difference in tarot reading? To illustrate my point, I'll tell you a story about a recent client of mine:
As I was giving this client her reading, I told her that for one card, I saw an image of sand. To me, sand represents a feeling of groundedness and, as the head researcher of my lab says, “moving our grain of sand” (making baby steps toward a goal). We flipped the card over, and it was The Emperor reversed: with the positive feeling I got from the card, I saw it as claiming power and stability for herself, instead of relying on external sources of power. She then told me that for her, sand represented home, as she grew up by the beach.
By merging the classical meaning of The Emperor reversed with the psychic feelings and images I got from it, we concluded that this card indicated that my client was finding a sense of power, authority, and stability within herself by making consistent steps towards independence (through continuing her education, creating a safe home with her partner, and pursuing financial independence). Without the psychic aspect of reading, we wouldn't have uncovered the nuanced details that made the reading personally meaningful and impactful for her.
Ethics of tarot reading: Why you should never tell your tarot clients what to do
You would think that being a professional tarot reader means giving your clients advice and telling them how to solve their problems, right?
In my opinion, wrong.
As a full time tarot reader who is also training to become a mental health professional, I have a specific perspective on how to read for clients in a way that helps them to help themselves (like the adage of “teach someone to fish, and you'll feed them for a lifetime”).
Why don't we want to tell clients what to do?
It takes away their autonomy and agency.
It makes them dependent on us, the service provider.
It encourages an unhealthy and unethical power dynamic.
Instead, a tarot reading should give your client the information and insight they need to make the best decisions for themselves.
In my mental-health-informed opinion, this is the optimal method because:
It affirms the client's autonomy and agency over their lives, improving their sense of self.
It encourages the client to develop and maintain their critical thinking, problem solving, and discernment skills.
It allows them to truly improve their lives and return to us, the service provider, whenever they want additional support, instead of making them dependent on us as a substitute for their own problem-solving abilities.
We cannot assume that we know what is best for our clients. Each of us has our own biases, values, and visions for how the world (and all the people in it) should be, and it is not our place to impart our own values into the reading (no matter how well-intentioned we may be).
For example, when I was first starting out as a professional reader, a client came in with a relationship crisis. Their situation made it very tempting for me to take a side, especially when I turned over the central card: the two of cups reversed (well known as “the breakup card”).
I could have easily told my client, “This is typically seen as the breakup card, so I think you should break up.” However, it was not my place to judge their relationship or either person's actions. Instead, I broke down the card's interpretation without judgment: “The two of cups indicates a fundamental inequality between you and your partner. You are not on the same page right now. What would you like to do about that? Would you like to break up, or would you like to repair the relationship?”
My client said they wanted to stay together, so we proceeded with gaining insight on how to repair the relationship. Now, that client is happily married to that same partner.
This is a classic example of why it is so important not to tell our clients what to do, but to give them guidance based on what they decide.
Going Further: Continuing your Tarot Training
These three pillars of tarot are the foundation for what I teach in my course, Tarot from the Heart.
In the course, we'll expand on the three pillars for every aspect of the tarot reading process. Along with psychic tarot training, Tarot from the Heart includes lessons on classical reading and ethics, as well as building a successful tarot business.
If you're ready to learn tarot, for yourself and/or for paying clients, explore the course here. Enrollment opens to the public every once in a while, but I open the course to individuals upon request. If you’d like to inquire about enrolling, and you’re ready to finally learn to read tarot with clarity, competence, and confidence, email me at gwen@gwenwalsh.com.
