Why There is no Reason to Be Scared of Tarot

As readers, we constantly have people come up to us at public venues and ask us all sorts of questions. "How do you do this?" or "What does this card mean?". These are  are all great questions and I am happy to do my part to educate the public about tarot. Having been only reading for at fairs and festivals for the past few months, I realized I never go one whole fair day without hearing the one particular pharse, "I'm scared". Scared? I understand, I used to be scared too. But when you really get down to it, all these reasons for fear are quite unfounded. When I ask them back, "What are you scared of?", these are the most popular replies:


"What if you tell me something bad?"
I think this goes with the whole "fortune-teller" thing (a subject that will come write about on a later blog post). First of all, when I'm reading tarot, it's usually so you can learn more about about yourself or a certain situation. But if we are reading for purely divination purposes.... so what if it's bad? Wouldn't you want to know something unfortunate might happen so then you would have the power to change it? Free will is here and it is here to stay. We always have the power to shift our realities and it's important that we remember that.


"What if what you say is true?"
Doesn't that just mean I'm good at my craft? Doesn't it mean it was worth the few dollars you just spent? Why would you want to spend your money on a reader who doesn't connect?


"I'm scared of witchcraft/black magic/some other assumptions made because of Hollywood's portrayal of Tarot card reader."
Ok I'm going to tell you a secret: None of that has to do with Tarot. At all. Weird right?! Tarot has no religion or doctrine. It can be part of someone's spiritual practice and for many it is, but it doesn't have to be. Also, everything is about intention. I explain it this way to my clients. Tarot is simply a tool, a deck of cards meant to help to. Just as rosaries are used during prayer, malas during meditation, cups during rituals, etc., these things are meant to help and aid in whatever the person is trying to do with them. While they are sacred tools, they do not have the real power. The power come from those who ask the question and those who interperate.


"What if I get the Death Card?"
Goodness. The Death card question. Will we ever get past it? I don't think so. I know this is something many readers get really sick of talking about, but it is definiately our duty (in my opinion) to keep educating the public about Tarot. So when I get asked this question I start my little lecture, "The Death card rarely has to do with physical death, it usually talks about major changes in someone's life blah blah blah...". I usually end it by telling people that the Death Card is actually one of my favorite cards in the whole deck. I find when I'm doing readings for people and they are going through difficult times, the Death card is what you actually want.

What other questions do you get asked as readers? What else are you scared of as a client? Let me know in the comments below!