How I do a Tarot session, step by step.
It's not as mysterious as you think.
An ongoing passion of my career is to take the WOO out of the woo world and normalize it. As I’ve long said, there is nothing special about psychics/healers/readers. We’ve always been here — and always will be — but we are normal people. At least, that’s the goal.
My sense is that when humans make spirituality all mysterious and unapproachable, it’s probably not all that spiritual — and can tend towards demonizing anyone involved in that world. That’s because we refuse to acknowledge just how powerful and intuitive we all are, born telepathic because we arrive from a telepathic world onto this dense and ridiculous planet. :)
Another secret of my success is that I’m normal and approachable.
It took me a long time to understand why people were intimidated by me — I just assumed they didn’t like me — but it was partly a fear of their own strength, reflected in mine.
All of this matters if you are involved in wellness/intuitive services. Normal and approachable will get you more normal clients than having a weird aura, spouting nonsense. Yes, I can be hard on my fellow readers but there’s a reason why so many of them are unhealthy and drag down the profession.
My style and method has changed over the years to a simpler version. That’s my sense about spirituality — if it gets simpler, you’re on the right track.
Here’s my method (minus confidential details), including pre/post steps.
Today, a client booked a 30 minute for 11-11:30am at 10:40. I was on the lounger in the sun, shopping on Etsy and the calendar dinged. I’ve read this client for 7 years, so I’m comfortable with them. I walked up to my deck and decided to read at the screened porch table since it’s a lovely day. I live in a paradise of woods and like to share the energy with clients, though camera is always off.
I looked over my candles and thought, What does X need? Red and green. Energy, motivation and money. My huge clear quartz and smoky quartz points also wanted to be part of the session. I grabbed the bag that has my rings, gemstones bracelets and headset, then went to my box of Tarot decks. What deck does X need? I thought. I saw an image of a card in my mind. Okay, Shadowscapes Tarot. Picked up my merkaba pendulum, went to the table, turned on FaceTime (no camera) and set up.
There are other gemstones on the table for my personal enjoyment, plus an aloe plant, evil eye magnet and a Rumi oracle card for the day. I read at different tables, based on my mood. Today was outdoors.
I settled for a few moments, took the Prism Oracle deck and pulled a card to preview my client’s energy. Today was ANGER. Hm, I thought. This should be a good one. At 11am on the dot, I called X and held the smoky quartz. I’ve read them many, many times over the years, so there is a natural vibe between us.
After hellos, we always take the first few seconds to GROUND ourselves. This is the most important step. I wish I had done in the early years but often I’d dive in without first calming the nervous energy. Big mistake. I learned fast!
How I ground our energy — otherwise, the session can fly off the rails — is to take my pendulum, say to the client, Okay, let’s take a few seconds to breathe and then close my eyes while the pendulum swings from a circle to a vertical yes. I also silently pray some form of this prayer: Holy Spirit, Divine Energy, Light, Spirit, Wisdom — thank you. Help me to say the things you want me to say and not say the things you don’t want me to say. It’s only 2-3 seconds, though I may continue to keep my eyes closed while they start to talk. I imagine our energy sinking into the ground and draw upon the power and calm of Mother Earth.
I say, What’s on your mind? How can I help? and let them guide the session with their initial questions. Some psychics do not want talk — which I understand — but give my clients the option to open the session with their most pressing issue. That doesn’t mean they talk for half of it!
I listen and lean into their emotions without taking them on. There is so much in unsaid words — I feel unloved. I’m scared. I’m so unhappy — or, I’m super excited! I may pull a card or two but generally wait. I’ve done enough reads to know when to reign in a client so that they are ready to hear what I have to say. Most of my clients are women and I’ve found that listening for the first 5 minutes or so gives them a sense of ease and receptivity to the rest of the session.
They’ll ask a question — or say, Just read around the situation and what I need to know — and I’ll do a simple 4 card pull. 1st card: Present. 2nd card (crossed over the 1st): Challenge/Insight. 3rd card: Past. 4th card: Near “future”/potential. This is the trailhead. I used to do complicated 10 card spreads but now use the 4 card to head down the path. Some may call it channeling but I avoid words that put pressure on me. :) I simply stare at a point — such as red flower on the hummingbird feeder — and talk.
I’m very direct but careful with my words, even when describing a difficult family member. This has taken years of practice to modulate. I preface by saying, I mean no offense or I don’t mean to insult or say negative things about blah blah because it’s kinda like that old thing where they can joke about dysfunction — but you can’t!
They’ll ask another question or a point articulated. If the session gets intense, I’ll light up sage and let it waft around. Again, my client never sees any of this. I may pull more cards or just answer, based on what I see. I keep an eye on the time (never expect your client to do this) but don’t let the clock rush me. This is easy when you do enough sessions. We’ll volley to another aspect and this will continue until the session is over. If they ask for extra time and if I’m able, I do.
I always ask, Did we get to everything? This can be a tricky if we’re at time and a client all of sudden has to ask about their estranged child (not my client today), which will take another 30 minutes. I may quickly pull a closing card on the situation but won’t continue — because I’ve learned that some clients with boundary issues will keep going and going, as if you’re a talking Magic 8 ball. This rarely happens now but when it does, I say that we’ll discuss next time — since they already had 30 minutes to get to it!
After our goodbyes, I blow out the candles and make sure to spend a moment clearing the session. Again, something learned the hard way! At times, I’ll touch the earth or my rainbow generator but usually it’s just a quick closing prayer that blesses my client, me and releases both of us. I imagine the session traveling into the earth and light coming up through my body and out of my crown chakra (taught long ago by a medium friend). Washing hands or taking a bath also helps but I don’t always do that.
My process is simple and effective, so when I enter a session and put my life aside for a few minutes, I’m able to exit the session and return to my day. If an intense reading happens to linger on, I ground myself again and have recently begun to say, Okay, God/Goddess. They are your child. Thank you for taking care of them. It releases my old pattern of hyper-responsibility because I do the best I can, then let it go. I don’t have their answers, nor is it my job to solve their problems and provide a life purpose.
If you try to do that, you will quickly grow bitter and burn out.
Clients want to know and feel three things in a session:
that they heard
that they are understood
that they are loved and accepted
If you can genuinely provide those three things, you will be successful in anything that you do.