In Walking In This World, Julia Cameron says, “You cannot name me. I am more than the sum of my parts.” No one likes to be pigeon-holed, judged, or labelled. The tarot cards do not define the querent/readee, but rather give us clues based on the person’s experiences and feelings. Hir story fleshes out the basic concepts of any tarot card.
Imagine me telling you point-blank, “The Five of Pentacles upright means you’re poor and worried.” Ouch!
Now imagine that you’ve told me that you’re not happy in your work environment and you’d like some guidance about how to change that. I say, “In this context, the Five of Pentacles upright can suggest redoing your work space, asking for a change of salary, moving your location, tweaking your professional skills, or even changing jobs completely. Give your current workplace experience, which of these feels most helpful or appropriate for you?” You respond, “Well, it’s not horrendous, so perhaps I could tweak my own skills and ask my boss to pay me according to the extra work I’ve been doing,” to which I add, “And how might those scenarios play out for you?”
Instead of making power-over pronouncements to prove that I’m an expert who’s memorised a card meaning, I offer options, create a dialogue, and allow the readee to come up with empowering solutions on hir own terms. So remember, make the card fit the person, not vice-versa.
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I get a bit frustrated with people who take tarot, or oracle, cards at face value, so to speak. The ‘pyschic’ part of readings is that the card came up for a definite reason. But then it is up to the reader and querent to have a dialogue to figure out why.