It’s very helpful for both tarot client and tarot practitioner to prepare before the actual consultation. If we’re focused beforehand, there’s a greater chance that the session itself will be focused. Not a guarantee, because unexpected turns can take place as a particular card or symbol invites us to peek through a side door, but it certainly helps.
Some astrologers I know take great care to ask preliminary questions of their clients and to make notes about items in people’s charts that really stand out. This keeps their consultations on track, ensures that their clients’ areas of curiosity or concern are covered, and helps them to avoid falling into “astro-babble”.
Likewise, I like to do a bit of preparation so that the people who come to me or chat with me on the ‘phone get a more helpful reading through the lens of the cards. By asking some preliminary questions, I can ascertain what the most important issue(s) is, design a layout(s) that can serve the exploration of that issue, and figure out if the person and I are a match. Sometimes people are looking for something that I don’t offer through tarot or any of my other modalities. That’s OK. We each have a niche and a preferred way of working, so there’s a consultant out there for just about every readee.
Here are the questions I ask people over the ‘phone or by email to help us get clear ahead of time:
- Why do you seek a tarot consultation, and why now?
- What goals and heart’s desires would you like to create?
- What issues and challenges are you currently experiencing?
- What are your expectations about what a tarot consultation can do for you?
- What are your objectives for our time together?
If it’s going to be a ‘phone session and the person has hir own tarot deck, I ask hir which one it is. S/he will pick the cards on hir end and I’ll match them up on my end. If the by-telephone client doesn’t have a set of cards, I simply pick them.
This process is proving to be valuable for me and for those who consult me. We only need five minutes or so at the beginning of the appointment to affirm that this is indeed what we’re going to talk about, to tweak any questions, and away we go!
How do you, or how would you, keep your own professional sessions focused (regardless of what your tool or process is)?
Evolutionary Tarot & Circle Ways 
Hi James,
To keep a session focused, I will ask the client a few directed questions based on their inquiry beforehand. I’ll give a recent example. A client – well, potantial client at this point of the story 🙂 recently emailed me. The following is an excerpt from the email:
“I am looking for someone who can help me connect more strongly with my guides. This is a new area for me and I am still very skeptical at times. I need help reading the signs when I ask for their help.”
I responded as follows:
“It sounds like you already have at least two questions: How can I more strongly connect to my guides? How can I more effectively read the signs that they present to me?” and proceeded to inform the potantial client that our session could involve ‘fleshing out’ these questions by using the Tarot.
At the session, we used these questions as a starting point and developed an 8-card layout focusing on 6 questions that developed out of these two. I find work like this integral to maintain focused work and I believe it empowers the client and reminds them that they are the focus of the reading. It generally leads to a client that comes more prepared to benefit from the consultation.
My two cents 🙂
And a helpful two cents it IS, Peter. As you say, it’s empowering for the client. AND it creates a contract between the readee, the universe at large, and you. No one can say that something they asked about wasn’t addressed, because of the preparatory steps.
What happens for me is once the readee has committed to a reading time and place, I begin to house some of their energy in my body. We are all one, so it’s like a familiar pattern, wonder, neuroses, ailment, dis-ease, attitude, grace, flavour, song, passion etc……already a part of me and my soul —- will start to ask for attention.
For example, today, the conversations, meditations, images that I have already experienced are mostly on the theme of community and how every one I’ve ever been in has sunk.
Through a process of listening and movement, I know that the primary issue that’s up for my readee tonight is hunger for community.
I may have made this sound simple — for me, this preparation is deep and ceremonial, emotional and a wildy wide journey.
I love my work!
What a gorgeously intuitive, embodied way to get ready for a session, Martha! “All is one” is demonstrated as a reality through you. Blessed be.
Greetings, James! Thank you so much for this. I think this is the kind of material you will be putting in your booklet, no? It is much appreciated. i do chat with people on the phone a bit and I really appreciate the questions that you lay out. I’ll be weaving them into my practice, no doubt. Between the call and the session, I “pray” for the person. Perhaps meditate on is a better way to say it. I don’t express any specific intentions for the person, just sending positive energy. Before the session, I also “pray” for myself, often asking that I be a clear channel for the person and sometimes something more specific. Part of the prep that I do is e-mail them a sheet on thinking about questions that I develop after hearing you at RS08. I’ve been meaning to send that to you as an FYI / Thank you … and now that your post has promted me, I will do that next! Be well, Carolyn
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for emailing me your prep information that you give to clients. If any other readers of this blog are interested in reading what Carolyn has put together, it’s very good. We can all learn much from it. It’s clear and has a positive (but not saccharine) focus. Well done!
Wow!
I have a long time wanted to create questions like that – I just did not realise I needed it! Thanks James for stopping me from creating the wheel again!
I am often approached by people that have the wrong approach of what I am doing. This will truly help me see if we are a match or not!
Hi Anna,
It’s perfectly OK for the practitioner to have rights too. If there’s a certain clientele we prefer, we should be able to request that type of person. It’s such a privilege to work with someone who feels like a peer rather than someone who needs to be fixed.
Cheers,
James
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