Liz Worth ~ Tarot

Last week I wrote about a few pros and cons regarding predictive readings.

Whenever I talk about predictions, I get a lot of questions. It’s ironic that the mainstream of perception of tarot is that it is purely predictive, when in reality the tarot community is so diverse and diversified in how it views tarot.

And predictive readings are one example of that: Some readers love predictions, some will at least entertain them, and others stay away from them altogether.

I say this off the top in case anyone reading this isn’t resonating with predictive readings, or isn’t sure they want to go down this path.

But the aim of this week’s missive is to answer a great question that came my way, which is, “What does it mean if you can’t see the future in your tarot cards?”

What does it mean if someone asks you, “What do you see coming up for me?” and you lay down your cards and…you’re just not sure what to make of them at all?

This is the time of year when general, look-ahead readings become really popular. 

Everyone wants to know what’s coming up in the New Year:  

“Do you see love in my future?”  

“Do you see my changing jobs?”  

“Do you see if I will receive any unexpected opportunities?”   

Overall, these are pretty common questions that people bring to tarot readers all year round – regardless of the calendar date. But there’s something about the turning of the calendar that really ramps up these questions. 

Everyone wants something to look forward to. A New Year inspires fresh hope and optimism that a turning point is around the corner.  

And predictive readings can help to build that hope and anticipation for what’s to come.  

But there’s also something very passive about these types of questions. Predictions can keep people waiting and wondering when and how...

When I first started reading tarot for other people, I was actually surprised at how many wanted to know about love.  

I thought I would be answering different types of questions about spiritual journeys and personal transformations.  

But I quickly realized how important relationships are to people, and how much is at stake when we are talking about love, commitment, loyalty and companionship.  

Some of the hardest questions I’ve had to answer as a tarot reader had to do with relationships.  

They can be really complicated. Especially if the people involved are cycling through a range of emotions: One day they’re on, another they’re off.  

Divining a clear answer about a relationship is not always easy to pin down when the people in question can’t be pinned down in the first place.  

Another challenge can arise when clients are impatient about the answer: They feel like they’ve already been...

How are you? October was a big month for me. After the stillness of the last few years, this autumn has felt like life has really come roaring back in so many ways.

I had the opportunity to read tarot at some great Halloween parties, and also at the closing party of Likely General, a shop where I read every Sunday for two years. I loved having that residency and loved part of the community that had grown around that store.

Likely General closed its doors at the end of October, and I’m glad I could be there one last time to offer a few tarot readings as we all said goodbye to the space.

One of the things I found myself reiterating throughout my readings in October was that we have choices in life.

Whenever I read at events, I know I am going to have some nervous sitters on my hands. People are often curious about tarot. When they see a tarot reader in the corner at a party, they might decide that today’s the day they’re going to finally give tarot a try.

But...

I’ve been knee-deep in one-on-one readings this month and it’s been a wonderful state to be in.

Reading tarot isn’t always easy, though: It takes a lot of concentration and care. Readers see and hear a lot. We help to move energy in people’s lives. It takes a lot of time to sit with it all, but there is also great gratitude that comes with this path.

One of the things I have come to learn through my work is that tarot isn’t always pushing you towards a big change.

Often, clients come in for readings expecting to hear that something major is about to occur. Or that they have some kind of big opportunity on the horizon.

And there’s nothing wrong with wanting change, or working towards it, especially if you feel like you’re ready for a new experience in your life.

But sometimes we have to remember that things might be OK just as they are right now.

Our lives all go through different seasons. Sometimes there are seasons of change, and others of...

Whew! Is it just me, or is time flying by?

Sometimes I can’t believe how fast time is going. I’ve been noticing that lot of people are going through some major periods of re-evaluation in their lives.

There’s a lot of change in the air as many of us are rethinking what’s most important and looking at  what to de-prioritize in order to have more time for our families, friends, and ourselves.

Are you going through a big change right now?

When things are busy and hectic, and you’re feeling a bit (or a lot) unclear about what it’s all leading to, it can help to pull out your tarot cards and give yourself some space to reflect.

Instead of asking a predictive question, which can muddy the waters of the present even more, ask something like, “What can I do to stay true to myself right now?”

When you’re feeling pulled in a lot of different directions, it can help to come back to the here and now rather than getting lost in thoughts...

“What does this card mean?”

If you read tarot, chances are you’ve asked this question more than once along your path.

But one thing I’ve started to discourage tarot students from asking is that very question:

“What does this card mean?”

Why?

Because if figuring out a card meaning was the only thing standing between you and your tarot reading, you wouldn’t even have to ask that question.

Card meanings are everywhere. You can Google any tarot card and come up with all kinds of answers.

Or you can get a guidebook and look it up.

Or you can watch any number of videos on social media where people talk about their understandings of various tarot cards.

When someone asks what a card means, the problem isn’t that they can’t find that out on their own. Quite often, students who ask this question have already done their own studying. They already know something about the card they’re wondering about.

The problem is that the card...

One of the most common questions I get asked in my tarot classes is, “Should I be pulling a card a day for practice?”

I don’t assign daily draws and sometimes that makes people nervous. The practice has become so common that a lot of newer readers are under the impression that it’s a universal habit.

This isn’t to say I’m against daily draws entirely. I, too, was given the advice to pull one card a day, and did for a good long time when I was first learning tarot. I still have journals that I kept from that period, where I would record my daily card and the thoughts and ideas it inspired within me.

But I also came to see tarot differently as time went on. Which is what happens when you do tarot over a long stretch of time. Your relationship to it changes. You start to see new angles to it. And sometimes your old ways of doing things no longer fit the way they used to.

One of the biggest shifts for me came when I stopped looking at my tarot deck as...

What is the hardest question you’ve had to answer as a tarot reader?

In the time that I’ve been reading for other people, I’ve had my fair share of difficult questions.

Difficult, of course, is subjective.

Some people find questions like, “Is my ex coming back?” challenging because they are yes or no questions with an emotional charge to them.

Others find predictive questions difficult because their tarot reading style is less focused on the future and more on the present.

Tarot readers are always defining the boundaries of their work, and determining the best ways they can use tarot.

When I was starting out as a professional reader, there was a common piece of advice out there to turn down readings that didn’t feel like a good fit for your work.

There have only been a few times that I’ve turned people down, however. Sometimes, clients will come for tarot readings needing a type of support that just isn’t possible through tarot. Or,...

How do you know you’re ready to read tarot for others?

How do you know you’re ready to start charging for your readings?

How do you know you’re ready to accept that invitation to read at your friend’s party, or to give a talk about tarot at your local bookstore?

These are all questions that you will likely have about tarot at some point in your journey. When I started learning tarot, I knew I wanted to be able to read for other people. I didn’t know right away that this was something I wanted to do professionally (that came later), but I did want to be able to give readings that were intuitive, insightful, and accurate.

Knowing where you want to go with tarot, even in the short-term, is important, because it gives you a goal to work towards. When you know what you’re aiming for, you can focus your studies and practices in a way that will build towards that result.

But what often happens along the way is that it can be hard to know when...