Liz Worth ~ Tarot + Astrology

Not everyone wants to read tarot at a professional level.

It’s more than okay for tarot to be a hobby, an interest, and a personal outlet.

But it’s also okay to want to read tarot for other people, and even build a business out of it.

One of the reasons why I talk so much about reading tarot for others is because I meet so many people with a deep desire to do just that.

There is something about tarot that attracts compassionate helpers. We see the potential that tarot has when it comes to bringing clarity to a problem, opening up new perspectives, and holding space for meaningful conversation.

A lot of us want to use tarot to do something good in the world.

But there are differences between reading tarot personally versus professionally. Pulling out tarot cards for fun with friends comes with different expectations than reading for a paying client.

Those expectations don’t just happen on the client’s side. You, as a tarot reader, have to put new expectations upon yourself to ris...

I was reading an interview with a celebrated occult writer last year and was surprised when he admitted that he almost only reads esoteric books.

When I’m scrolling through my social media feed, I often stop to look at posts about what people in the tarot community are reading. And usually those updates feature books about tarot, divination, spirituality, or magic.

When you’re passionate about something, you tend to gravitate towards it. And I spend my fair share of time reading about tarot, too.

Sometimes my tarot students have confessed that they feel pressured to read every single thing they can about tarot – even if it’s at the expense of making time to explore other interests or give their intellects a break by changing the topic.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with setting out to gain a substantial level of knowledge – in fact, I encourage it. Tarot, spirituality, and the occult are lifelong paths on which we are always learning.

But if you want to be a well-rounded ta...

People talk about tools like tarot and other esoteric practices as though they are shortcuts or hacks that will accelerate their paths to success.

Which is why I always feel so boring in that broken-record-kind-of-way when I say that learning tarot doesn’t come with any shortcuts.

To get good at tarot, it takes practice, commitment, and consistency.

Like anything else, if you keep showing up for it, put in the time, and push yourself to improve, things will change.

Which is what happened to one of my students last year, Nat. In early 2020, she sent me an email worried that her progress was slow: “I don’t think I’m very good at this.”

I told her to keep practicing, keep going.

I know that’s the key, because when I was in Nat’s position, I hit walls, too. And I have had to embrace the same learning curves in tarot as everyone else.

So I know how much can change with practice and consistent effort.

And now, a little over a year later, Nat is doing readings for her friends and fami...

Work and relationship readings are a tarot reader's bread and butter.

If you want to read tarot for a living, you’re going to end up doing a lot of readings on these two topics.

These are the two most common topics that clients want to explore in their readings. It doesn’t matter whether you, the reader, like it or not. If you want to serve your clients and help them sort out their lives, you need to meet them where they’re at.

And often, that means walking through them through decisions about their careers and love lives.

As much as we might, as tarot readers, get excited about getting deep on spiritual explorations in our work, some clients aren’t quite ready for that - or may feel they have more pressing matters to work through first.

Reading on work and relationships for other people means:

🎯 Being aware of the responsibility that comes with these discussions;

🎯 Being clear and confident in how to handle tricky questions and when to reframe them to better serve the client; and

🎯 Knowing...

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 waiting “long enough” for love and they don’t want to hear that this is not their year – again.

Ever...

The other day I got an email from one of my students:

“Liz, I’ve heard you say that you don’t need to be psychic to read tarot. And I don’t disagree, because I don’t consider myself psychic and I’ve definitely been improving in my readings lately because I’ve been following your instructions on how to actually read my cards. But at what point does tarot become an intuitive practice, too? I keep expecting my intuition to kick in, but I don’t know how or when that will happen.”

I love this question, because it highlights the mainstream context of tarot – that it is a psychic tool – and opposes it against the reality of cartomancy – that you need to learn to read the cards if you want to make them talk.

I also consider “psychic” to be a loaded word. Not because I have anything against it, but because the mainstream perceptions – the Hollywood stereotypes of psychic ability – has created unrealistic and uneven expectations about what “psychic” work is really about.

There is a false belie...

When I ask people why they want to read tarot, the Number One reason I hear is, “I want to develop my intuition.”

So many of us want to experience trust and alignment within ourselves, and the universe. And tarot can be an amazing way to open up to that.

But there is a lot of confusion about intuition and psychic ability out there. These are concepts that we need to develop with discernment, responsibility, and groundedness if we really want to embrace them in our lives.

This goes for whether you read tarot or not – intuition is not reliant on divination.

There is no shortage of psychic advice out there in cyberspace these days. Take a scroll on Instagram and you’ll likely come across posts encouraging you to trust your psychic skills and cut off those “low-vibe” friends. Or memes that remind you that your intuition is never wrong.  

But – and this a big but – the problem with that is that it’s really easy to confuse other emotions, ego, and leaky boundaries as intuition instead....

People are often attracted to esoteric practices like tarot because they want to know the fastest way to get from A to B.

And the occult seems to promise short cuts and hacks to fast-track your success.

While I don’t think it hurts to throw in a little bit of magic into your life now and again, it’s important to remember that spells, prayers, meditations and affirmations can only get you so far.

If you don’t have the right attitude, mindset, or structure in place in your life to hold onto what you want to create, then all the magic in the world won’t save you.

This is a big mistake I see tarot readers make when they are trying to build their skills.

Whether you’re brand new to tarot, or you’ve been studying for years, if you’re relying too much on the “woo” to do the work for you, then you might not be seeing the progress you want.

There are three things I think everyone needs to nail if they want to get good at reading tarot – especially if you want to read cards for other peopl...

Happy New Year!

I hope you are doing well, all things considered.

Thank you so much for joining me here. I’m excited to start the New Year off with you!

What intentions, hopes, dreams, and changes are you bringing with you into 2021?

Personally, I’m bringing in a few new and old plans: I’m going to take clarinet lessons, for one.

Two, I’m bringing back my annual resolution to read all the un-read books I have at home before buying new ones. (It’s the third year in a row I’m setting this resolution – let’s see if I can keep it this time around.)

There are also a few spiritual trends and beliefs that I would be happy to see disappear in 2021:

1. The belief that tarot readers, energy healers and other intuitive workers shouldn’t charge for their “gifts.” This idea only serves people who don’t believe in paying someone for their labour.

Energetic and intuitive work are skills like any other, and many people who run service-based businesses have invested a lot of time and money into...

If you’ve spent any time at all following new age practitioners, you’ve likely heard the phrase, “Go with what resonates with you.”

This saying permeates new age spiritual culture of all kinds: It shows up in tarot workshops and healing sessions. You see it in books and hear it on YouTube channels.

It’s meant to be taken as guidance or advice to help a student or client figure out what their next step is. Sometimes, it’s given during times of confusion, as though to say, “Just go with what you feel.”

Confusion itself doesn’t get us very far, does it? When you’re not sure whether you’re coming or going, and you’re unclear as to whether you’re supposed to do this or that, things can go one of two ways:

You stay stuck and keep repeating the same old patterns, knowing you need to take different actions but you’re not sure what they are, or…

You act on emotion, impulse, or intuition and hope for the best…even if the action you’re taking is a stab in the dark and you’re unsure whethe...