Flaky, fraudulent fortune teller image!

I have been involved with Tarot and Astrology for many years now it's something that I have studied for personal interest and used for my own development. My main line of work is as an artist and my creative work is draws on my study of these and other esoteric subjects, myth and legend.

More and more I have been asked by friends to do readings and charts for them and in turn their friends have asked for reading and so on. By accident I have become semi-professional. Although I don't charge people do sometimes insist on giving me something for my work.

I am happy to do this work but am concerned about the negative image many people hold of tarot readers such as they are flaky, frauds, new age nutters etc. Now I know none of this is true and it would be evident to anyone reading this forum that most Tarot readers are not like this. True some of my interest are unusual and I hold some less than common beliefs but I am actually a rather skeptical person who takes little at face value, I'm educated and hold two post graduate degrees and don't see myself as someone easily taken in. However my study of Tarot and astrology has lead me to believe these are wonderful tools that can help us in this life reach our full potential (I do believe in psychic ability but only consider myself intuitive) but some people will just never trust in anything which requires an intuitive understanding rather than a logical one.

One of my closest friends has no time for anything esoteric. He has a hard time reconciling his friendship with me with what I do. He thinks it's a lot of rubbish that only the feeble minded are attracted to. I do point out that individuals of note like the film maker Alejandro Jodorowsky, the writer Alan Moore and the great thinker C. G. Jung all use or used tarot and or astrology and none of them could be considered feeble minded but he won't budge on his position.

It is true that "fortune telling" can attract people who are desperate and there are people willing to expolit that. For example the woman who's partner who has left her who spends hundreds of pounds calling psychic phone lines.

Anyway this has been a bit of a ramble but I just wanted to know how other people feel about the perception of "fortune telling" and if that affected you in any way?

Thanks!

P.S. I just wanted to add that I don't have a problem with and actually enjoy a spooky edge to tarot readings especially. I think that like anything else from being a CEO to a GP, reading the cards has an element of performace about it.

Magicienne said:

I am happy to do this work but am concerned about the negative image many people hold of tarot readers

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I'm sure upstanding, decent lawyers say the same thing of their profession; that they are always seen negatively. And 2nd hand car sellers. And a host of other professions.

This kind of thing doesn't bother me.

The best you can do is actually not be any of the things which people believe to be true of tarot readers. Then you are doing your bit.

I love it when people who know me, think I'm a decent, normal, intelligent, thinking, logical person and then they discover I have a massive collection and love my tarot cards!

It's the best revenge!

Le fanu, thanks for that, wise words indeed. Funnily enough my friends father is a lawyer so I will have to use that!

Magicienne said:

Le fanu, thanks for that, wise words indeed. Funnily enough my friends father is a lawyer so I will have to use that!

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There you go! Tell him how slippery and dishonest people say lawyers are! And watch him vociferously deny it!

We can all do without these prejudices.

I agree with Le Fanu. It really is what you make of it.

There will always be bad eggs in any profession. Unfortunately, in this line of work the really bad eggs are the ones that end up in the news. Who wants to read stories about the good fortune tellers that help people, that give back to the community? Not many, they want to hear the bad things.

Keeping yourself above all that is all you can do. That stigma will never go away, nor will the ones about lawyers, used car salesmen, and Republicans.

As for those that look down on what we do, they are usually the ones that don't want it to be true because they can't grasp the idea. That's there problem, not ours.

I was in a similar position twenty years ago with a rationalist/atheist friend. When he got on a rant about my beliefs and activities, I'd just point out to him what is stronger evidence, what he has seen of my behavior versus what others say about "people like me"? That is, the rational argument against prejudice in all its forms. Happy to say he has come around. Another question to put to any person having trouble with another worldview is to ask "Why is it so important to you that I agree with you?" of course the flip side is to respect your friend's beliefs and opinions as well.

Le Fanu said:

I love it when people who know me, think I'm a decent, normal, intelligent, thinking, logical person and then they discover I have a massive collection

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<laughter>

Pagan X gave good advice.

I also think, in addition to that advice, that it helps for you yourself to exhibit even-handedness and fair treatment of beliefs or interpretations other than yours. It sets a good example to naysayers and speaks well of you.

For instance, I have seen many religious folk of Denomination X who, when faced with the jeers of atheists, will defend themselves in part by denigrating Denomination Y ("WE are intelligent and well-reasonsed in our religious belief; now those Y people who believe differently to us, that's a different matter...THEY'RE an example of silly, irrational religious belief.")

I have also heard tarotists do this, too, in an effort to ingratiate themselves with the wider non-tarotist public. I think that's a shame. Denigrating another branch of your "family" may temporarily make your branch look better to the naysayers, but in the long run, it only ends up harming all involved.

Good luck to you.

Magicienne said:

One of my closest friends has no time for anything esoteric. He has a hard time reconciling his friendship with me with what I do. He thinks it's a lot of rubbish that only the feeble minded are attracted to. I do point out that individuals of note like the film maker Alejandro Jodorowsky, the writer Alan Moore and the great thinker C. G. Jung all use or used tarot and or astrology and none of them could be considered feeble minded but he won't budge on his position.

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I think the key is why you think he should he budge in his position - to agree with you? I have a similar experience but with a family member who believes I do the devil's work We've had many discussions mostly him trying to convince me and impose his proof and facts on me. I will never agree with him about his religious beliefs and he will never agree with me about tarot or my spiritual beliefs. I don't see that as being his problem anymore than mine.

The fact is we don't have to agree to have a good relationship we just have to accept that we both are entitled to our own opinions and beliefs and that's what we've done. I think the more we try to convince others the further away from us they move.

irisa

I didn't actaully mean to post this as a personal problem that I'm having with my friend (he's a good friend and our disagreements are not fatal!) but more a general question about the problematic image of tarot readers. I enjoy having my cards read by other readers and go several times a year. Honestly I have my own prejudices and often feel let down in reading when the reader clearly has read a couple of main stream books on tarot or astrology etc bought a pack of tarot cards or even angel cards and st themselves up as a reader. I prefer it when a reader is clearly a student of the occult (not necessarily a practicioner but a scholar) I appreciate it if they have studied in depth the history and origins of their art, the kabbalistic tree of life and it's links to tarot, mythology and it's relationship to astrology and the Jungian approach to divination. I would also expect the reader to have done a great degree of work on themselves, to meditate, used the cards etc for self development work, perhaps to practice yoga or similar and so on.

All of the above I admit is what I prefer, perhaps it is a result of having been so long myself in graduate school that the scholarly side of it has so absorbed me. Of course when you meet someone, a reader with a true natural gift all of this goes out of the window but such people are so very rare. Most readers I have encountered, however well intentioned seem to do little more than trad the cards in a cook book style, make guesses, read body language and try and tell the sitter what they want to hear in a reassuring and uplifting manner. Which is hardly a crime but I can see that it is a issue when money changes hands.

So if even I who have so much respect and love for the tarot have my doubts about many of the people working in the field I guess shouldn't be surprised when people who know nothing about it feel the same.