Do you Charge $$$???

MeeWah

Fairawen: Where Tarot concerned, the learning an on-going process; reflective of the same where Life concerned.

Some of us may be readers longer than ye, but we never stop being students. Neither does length of involvement with Tarot nor knowlege of same correspond to reading ability.

Charging for readings may be seen as a passage. Crossing a threshold of responsibility & commitment. & in the process, continue the learning process in a different way, on a different level through the interactions.

Trust me: ye will learn as much if not more about the cards in actively reading for others.
 

Fairawen

Ah, cool. :p Thanks Meewah! That's definetly true: No matter where we may be on life's journey, we're all still students. Never stop learning. :) About the reading publicly though, I'll stick to online reading until I'm absolutly sure that I've got all the cards in my head and ready for refernce. :p

~Fairawen~
 

Babylon_Jasmine

There's a lot of posts here and I have only read the first, I may respond to individual posts later. I personally do charge. I am a proffessional reader and have been charging for readings for 13 years. I give free readings to friends and family of course, just as other professionals will sometimes share their skills with their friends and relatives. For a long time I did not believe in the concept of Tarot reading as a gift, I assumed it was a skill that could be learned by anyone just like driving a car or fixing a tractor (neither of which are skills i posess, so they could be gifts as well) after talking with people who really were unable to read the cards I see it as closer to the talent for a musical instrument. However I do play the drums and do charge for doing so if I think I can get away with it. Nor do I feel any moral qualms about doing so. In fact I can;t imagine anyone raising a moral difficulty with charging for a gift for music, or poetry, or any other "mundane" gift. I certainly don't feel uncomfortable about paying the sign painter who decorated my door because she posesses a gift for visual art that I do not.
 

Babylon_Jasmine

Foxyangel said:
I have been to a party where we all got to effectively do our own readings...

All 12 of us were asked to pick 3 cards at the same time from the whole deck.... to form a past, present, future reading so 36 cards all out at the same time... not really likely that you are going to pick well if there are 33 carsd you can't access because someone else has them!

We then had to interpret each others... what do you see, what does it mean to you... type questions were asked... the official "reader" did nothing.... and I mean nothing other than sit there... nod and say "oh well done!" from time to time....

For this rip-off we were all charged £10, which meant that for 2 hrs work one evening... "work"!!! HA what a joke.... the reader went away with £100 or $200!!!! She also gave us all her card so that we could contact her for personal readings... £35/$70 for 1hr... I guess you can imagine that I didn't... I have now learnt to read for myself instead! Much more interesting... and after the inital outlay on decks and books... much more fun and cost effective!

It has made me VERY wary of readers now...

foxyangel :)


There are a lot of scam artists out there. There are also a lot of readers who are talented students of human behavior and who read people rather than the cards. This is a shame, especcially for legitimate readers since they give us a bad name. On the other hand that is what a lot of people go to a reader for, an eerie experience where someone else seems to know things about you that they shouldn't know.
 

Babylon_Jasmine

Phoenix Rising said:
heard that tiring phrase "You should not charge, for a gift" what a load of bollocks. That was just a rumor, that was passed around, either by a person who wanted a free reading, or a reader, who didn't want other readers to make more money than themselves.

If readings are all you do for a living, well you sure aint going to pay the bills, doing them for free! Best not to get into any other persons rules or superstitions, when doing tarot, just enjoy it, you make you own rules!!!!


I doubt it was a reader. Inexperienced readers giving free ones are not real competition, just as backrubs from friends are not competition to a massage therapist. On the other hand if you have been reading for years and give good readings its in the interests of any readers in your area that you charge, because its hard to compete with something free.
 

Babylon_Jasmine

Another comment, in response to something I saw in the first post. If someone offers yhou money, take it. That is a gift freely given. For most of my career as a reader I only charged when reading at a festival. However if I did a reading for a friend and he or she offered me money I would definitely take it.
 

azuremoonchild

should i charge???

well i just recentley asked the same question and i got an effective answer...
ask how much the reading and advice they will get from it is worth to them
you should get a couple of wize guys and a couple serious ones i am a student and can make 5$ on one reading...
 

Psychebleu

I'm going to start...

I've done many live readings - family, co-workers, friends of family - some strangers, but always in a familiar environment, and brought to me by a family member. I've had people insist on giving me money - that was years ago and probably was a hint to start charging. When people find out I read they always ask how much I charge and I don't know what to say. First I believed it was a gift and felt bad to ambivalent about charging, then it just became an issue of not knowing how to go about setting fees. Next reading that I do (if not for family) I will charge - and it will cost what the querent thinks it's worth. I saw it on someone's site who post here (not quoting exactly) - "A bill: $5, $10, $20, etc. - your choice". That's what I plan to do.

Still, I'm fortunate to be able to say that everyone I've read for free of charge has valued the reading. I wouldn't mind bartering either. Probably some 7 years ago I did a natal chart for someone (mother's co-worker) and her two daughters and she was so touched she gave me a book on dream interpretation, which is another interest of mine - not to mention I LOVE books. I still have and cherish that book and the note she inserted. It's one of the best gifts I've ever received.