Mind your own tarot business

Shade said:

For readers who are less interested in predicting and more interested in a more psychological approach and helping the client intuitively arrive at the right choice on their path in life the trappings of the spa reader (natural fabrics, reiki music, chakra charts, aromatherapy diffusers, and potted plants) are actually pretty appropriate. All these things help convey the style of reading this person will give.

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Thank you for pointing out that people do many things with tarot. The psychological approach is where my primary interest is, so I like to see readers offering their services on that tack.

I also agree with your point about there being room for many types of tarot readers. We all have our bugaboos, I guess. I cringe at the gypsy stereotypes, which can be downright racist sometimes, but if that's how another reader wants to conduct their business.. *shrug*

danieljuk said:

But I did ask a friend on here for advice when I wanted to make an altar! she said don't fill it with things from websites and shops because they are just made in China and not 'personal' at all! Go for things you find or you feel drawn too, a much nicer personal touch Despite what they try to sell us, spirituality cannot be bought in the end. It comes from within

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You are right on this. Most of those items are made in china.
I bought a pendulum time ago on ebay, it was made by a couple of wiccan witches who live on England, in the contry. Hand made, beautifull and so on. I was really glad to buy again there, and probably will do it in the future. They make wonderfull items with wood.
They are nicer for me as I know they are hand made and so on. But what I don't know, if they work better than one made on china.

I mean, if you buy one made in china, and one hand made, you clean them, and consecrate them and so on, will you notice any difference when using it?.

ivanna said:

I mean, if you buy one made in china, and one hand made, you clean them, and consecrate them and so on, will you notice any difference when using it?.

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I think that if your intentions are right, you can use a washer tied with a piece of string. When building an altar, it may jog one's imagination if they use a special chalice, sword, etc., but for "magickal" purposes I suppose a paper cup, a penny, a bread knife and a twig would do just as well. You can even use the four Aces when working "in the field", so to speak.

Gee...
So many rulz ,so many preferences...labels and Guru's...



So many trying to find their niche...


So much finger pointing...judging


SO much learning ...




Ain't it great !!!

Out of all of this, someone's gotta make it outa this overcrowded swimming pool and ......?

Just adding my two cents to the pile.

When I came to AT I was starting out as a baby pagan. As such, it was expected that I would learn one form of divination at least. I have experimented with several by now. However, part of that path frequently involves other branches. One must learn a form of divining. One must also learn some form of healing. Reiki is a very popular choice and I intend to incorporate that into my practice at some point. I can imagine other folks have similar viewpoints-- not just for business reasons Were I to be running a shop, I would certainly want everything to be conducive to allowing both my divination and energy skills to be used for others. Remember, most training in Reiki comes at a fee. For some classes it can be $350+ (Karuna classes? $1000) and if one is looking to commit to the path of a master, you must also provide significant case history and change your lifestyle to incorporate that which allows Reiki to flow more easily. Clutter, dark places, too much junk... Not really conducive to relaxing people and keeping yourself in a fresh and clean mind space. The cost alone for trainings would make any sane person want to recoup that cash ASAP for sure.

Tarot readings are products. According to my own ethical compass, they are one of the few things associated with my path that it is OK to sell or take compensation for doing.

In short, knowing the expenses for reiki and other esoteric items that come along with my spiritual path, I can see why other people would want to openly market these skills or update their personal venue to incorporate certain elements.

From my interpretation of the original post - I might be wrong (It happened once! 1959!) - but I 'read' that since every store of any kind these days has everything that every other store carries as a POS ("Point of Sale") in hopes of grabbing that shopper who might be headed to another store to buy a specific item. Lo & Behold! - A fabric store has cheap kitchen tools for sale - and sells chocolates by the registers! {Since many shoppers bring their kids into the store - why would you have chocolate in a fabric store?}

I believe the original post is about those occult shops that are trying to be the Wal*Mart of the Occult/healing/newage/whatever the magic gizmo of the month-may-be shops. In this age of economic failure I am sure some diversity will attract more customers - but if I walk into an occult shop and they are selling Martha Stewart 'Kitchen Witch' tools - I'm walking out!

Alta and I went to what used to be a very VERY specialised occult shop in Ottawa. It now has - "merchandise". The owner was quite frank about it - it is the only way she can afford to stay in business and sell at least some of the stuff WE want to buy.

The one local to me here has now closed down - and it served a fair size wiccan community and had "merchandise" as well - the owner loathed that, but said it sold... I am NOT walking out of a shop just because it has stuff I don't like as well as stuff I want. That will compound the problem.

That was a joke, Gregory ....

tarotbear said:

That was a joke, Gregory ....

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Knowing you, I wasn't sure

Actually, the latest shops in my area are quite weird; they stock less and less Tarot decks, or none, more and more 'oracle' cards or those strip card things - like big versions of what you get in a fortune cookie, they have less and less 'magical trade trinkets', they are more about fashions. There is this one location, that keeps opening a new store that goes broke in 6 months, shuts down, a new one opens up ... and so on. Both of the last ones had crazy stuff in there; 'supplies' for ... I am not sure ? For some reason the last two had a large American Indian type head dress in the window at a ridiculous price. I cant see many people requiring one of those ?

If you went further up the coast to Byron Bay (probably the New Age capitol of Australia) ... going down the main street its virtually all alternating ; take away food, New Age shop (mostly clothes and trinkets), cafe, take away food, new Age shop, Cafe pubs and therapy centres ....some people seem to love it. American Indian head dresses may sell better up there.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...g&biw=1242&bih=577#q=Byron+bay+shops&tbm=isch