Do you go to others?

[The crowned one]

Never, but I would like to be read by Umbrae.

I have overheard or listened in on professionals at psychic fairs and I am always disappointed with what I have overheard up to this point and at the tables I have listened/watched at.

 

[tarotberry]

And I read over her shoulder too, which she did not appreciate.

i've never been to a pro. part of it is just general laziness, part of it is uncertainty. balenciaga's quote above touches on what worries me...do you tell the reader that you can read too? i can't look at cards and not try to read them...even playing cards! how do you keep a straight face?!?

as a side note, the closest i ever got to a reading from a "pro" was at a renaissance festival. something about the stains on his white undershirt made me say no, i guess? as i was walking away he yelled really loudly that i wasn't spiritual enough. thanks! glad i didn't lose $20 too!

 

[memries]

Shortly after my husband died I came down to Toronto and there happened to be a Psychic Fair on. So we went. I sat at the table of someone, a young man, and he told me lots of things that rang true. He did not know I was a widow but skirted around it. Or maybe he did not want to ask and say anything. He was very accurate and I must say lifted my spirits at the time. He had a large bouquet of yellow long stem roses on his table.

As I left he took out a rose and handed it to me and said I was the Queen of Cups. I really appreciated it a lot. I had not cried just listened so I cannot say I gave him much input. I could not talk as I freeze up when I am upset.
Then I was able to tell him and thank him. I lost his name though or would have searched him out. I always feel I did not do enough for him.

I always remember what kindness he showed to a perfect stranger and what tact. I was shy, insecure, lots of problems to be settled and hurting, not my usual self at all. If I could do that for someone I would be happy to be a Professional.

 

[Splungeman]

The way I see it, it's the same as a professional artist who goes to another's art show or a kung-fu master who visits and observes another kung-fu master's dojo. You've got to be actively involved in your craft, which includes exposing yourself to other styles and angles of approach and learning. I think of Tarot as an art, and as an art it is alive and always open to new ideas and methods. So getting a reading from another is just another way of learning and improving your own skills as a reader.

 

[Mellifluous]

My answer is no. I paid for a tarot reading once years ago, and a psychic reading once a few years before that.

Tonight I walked by a tarot shop. I walk by there pretty often and have never seen anyone coming in or out, but tonight there was a little elderly lady sitting on the porch doing a running sales pitch as people walked by. "Readings here... if you want one... no luck without one!" Horrible - and made me laugh.

 

[SunChariot]

Tonight I walked by a tarot shop. I walk by there pretty often and have never seen anyone coming in or out, but tonight there was a little elderly lady sitting on the porch doing a running sales pitch as people walked by. "Readings here... if you want one... no luck without one!" Horrible - and made me laugh.

What a terrible thing to do, you think she'd have learnt better by her age and have some moral values. You and I know that it has nothing to do with luck (that we do of course have luck without the cards) but some innocent passerbys may not know that or how Tarot works. It almost sounds like she is cursing them, saying that they will have bad luck if they don't come it. It really bothers me to see anyone unethical enough to use someone's fears against them to try and make them spend their money there.

I once went to a time share seminar where they tried to sell in that way saying how people who did not take vacations had much more heart attacks and die younger, so if you buy their time share you are really saving and prolonging your life. I was so put off by that means of selling!

Babs

 

[Emerald_Empress]

I went to a reading with my friend once. It was at a crowded market and they had a stall all set up with everything "new Age" . I was always a skeptic and told my friend I would sit with her while she had her reading. My friend had a blank face throughout the entire 10mins as I sat there carefully listening to everything the reader said. The reader ended with "And by the way you are psychic, something for you to learn" she said to my friend who was still looking blank. As we walked away we discussed the reading, she told me nothing appealed to her, nothing about the past was right and the future didn't seem to fit. We went over the reading as we were finishing our shopping when it actually struck me that the reading was about me, not her. Everything mentioned about the past happened to me, and everything about the future started unravelling for me. This was eerie but I used her advice to get into reading Tarot and Oracle cards.

 

[Mellifluous]

What a terrible thing to do, you think she'd have learnt better by her age and have some moral values. You and I know that it has nothing to do with luck (that we do of course have luck without the cards) but some innocent passerbys may not know that or how Tarot works. It almost sounds like she is cursing them, saying that they will have bad luck if they don't come it. It really bothers me to see anyone unethical enough to use someone's fears against them to try and make them spend their money there.

I once went to a time share seminar where they tried to sell in that way saying how people who did not take vacations had much more heart attacks and die younger, so if you buy their time share you are really saving and prolonging your life. I was so put off by that means of selling!

Babs

Yes, that was exactly what I thought: shame she's not above that at her age.

 

[Grizabella]

What a terrible thing to do, you think she'd have learnt better by her age and have some moral values. You and I know that it has nothing to do with luck (that we do of course have luck without the cards) but some innocent passerbys may not know that or how Tarot works. It almost sounds like she is cursing them, saying that they will have bad luck if they don't come it. It really bothers me to see anyone unethical enough to use someone's fears against them to try and make them spend their money there.

You know, this little old woman may not have been meaning that as a malicious statement. She might have been desperate to make a few dollars to buy her medication or even her night's meal. Maybe she just blurted that out to try to be humorous to draw in customers because she was hungry. You can't make snap, ill-informed judgments of her motives for doing it. The fact that nobody was seen there till then made my heart go out to her in reading that post. I know just how desperate times can get these days for those of us who don't have anything much to live on and no way to earn a living by working anymore.

 

[Mellifluous]

So do millions of other people including some of us here on the forum, I'm sure. That doesn't make scamming people or using unethical sales tactics OK. I suppose it is kindhearted to think that way, but also patronizing to the elderly to assume that's the case. A knee-jerk pity response is as ill-informed a judgment as any other. Maybe moreso.

In point of fact, the place is not decrepit and neither was she. She was just old. Who knows if she even owns it herself? Just because people aren't coming in and out whenever I happen to walk by doesn't mean there's no business. She (or they, whomever) must do well indeed, considering the location (prime), the state of the building (really nice, well kept and attractive), and the fact that it's been there for years. I have no doubt whatsoever she (or whoever owns the place anyway) is much better off financially than a lot of us here. You can't just open a business in that area with string, tape and an idea.

Personally, (and yes, I know it's bad to generalize, but) I've been thinking for a while that all of these individual tarot shops - neon sign or hand painted variety - use scams and unethical practices to stay open or to make a profit beyond staying open. It must be very expensive to have a storefront at all, and how else could you make that much money off of reading besides vastly overcharging and/or doing something unethical? (It's not a book or other type of metaphysical shop, nor is this a city where tourists come specifically for that kind of thing.) Doesn't make it OK though. Or pitiable, to me.

Consistently, in my observation, people who don't have their own shop seem to be more ethical and genuinely talented at reading. It's not only ironic but a real shame.