Professional tarot readers

Hello forum!

Well I'm here at my retail job and being annoyed with the general lack of leadership and respect. So...tarot readers, how many of you have gone on from self-readings to reading for general public?

I would love love love to hear your stories of taking that first step. And advice! Everything and anything you want to share mainly I'm thinking on where do you read? Do you charge? How's the clientele? What got you going in that direction? What about your general education level? & tarot education?

Thanks for sharing i will be back in about an hour to share mine too but i haven't taken that step yet

There is a professional tarot subforum - you may find what you need there as of July 22nd, when it will be open to all members (Till then it is subscribers only). But I would be very surprised if ANYONE had gone directly from self-reading (if by that you mean reading for yourself) to reading for the public for money.

Oh. Well i was intrested in the journey, the end result is plentiful around this area. Ill see what that part of the forum has on Tuesday then

if you think customers are irritating or annoying at retail level, you should practice deflecting and defusing. One on one reading clients can be double or triple that and are often super needy whether they mean to be or not.

Sometimes people will book a reading just for fun, but mostly when people put out cash for answers or guidance they have a problem. And it is usually sore as a boil. Ooo people can be touchy

Any job is good practice for the next one if you do each one to the best of your ability.
You could also mentally turn each customer there into "what is this person's reading about"

Stuff slammed down on the counter? Just dumped someone for cause..wants to know why their didn't see the warning signs.

Slips something into pocket? Wants you to advise without telling you the subject.

and so on. Now isn't that fun?
welcome to AT!

I'm reading professionally again after a 23 year break, I'm working out of a new age store that also does body piercings and I really like my clientele. They're all sincere and respectful and trully enjoyable to read for.

It really does depend on the market. When I was 19-20, professional reading was illegal in the state I live in and the way to do it was in Tea Rooms, where your reading was the "free entertainment" with a very expensive cup of tea... there were typically frequented by the elderly and the superstitious and all the tea rooms in my city all had cliques of nasty people all putting curses on each other. They expected their readers to channel angels and spirits, visited you so regularly it was hard to find anything new to tell them after the 17th consecutive weeks, and were quite draining.

Every time I read from the markets, I would get the hostile client who figured that, since they're plonked down cash, then you had to earn it by being a magic psychic wizard and read their minds. You'd open with "How are you today?" and get something like "why don't you tell me? if you're any good..." and you really had your work cut out for you.Trying to explain to them that this might ideally be most productive for them if they treated it like a collaborative process was futile. They were just dying to get back to their friends and tell everyone you were no good because you don't know the name of their cousin's fourth child.

a lot of people on here who turn professional and who do it online, start by doing paid readings through websites which give them work. phone tarot and tarot readings for the big organisation networks. I think it's low paid and you can get difficult people but you can get higher tips and also it builds up your name and reputation. It's very hard to just go from full time job to tarot reader. Most people keep their job and gradually increase their paid tarot work and then slowly decrease the need for another job.

From an online approach (and offline) make a good website and brand for yourself. If you do a reading for someone, they will pass that on! Like Zedrex suggested you can do readings for places like new age shops and parties and events. It's important to make a name for yourself. I think the key is making a brand and / or making yourself known!

I am sure some of the pro readers on here also have excellent advice but I think the end goal is that you have regular customers who come back repeatedly. so it might be a good idea offline to do readings somewhere where people can find you or do social events where you sit in a corner. Online some people use the networks I talked about before and also etsy or promote readings from their website. Some people offer free readings till they become known. If you want to practice with 'the public' you could do a reading exchange here or take part in circles. There is also free reading networks online, you offer free readings and they have to give a review or feedback in return. just some ideas! I think it's a gradual change, gently try and get more and more work that way build up your experience and reputation!

Hi there and welcome to AT...

Boy do you know how to jump in the deep end...

Personally I used to do Pro readings but pulled out of it ...I now do it occasionally and only if someone is in dire straights...and for AT'ers here....That may change in the future ....

Usually the reader is the one that creates the environment for the clientele and the whole reading world that comes with Pro readings...

I had no real problems ...just observed the world that I had created and pulled out of it when I felt I had "been there, done that , and have the T shirt to prove it"...

My integrity was my helmsman...
If the accuracy wasn't there then the money was refunded...If the client was dissatisfied ,the money was refunded...no problems ..and sometimes I just couldn't get anything at all..the money was returned...Sometimes the readings were free also ...dependent on what intuitions dictated...

Sometimes when doing weekend markets I would do readings for whatever the client thought was fair or what they could spare...sometimes 50 cents ...usually for kids that were curious ...Some $1 readings turned out to have the clients pockets or purses emptied on the table in thanks...some clients have returned at later markets and handed over $50 bucks for readings I did previously...always a surprise ...some markets ,nothing ...

Again...I stopped doing it because my intuitions said, enough...The money was a bonus ,not the foundation for readings...

misser_piggit said:

Hello forum!

Well I'm here at my retail job and being annoyed with the general lack of leadership and respect. So...tarot readers, how many of you have gone on from self-readings to reading for general public?

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I was one.

misser_piggit said:

I would love love love to hear your stories of taking that first step.

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I had been reading for friends, did some at a festival and 'the first step' to full public was when a friend asked me if I wanted to share her market stall. She sold essential oils and incense at one end and I did tarot at the other.

misser_piggit said:

And advice! Everything and anything you want to share mainly I'm thinking on where do you read?

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It was a large Community Market, in a fairly alternative area.

misser_piggit said:

Do you charge?

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I asked for a small set fee or donation. Sometimes I would be asked how much I wanted, that varied between $5 for a single mum or the financially disadvantaged through to $100 from a woman dripping in gold and jewels .

misser_piggit said:

How's the clientele?

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Varied. After a while you get regulars ... if you are any good at it

misser_piggit said:

What got you going in that direction?

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Intrinsic makeup? ... fate ... ? Not sure what the question means ... I've always been going in this direction.

misser_piggit said:

What about your general education level? & tarot education?

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Fairly extensive and comprehensive ..... I keep realising. But that is relative, the general education levels in some places - seems appalling ! And often its quiet high in places , that those other places would not suspect.

I would hope that anyone that purported to be able to read my cards was well educated, and well educated in tarot ... I have had a reading in the past where the reader was embarrassingly incompetent ... yet they were set up publicly and wanted to be paid for it.

The friend that had the market stall helped me 'get on my feet' and boosted my confidence to be able to start. I helped another get started once as well ; a bit of coaching, encouragement, child minding when she was reading ... I even made the fold up reading table for her.

It might be good to get some support when starting.

misser_piggit said:

Hello forum!

Well I'm here at my retail job and being annoyed with the general lack of leadership and respect. So...tarot readers, how many of you have gone on from self-readings to reading for general public?

I would love love love to hear your stories of taking that first step. And advice! Everything and anything you want to share mainly I'm thinking on where do you read? Do you charge? How's the clientele? What got you going in that direction? What about your general education level? & tarot education?

Thanks for sharing i will be back in about an hour to share mine too but i haven't taken that step yet

Click to expand...

What does this mean? You will be back in about an hour to share yours but you haven't taken that step yet. In that case, what will you be sharing? (And it's now 5 hours later.)

My professional reading experiences have been sporadic, but from it all, this is the advice I would give. Some of it may sound forbidding, but these are only the guidelines that have helped me.

If you are a newbie, start with people you know (read for free, donation or exchange) and if they are happy with the reading, encourage them to spread the word. Word of mouth is always your best PR tactic.

Advertise publicly only when you are more experienced - newspaper ads and shop notices may attract wonderful people to read for, but also unsuspected nasties. Eg, challengers who expect you to know the name of their uncle's dog; the naggers who want to hear only their preferred outcome; or seedy creeps who are drawn to things 'occult' and want you to hex someone for them. This is worst case scenario, but you need to think how you would deal with them.

I'd be cautious about doing readings in your home unless you know the client already. Even if there is someone else in the house for security, you won't know anything about the person who answered your ad until after you've given them your address. (I'm speaking as someone who has at one time been stalked.)

For this reason also, give only your mobile phone number for contact. If you can afford it, maybe keep a second phone purely for tarot bookings, and have it off until you are ready to take calls. The last thing you need at dinnertime or three AM is a client in crisis desperate for a reading. You are a tarot reader, not an emergency helpline!

On that topic, if a client presents with a problem beyond your capacity to advise, suggest they call a lawyer, doctor, counsellor, therapist, or whomever they might need.

My best experience as a reader was in a New Age bookshop. I had a private table with candles, crystals and pleasant background music, the counter staff took my bookings and payment and would pass the money to me at the end of the day, minus their very reasonable commission. I never had an unpleasant encounter while reading there. If you can organise something like that in a bookstore or cafe, it might be a worthwhile option.