So who's a tarot coach?

[Carla]

I just ran across this term today and googled it to see what was out there.

http://tarot-coaching.com/coaching

http://www.livingtarot.co.uk/tarotcoaching.htm

http://www.under-one-roof.net/life-coach/coaching-Tarot.html

So...how is this different from tarot reading? Isn't it the same thing? It certainly seems to be the style of reading that I do. I'm not entirely comfortable with 'predictive' readings, although I will try them if asked...I never thought of it that way, but I do prefer a sort of 'life coach' style reading.

Is the term 'tarot coaching' a fad? Or is it actually different from 'reading'?

 

[tarotcognito]

I have a funny feeling it's a buzzword - like "paradigm" and "Justin Bieber." In other words, it's currently fashionable.

I think using the word "coaching" with respect to Tarot readings is similar to using the expression "Tarot advisor" or "Tarot consultant" or "Tarot counsellor." The underlying idea is that it aims at lending a degree of "seriousness" and "credibility" to the person doing Tarot readings. Kind of like trying to say, "I'm not just a Tarot reader. Anyone can read Tarot cards. I'm more serious than that."

That's just my two cents and I could be totally off-base, but that's just the impression I get. I think it's just another buzzword.

 

[Carla]

I have a funny feeling it's a buzzword - like "paradigm" and "Justin Bieber." In other words, it's currently fashionable.

I think using the word "coaching" with respect to Tarot readings is similar to using the expression "Tarot advisor" or "Tarot consultant" or "Tarot counsellor." The underlying idea is that it aims at lending a degree of "seriousness" and "credibility" to the person doing Tarot readings. Kind of like trying to say, "I'm not just a Tarot reader. Anyone can read Tarot cards. I'm more serious than that."

That's just my two cents and I could be totally off-base, but that's just the impression I get. I think it's just another buzzword.

I think you're right, Canadian Girl.

 

[MareSaturni]

It's just a title. A way to call yourself.

It might be a buzzword, like Canadian Girl said, but ultimately it is an option. Some readers don't like to call themselves "tarot readers" or "fortune-tellers". Some work with a public that doesn't take these titles very well, who have prejudice against this sort of thing, so they had to come up with another way to explain what they do.

"Tarot Coach" is the newest option.

I don't think it's bad or good. I think a reader must look for a title that better explains what they do, according to their own beliefs. I think it's a bit of a prejudice to just assume that they are trying to "sound more serious" than other readers. In fact, nothing in the three sites you posted seemed to suggest that - they are just offering tarot readings and guidance, like everyone else.

The same thing happened years ago with the title "Tarot Reader". Before that many people called themselves "Fortune-Tellers", but it became related to scam and fake gypsies, so everyone who did not want to be associated with that would call themselves "Tarot Reader" instead. Now it's a standard title, but for a while it was a 'buzzword' too.

I personally would call myself 'fortune-teller' or 'cartomancer', specially because I work with playing cards. But if I noticed that this title drove people away for any reason, I'd have no problems in calling myself something in the lines of 'Tarot Coach' or 'Tarot Consultant'.

 

[Aerin]

Well, coaching is meant to be about believing that the other person (in this case the querent) has all the answers and just need the right questions to bring that out. What a coach doesn't do is to tell them/ advise them. So personally if I went to a tarot coach I would expect them to ask the sorts of questions that enabled ME to read the cards and to work out what the advice was and so-on.

But I suspect that, for some, it is just a marketing ploy without serious thought behind it - if so and I went I'd feel cheated.

 

[tarotcognito]

You make a good point, Marina. I agree with you that calling oneself "Tarot coach" or "Tarot consultant" or whatever other title is neither bad nor good. It's just a way to describe an aspect of oneself, and as such is as valid an option as any. I guess my post must have come off as sounding a bit cynical - that wasn't my intention. I was thinking of how nowadays, "customer service" is being referred to as "customer experience," the implied message being that "getting service" isn't good enough unless you're having an "experience" -no matter what kind. Travel experience, movie experience, shopping experience.

And I understand how some readers would want to distance themselves and the services (experiences? LOL) they offer from scams and frauds in the field by adopting a different title. It makes sense. I would call myself something I felt comfortable with, and that, ultimately, is what matters.

 

[moderndayruth]

Is the term 'tarot coaching' a fad? Or is it actually different from 'reading'?

There are people , like Alec Satin, who are both pro counselors and Tarot readers too; to me they use the term rightfully, as per the rest ... don't know, the comparison with 'paradigm ' is ideal; i just had it as a sub-question on the exam in History and Philosophy of science... i did know the definition of the term, who introduced it and when ( Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962 ); i even managed to explain what does it mean to me personally... but even my (celebrity in the filed) professor rofled and said that when he graduated there wasn't such a thing as paradigm...

 

[MareSaturni]

I was thinking of how nowadays, "customer service" is being referred to as "customer experience," the implied message being that "getting service" isn't good enough unless you're having an "experience" -no matter what kind. Travel experience, movie experience, shopping experience.

Yes, you are right
I just based my opinion in the sites Carla showed us, and none of them had that 'feel' for me. That's why I said that some people may choose 'tarot coach' simply because it's how they prefer to see themselves. Although I have to agree that, sometimes, people use names to imply theat they offering something better than it actually.

Like MDR said, I know some good and trustworthy reader that call themselves 'coaches'. I think the idea is to imply that they'll not just read the cards, collect the money and kick you out. They'll help you to understand how to better use the message given in the cards - like a coach. So I think the name is valid.

And I understand how some readers would want to distance themselves and the services (experiences? LOL) they offer from scams and frauds in the field by adopting a different title. It makes sense. I would call myself something I felt comfortable with, and that, ultimately, is what matters.

There are some pretentious readers out there (and some scam too), and you can usually recognize them in the first three sentences of their websites - and they go by any name!

I was going to put Marina: Tarot with a Bitchy Twist in my card, but I think that wouldn't get me many customers, right? LOL!

 

[AJ]

If I saw the term somewhere I'd immediately think of someone who trained readers to be better readers, isn't that what a coach does? Develop underdeveloped talents?

Something we do free here all day long, both the giving and the taking...

 

[IheartTarot]

To answer your title question Carla, assuming it isn't rhetorical, this is the main one I am aware of (and yet I don't see the word on her website now):

http://twitter.com/#!/TarotCoach
http://www.tarotreadingsite.com/


alec keeps changing his title/byline and I am having a hard time keeping up with him (sorry alec! ). I am not sure if he has settled on a permanent one yet.

I admit to having a prejudice against the word (so there is no need to tell me that), or anyone in the divination game who alludes to being a psychologist who isn't. It reeks of commercialism. Life coaching is big business and I am constantly bombarded with offers for courses on life coaching which I don't really aspire to. When I tried to study metaphysics locally, I was steered in that direction so now I just buy books and study at home alone. If I wanted to do that, I would have studied psychology.

I don't have a problem with psychologists and actual life coaches using Tarot, but I do have a problem with Tarot readers using the title for marketing reasons.