The well-dressed man sat down at my tarot table and began shuffling cards. His face was a stone mask. He didn't want to give anything away. Not even a smile.
He studied my eyes for a moment and looked around my office, scrutinizing every detail intensely. I imagined that he was looking for some sort of trapdoor or magic trick—maybe a ghost. There was nothing of the sort. Just plain old me and my tarot cards.
After a long while, he put down the deck, cut the cards with his left hand per my instructions, and put them back together in a neat little pile. Once again, his face registered nothing. He sat back and crossed his arms, and I began to turn over the cards.
A story unfolded before me of lost love, challenges finding a new partner, and a job change that left him feeling displaced. Details began to emerge with each turn of a card, and I started looking at what might be ahead. A new position and better relationship were in the cards—once he made some changes. Those changes had to do with his anger problem, something he didn't like to acknowledge out loud but which seethed through his pores. (I think he was even mad that someone gifted him this tarot reading!)
I didn't ask him for confirmation, nor did I bother to look at him. I never look at the client when I read. I just kept turning over the cards and reading until I felt done. When that moment arrived, I looked up and asked, “Any questions?” The mask was gone, replaced by wide eyes and a trembling mouth.
“Uh . . . that was pretty amazing,” he stammered, but then his eyes narrowed. “How do I know you didn't just Google me?”
“Since I didn't take your last name when I booked the appointment, that would be pretty impossible.”
Mic drop.
His jaw was in his lap. He's been a client and a believer ever since.
My goal when I read tarot isn't to make anyone believe anything. My mission is always to help and guide. Tarot is my preferred tool for that. But those cards, much like any tool, need a power source to work well. My readings are powered by intuition.
I never had any formal training. For me, reading the cards came naturally because I'm a visual person, and I had the good fortune of growing up in a household that valued intuition. Omens and signs were something to be respected, not ignored. If Mom got one of her “visions,” you'd better believe that something was up in the cosmos.
Everything was a sign.
I knew to pay close attention to those messages from the Universe before I even knew how to tie my shoes. So when I began my journey with tarot, it was easy for me to dive in, study the symbols, and intuit what they meant. Sometimes those meanings were not traditional interpretations.
One time, for example, I pulled the Five of Swords for a woman and warned her of a hostile takeover of her company, which she admitted was happening at the time of the reading. Another time I was doing a reading for a man about his father who had passed on, and the name I got as I turned over the Judgement card was “Barry.” When I asked him who Barry was, his face blanched, and he said, “My uncle. He died a few months before my father.”
How did I get that? Where does this information come from? How on earth can that be seen in a tarot deck?
In this book, we're going to explore the basics of intuitive tarot reading—how to read the cards in a perceptive, sensitive fashion. You'll learn about seeing patterns and clues in the images and what story they might be telling about the querent. Lots of little exercises and journaling prompts throughout the book will help you embody the energy of the cards, see the story they are telling, and learn to trust your gut (it's wiser than you think).
Plus, there's a chapter on going pro because, for some, this work may become a calling. If that's you, I want to show you the ropes so you can avoid the mistakes that I've made. I'm also a storyteller, so you'll find plenty of stories about my work that will help you get a glimpse into the real-life practice of someone who has read for the public for forty years (some of these are tales of horror!).
By the time you finish with this manual, you will be reading the tarot with full confidence in your instincts. No little white book necessary. Ready? Let's begin!
Blessings,
Theresa Reed