How To Get Most Out of Your First Tarot Reading, My Advice
Your phone buzzes. The reminder pops up for your tarot appointment next Saturday. You wonder, perhaps hopefully, what the tarot reader can reveal. You’ve never been to a psychic before and don’t know what to expect. Will it be like the t.v. psychics were information seems to arrive out of thin air? Can the psychic read your mind? Fingers crossed they have good news, right?
What Happens In a Tarot Reading?
If you’ve never been to a psychic it’s hard to imagine the experience. My first tarot experience I wondered the entire time if I was doing it right. You do introductions and depending on the length of your session the psychic may jump right into the divination. My early tarot experiences I sat very still and almost immediately started wondering, “Is tarot like a therapy session? Am I supposed to talk? Should I keep all the details to myself? How much will the psychic already know? Can I even open up to a stranger? Maybe I just won’t say much and see what happens.”
“How much will the psychic already know?”
I was so clueless. I had no idea what to expect from the reader. Honestly, I felt overwhelmed by the intensity of the one-on-one interaction. I was sitting in the backroom of crystals shop, air was thick with patchouli, and I was staring at a stranger while he disclosed details about my personal life. Do I chime in? Do I speak up about the information that feels off? Do I admit that I’m secretly hoping to hear about romance? Shouldn’t the psychic know that I want to hear about love? Right?
Now that I’m on the other side of the table giving the readings I want to help the tarot-curious have a good experience. Nothing really prepares you for your first psychic reading and here are a few recommendations for getting the most out of your reading.
#1 Be Honest (with Yourself) About The Expectations for the Session
Ever since I started reading professionally I’ve attracted psychic first-timers. Almost all of them tell me, “I’m just here to see what comes up”, which means I’ll start with a general reading. With general readings we are, in essence, asking the Universe to tell us what’s on Its Mind regarding your future. The thing is, with general readings there is no telling what the nature of the message will be. I’ve delivered equal parts optimistic, neutral, and discouraging messages. Whatever the quality of the message they are always beneficial if not entirely exciting or pleasing. That’s the nature of divination. You’re petitioning the Universe for insight, asking to see a small slice of your future.
Even after explaining the nature of a general reading they can still startle a client. When a client jumps into their first psychic reading it can be jarring because they are either hearing about a topic of little interest to them, e.g. like all the fighting happening in their work situation, or they hear about upcoming changes that catch them off guard. It’s only when they’re in the middle of reading and unsure what to do with the incoming information that the client realizes they were hoping for good news. hearing about topics that weren’t of interest do they realize that they actually needed to get an omen for comfort or were hoping to hear of a new opportunity in their life. Unfortunately, this tends to happen in the last 10 minutes of the session and we run out of time.
“How often do you get to speak to the Universe and it talk back to you?”
That’s why I encourage you to interrogate your motives for getting a reading. Clients tend to book appointments when they’re going through rough patches, are restless, or are looking for a novel experience. Be candid with yourself about what you need to hear in order to keep going. Even if you tell yourself that you’re just going to see the psychic for fun…you are probably, actually, hoping to hear good news. But if you come with that mindset, that it’ll be just for fun, then you’re selling the experience short. How often do you get to the speak to the Universe and it talk back to you?
Make the most of your psychic session by being forthright about what you need, where your appetite isn’t satisfied, and your unfulfilled hopes. Divination guides you forward whether the wind is at your back or you’re leaning into headwinds. A professional reader holds space for your psychological, emotional and spiritual needs without judgement - take advantage of it.
#2 It’s Okay to Feel Skeptical About the Psychic Experience
So little is known about psychic phenomena that it’s okay to feel both curious and unsure about opening up to a psychic. The majority of my first time clients come to their sessions with doubt and they say very little during the session. Most times I don’t even get a question from the client. Instead they wait to hear if I can speak truth to their situation before they feel comfortable enough to ask questions or share details of their life.
What I urge you to consider, however, is not to use your session to ‘prove’ psychic phenomena is legitimate. There are ways and forums for these discussions and you’re encouraged to dive deep into the topic. It’s beyond the scope of this post but there is much to consider when evaluating para-sensory intelligence. A personal session shouldn’t be approached as a pass/fail test though. Personal divination is a vulnerable exchange for both the psychic and the client. It involves concentration, symbolism, translation and interpretations. As such, the quality of the psychic intelligence channeled is greatly influences by the client’s headspace, the psychic’s spiritual practice, the communication talents of the psychic, and most importantly the plasticity of the client to map the psychic’s descriptions to the narrow markers of personal memory, people and places. Psychic should show a connection to details from your life but it’s not the time for Mythbusters. Scanning for inconsistencies or faults in the information, while protecting you from feeling like you’ve been had by a fraud, won’t get you the outcome you seek. You booked a psychic session hoping for a transcendent experience so you must believe those moments are possible.
What helps you the most in preparing for a session is to know that both the psychic and the client have pronounced influence over the quality of the experience. The clients who came to the session invested in the experience, interested to work with the message while balancing a detachment to outcomes seem to make more connections during a session. In other words, clients who are less guarded and more receptive, show more success recognizing divination and the events of their lives. It’s a delicate act of being expansively receptive while flexible enough to map divination to the specifics of their lives. What shouldn’t happen is that you sit through your entire reading and everything falls flat. That’s not a good experience for you and the psychic is likely struggling too. I’ve had a session with a talented psychic but I didn’t really see my life come through in the session. It doesn’t mean the psychic is a fraud or that divination isn’t valid but it can mean there simply wasn’t a connection between me and the psychic. Not all patients hit it off with their doctors and not all students understand their teachers. It happens.
“Good tarot readings are mix of details you recognize that point towards a future you can’t see on your own.”
In short the quality of a psychic session varies by mileage for each person. Candidly, you’ll likely hear things that reflect your life AND you’ll also hear things you don’t recognize. In my opinion, good readings are a mix of recognition of information from your life that sits alongside new insights. I tell my clients that it’s okay to be honest if they aren’t connecting with the message coming through in their reading. Preparing for that scenario, rather than approaching the session as Mythbusters, is the key to a good experience.
#3 Participate in the Psychic Session
I mentioned earlier that new clients, especially first time clients, are reluctant to divulge anything in a reading. For some clients it’s a test to gauge the legitimacy of the reader. For other clients they don’t want to bias the reader by front-loading their concerns. Both motivations are entirely valid and I often ask new clients not to initially share details so that we can get a clean reading.
“The most rewarding sessions occur when you feel safe with the tarot reader, trust the information coming forward and feel the instinct to participate. ”
However, if you find that you’re in the middle of the reading and have the instinct to share or validate the details coming through I encourage you to speak up. Trust the instinct to share because it makes for a better experience. Not only does it reassure both you and the psychic that connection has been bridged but the psychic can refine the message. For example, if I get the Six of Swords, on its face value it can be one of several things: troubled passage, help with providing mental clarity, relocation, emotional turbulence interfering with comprehension of an issue, the arrival of supportive person. If you’re the client and you hear one of those phrases and think, “Yeah, I have been thinking of moving but it doesn’t feel right” or “I was going to move but the timing was bad” then share that with the psychic. First, it acts to narrow down the range of meanings. Two, the psychic then knows this is an important topic. There is a reason it came up in the session and it’s worthwhile to discuss it at greater length.
In my readings I tend to pick up on emotional truths and consequential influences but I don’t always see personal details in high resolution. For example, I can detect a positive female influence in your life but I may not know if it’s a family member or friend. Sometimes more detail comes through like the person being a colleague. If you’re into the reading and feel confident that reader is on your wavelength then know that you are welcome to participate in the reading - especially if you get a flash of insight or want to drill into a detail. Having psychic ability doesn’t mean I’m omnipotent or that I have comprehensive knowledge about your life. What it means is that I’ve cultivated a method for receiving psychic intelligence. None of us get to know everything but those who are discriminating and trusting of the divination process understand it’s an exchange between client and psychic. It’s collaborative.
#4 Psychic Readings Can Sometimes Feel Intimate and Intense (and Thus Awkward)
How many times will you sit across from a stranger and reveal what troubles you? or confess that you’re lonely? How many times will someone look at you for an hour and talk to you about your life? Let’s be real for a moment. Sitting with a psychic, someone that isn’t supposed to know anything about your life yet somehow lands on sensitive points can be intense (initially). I’ve been that client sitting across from a psychic feeling both in awe of her abilities and also slightly trespassed upon. Once, there was a psychic that made me feel like she was walking around inside my head. Part of me loved that someone could know my emotional truths but the other part of me felt overwhelmed by it too.
I took my first experiences and built a practice around trying to make clients feel safe and supported. It takes a few attempts to really feel at ease working with a psychic, especially when emotional truths come through in readings. Knowing that the session is being led by a trusted and caring psychic can make all the difference.
#5 Prepare for your Reading
After you’ve finally settled on a reader and booked your appointment consider setting time aside to gather your concentration. Sit with your skepticism and be honest with yourself about any reservations you may have about psychic experiences. It’s okay to be both curious and unsure. Think ahead if you’re going to share the experience with family and friends, or choose to keep it private. What do you need to know in order to feel like the experience was worthwhile? Did you book the reading out of emotional need? boredom? seeking specific answers?
I challenge you with these questions because to go into a reading with untamed, circling thoughts will make it harder for you to work with the information that comes through. The best client experiences occur when clients come in with a truly open mind and open heart. Which isn’t to say they unconditionally believe in psychic intelligence but it does mean they let their emotional guard down. They’re willing. They’re pragmatic. They’re realistic while allowing space for psychic guidance. Both myself and clients have been blown away by the quality of information that comes through in our readings. I largely attribute it to the headspace of the client and the openness of their emotional heart to receiving insight. For my part I come into my readings having prepared with mediation and dedication to causing no harm. I challenge myself to be of service to the client and hold space for beneficial psychic insight to reach the client. Having myself and the client prepare for readings is the most important step towards a productive session.
I hope these tips help you with your first or next psychic session. May they help you move through your next tarot session with ease.