What Does It Mean To Be a 'Certified' Tarot Reader
In January 2020, before we went into COVID-19 quarantine, I was preparing to teach an intermediate tarot class and worked with another tarot practitioner who taught beginner tarot. There was interest from the community to learn more about tarot and it was exciting to create a destination for their interest. While discussing our teaching styles I mentioned a technique I’d seen when I was enrolled in a tarot certification class. This prompted a talk about the legitimacy and value of certification programs and if they’re worthwhile for the tarot practitioner and beneficial for the tarot client. As someone who pursued tarot certification early in her tarot studies I thought I’d write about the experience and how a tarot client might consider certification when selecting a tarot reader.
Let’s start with a definition of tarot certification, the scope of a tarot course, and what certification measures and doesn’t measure.
What Does It Mean to be a Certified Tarot Reader?
When I say I’m a certified tarot reader I’m communicating to clients and peers that I formally studied tarot and my work was evaluated by a tarot professional working in the field. I went beyond reading the guidebook included with a tarot deck, advanced beyond the self-study of reading general tarot books, and invested in a program that provided instruction, practice, group study, and evaluated my work. It was an investment of money, time and priority.
What Does Tarot Certification Teach?
Tarot certification is the process of studying, practicing and demonstrating proficiency with tarot cards. Most tarot certification programs focus on basic card definitions, organization of a tarot deck and understanding combined card meanings in a tarot spread. Typically there are memorization exercises, explanations on basic card symbolism, and overviews of tarot spreads.
The general approach for most tarot courses assume you’re initially learning tarot for personal use and encourage students to evaluate their tarot development in the context of their personal experiences. In other words, when you practice tarot pulls you’re doing so for personal use and evaluate the accuracy of that tarot pull against the events in your life. Instruction focuses on simple 1-2 card tarot pulls, encouragement to practice daily, and emphasis on journaling.
What Does a Tarot Course Actually Measure?
When I tested for my tarot certification I was required to get passing scores on tested material, submit a log of performed tarot readings, provide a statement of tarot ethics, and write tarot summaries for three hypothetical readings. I was given three sets of tarot cards and I was asked to display knowledge of card meanings and demonstrate an ability to synthesize into interpretations. I was given feedback on my interpretation by the creator of the tarot certification program.
The aim of this certification program ensured a reader not only knew card definitions but was capable of synthesizing card meanings into an intelligent digest. It assumed a reader had basic verbal and written communication abilities, it wasn’t going to teach you how to be a good communicator, and measured your tarot competency within your existing communication abilities.
What tarot certification doesn’t explicitly teach is development of psychic ability. Because psychic ability is personal and idiosyncratic it requires much more individual attention than a tarot course can provide. Instead, there is strong encouragement to use personal intuition and feelings when interpreting and evaluating accuracy of a tarot pull. In my experience with clients and prospective students their interest goes beyond understanding tarot concepts. Like with me, there is a sharp curiosity to actually develop their psychic abilities.
How Clients Should Use Tarot Certification When Selecting a Tarot Reader
I haven’t seen many professional tarot readers include tarot certification when promoting their services. Either they haven’t pursued tarot certification or find it unnecessary. If I were looking to book a professional tarot experience and saw that a reader had tarot certification it’d be one of several factors I’d consider but not necessarily the most important factor. Why?
Tarot certification can tell you about the commitment a tarot reader made towards investing in their craft. There is value when time and money are invested towards development of a skill - but there’s a limit to that value. Since there is no standardization for certification programs, no governing body, and no guidelines that establish tarot competency there is no guarantee that certification ensures a baseline ability. What one course may deem satisfactory competence could be wildly inadequate by any other standard. Anyone can create a tarot certification course and completion of a course doesn’t guarantee a tarot reader is talented in divination. It only means they learned tarot card meanings through the particular style of their teacher. If there isn’t widely accepted standards of tarot practice then we’re even further away from establishing baseline psychic ability.
Currently, there is no standardized way to evaluate the abilities of psychics and tarot readers. Psychic phenomena isn’t widely recognized as legitimate thus there is little oversight or guidance in measuring a practitioner’s ability. Tarot certification does nothing to remedy this shortfall. At best, a certification (like the one I used) requires a minimum number of practice readings that you must log. My certification program maintained a platform where strangers from across the world could submit a question that was assigned to a student for practice. In exchange for the reading the client was asked to provide feedback to the student. This service was a major factor in my choice of the program.
My Choice To Get Tarot Certification
Pursuing certification was driven by several considerations. I was serious about learning tarot and developing my psychic abilities and I could only go so far by practicing with myself. I needed to work with others to gauge the validity of my emerging psychic talent. The course I chose offered ways to both learn tarot and practice with my psychic talents, however, development of psychic ability wasn’t the thrust of the course. I was fine with that scope. I wasn’t going to learn everything I needed to know in one course. First, the basics.
I choose to share the status of my certification for two reasons: It takes years to build a client roster. As I create word of mouth and build upon referrals I need to also communicate to prospective clients that I take my craft seriously. Tarot reading is a crowded field with no shortage of attractive and entertaining readers on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. Listing my tarot certification is just one of the ways to convey I’m serious about being in this field.
One of the certificates I earned when I completed one of two modules. In May 2018 I completed the course and received a certificate that’s now somewhere in storage.
Furthermore, it was personally important to me that my work be evaluated by an established figure within the tarot community. I value accountability and I value objective evaluation of skill. I needed certification in order to confidently and responsibly pursue tarot.
Tarot certification helped me scale a significant hurdle I faced as I considered the moral and ethical implications of performing readings. I didn’t want to harm anyone because of my amateur skills. At least with the certification I knew I’d taken an important step towards being responsible when reading for others.
Certification doesn't guarantee every tarot reader operates at that standard of care and no client should look at certification for that reassurance. The care required of a professional tarot reader can only come from their inherent ethics.