Six Tips to Finding an Honest Tarot Reader

Are you thinking about seeing a tarot or other psychic reader but are afraid you’ll be ripped off? Here are some simple tips to keep in mind when evaluating a reader or a reading.

How Much Will The Reading Cost For How Long:
Before you start, ask exactly how much the session will cost and how long it will be. If you don’t get a direct answer, that’s a red flag right away. Legitimate readers won’t be afraid to tell you how long the session will be and how much it will cost. Prices vary from reader to reader, but all of them know how long and how much their sessions are. After all, like any other businessperson, it’s up to them to determine their own rates. Don’t be taken in by anyone who claims, “the spirits decide how long the reading goes” or anything to that effect. A reading can be as long or as short as you and the reader wish. Please remember however, if the reading is really inexpensive, i.e. $5 to $25, don’t expect it to be a long one. Prices like that are for samples, not full readings.

Accuracy Percentages:
Beware of people claiming accuracy percentages, i.e. “Madame ZaZa is 100% accurate” or something like that. Of course you expect your reader to be accurate, but % claims are clearly spurious. Who’s doing the follow-up research to determine whether a read was accurate or not? I’d be really surprised if any of the readers who use this ploy ever do. And what would they mean by it anyway? If you come across a reader like this, before giving them a dime, ask them where they got their numbers and what they mean by accuracy.

Don’t Let Them Split You Up:
Some readers say that they won’t read for you with anyone else present. A reason once given to me was that secrets might be revealed that you wouldn’t want another person to hear. As far as I’m concerned, if a client chooses to let someone else be present during their reading, that’s their business, not the reader’s. I can only think that splitting friends up is a suspicious tactic. It’s a lot harder to convince someone of something dubious when their skeptical friend is present and watching out for them.

Watch Out For Grand Generalities:
Keep an open mind, but be cautious of generalities. Known as the Forer or Barnum Effect, there’s a psychological proclivity in humans to see our own personal situations in general descriptions that could easily apply to most people. Knowing this, it’s important to look beyond obvious general phrases. Watch out for patter like the following:

"You have a strong need for others to like and admire you, though you are often critical of yourself. You have vast stores of unused capacity that you haven’t even begun to tap. Though you have some personality weaknesses, generally speaking, you’ve managed to find ways to compensate for them. At times you have considerable doubt about whether or not you’ve made the right choices, but you pride yourself on your independent thinking and thus are fairly confident you’re doing the right thing. You might appear disciplined and controlled on the outside but underneath you worry, hiding your insecurities from others. You like change and variety and feel confined by restrictions and limitations. At times you’re extroverted, friendly, and sociable, while at other times, you’re introverted, wary and reserved. Occasionally, your aspirations are unrealistic."

It’s not that these traits are false. It’s just that on their own, they’re so open-ended they might accurately describe everyone. In fact, they describe being human. If what’s listed above is all that’s offered to you in your reading, you may have come across a charlatan. A legitimate reader might very well mention some of the traits above, but if they do, it should be within the context of your present life situation, not simply as a general character description. Furthermore, if you hear all of the above, recognize it for what it is – a script.

Beware of Flattery:
Try to resist the urge to fall for flattery. All of us are “good people” and all of us like to think well of ourselves. In fact, studies have shown that people are much more likely to accept as true positive descriptions of themselves rather than negative. Don’t let this human trait get the best of you. If the reader seems to find nothing but good to say about you and bad about others – watch out. Obviously we’re not all good (or at least not always) and if the reading is going to be valuable, it will address both your gifts and your challenges on both a general level and within the situation at hand. If it’s all black or all white, your alarms should go off.

Curses, Bad Karma, Winning Lottery Numbers and Lost Loves:
Don’t believe anyone who tells you that they can clear you of a curse, or bad karma, or help you win the lottery, or that they can manipulate another person’s behaviour. Anyone who says they can do these things is lying. Every single day I come across stories about people being seriously ripped off by these same old tricks and yet it doesn’t seem to stop. Please please know for sure that no tarot or psychic reader can bring your old lovers back to you or cause you to meet your soul mate (if there even is such a thing). No tarot or psychic reader has access to winning lottery numbers and none of them can clear your karma. All a reader can do for you is read – whether it’s the cards, the ether, your palm, tea leaves, yarrow sticks, entrails, whatever. That’s what you’re paying for and that’s all you should expect. A reading is a description of what’s going on, not a magical practice that manifests your desires. As is always the case – if it sounds too good to be true – it most likely is.

Psychic and Tarot readings can be a lot of fun and often provide valuable insights to your character and life situations. They don’t, however, provide miraculous solutions to the troubles in your life. More often than not, what they do is validate feelings and insights you’re already working through and describe situations you are already aware of. At their best, they also offer tools to help you go forward in the direction you’re seeking.

There are a lot of excellent legitimate readers out there. Be aware of the tricks of the more unscrupulous types, but don’t be afraid to get a reading. When done right, with the right intentions, a tarot or other psychic reading is a marvelous and highly beneficial experience.

psychic suit - the full story

There’s a man in Colorado who’s suing a psychic he claims he gave over $170,000. Apparently she had him give her money and buy gift cards from various stores to help increase his good energy and clear bad karma for him and his daughter. She said the money and cards would not be spent, only held by her for a while. The deal, according to the man suing, was that she would return the money, I guess when his karma was cleared up.

When the psychic moved to California without returning the cash, he sued her. At first blush, this is an obvious psychic fraud situation (see my blog entry you don't have a curse on you! Though I wondered why this guy was such an easy touch, I felt sorry for him and was firmly on his side in the case.

But as it turns out, what was not mentioned in the first two articles I read (in the Longmont Daily Times-Call and the KXLF radio report from Montana), was that the man suing had been in a romantic relationship with the psychic – for over a year no less! And he didn’t figure things out? I don’t know . . . .

If you ask me, that piece of information adds a whole new dimension to the story. The guy may have been defrauded of his money, but it doesn’t sound like a psychic fraud, or least that wasn’t the main issue. As one guy quoted by the Associated Press says, “I don’t believe there to be anything criminal, unless it’s against the law for a girl to break a guy’s heart”.

Kudos to the Associated Press, CBS4 Denver News, the Billings Gazette and Daily India.com for getting the more complete story out. There’s enough situations where so-called psychics and tarot readers are actually guilty of using metaphysics to defraud their clients. When there’s more to the story than that, it’s only fair to make that clear. Thanks.

in psychic and tarot news . . .

So I finally got some time to Google through recent psychic and tarot news. . . . Update . . . . It looks like Eastpointe, Michigan is going forward with their plans to crack down on psychics within their city limits. I still can’t help but think city council’s got some agenda outside of protecting seniors from potential fraud. By their own admission – they’ve had no problems with psychics in Eastpointe! What’s really driving them to act in such a seemingly discriminatory manner? I’ve got some ideas of my own, but I’d be interested in hearing what anyone else has to say. Take a look at what I wrote last month regarding this issue. psychic regulation in michigan . . . . A couple of news items I came across mentioned a 2005 Gallup poll indicating that three-quarters of all Americans believe in some form of paranormal activity (up from 50% in 1990). Given that the majority of North Americans claim to believe in one religion or another, this shouldn’t be too shocking – but by paranormal most people don’t seem to include the miracles of their faith. What they where talking about was ESP, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, communication with the dead, witches and reincarnation. I’m somewhat interested in how reincarnation made the paranormal list and heaven did not (there are many more people in the world whose religion includes reincarnation as a major tenet than those who believe in heaven), but that’s another story. What’s interesting about these articles is their exploration of attitudes towards psychics across the US. Apparently, book publishers seem to think interest is going down, while television seems to argue otherwise. Superstar mediums like Sylvia Brown and John Edward draw thousands to arena-like shows, while psychics in Northeast Mississippi are keeping a low profile. It’s all quite fascinating . . . . And finally . . . . at least according to this article, tarot reading in India is gaining in local respect. An article describing alternative careers names tarot card reading as a possible (and acceptable) career choice. They say parents might resist, but careers like tarot reading, feng shui consulting and food styling are moving into the Indian main stream. Hooray to that!