I saw a post by Ethony on her site by the same title, that was apparently inspired by the Left Hand Path (website no longer available), and I thought the questions were pretty good. I’ve touched on these points here and there over the years in posts and videos, but it might be really nice to have the answers all in one place so you can know a little bit more about me and my background in a more organized fashion. And I’ll try not to ramble.
1. Were you mentored or were you self-taught?
Both! (This is going to be a theme, I’m just warning you)
My mother was a tarot reader when I was growing up and my first deck was a gift from a girl friend of hers when I was nine years old (oh, so much cred!). But my mother’s style of mentorship was to give me her favorite tarot book to study from and then offer to answer any questions I might come up with during my studies. Looking back, this seems odd, but at the time, seemed perfectly normal. The book she gave me was The Pictoral Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, which I despise to this day (except as an example of how terrible older tarot books are), so I ended up getting and studying many more books over the years, though I DID ask my mother questions when I was particularly stuck.
It’s obvious now, looking back, that she had learned in a different environment than I – she had learned alongside friends and her father, and had a much more intuitive style than what I was learning on my own.
It wasn’t until after she died when I was in high school, though, that I really felt I had a good and thorough understanding of the tarot (which was nowhere near as good and thorough as my understanding of it is now).
What was REALLY valuable, though, was watching her give people readings, seeing her interact with her querants, and learning how she held this vulnerable and emotional space for people. She was not only able to answer the questions they were asking, but also the questions they were not asking that they REALLY needed the answers to.
2. Are you a psychic or a tarot reader?
Again, I’m going with both.
I firmly believe that everyone is psychic and that tarot cards are just ink and paper, with nothing inherently magical about them. They are simply a tool that allows us to interface with our own inherent psychic and intuitive abilities in a way that makes it easier to bypass our conscious, doubting minds.
Personally, my most prominent abilities used in readings are empathy, claircognizance, precognition, and, occasionally, mediumship.
3. Are your predictions accurate and is accuracy important to you?
Yes and yes.
Of course, I am not 100% accurate, and no one is at anything. There is no plumber who always gets their job done correctly the first time, no accountant, no file clerk, no grocery bagger. Expecting such of a human is foolishness and for anyone to claim such is hubris. My weakest point of accuracy is timing, but I am working on it. Still.
But accuracy is incredibly important to me. If the information I am getting about the past, present, or future is not accurate, then I am not going to be able to provide valuable or proper insights or guidance. Or, at least, they won’t be AS valuable.
There are often times when I am working against my own accuracy – or, in other words, I am helping my clients to change a future outcome I am seeing for them – so if I do this properly, they will be able to change what I’ve seen into something better for them, which messes with my accuracy rates, but in the best way possible. But this is extremely important to me because I don’t see any point in looking at the future (or the past or present) if we can’t use that information to make informed decisions.
I am much reassured, however, that my accuracy in reading things that are in the past is very high (as reported via feedback) and that is very, very important to me.
Also, I have a stellium in Virgo, so there’s that.
4. Is there anything you can’t predict in a reading?
Absolutely can’t? No. Can’t reliably? Yes. As I already mentioned, I am bad with timing, but I’m also bad at numbers. So, dollar amounts are also an issue for me, as are inventory amounts, item numbers, dates, or, of course, lottery numbers.
Beyond that, there’s a matter of “won’t” – these things are usually because they are illegal (such as legal, medical, or financial advice) or because they are unethical or skeeve me out – and, yes, I’ve been in situation where someone has asked me a question I was not prepared for and I decided on the spot that I was not going to be answering that question. People are FAR too creative and varied for me to give a comprehensive list or decision matrix for how I determine these things. I’m pretty open-minded about most things, but I have also met some very strange people with no sense of boundaries or ethics.
5. Do you use only tarot or are you multidisciplinary?
I am SO multidisciplinary.
First, are we just talking divination or are we including energy work, magic, alternative disciplines…?
Let’s stick to divination for the sake of context. As much as I LOVE tarot, I actually love oracle decks a lot more. These are my go-to when I’m reading for myself or if I’m going to deep-dive on a topic with someone. But my favorites when it comes to enjoyment-of-use are shufflemancy and memency – using music on a shuffled playlist or memes on social media to read on situations and answer questions. I also use runes, dice, iChing, numerology, synchronicities, dream interpretations, animal appearances, scrying and so many things I cannot remember them all for divination. In studying for so long, there are few divination techniques I haven’t studied at some point and worked into my tool bag in some way. I REALLY have a passion for divination!
6. Is the message in the cards or is the message in your head?
The message starts out in the ether somewhere, ends up in my head, and then is expressed via the cards, which I then use my mind to interpret. The cards are just a way for my unconscious/intuitive mind to communicate with my conscious mind.
I might have some bias in that this is the way I was taught tarot by my mother, but it is also upheld by my own experiences. When my mother lost her limbs a few years before she died, she tried to continue reading the cards for people, but we never found a system that worked well for her. Not being able to shuffle her own cards or deal them out really messed with her flow. And as she always believed (and taught) that the cards were just a tool to access your own unconscious, she decided it was time to take the leap to reading without her cards – and she did so very successfully.
I, too, am able to read without my cards, though I prefer to use them when I can since it is faster, easier, and better focused when I do. But my readings go far BEYOND what I get from the cards, it is very much that they are a tool to focus my mind and give me a starting point, rather than acting as the entire delivery stystem.
7. Are you a priest or a fortune-teller?
Honestly, I’m not sure what the difference is? Or what the nature of this question really is? But I’ll take a stab at it. Of course, I’m going to go with “both” again.
I think we are all connected to whatever divine nature(s) is out there – and I DO tell people what their futures hold, so…? And telling folks what their futures held used to be a function of the priesthood once-upon-a-time, before it was heresy.
But, if you are curious, I am an ordained minister as well, and I take my role in the community very seriously.
8. Are you a ‘fixer’ or a ‘looker?’
Well, if the reading is for me, then I’m both, but if it isn’t, then I’m just a ‘looker.’ I have no control over other folks’ lives, whether or not I want that to be true, so all I can do is tell them what I see and support them in fixing what they’d like to. It’s really up to them to fix their stuff, and if they don’t, then that is on them.
9. Do you read for free or for a fee?
Well, readings are my bread and butter, so I’m reading for a fee. I’d be lying if I said I never read for free, but this is certainly not an invitation to try to discover those circumstances.
10. Is there anything you won’t predict in a reading?
Whoops! I covered this in the “can’t” question above – number 4! But it’s probably worth repeating – I won’t give medical, legal, or financial advice and I won’t read on things that skeeve me out or otherwise feel unethical.
So, there we have it! The 10 questions! If you are also a tarot reader, I’d LOVE to hear your answers! Do you feel the same as me or have wildly different opinions? Do you think there’s an even MORE important question that has been tragically overlooked? Let me know!
