Page 34 - 2018 Readers Studio Program Book

How Reading Tarot Professionally Makes Us
c Community Educators and Inspires Personal Growth c by Sarah Barry
Reading tarot for the public gives us the opportunity to dispel societal myths on a daily basis. As we regularly meet with a broad cross-section of society, our confidential conversations with the public intersect with judgemental concepts we have acquired, and if we work wisely, those judgements can start to roll away.
Through this process we give our clients a more powerful service and we ourselves can only grow. As intimate conversationalists with an incredibly diverse crowd, we gather insights and become aware of patterns coursing through our communities.
How many times did the 10 of Swords or The Emperor turn up today? How many people are confused about which lover to choose? How many people are wondering if they can get permanent residency in this country (I live in a port town, Sydney, so this one is common in my neck of the woods). How many folk want to know how they can assist and support their child to grow and be the best human they can be? How many people want to know if they will be happy, or wonder if they will have another episode of their mental illness, or if they can trust themselves to truly receive the love that is being shared with them from a new partner?
We get to see the challenges that people face, depending on their circumstances, that are compounded by the laws of the day and the prejudices of the era.
We have the opportunity to greet people living in ways we cannot personally imagine for ourselves and give them a really good and grounded witnessing to their life rather than judgement or shallow advice.
We get to blast a hole in society’s and the media’s limited grasp on reality. When the status quo deems that sex workers should find other work, I know from my experience as a tarot reader sitting with thousands of people that actually it’s far more common for a corporate worker to be highly dissatisfied with their job, than a sex worker. It then becomes apparent to me how society has tried to make me pity some and nod approvingly to others. I notice I have been taught to superficially summarise things into ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, ‘ideal’ or ‘not-ideal’.
I then get to see how we’re constantly fooled by casual bigotry: a prejudicial smack-down about someone’s work, body size, body ability, gender identity, or orientation.
We come to realise that sometimes the road ahead just simply sucks, and that our clients may not want a sweet positive mantra to get them through, but rather the relief that comes with being witnessed fully, with compassion and grace. For some, the path just isn’t easy, and we do them no favours by making shit up.
As tarot readers we are in a treasured position to be excellent allies to those who are oppressed on a daily basis.
So perhaps we can ask ourselves questions like, “Am I being an honourable witness to this human’s life?”, “Am I allowing previous conditionings to interfere with reality?”, “Can I listen to this person with my understanding of the tarot cards and of how it really feels to sit with them right now, without any past prejudice, or previous experience clouding my witnessing? Can I simply listen without ‘fixing’ and let my own natural wisdom arise in this moment as it’s meant to?”, “ Can I use language that includes rather than isolates?”
I personally know that when someone unthinkingly assumes the pronoun to describe my partner is ‘he’, I experience discomfort, sometimes anger or frustration at my beautiful relationship’s invisibility. If they had used the gender-neutral pronoun ‘they’ without making assumptions, I wouldn’t have had that processing to do, over one little word.
Our words hold weight, and we are in a unique position to use them well.
Learning of the all the work that is done in our communities to cross divides, lower barriers and dismantle systems founded in oppression means we can wholly experience the fullness of the work we do. By honouring our behind-the-scenes interactions with our community, we have a beautiful opportunity to bring more connection into situations that are in dire need of it. We all have our part to play.
Being at Readers Studio in 2015 and 2016 showed me what was possible in my ongoing career as a full-time tarot reader. I am more sure of my work and its potential than I was beforehand. I can now see the different paths we can take as tarot readers, whether we are reading professionally or just for friends and family, full-time or part-time, whether we build a larger organisation with the capacity for global reach or whether we remain content with our personal impact as sole traders. I know that I now teach tarot because of what I learned was possible at Readers Studio, and my ongoing relationships with people I met there.
I am now constantly reminded of the Tarot and how we grow with it. I am no longer isolated in my field, and am now more willing to try out new things because I can feel that support there, even when it’s not right in front of me. Because there are more stories now woven in, there is even more need to stay present and focussed with what is the best use of my time as a tarot reader and how I can offer support to all the communities I connect with through this work - reaching beyond the nucleus of the tarot community, into the wider reaches where so much can be integrated.