How should a tarot reader handle "bad news?"

Recently, a client criticized me for giving her what she felt was a negative reading. This brings up the fact that we all use different criteria for defining bad news. My criteria turned out to be quite different from hers. Personally, I did not think the reading was negative. I advised her that she needed to stop worrying herself by carrying the burden of other people’s opinions of her and her actions. I told her that she might consider looking at the world from a more level headed perspective, because other people had conflicting goals and opinions. I warned her that the result would be an impairment of her sense of well-being, which in turn could complicate her health. I felt she must address these issues, to benefit by prioritizing what was truly important to her. Minimizing external influences in her case would be a positive step.

She felt for me to say such things was "bad juju." In her eyes, it characterized me as a "prophet of doom." (her actual terminology was not so refined.) The cards that came up were all bardo cards. These are cards which suggest significant obstacles to happiness and growth. Actually, I know a lot of readers who would have interpreted the same cards to mean imminent personal disaster. To me, they indicated that she had to overcome external influences, to let go of them in order to find inner peace.

Part of my mistake may have been to advise her that it could be helpful and therapeutic to cry. I believe people are afraid of tears. In her case, I honestly felt that she could release her tension through tears to metaphorically wash away her torments and carry it to the earth. However, the notion that there might be crying in her future, whatever its purpose, proved to be a greater demon than she was prepared to face. Hence, to her I was predicting bad times ahead.
The notion that a reading can hold bad tidings is based on the supposition that tarot cards can be used to predict the future. This is something many readers do not believe...at least it seems to be the "politically correct" stance now. For the record, I believe you can make predictions of likely outcomes using the Tarot. As I see it, Tarot expresses energies which are active in a client’s life at the moment of a reading. If you have information about a client’s life and circumstances and some experience analyzing Tarot, then you can make predictions through reasoning. But nothing is "written in stone" These predictions and outcomes can be changed through a client’s own initiative.

Let’s examine how to make a prediction in a real life situation. If you drive a car on a long trip, but the gas tank is near empty and you don’t stop to fill it, you can expect the car to stop running shortly. Such a prediction is based on knowledge of how automobiles work, facts about the car’s supply of gasoline and the driver’s plans. You make predictions in a tarot reading pretty much the same way. Tarot is an illustration of principles contained in the universal unconscious and the human condition. This is a source of knowledge about how humans work. What the client tells you about his situation is akin to information about the gas supply and the driver’s plans. If you factor these things together, you can make some pretty good guesses about what may happen next.

Furthermore I do not dismiss the possibility that higher forces may speak through a reader during a reading. After all, I’m a Santero. I believe in active spiritual energies that are ever present. I would be rebuking my faith if I stated that I felt that the orisha could not communicate whatever information they have which they feel is important. This includes information delivered through all types of divination. In addition, there may indeed be something to this "psychic" business. I don’t really have all the answers about that issue, and it is beyond the scope of this piece to fully examine it. But most people I’ve met have had the experience at least once of just knowing that something was going to happen in their guts. If such an intuition comes to me during a tarot reading, I take it on face value and feel that I am being paid to share it. Therefore, I believe a reader may indeed see things which are likely to happen in the future to a client.

So, what do you do if you see problems ahead for a client? This is a tremendously difficult call. Some readers will never give "bad news." That may well be the safest course. Unless you are willing and capable of accepting the consequences of making a negative prediction, DON’T MAKE ONE! I believe you have to make the call on an individual case-by-case basis, rather than cling to any single hard fast rule. I look for one of two factors before I will predict something I define as negative:

• The client can do something to change that outcome.
• The client is aware of the problem and has shared that information with me.

If neither of those circumstances exist, I probably will not share news of an imminent "disaster".

Here is an instance. Recently my partner and I did a combined astrological chart/tarot reading for an old friend. My partner suggested after looking at my friend’s chart that her mother would die March 1. This event was supported by the Tarot reading which showed a radical change dealing with a mother figure that was ill aspected. My friend’s mother was in her eighties and critically ill at the time. My feeling was simply that the lady was reaching her appointed time and neither practical intervention nor Santeria could make the slightest difference in her situation. I told my client that she would have to deal with some very deep emotional issues caused by circumstances beyond her control.....I did not tell that it was likely that her mother would die. On February 26, she passed.

In the months that followed until her mother’s death, my friend enjoyed her mother’s company. The mother’s health seemed to rebound. The family had a joy-filled holiday season. They were making plans for a family vacation in the Spring. I doubt if the time they spent together would have been so enjoyable had I warned them. It was difficult for me to know because I did not want my friend to think I would hold back on her. I have to admit that I was a little spooked. But the welfare of my client really had to be my defining concern.

Therefore, I think we can recognize a simple principle when it comes to communicating difficult challenges.

Remember rule number 1: 

DO NO HARM!

If what you say is likely to upset someone, make sure there is a way to fix the problem.

Health issues are another challenge to the reader. I find applying divination to health care fascinating. Often I have cast astrological charts for a tarot client so that I can check beforehand if there are any imminent changes ahead. It can be useful to clairfy these then in the tarot reading. I also practice shamanistic medicine like most santeros do. I feel that if you see a strong possiblity of imminent ailments, you have a responsibility to your clients to advise them to take steps to insure their well being. However, you must remember that people can blow things out of proportion. Also, in divination, events foretold by a reader can be psychological and/or spiritual rather than physical.

We are all subject to a physical environment, heredity and unique upbringings. I cannot know these factors about each client. However, these factors are every bit as important in shaping destiny as the information revealed by tarot. Therefore, they influence how a card or combination of cards should be read for a particular client. Because I don’t know these things necessarily, I may have to offer a client alternative interpretations. The need for a life saving operation for one client may be indicated by the same cards that illustrate coming to terms with a divorce for another one. Remember in Tarot, Swords can indicate surgery at the same time that they can suggest legal procedures.

You have to find a middle ground in communicating to a client that a health risk may exist. Here is a good example. The other day I had a client whose upcoming astrological transits, combined with directions, indicated the possiblity of an appendectomy. She was also going through a job transition, which, like an appendectomy, can be described in terms of leaving something of yourself behind through a traumatic event. Fortunately, the client was level headed and a healer herself. I had read for her before and felt I could be honest with her. So I explained to her that the risk existed. It could very well have been another known life event and she was made aware of that. I felt that it was in her best interest to get to a doctor promptly should she see any symptoms of appendecitis. There was a chance, and it was better to be safe than sorry. If it were me in that situation, I would appreciate the tip, but realize that it was not written in stone. It was just a description of how the energy present in her life could manifest. Therefore, she should be prepeared to take appropriate steps if it turned out that way.

Now, I don’t know if that came to pass or will come to pass in the near future. I was satisfied that she didn’t go into a panic, but would be vigilant if the physical symptoms did manifest. Now most folk do not believe appendicitis when it is treated is life threatening. Cancer is very different. Fortunately, or unfortunately, cosmbiologists have identified astrological signatures for cancer in natal charts, as well as activating combinations of transits and directions. There are also tarot cards which can suggest specific types of disease. Here, we are on much more shaky ground when it comes to the potential to cause a client unnecessary anxiety. At the same time, we may hold information that could save his life.

So what are we supposed to do? Let me give another example. Say I do a chart for a sixty year old man and see a definite risk of prostate cancer. I think that I am obligated to recommend my client see a doctor and get a prostate specific antigen test. However, I would try to give this recommendation as a standard and universal precaution for someone of his age. This is a widely recommended medical procedure for over 50. So there should be nothing particularly frightening about suggesting this course of action.

Most counselors/readers advise saving this kind of information for the end of a reading session, especially when there are other more favorable results present. Of course, very often when people are threatened with serious medical conditions like cancer, there are very often other stressors in their lives at the same time. It is therefore important for the reader to not act upset or panicked! The cooler and more level-headed you are, the easier your client’s reaction is likely to be. Let medical science do its job while you emoitonally support your client during this most difficult period of life. If you see dangerous situations developing, recomemnd ways to avoid them. It may be possible to suggest alternate coping strategies that the client has not thought of.

I subscribe to a religious system that believes in the possibility of magical intervention to avoid tragedy in certain situations. So potential negative events require my in depth examination whenever they arise and an ongoing commitment to support my client through their resolution. On the other hand, I must respect my client’s religious beliefs too. If my client is of a different faith and not open to such practices, it may prove best to simply acknowledge that I can do little or nothing for him practically, other than interpret the oracle. Clients can draw from their own spiritual resources. These are the beliefs best suited for them. You must only give clients tools which they can assimilate according to their own world views. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that you will feel that you can do little to help. Or wish that you could do more. Any reader must accept this type of limitation when a client imposes it.

In conclusion, we are here to enable our clients to progress, grow, succeed and achieve higher states of awareness. Anything that has potential to harm or frighten or intentionally alienate a client in any way has no place in a reading.

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