I saw the #Tarot7Connection video challenge via Marilyn from Tarot Clarity on Tarot Tube and decided I would post a response via blog before reading the questions! =)

For visual interest, there will be random photos of pretty tarot decks accompanying my responses – no connection between the photos and my responses beyond coincidence.

1. Are there any types of readings you won’t do? Why not?

If I don’t think I can do a sincere reading for the querent, then I will decline. For me, it’s not so much the regurgitated tarot ethics of no health, legal, financial, third-party, blah blah; it’s more about whether or not I am able to dial in 100% for that querent for the question at hand.

There’s a whole blog series somewhere on this site where I talk about tarot ethics.

I think lots of talking of curses and breaking curses are huge red flags. But I also think belief in curses can be cultural and legitimate, so ultimately it’s a “it depends.”

Getting people to rely on tarot readings for legal, financial, or medical advice is extremely irresponsible and could get you into loads of consumer protection trouble, as it should. But I also think dismissing that modalities of mysticism could answer questions that established institutions cannot currently help you with is ignorant, and even a missed opportunity.

I think third-party readings is akin to gossiping and/or spying. It’s not the worst thing to do, but it’s probably not a great thing to do.

All that is to say there aren’t any types of readings I will never, ever do no matter what, but there are also types of readings that immediately put me on alert and I tread with care. It’s got to be a case by case assessment.

2. Is there any tarot card you identify with the most? Which is it?

For me, this will change depending on the phase in life or experiences I’m going through. So for instance, going through a phase of seeking Divinity, I felt most connected with the Ace of Cups, which also coincided with a period of my life when I was trying to develop a deeper sense of control over elemental Water. Lately, not by any sense of personal preferences or intentions but rather because of actual circumstances in my life, it’s been The Sun card.

I recall as a pre-teen identifying with the Page of Swords the most, and then some time around law school I promoted myself to the Queen of Swords. These days I feel like I identify the most with Justice, but also Justice-Strength, Strength-Justice, interestingly enough, where I’m bonded to both. The pairing also happens to correspond with the pairing of my sun and moon signs.

3. Is there any reading that you’ve ever done that either gave you the chills or impressed you.

I would bet anyone who has been reading tarot for years will have countless eerie stories to tell. After all, if there wasn’t observed and palpable, repeated accuracy or synchronicity happening when you read tarot, what’s keeping your interest?

I also think that as a practitioner, it’s healthy to detach from “impressive” past readings so you never lose perspective or develop an over-inflated ego about your own superpowers.

To answer the question though, perhaps the most memorable ones aren’t ones I do on my own, but happen when a group of tarot readers get together and consensus reality happens. Like we all, in unison, felt the same presence of something, or got the same exact message across different decks, or created and apparently generated something through our combined concentration.

4. Which is your preferred system of tarot? Why do you like this system best?

The RWS is the system I am the most familiar with, like in-my-sleep level of familiarity. Coming in second would be the Thoth. Although currently, at the moment of writing this, simply because I’ve been working on my Etteilla deck, my personal dabblings with the tarot have been Etteilla related.

My preferred system of tarot right now, meaning if I had a super-important reading I had to do, which would I reach for, it’d be my own SKT. But that’s just because I designed the SKT specifically tailored to my personal reading approach, how I access The Beyond, and how I best receive messages from The Beyond.

5. Do you prefer doing in-person readings, remote, or other types? Why?

I wouldn’t say I have a preference. Between, say, 1995 and 2012, I only did in-person readings, and then from 2012 to 2019, half of the professional readings I did were in-person. The pandemic changed that quite a bit. Readings I do these days tend to be remote, though I have done a few local in-person reading events.

This question might be a good launching off point for talking about reading style.

In high school, college, and even for most of law school, my reading style was the monotonous Celtic Cross spread. No deviation from it. I’d ask for your sun sign, pick a significator card based on your sign, have you shuffle the deck while focusing on the question, you decide whether you want to ask the question upfront or have me proceed with a general reading and then we narrow down to answering your question, and then out deals the Celtic Cross.

After almost a decade of Celtic Cross or bust, I went through this phase of wanting to try out all the spreads, everything from one- and two-card readings to using all 78 cards, laid out in concentric circles on the floor (because who has a table that big?), and you have to walk around just to read the reading.

Then in my adult years of reading, I liked going with a short-form adaptation of the Opening of the Key (OOTK). Again, picking a significator card, then the Opening of the Four Worlds before knowing your question, an operation I referred to as a “preliminary reading,” and then after you get the preliminary reading (and before I’ve heard your question), you ask your question and we proceed with whatever spread method I determine will work best for your type of question. Typically that spread method will pull from the other operations of the OOTK.

6. Besides tarot are there any other oracular systems you enjoy using? Which ones and why?

I Ching was in my life before the tarot. So there’s that. I’m also confidently convinced that I’ve figured out a tried-and-true approach of reconciling the tarot and the I Ching systems, so I love applying my own approach and working with the two in tandem with each other.

I don’t know whether tea leaf reading and palmistry count as oracular systems, but those two have always been in my life as well, via family. Many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins to some level or another would read tea leaves and palms.

Is feng shui an oracular system? I have no idea. It might be, arguably, because there’s the belief that the configuration of your living space says a lot about your luck, health, wealth, and destiny.

Oh, and also of course, astrology.

7. What solidified your connection with the tarot?

I mean. The better question is how is someone not fascinated with the tarot, apart from having religious ideologies programmed against it? Even the atheistic scientist who isn’t closed-minded and who takes the time to learn a little more about the tarot will take pause.

You can approach the tarot at the level of deliciously fun and entertaining fortune-telling. You can go deep trying to investigate what its historical and cultural origins might have been beyond the Italian Renaissance.

Studying how various occultists have documented connections between the tarot and esoteric philosophies is a lifetime’s supply of exploration. There’s something about it that makes the tarot highly conducive for self-reflection and introspection.

Whether you call it talking to your inner self or talking to spirit entities, the tarot is an effective medium. Which is why tarot readers often talk about the earlier Question #3 — we all have chilling or impressive, unexplained and eerie experiences with the tarot.

Would love to hear your response to any one or combination of these seven questions!

Also, be sure to head on over to Tarot Tube to watch the many video responses (VRs) to Marilyn’s #Tarot7Connection challenge!