However, if you’re interested in studying the I Ching through the lens of Taoist mysticism, my third book with North Atlantic Books, I Ching, The Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes is forthcoming in the summer of 2023.
The text will be an updated translation of the Oracle, with a full roster of practicum that will introduce you to East Asian occultism and ritual magic.
Stay tuned!
Not one to miss a tarot bandwagon, I figured I’d work in my own thoughts, or at least a few of them, on tarot reading ethics. If you’ve been out of it all month and would now like to catch up on what the heck I’m talking about, check out this recording of a live episode of Spread This, Witches (STW), “The Ethical Tarot Reader,” featuring Allorah Rayne, Chase from Two of Owls, Nico of Scarlet Moon, Ethony, and hosted by Avalon. Ethony then put out this educational video, “Is Your Tarot Reader Scamming You?” to continue the conversation on tarot ethics. Chase also talked independently about the topic, starting a discussion vlog here, “Discussion: Tarot Ethics.” Allorah Rayne added more from her perspective here, on “Red Flags of Unethical Spiritual Practitioners.”
Here’s a Model Code of Ethical Conduct you can download and use in any way you like. A text version for you to edit and revise, and yes you are free to use, copy, or modify in any way whatsoever for your own personal or commercial uses is here, on my Holistic Tarot Study Guides page, under “Advanced.”
I’ll be subdividing this topic into three parts. These posts will explore some of my personal thoughts and also professional opinions on certain oft-adopted ethical rules.
This is Part I of III, in which I’ll be tackling the question of reading for medical, legal, and financial concerns.
7/11/2017 Update: This is Part I of II only. I’ve decided against publishing Part III. Explained at the close of Part II.
7/18/17 Update: I’ve decided to proceed with sharing Part III, but it is a password-protected post. Please do not ping me with requests for the password. It is made available in closed circuits to those who have access to those circuits.
You often hear readers say that it’s against tarot ethics to do readings on health or legal questions. But why? Why are tarot readers discouraged from reading on health and legal issues?
It’s for legal reasons and, as far as I understand it, that’s pretty much the only reason. In most jurisdictions, there are codified laws against the “Unauthorized Practice of Medicine” and the “Unauthorized Practice of Law.” At best, it’s a misdemeanor and a fine of thousands of dollars. At worst, either one could be charged as a felony and carry several years of jail time. To get charged with such an offense would be the worst day of your tarot reading life.
Continue reading “On Tarot Reading Ethics, Part I: Health, Legal, and Financial Readings”
The issue of general readings versus specific readings is pertinent to most divinatory forms, whether we’re talking tarot, astrology, the I Ching, or even in terms of configurations for feng shui analysis. Rather than frame this post as general commentary, I want to talk about my personal approach, and since most of the divinatory work I do for people are in the modes of tarot and astrology, that’s what I’ll focus on.
Let’s start with my definitions.
A general reading is when a seeker doesn’t have a cogent, cohesive question to present for divination, but just wants insight for moving forward at the particular juncture point the seeker is at. For example, a seeker sits down in front of a tarot reader and the reader simply begins casting cards and reporting back what the reader interprets from the cards. Another example is a solar returns or birthday chart reading in astrology. A reading service such as a twelve-month forecast is also considered a general reading. In theory for a general reading, any subject matter that comes up in the reading is game.
A specific reading is when a seeker has a question in mind that is narrowly tailored and will require a direct, responsive answer. For example, the seeker wants to know about romantic prospects up ahead, or which career path to take, or which of three possible office site locations would be optimal for setting up a business. Here, even a broadly-cast inquiry such as “just whatever comes up that’s money related in my life” is an inquiry I’ll tuck under the category of a specific reading.
One more point before we proceed. To debate which is better, general reading or specific reading methods, is absurd. Readers also come with different strengths. No reader is all-powerful. Some excel at the general reading. Others excel at the specific reading. Play to your own strengths. That’s all there is to it.
My earliest memory of a psychic reading was in Taiwan with a nun at a monastery that my aunt, who is a nun, resided at. (Do I still refer to her as my aunt if she’s now a nun? I have no idea…) When you’re an Asian kid, grown-ups, especially grown-ups of the holy variety, don’t have names. They only have titles. So in Chinese, since we only spoke to her in Chinese, she was Shi Fu, or Teacher, and in English, privately amongst ourselves, she was The Psychic Nun. The aunt who is a nun is Auntie Nun. Auntie Nun is a little bit psychic while The Psychic Nun was full-on knew-your-past-life and knew-your-future psychic plus could-speak-to-the-dead so also medium. The Psychic Nun is referred to in the past tense because she’s no longer with us. I heard of her passing a few years after my maternal grandmother’s passing. It’s okay. She was like a billion years old already anyway and with all that good karma, is off to somewhere awesome.
Anyway, that introduction was way off-track from the subject matter of this post. This post is about go-to knick knacks in a tarot or divinatory reading space. I’m not asking about what you need to get your read on (because inevitably some holier-than-thou advanced tarot reader master will pipe up and say, “I don’t need anything but the power of my mind… I am not bound to materialism… toot toot“)–right, right, we all know that. But I’m asking what kind of knick knacks do you like in your reading space. I don’t need a pink toothbrush for effective dental hygiene but I like it when my toothbrush is pink, so I have a pink toothbrush. Get it?
I’ve created a blank notebook that can help you to tell just that kind of story.
In fact, I’ve created three different versions of the notebook. You can either print out the notebook yourself and set it into a binder or you can have it print and bound by a third party publisher.
Keep scrolling down for the free downloads and printing instructions.
The above video explains the premise for this notebook and the #1111acts. For those who have a copy of my book, The Tao of Craft, check out page 152, in the chapter “The Tools of Craft,” section titled, “Accumulating Good Deeds.” I’ve even pulled that section out as an excerpt, so if you don’t have the book, just check out the PDF below.
Unlike most tags, this one is something you’ll work through for life. The idea is to log 1,111 acts within your lifetime.
Why the hashtag #1111acts? It’s my little effort to help transform the tone of discourse we see online these days. You’ll take part, too, won’t you? Any time you undertake neutralizing a negative energy in this world, even in the world of social media, especially in the world of social media, by contributing a positive energy, include the hashtag #1111acts.
To enroll in the course for $28, click the above button or click here to go to the Tarot Summer School landing page and check out my course offering, “Tarot and Shadow Work for Activating Dynamic Power.”
To strengthen your personal vitality and the reservoir of metaphysical powers you can command or control, through attunement to those inner and outer alchemical forces embedded into the archetypal tarot architecture.
Continue reading “Tarot and Shadow Work for Activating Dynamic Power”
We know the sun’s UV rays can be harmful to our skin, so we put on sunscreen before we go out. If we know we’re walking into the rain, we’ll bring an umbrella or wear a raincoat. At any given moment in your environment, there could be wave-particles on the metaphysical plane that affect you.
So when those who are the more sensitive ones among us leave their sanctuary, they really oughta be protecting themselves through shielding. If you’re spending the bulk of your days working in these metaphysical realms and you’re not shielding yourself routinely, then the equivalent of your mother, big sister, or mentor should be beating you over your head with her wooden spoon and nagging you until your ears ring.
You really should be shielding.
Shielding is a psychic exercise like putting on sunscreen to block out harmful UV rays (…or perhaps the better analogy is a hazmat suit when you know you’re walking into a hazardous environment…), but in the case of shielding, the purpose is to block out metaphysical toxins that you might encounter in everyday life. When people wish you ill, that negative energy is less likely to affect you if you are well shielded.
Electromagnetic frequency waves, lower vibrational energies, even people you encounter who, at that time and place are being toxic, any detrimental metaphysical waves airborne around you can have a negative impact on your personal vitality, especially if you’re sensitive. Difficult astrological transits can also have a detrimental impact. Shielding is about keeping your energies covered and protected.
However, this post is not about shielding. Find another article or articles to get you up to speed if you’re drawing a blank when I say the word “shielding.”
This post is to share with you a free audio download in the form of an mp3 file.
Continue reading “Psychic Protection: Shielding Recitation Ritual (Free mp3 Download)”
* Extra if shipping internationally. All U.S. shipping is free, included in order.
Here’s what I’ve been working on for the last, oh, I don’t know… two weeks if not more. And still working on. Will continue to work on until the full moon in Scorpio!
Okay. Here’s the lowdown.
You’ll be getting:
Only 36 50* (fifty sets) available. Once all 50 orders have been reserved, it’s gone.
* To those who somehow managed to get on my private VIP email list and thus received a heads up about this already, I had said I only have 36. Yeah, I can’t count. I wrote that up at the office and my memory thought 36. I was mistaking it for something else. I have 50 of these. Just so you know, I had sent you photos, so you can actually look at the photos I sent you and count the number of vials lined up on my workspace. There were 50 pictured in the photos when I told you 36. Sorry for the sham.
* Oops, sorry, before I could even manage to get this blog post up, there are only 5 (five) left. So this blog post is only about filling up those 5 remaining orders. That way I can start the preparations this weekend for each of the 50 individuals.
Okay, now let’s explain each of the three items you’re getting.
B A C K G R O U N D N O T E S
Some of you may know of the online video companion course to Holistic Tarot already. I put out the first few video lectures for the series this past week. The videos supplement the study guides and handouts, which supplement the book, Holistic Tarot. To check out the course outline and description, click on the above hyperlinked banner. This blog post is just to offer some of the behind-the-scenes commentary.
Offering a Beginner’s Tarot Course
I have been pressed ad nauseum about offering a beginner’s tarot course. While I haven’t felt called to start production of materials with that specific intent in mind, as in an online multi-media course that teaches you how to read a deck of cards, I wrote Holistic Tarot with that specific intent (i.e., to instruct on tarot at the beginner level) in mind. Then when the book launched back in 2015, I created a portfolio of syllabi, study guides, and handouts to help people navigate the 800+ pages. That was my “beginner’s tarot course.”
Still I got pressed. Apparently that wasn’t what many of you folks had in mind when you think “beginner’s tarot course”?
Continue reading “Announcing the Video Companion Course to Holistic Tarot”
Holistic Tarot gets criticized for allegedly being unkind in its treatment of practitioners of craft, in particular witchcraft. Folks have interpreted my book as proposing that the magic of divination ought to be stripped of tarot entirely and that I’m telling you to approach tarot from a staunchly atheistic point of view. I wonder why for so many, life choices must be so mutually exclusive. Why does my personal spirituality let alone religious beliefs need to be apparent in everything that I produce?
The book’s tone has never been shy or misleading about taking an academic approach to understanding tarot. That is hardly a concentrated attempt to strip magic from tarot, an allegation rendered even more absurd if you know anything about my personal background. Also, I wrote Holistic Tarot as a beginner’s tarot book with a specific target reader in mind.
My intention for the book is to get you to a level of technical mastery over tarot. Technical mastery. That means yes, in the beginning, magic is stripped of the tarot the same way when you first learn a musical instrument for the purpose of someday mastering it, you strip all artistry from the practice of that instrument.
During your first 10,000 hours of lessons for mastering violin, it’s about how you hold the bow, how to string your own instrument, how to straighten your own bridge, how to tune your instrument, how to hold a whole note with no vibrato, not allowing you to use any vibrato at all until you’ve mastered your bow work, then how to master the vibrato, perfecting the execution of various techniques, rote learning, stripping you of all personal creativity and compelling you to learn technique your teacher’s way, playing boring scales and etudes until your fingers are blistered and your neck is bruised. It’s hardly musical at all. You could argue that such an approach is stripping the musicality from music.
Continue reading “Holistic Tarot and the Practitioner of Craft”
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