Ruth,

That makes sense, actions always have consequences, either good or bad depending on what choices we make in life. It would be ridiculous for her to expect no repercussions for whatever she had done at work if it was against the company policy or what not. But yes, I see the differentiation you are making between other people and external forces and the actual person coming for the reading. But then how someone hears bad news like the "ex is not coming back" is dependent on them totally. Are they going to now wallow in self pity or pick up the pieces and move on with their life.

Even some of the worst readings you can imagine can have a positive spin depending on the surrounding cards. The cards are to gain insight on the energy present and give a clear view of what can be done. They are not to read the future.

The tower: Although the current structure is falling, things are changing and being revealed... the truth will be known and it means enlightenment.

Ten of swords: It looks hopeless but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Things will improve very soon.

Nine of swords: Your worry is the cause of your stress. Things are not as bad as they look. This too shall pass.

Death: Change is needed. If you do not change willingly, something will enter your life that will force the changes that you need.

Other cards can mean that they are going to meet someone besides the normal cards like the two of cups. It is always according to the individual interpretation system of the reader.

I did a reading one time that had bad news about a current relationship that was not working out and the person wanted to know if she should try to hold on to it.

But I saw a new person coming into her life in the cards and I told her that if she stayed tangled in that current unhappy relationship she might not be available for the new person about to arrive on the scene.

How many times have you met someone but you were hanging on to a bad relationship had so much going on and so much baggage you were not available for the good thing to enter your life.

It is the same with occupations and jobs and other things. People hold on to the bad stuff, afraid to loose it and they have no room for the better opportunities to enter.

Attachment to people and things will prevent better things and new people from coming into your reality. I tell people that if it does not feel right, if it is not working at every turn, it is time to let go.

Letting go opens a flood gate of new and better things into your life.

Have either of you ever had something very strange happen. By strange I mean a client or someone coming for a reading that admits something very bad they have done or something that you felt you need to go to the police about? I know that can occur with Catholic priests in confessional so thats why I ask. Or if not some bad act they have already committed, something they are planning on doing that might put another person's life in danger?

No, thank goodness. Of course, they would be stupid to confess something like that to a tarot card reader. It is not ethical to talk about people's readings, however, there is nothing stopping me from going to the police or a person who was in danger and telling them. And, I would.

Yeah. I was thinking about that the other day because sometimes people confess things in intimate situations like that. Its been known to occur though probably more likely in a confessional situation because thats kind of the nature of the game. Someone unburdening themselves to a priest.

The Catholic Mass is a sacrifice. In their case they are offering up the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of many. It is really no different than the blood sacrifices that took place prior to Christianity in theory. I see the merit of sacrifice and denying yourself for the sake of others. I know many people don't agree with this, but it rings true for me. If I didn't have children I would have gone off somewhere to live as a witch hermit or Catholic nun. I'm probably the only one who sees how those two people are similar.

I love going to confession. It can be a very healing experience. The only problem is I don't view sin the way Cathoics view it. I am more looking to examine my own actions and how they may have hurt people that I shouldn't have. I don't confess things like "impure thoughts". If I did I'd have to go to confession at least 3 times a day.

Yeah. I think about 5 times a day for myself. Not just sexual, but sometimes I get a little annoyed with circumstances. I guess thats human. Catholics seem very worried about things that dont strike me as sinful at all.

It all comes down to balance with everything. Catholics have an unbalanced view of sin. I have notices that people tend to go to the extreme with most everything. I find myself constantly having to work on being balanced in my own life, opinions, beliefs, etc.

I did a reading for a woman who was in an abusive relationship and told me of a plan she had to murder her husband. I hope I talked her out of it. I did not keep her name or follow up on any deaths in that town. She lived about 30 miles away in a neighboring community. That was kind of weird.

I also had an elder lady come for a bogus reading and I believe she was wearing a wire and trying to catch me bilking people out of their life savings or something. She asked a stupid question about getting rich or winning the lottery. The cards revealed what was really going on and they totally confused me. I was new to reading tarot cards. I could see that there was just something not right.

I just faked a reading for her, because I could not tell her what I really saw in the cards because they did not make any sense at all to me in connection to her question.

After her reading she just hung around for a while and kept trying to get me to tell her to come back and she kept asking me how much I owed her. I was doing the readings for free. I told her I don't do readings more often than every six months for a person. Very suspicious was this person.

I offered to walk with her to her car, but she declined and seemed nervous about that. Outside, was a white van with dark windows and no windows in the back. I could not see if anyone was in the van. It was not your typical little old lady kind of car.

I did not put it all together until later looking at the cards she had drawn then it became very clear that she was on a secret mission to bust the local "tarot card reading scam." She was put up to it by the Heirophant. That is the "system" but more connected with a religious group than the government which would have been the Emperor.

It was this incident that inspired me to add the card "The Dark Priestess" to the deck I was designing and designate this card to people like her who are double agents or spies or "sleeping with the enemy."

The card that did this job in her reading was the seven of swords in the number one position representing her. She was backed up and influenced by the Heirophant. It was a ten card reading and it spelled out plainly what was going on but being new to the Tarot I was thrown for a loop. They did not make sense at the time.

The cards continue to amaze me with information I am unaware of.

Ruth,

Yes I agree totally. Balance is the key. That may very well be what attracts me to Wicca or Witchcraft. The Wicca I have only really looked at fairly recently. I like that these religions seem a lot less "guilt motivated." To constantly admonish someone and make them feel bad for being human is not a good thing in my opinion especially when some of these "sins" actually define a person as human. That can also lead to anger and rebellion. Far less of that in Witchcraft. Although Im not saying it never occurs. If you have a child raised by Wiccan parents or Pagan, there might be some rebellion or even resentment. Especially if a child feels ostracized from mainstream society or they have Christian friends who dont understand.

I'm liking these Tibetan rites. I like the yoga better so far. I tell you, when I do my yoga in the morning I have so much more energy throughout the day.

Interesting JB. Yeah they do that. I mean I dont know the ins and outs and who is always behind it but yes they will sometimes try to bust Tarot readers and psychics or gypsies or whatever else. It seems to me that yes, sometimes these scams happen and people are bilked out of their life savings or whatever else can go on. However I think some responsibility needs to fall on the victim in that case. You cant just be stupid about this and if a reader insisted that I need to come back right away for another reading or was asking for large sums of money, I would walk out. Common sense would dictate that.

And there are always people falling victim to these kinds of things and just look at Jim Baker and that PTL scam he had going. The organized churches are probably the worst culprits.

The cops out here aren't interested if people are being scammed out of their money by phony readers. For example, you pay to get a Tarot card reading and you pay $30. During the reading the reader tells you that you have a curse on you and she can remove it for $300. You pay the money and maybe she lights a candle for you, but most likely she just takes the money and does nothing. Scam, but who cares.

Where the police get involved is generally where they are doing a switch. The reader tells you you need your money "cleaned". She tells you to bring X amount of dollars in a paper bag and she is going to clean it for you and will give it back to you in 3 days. You give it to her. 3 days later you get back a bag full of paper but because it's a switch you don't realize until you get home and by then they are gone. That's a crime.

I do all my readings for free, however, more and more I am tempted to charge people. It takes time and that's something I don't have a lot of. Of course, for my friends and family I always do them free.

Yes I think if you spend an hour of your time doing a reading (which is mostly like counceling) you should charge for it.

I have had people pay me ten dollars and want to spend two hours with me telling me their life story as if I were a psychologists or something. Psychologists get closer to $80.00 or more per hour.

When doing readings at a fair or mall, you need to make sure you time it. I like to use one to three card readings at a busy mall. A more in depth reading would be our five card reading.

Once at the end of an artist show where I was doing caricatures I started to do readings for the kids for a dollar per card. They went nuts over the readings and kept coming back for more. I had fun with it. I made $50.00 in 30 minutes. It was a lot less work than caricatures too, and more fun.

I do have fun doing caricatures though, but that is hard work.

A switch? How are they doing that? I mean wouldn't you open the bag and look in there and count it? That seems a little shaky unless they drop it off to you and take off. Things like that just seem foolish to me and the second someone told me I needed my cash cleaned, I would get the feeling they are up to something. No one needs to be cleaning cash unless they are involved with drug trafficking or something or other that would require this be done.

A "switch" is basically a con game and has little to do with tarot itself, just con men and victims.

But there are some states that allow tarot card reading as long as they do not claim to be fortune tellers. There may even be a law against claiming to be a fortune teller who sees the future in some states. They cannot hassle a tarot card reader who claims to see or read the future unless there is a law on the books prohibiting that or unless this kind of activity is declared a fraud.

I am not even familiar with the law in this state, but I don't worry about it. I always tell people that I am interpreting the energy of the moment from the cards and looking at the future probability that attaches itself to that energy as it relates to events that have not transpired yet.

I always tell them that the future does not exist, and neither does the past. All that actually exists is the present moment.

Thats my story and I'm sticken to it!

As for the supposed "sting" operation on my tarot card reading, they had absolutely no probable cause to do such a thing. There were no complaints, I was not taking any money from anyone.

It was simply because the churches were all paranoid and terrified that some pagan witch had moved into town. This is a very small community where everyone knows everyone and gossip is rampant. I was told by a local pastor that the churches were really upset about me advertising tarot card readings.

It's hard to imagine being taken in a bait and switch con, but it happens all the time. It plays primarily on people's emotions whether it be greed or a feeling of desperation as would be the case in someone going to a "psychic". These people are professional and they are very good at what they do. Most victims do not come forward after they realize they have been conned because they are embarrassed that they fell for it. It's really sad, actually.