The Tarot Taboos: Reading on Health and Other People
Reading on health and other people are two very common questions. And every reader’s Statement of Ethics says they will not read on these topics. But reading for clients includes looking at all of life’s challenges, which, without a doubt, include health and other people. If only we could separate our health from our daily experience! Or live according to our own principles without crossing paths with others! Oh, wait, that would be a miserable and lonely life. Tarot readings and astrology readings have to address the messy, complicated, tangle of all parts of our lives. If you have questions on health and other people, here’s how to phrase your questions to get the most out of your reading experience.
Question: Do you read on health or medical challenges?
The answer is much more complicated than the party line of “no health readings.” I used that party line for many years, until I finally realized that not once in all my thirty years of reading had someone actually thought that I would give them diagnostic medical advice. Of course people understand the difference between a doctor’s visit and a tarot reading! When the heart of the question is something I can answer with their chart or with tarot, I will read on it, from a divinatory, not health, perspective.
My Answer is a Question: Am I the best reader for this topic?
I do read on health issues, although it’s not my favorite topic. Although clearly I’m not a medical professional, I’m also not a medical intuitive or trained in medical astrology. For a medical question, go to someone with more relevant skills. However, if that’s not your main question, but you’d like to add it in as a secondary question to the main reading, that’s totally fine and I will do my best.
If you have health questions, here are some examples of how to phrase them for a tarot reading:
- What can the tarot tell me about this that my doctor can’t?
- What is the underlying energetic or emotional basis of my chronic condition?
- How can I navigate this existing condition day-to-day?
- How can I find wholeness and peace in my life?
Question: Would You Read About My Child?
As to reading about others, there can be a great deal of nuance in these questions. There have been instances where the client didn’t tell me their question, and I discovered that they were asking about someone else. The fact that the reading was confusing and made little sense clued me in. The silent question had been prying into private details of another person’s life. This is a no-go. But most people have questions about how to relate to others in their lives, whether friends, family, colleagues, or enemies. These are legitimate questions and how you interact with others is a perfectly reasonable line of inquiry that offers valuable insight.
My Answer: I Will Read About You and Your Relationship To This Person
You probably saw my Ethics page on my website, where I talk about health questions and also reading about others. My policy is not to read for questions about someone else. But it’s fine if you’re asking about your relationship with the other person. Then the reading is about you, and they’re a character in your story, so to speak.
The one thing I’ve found over the years is that I can’t prevent a mother from asking about her child. So I finally acknowledged that this is an exception to the rule. You’ll get the best results if you focus the question on such things as:
- How can I improve my relationship with this other person?
- How can I understand this person better?
- How can I be the best parent/friend/colleague/boss to this person?
Any prying into your child’s privacy (clearly the bar for this is different for adult children vs teenage children vs. young children) is likely to result in cloudy or completely inaccurate readings; I can’t recommend it.
Try Out These Questions!
I hope this helps clarify the best way to phrase questions on health and other people. If you have questions like this, I’m happy to answer them in our tarot or astrology session! Check out my Schedule page for more info or to book an appointment.
