How to read Tarot Cards #22: First, do no harm
Why integrity, ethics and experience really matter in the Business of Woo. Oh! And there is an actual scorpion involved...
A few weeks ago, a long-time client, friend, and recent podcast guest reached out with a harrowing story.
She was on vacation in the desert with her mother, enjoying the perks of staying at a fancy hotel compound featuring natural mineral springs, beautiful natural vistas, and multiple Woo-based activities. One of these activities was getting a tarot reading from a strange man employed by the hotel that, according to his business card and website, did backyard magic tricks for children’s birthday parties alongside a litany of other dubious offerings.
In fact, his business card listed “Law of Attraction” twice alongside his other business services, revealing either a straightforward typo or a purposeful command of Manifestation Doctrine. I’ll leave it to you to decide which witch is which;)
And I know what you’re wondering: does this gentleman have frosted tips and wrap-around sunglasses like those sported by celebrity chef Guy Fieri? Of course he does.
But I digress…
In this strange tarot reading my client received from this even stranger gentleman, she was advised to bury her feet into the supposedly magical dirt next to the natural mineral springs on the property. He was adamant about it, stroking the cards with his fingers in a weird, hypnotic manner that my client proceeded to hilariously impersonate for me when retelling the tale!
Later that day, while she was enjoying the natural springs with her mother, she remembered the tarot guy’s advice, proceeding to jump out of the water, announcing to her mom with glee that she was doing her Woo Woo homework, digging her toes into the supposedly sacred soil to ground or heal or something(?).
As she did so, a sudden, electric pain rushed up from her toes, temporarily paralyzing her with shock. In the confused moments to follow, they managed to figure out that she was stung by tiny scorpions that, apparently, lived in the dirt right next to the natural springs! The best part? Supposedly, everyone that worked at the property or lived in the area knew this, begging the question: what the hell was Gordo the Magical (or whatever the hell his name really is) thinking when he thoughtlessly gave my friend and client this suicidal assignment?!?
The answer? He wasn’t thinking.
Odds are, he was totally disengaged as the hotel paid him to entertain the guests at this bougie sabbatical, forgetting that this work— aka the Business of Woo— is actually sacred, important, and can have significant impacts of both a positive and negative nature. My guess is that he was totally asleep at the wheel, disconnected from the clients in front of him or the potential effects of his words as he focused on saying shallow bullshit while collecting a fat paycheck from a hotel that was obviously too busy to care about researching their staff practitioners.
Thankfully, my client is doing just fine after a rather harried ambulance trip to the hospital’s emergency room, but I felt terrible for her. This trip to the desert was her attempt to treat herself after a litany of harrowing health issues and the accompanying medical trauma, so getting rushed away to the hospital in a screaming ambulance while venom was potentially coursing through her veins was not, shall we say, ideal.
This story really stuck with me, leaving me wondering how and when we, as working psychics, can take a bit of the potential sting— and unintended negative consequences— out of our work. After all: literal scorpions aside, there are a myriad potential points of harm to our clients if we’re not fully locked in, present, and aware of the gravity of our spiritual transmissions. I mean, we have a big responsibility to our ourselves, to our clients, and to the Business of Woo as a whole— and it’s worth revisiting a few of the basics to ensure that we haven’t lost frame.
Integrity
As a full-time working psychic or energy practitioner, integrity isn’t just about good intentions or a sincere belief in the Woo.
Rather, integrity also requires that we maintain our discipline, ethics, and standards when no one is looking— or, in the case of the Business of Woo, when our work is largely materially invisible!
What’s more: integrity requires that we professionals and Woo-based business owners take accountability for the potential impact of our work. This doesn’t mean that we own the decisions, interpretations or life choices of our clients or try to manage anything outside of the defined scope for the particular service we’re providing, but we do need to have the courage of our convictions— and understand that these sessions aren’t some strange species of make-believe taking place in a vacuum separate from very real consequences.
Our clients are real people seeking real guidance from a real practitioner, so we need to take our job seriously, behave professionally, and push ourselves to deliver real value that they can take with them into their everyday lives. And, while I’m sure this sounds more than obvious to you, trust me when I tell you: it’s harder to manage while serving the general public at scale— and in the challenging, profit-squeezing Business of Woo.
So, how do we master the art of integrity in action? How do we avoid the potential pitfall of complacency (or worse) as we clock into our day at the Woo Factory every morning?
To start, we need to be technically proficient in our modality. Attending workshops, obtaining certifications, and reading books are all great foundational ways to learn how to read tarot cards, do reiki or read the Akashic Records, but nothing gives you proficiency— or mastery— quite like DOING THE THING, over and over again, obsessively, for many years.
I have learned more about tarot readings, channeling and energy work— among many other modalities— by doing thousands of sessions for the last fifteen years than I ever could have sitting in a classroom or reading about someone else’s experience. I genuinely believe that reading tarot cards is just as perishable a skill for a working psychic as knife work is for a working chef, making maintaining the “hand feel” and “muscle memory” of executing at a high level a crucial, core must-have for any Woo-based business owner.
Said another way? You’re just not going to be your best by absentmindedly pulling a few oracle cards, saying some vague Woo words, or telling someone to put their feet in the ding dang earth at Miraval in between fabricating balloon animals for third graders.
Secondly, we working psychics need to engage in second and third order thinking when transmitting spiritual insights and downloads to our clients. By this I mean we need to consider, in real time, the potential misunderstandings or negative consequences of any clumsy words we’re using to convey Spirit’s messages, applying some common sense and emotional intelligence to the interaction to ensure it can be received for the highest and best use of all.
When in practice or paying client sessions, ask yourself how you would receive the data you’re sharing. How would it make you feel? What fears would it kick up for you? What would trigger you or put you on edge? How could it be misunderstood or corrupted in translation? Effectively, answering these questions requires we put ourselves mentally in the position of the client, exploring thought exercises that encourage us to be intentional and impeccable in our speech and conduct, maintaining our integrity along the whole damn way.
As for clients shopping in the marketplace of the Woo, a word to the wise: seek out the grown ups! Look for the folks that are dyed-in-the-wool, lifelong obsessives that take their craft seriously and operate with integrity. Yelp reviews (including those “filtered” reviews Yelp removes and makes you seek out at the bottom of the page), duration of time in business (is this just a new flight of fancy? or a long-term passion?), and deep subject matter expertise demonstrated in podcast interviews and thought capital (like Substack posts) are great metrics to look for when considering your next Woo-based business provider.
In contrast, a part-time DJ and children’s stage magician that dabbles in pulling oracle cards may not be the best fit. Just saying.
Ethics
There is an undeniable power dynamic between the client and the practitioner in the Business of Woo. And, whether warranted— or intentional—the practitioner always assumes the position of authority.
Because of this, the onus to maintain ethics and boundaries defaults to the psychic practitioner. And let me tell you: many of my peers are falling very short of this responsibility!
One example: I recently attended an in-person Tarot and Oracle Expo here in Austin, TX, and was stunned by the behavior of one of the participating practitioners. She was nice enough: warm and very welcoming. But, just as the event started, I noticed her walking around to attendees and other practitioners to offer them unsolicited (and very, very emotionally intimate) messages she claimed to be channeling from the Virgin Mother.
Yah. You read that right. She’s got Jesus’ mom on perpetual speed-dial.
*audible side eye*
I watched her, my mouth agape, as she pet peoples’ hair and touched their necks while telling them intense shit from their presumptive dead relatives, all courtesy of a major religion’s god-creating mother. In studying her, I noticed she never asked permission or secured informed consent or made any attempt to display sensitivity to their personal religious beliefs before diving right in. What’s more: the physical touching was a LOT, and as a neurodivergent psychic with some complex trauma stuff myself, let me tell you: many of us don’t especially like being handled by strangers.
#pepperspraysavestheday
So, when this lady started to approach me while extending a long-stemmed rose, I instinctively put my forearms up in a kind of “X” shape and shook my head, saying (as politely as I could), “No thank you— not right now.” She couldn’t believe it, and placed the rose on my event table with the dejected energy of a man I turned down for a date at the bar.
This practitioner seemed to lack a fundamental respect for peoples’ personal space, making herself an uninvited emotional and physical guest— and disrupting their peace without permission! She did not inform them of her modality before starting to give them a message from their deceased loved ones via the Mother Mary. She did not secure verbal or written consent before initiating psychic work. She had no knowledge of what they were dealing with in their lives at the time, what bad news they may have gotten that day, or how psychologically fragile they may be. What’s more: she has no concept of the support system they may or may not have in place should her spiritual missives land the wrong way and they start to really spiral.
As someone that had to help a friend out of a Cook County mental institution in the wake of her experiencing a psychotic break during a kundalini yoga retreat, let me tell you: real and really scary stuff can happen while in the Woo, and this is something we all need to understand and remember when interacting with the general public.
What’s more: most people are generally so conflict-averse and scared to offend that they will not push back on space invaders even if they’re having a tough time, only further reinforcing the delusional belief in the practitioner that this kind of careless bullshit is acceptable.
So, my fellow Woo-based business owners, please assume the responsibility to manage the ethics work stream on behalf of your clients. It’s not their job to ensure you’re being ethical or appropriate— it’s yours. And, for God’s sake, stick to what you’re good at: if a client signs up for a tarot reading, don’t turn it into a life coaching or bad therapy session. If a client signed up for a pure reiki session, don’t give them unsolicited messages from their dead mother.
That’s not what they asked for— and that’s not what they want!
And, if you’re a potential client shopping around in the marketplace of Woo, please pay attention to how various practitioners manage boundaries. Is everything organized, clear and within a container when you book a session? Has the practitioner taken the Seek Safely pledge, committing themselves to a formal ethical framework? Do they communicate about what they’re going to do and how it's formatted before they start doing it? Do you feel informed, at ease, and comfortable within their presence?
Remember: you should always feel like you can trust your Woo-based practitioner to be the adult in the room and not act like the baby you need to take care of!
Experience
When someone pays for a one-on-one tarot reading with me, they’re not just paying for the 50 minute face-to-face session and it’s outputs. Rather, they’re paying for the collective best practices and expertise that come with 30 years of experience with tarot, 20 years of which have been spent doing thousands of readings for the general public.
This translates into significant lessons learned, best practices, and even some truly novel and differentiated innovations that I’ve picked up along the way— and that I can now pay forward to each new client in each subsequent session.
And the bottom line is that this just isn’t the same “product” that someone who has been pulling oracle cards for a few months can offer, particularly when one considers the possibility of metaphorical scorpions in the soil;)
What’s more: because I maintain long-term and often candid relationships with many of my clients, I’m often privy to how a particular tarot reading or energy work situation unfolded in the weeks and months afterwards— and how it may have changed their actual life in tangible and measurable ways. This unique line of sight has taught me to respect the sacred space we share in a session, pushing myself to step up to the plate and do my absolute best.
The scorpion story is one of hundreds I’ve heard and collected from clients and collaborators over the years, and I’m grateful to have learned from the mistakes of other practitioners in addition to my own direct experiences feeling the sting of a misstep.
I mean, secondhand and firsthand embarrassment can be useful data!
Overall, it’s just important to remember that life is long and your reputation in the Business of Woo is, quite literally, your most valuable asset. Experience is what has taught me to say what I mean without saying it mean in client sessions, enabling me to share spiritual transmissions that are constructive without editing the substance of the content.
Oh— and how to not tell someone precisely how to get stung by a bunch of scorpions.
If you’re shopping around for a practitioner, please look at their experience— and not just the years they’ve been in business, but also the level at which they operate over time. Do they do this work full-time and structure a Woo-based business around it? If “yes”, this would suggest that they are confident in their abilities, knowledgeable about the market, and busy with a large client roster at such a level that they’re willing to put some real skin in the game.
And don’t forget: consistency counts for a lot. Is your practitioner always going on sabbatical or traveling around to perpetually attend retreats, or are they locked into a daily rhythm that requires reliable, client-facing performance of core tasks? Are you drawn to someone just because you heard them on a podcast or because they have a lot of Instagram followers, or are you drawn to someone after reading their reviews or having a friend refer you directly?
Remember: all that glitters is not gold, and the stakes of this Woo work can be higher than you’d expect. So, choose your Woo-based practitioner intentionally and thoughtfully!
Watch where you walk in the Woo
I know, I know. There aren’t tiny scorpions necessarily lying in wait for when you get a shitty tarot reading on vacation.
But I’ve heard more than my fair share of horror stories, from folks liquidating their retirement plan based on a casual comment from a psychic to someone eating “bad mushrooms” from a shaman in Mexico, spending more than a month in the hospital to recover from a pretty gnarly illness.
Add to these the litany of cautionary tales coming to us via the true crime documentaries about John of God, Bikram, Teal Swan, the Twin Flames weirdos, and other bad actors in the Business of Woo, and it’s worth having a dialogue around using discernment— and proceeding with caution.
And if you ever want to know why I seem tired or grumpy, please know: maintaining one’s integrity, ethics and expertise while doing the Business of Woo at scale isn’t always the easiest balancing act. And we don’t get merit badges or prizes for not being a shithead just out of the public view— we just have to do it because it’s the right thing to do…and because some of us actually believe in this stuff, understanding that we are actually being watched by “somebody” when we think we’re all alone;)
And, if you want to book a one-on-one session with me to find out what all of this hot fuss is about, you can do so via my website’s booking page HERE: https://www.totemreadings.com/about-3
What’s more, we cover a lot of these foundational elements in our TOTEM Spiritual Transformation Coaching and Business of Woo Mentoring Programs, so feel free to reach out via email to book a FREE consultation to chat with me and learn more: rachel@totemreadings.com
And, if you’re in the market for one of our self-published decks or one of our TOTEM Flower Essences, please remember: we’re including a $50 off promo code (on a cute little card) with every Etsy order through 7/31 to be used by 12/1/25, so check out our Etsy Shop HERE if you want to take advantage of our current 50% of sale— and get this promo code!
And yes, I’m writing a fucking book about this whole Business of Woo thing, which is currently in-progress. And, while I’m working on a Book Proposal (because it’s a great way to build out an outline of ANYTHING), I plan to self-publish— and, more importantly, share the chapters early here on Substack with my wonderful, supportive, beautiful paid subscribers!
If you have a funny story or something to add, please share your experiences in the comments below! I mean, it may not involve scorpions…but I’m sure it’s going to be hilarious!
-Rachel