Spiritual Credentials

Many times I am asked, "How did you learn to read tarot?" or "Where do you get your knowledge?"

I know that I am different from most tarot card readers, who simply reveal the meanings of the cards and that's the end of it. I personally incorporate a lot of spiritual and psychological teachings to my readings. When, say, a Seven of Swords comes up, I might point out issues where someone believes they don't deserve good things, and we might explore why those circumstances came to be, and what might be done about this negative mindset.

There are most certainly established tarot schools and tarot programs, and these may be very beneficial for someone new to the tarot who wants to learn. I am unable to comment on them. I have never pursued any of these, and to me, tarot is such a personal, progressive, feeling sort of thing that I just don't buy into the idea of a hard, formal education or certification on the subject. I have known since I was a young girl that I was very sensitive, and could feel what was going on sometimes when I didn't even have words for it. I have been conscious of premonitions since I was a teenager, and I have always been a lucid dreamer. Could one teach me how to feel? Can I be taught to dream? No, a formal tarot course has never been for me. For the most part I am autodidactic (self-taught), but my tarot readings draw upon my long spiritual journey (almost fifty years), as well as studies of psychology, religion, symbolism, arts and the humanities.

I got my first tarot deck when I was sixteen years old, a Rider-Waite deck, and taught myself how to read it from the free little white booklet that came with it (in tarot circles, these are actually called "LWB's"). I acquired many books over the years after that, probably learning the basis for the cards from Jane Lyle's Tarot. It is now out of print, but for me this was an essential first book.

Over the years, I have been a devout reader of the psychologist Carl Jung, who developed Jungian alchemy, pursued mysticism and used the tarot for himself and his patients. I have many other contributing resources of knowledge: I took a summer to study meditation with Buddhist masters; I have been through the Understanding Yourself and Others course; I have been a long-time study of dreamwork and archetypal symbolism, of which I think the tarot is closely aligned; I have been coached and take periodic workshops with spiritual teacher Blair Kneiss (out of Austin, TX); and I have studied A Course In Miracles, the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, the Zohar, and other sacred texts. My work with the poetry of Sylvia Plath opened me up to the connection between tarot and the Qabalah, and that has occupied a great deal of the last seven years, as I understand synchronicities and the mirrors life gives us. Finally, my best friend, Judy Ryan, has also taught me a great deal through her work in redirect and understanding human behavior and motivators. All of this, plus a continual quest to read and learn, has made me a better tarot reader and spiritual counselor. Please know that I do not profess to be a trained psychological counselor, although many people have told me they have benefited this way too.

There are some people out there who do not want to do the work of inner exploration, and they are probably not the ideal clients for me. If you are seeking just to have a good time and get your "fortune told," then I may be a disappointment. I may also disappoint you if you want a lot of hocus-pocus, witchy activity conjuring spirits or talking to the dead. That's not my style. But if you are on the road toward the process of self-actualization (reaching your highest potential, or as Jung put it, "Individuation,"), then my services may be of value to you and I welcome you to call at 314.517.0158 or email me at tarot[@]nighttimes.com for an appointment in person, by phone, by Skype, or email.