Newsletter of The Tarot School
http://TarotSchool.com
ISSN: 1529-0565 
Vol. 12 #6 / May 1, 2020
                                                                  
 In this Issue:
- Welcome
- Tarot Tip: Reading Remotely During Social Distancing
- Tarot School Aphorism
- What's Gnu?
- Diviner's Corner: Doomsday/End Times Prophecies
- Best Practices: Survival Tactics for Sole Proprietor
                           Tarot Readers During Economic Hardships

 
 
Welcome to a new issue of Tarot Tips!
And a special welcome to our new subscribers.


        Broken-hearted


There are no words to articulate the enormity of the
crisis at hand. Our hearts go out to all of you who
have suffered losses or have been struggling with 
your health. It’s times like these when finding solace 
in the arms of our loved ones can help, but almost all 
of us are forced to stay home, separated from those 
we hold dear. Of course, we had to cancel the 2020
Readers Studio and Divination Day –– our biggest
event of the year and the time so many of us looked
forward to hugging each other. Please accept our
virtual hugs until we can gather again.          

A week after we made the announcement to cancel,
Wald was stricken with Covid-19 and pneumonia.
Our nurse housemate, Meredith and I did our best to
keep him alive and care for him at home but that
became impossible, especially after I seriously hurt
my back and hip in the process. He was lucky to get
admitted to a local hospital, where he got well enough
to be released to a rehab facility. He’s making progress
but recovering will be a long process for both of us.
The outpouring of support and love from the tarot
community has been an amazing blessing!

So many thanks go to Gina Thies, who coordinated this
issue of Tarot Tips before everything fell apart. We hope
that staying connected in this way can offer reassurance
and provide a welcome distraction in some manner. This is 
unlike anything any of us have experienced in a lifetime so
we want to support your tarot journey in any way we can.
Feel free to share suggestions or tarot techniques you may
have discovered during this time. 
 
In the world of connectivity and telecommunications,
everyone and everything is just a click or voice command
away. Quarantine has transformed how many of us conduct
tarot readings for clients. In this issue, we share some tips
on how to read for those who are not able to sit across from
you at your table or desk.

Is this the Apocalypse? Are we living in the end times?
These thoughts may have occurred to us, and we may
have heard these questions from querents. In The Diviner’s
Corner column, we dig into the history of prophecies and
predictions about the End of the World. The Best Practices
for Professional Readers column offers suggestions on
surviving when business takes a downward turn during
these times of financial hardship.           
          


 
And one more thing...


Heart of Helping Hands

Wald's awesome granddaughter, Isabella Amberstone,
started a GoFundMe campaign to help us overcome the
financial devastation we're currently facing. We know
we are far from alone in this and so our gratitude for
the amazing generosity of the tarot community is
boundless! If you feel moved to contribute to The
Tarot School in this way, here's the link: 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/wald-amp-ruth-ann-amberstone-fund



Take care, stay whole and healthy and move forward on your tarot journey,
Ruth Ann, Wald, and Gina

 
Tarot Tips is here to help you with the practical side
of your Tarot journey. In order to take the greatest
advantage of this newsletter, please send us your
questions regarding any aspect of your tarot study
or practice and we'll do our best to answer them
in an upcoming issue.

Spread the experience of tarot - share this newsletter
with other Tarot Enthusiasts!
 

 
Tarot Tip
READING REMOTELY DURING
SOCIAL DISTANCING



YOU GOT THIS


If you ever surveyed tarot enthusiasts and asked their
reasons why/how they got into tarot, you can be sure
that helping others is among their top 2 reasons. Some
have “inherited” their interest in tarot from family
traditions, and others adopted the practice as part of
a spiritual journey. Some do not intend to read for others
when they start out, preferring to use tarot as a self-help
tool. However, they sometimes discover an urgent desire 
to help others at some point.
 
Tarot has long ago left the clandestine shops of the past.
Thanks largely to the internet, tarot reading has blossomed
into a self-sustaining cottage industry for many. With so
much online support and outreach, online readings are
everywhere.

However, there are still querents who are reluctant to 
get readings online or in any way other than in person.
Personal preference, lack of privacy, visual experience
and trustworthiness are a few of their reasons.

It’s not only querents; some practitioners want to do
in-person readings for some of the same reasons. Their
process may include querent participation and
interaction, which can be more difficult with reading
over the phone or internet.
 
If you are willing to make the transition to reading
remotely for the time being, find out if your clients
are also willing to compromise or if they would rather
put the reading off until social distancing subsides.

Reading over the phone or video chat comes easily
for some, but may be a technical challenge for others. 
You can find online help for issues related to the
telecommunication requirements for your application
or platform of choice.
 
In instances where your gifts require psychometry or
reading an item you need to physically touch, of course
it will be challenging. Palm readers have found ways to
read palms remotely.  Some readers don’t use phone or
computer apps as they miss the shuffling of paper cards
and it is ingrained in their process and helps to
center the focus. A few readers and/or querents might
even have a sensitivity to electricity or electronics.                                                   

It helps to keep an open mind as you shift your approach. 
Here are some practical ways to effectively give tarot
readings when you are not able to be face-to-face:


Practice. If you have not yet transitioned to
reading without a person in front of you, use a willing
participant who will help you get a sense of how it
would work for you.

Relax. Take deep breaths and remember, it’s a
conversation. Anxiety and nervousness in uncharted
territory is normal.

Set up a comfortable quiet space to work. Have
several deck options for your querent. If they are a
visual type, use the title of each card in the spread
you’re using. If they want to see the card layout,
take a photo to email or text to them after the reading
is completed.

Proceed with your normal reading style.
Communication is key. It is important to listen as much
as it is to talk. Your querent’s response or lack thereof
may give you a clue as to how they are receiving
what you offer. There is no harm in asking clarifying
questions.
 
Ask for advice. Know a colleague who is experienced
in reading by phone, email or video chat? They could be
a good resource to help you with strategies for reading
remotely. 
          
So if you decide to give remote readings a try, 
both to help yourself and to help others, remember — 
You Got This! 
          
           
          
                 
    


 Tarot School Aphorism
 
 
            All of our accumulated knowledge is never more than a candle’s glow in the darkness of the mystery that surrounds us. What drew us to tarot in the first place keeps us fascinated. Even tarot experts feel the delicious presence of the unknown just outside the door of what they know.
 
            (Excerpted from Lesson 8 of The Tarot School Birth Card Course.)
            
 


What's Gnu?


SAVE THE DATE!







NOTE: This is a written course, not an in-person or recorded class.


 

Diviner's Corner
DOOMSDAY / END TIMES PROPHECIES


The End is Near
             


From man’s beginnings on this plane, there has been a
sense of the world in which we are born into changes
and therefore, in beginnings there are endings. The
coming of the end of the world has been ingrained in us
through sacred teachings from all corners of the world
and in all civilizations. Think about this, haven’t
you heard most of your life that we are living in the
end times?
 
In the Abrahamic religions, predictions are
eschatological. Written in detail in scriptures with
harrowing descriptions of how the end of the world will
happen. Ironically, followers don’t seem to mind the
dire destruction of the world because it signals the
Second Coming of Christ. Regardless, the concepts are
borne out of a notion that the future won’t be the
same as the past. In essence, it is supposed to eschew
the actual self-imposed destruction of existence on
earth.
 
Apocalyptic predictions are an ever-remaining obsession
given numerous wars, epidemics and climate change.
Historically, these predictions come from individuals
with some platform or agenda living in times of great
stress or change. Interestingly, these foreseers of
doom were not soothsayers or psychics by definition.
Often they were astronomers, mathematicians, or
educated in other sciences.
 
There must be an explanation for all that is unseen,
and when the explanation isn’t within our grasp to
understand then it is common to assign it to the
supernatural. In all cases, the prediction of the end
of the world has been wrong. You might know it
because we are still here.
 
Recent attention has been on the prediction made by the
late famous psychic Sylvia Brown who wrote in her book,
‘End of Days: Predictions and Prophecies About the
End of the World’, “in around 2020 a severe
pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the
globe, attacking the lungs and bronchial tubes and
resisting all known treatments.”

Sylvia may have gotten this one right, so was it a lucky
guess or true psychic insight deduced from the
happenings and habits of the humans that live among
us?
 
End of Times themes and predictions will be with us
until the end of time. It keeps people talking and
believing.
 
           

 
We’d love your suggestion or submissions for this
column! If you have an idea or would love to
contribute, please contact us at tarot@tarotschool.com


 

Best Practices for Professional Readers
SURVIVAL TACTICS FOR SOLE PROPRIETOR
READERS DURING ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS


By Gina Thies
www.tarotadvisor.com  / www.facebook.com/tarotreaders 
www.tarotcoupling.com / www.oraclesoup.org



It’s been hard to watch the coronavirus pandemic take
place. It’s even harder to really settle into the economic
crisis it has created. Events are cancelling because of
social distancing, and clients who have reduced hours
or job layoffs have cancelled reading appointments.
 
When cutbacks are needed, it is common to cut back on
things not deemed as essential like food, water, housing
and apparently toilet paper. Whilst spiritual enrichment
and guidance is a non-negotiable for many clients, we are
living in a situation that has caught many of us off guard.
 
Over my life, I have seen my friends and family members
go through layoffs, job loss and unemployment. These
situations have probably also impacted your life directly
or indirectly, and may have been a contributing factor to 
why you wanted to start a business or supplement your
income by doing readings.

In starting or running a business, the financial strength
of the individual or partners should be considered. It has
been recommended to have a minimum of 6 months salary
set aside before walking away from a job to go out on
your own. Statistically, most Americans are not able to
save enough to retire on, so that might not be as feasible as
it was decades ago. In these times, we live on loans and
credit unless we have inherited significant means.
 
Let me tell you, it is frightening when there are no
appointments. My online calendar is open but most times
my regulars call or text me for an appointment. Talk
about spoiled.
 
I think what this will teach us is to never have just one
source of income. Things happen, clients are fickle and
there will be slower than usual times. The next thing
is to add services to your roster. If you only do
one-hour sessions, try doing a 15-minute session or
email readings that you could price out reasonably.
 
I do not recommend lowering your normal prices.
It will be challenging to raise costs later for your
regulars. Plus, they may have already referred friends
to you, telling them that it only cost them $X.XX,
and that will be a fun conversation. Post a policy
that fees and costs are subject to change. 

Build value into what you are charging for rather than
your features. It’s great if you have 45 years of
reading experience but if the client doesn’t know
what they are receiving for the $150/hour reading, they
won’t be able to justify the cost.
 
Become a reseller. If you have unopened decks or books
that are collecting dust on your bookshelf, consider
selling them to other enthusiasts who will appreciate
or use them. There are several marketplaces that make
it easy to sell your stuff such as LetGo and others.
 
Many creditors are offering options during this crisis.
Don’t wait until you think you might need them, go
ahead and look into options right away. It is human
nature to feel a little embarrassed about needing
financial help. If you don’t need the help offered
then they will be happy to take full payments as
normal, but it is better to have something in place
than not.
 
Revisit your budget. You may be in okay shape. Use
the time to get creative about what is next for your
business. One thing about loss is that it can catapult
us into stretching resources and ourselves.
 
Be well! 
          
 

Resources:


• 3 critical ways you can strengthen your business during the pandemic

• How to maintain a business mindset during the coronavirus
      
• Business booming for psychics and astrologers during coronavirus pandemic
 
 

 
 
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Directors: Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone