What Makes A Life Changing Divination Reading
Recently, my friend Calliope dragged me into their tarot reading class on Discord because it was Time for me to start practicing tarot again or something. It's been a weird week overall for this already weird, 9th house-esque Solar Return year. My psychic senses has been elevated/easier to access lately and Callie's class has been one of the channels for it.
Anyway, one of the questions Callie—who is a professor, hence the professionalism—asked the group was, "What constitutes a good tarot reading?"
In my experience, it's incredibly clear when I have had a great reading because the feeling is slightly addictive. I have left amazing readings feeling high. They felt like they clarified my entire life, showing me allies I never knew I had, giving me clear landmarks to look forward to so I knew how to make my next moves in life, and giving me a sense of purpose. They have also massively affected my cosmology: it is really hard for me to believe in free will when I have witnessed that so much can be pre-determined months in advance. And that doesn't scare or concern me, it more gives me comfort that there are bumpers for my bowling ball heading toward the pins.
I have also had really, really bad readings. I have had random people on witchcraft Discord servers prioritize trying to prove their abilities over my emotional wellbeing, delivering information harshly. I have had people I paid money tell me things like, "Your dog's large hip cyst is because he feels like he's responsible for your emotions, you need to tell him he's not so that it can heal" (I frantically did this several times and lo and behold, the cyst never went away but my guilt sure stayed!). And of course I have fallen for several grifters because there are more out there than there are talented readers.
I chalk the really bad readings as mistakes that, like all mistakes, are necessary learning experiences. By comparing the amazing readings with the terrible readings, I now know where my standards are for professional divination sessions, both as a querent and as someone who reads for other people casually and professionally.
They're pretty basic:
- The reader needs to be aligned with my values, coming from an established tradition with a grounded, practical perspective or otherwise is open about where they have learned their craft
- The reader needs to be professional, open, warm, and emotionally concerned about me during the course of the reading
- Accuracy is highly important but almost secondary to the first two because I often go to a divination reading for emotional support and to be kept appropriately to my path as much as I go to find clarity
- A really, really good reading contains details about myself or the situation I was not consciously thinking of but I realize are relevant as soon as they leave the readers' lips
If you end up going to a reader regularly, you are going to establish a rapport and friendship with that person. I have noticed that the first reading or two I tend to have with a newer reader are the most accurate, detailed, and productive. This is necessary to recognize that the reader can act as a genuine conduit for your spirits and is beneficial for you. As I see the reader more and more, the accuracy can decline. This used to bother me... But now that I get impromptu readings or omens or guidance from people that are clearly coming from my spirits outside of reading sessions that always points me in a good direction or offers emotional support, it doesn't anymore. I'll go to a reading with a specific idea of what I want or need to know and whatever comes out during that reading is what I accept I need to know at the time. What matters most to me is that it comes from someone who cares about me and is going to hold me accountable if I try to go too off-script.
I see Andrew B Watt for astrological readings and David of Alādékojú for tarot and intuitive readings. Importantly, I try not to schedule them too close together because both are great for timing but they will sometimes contradict each others' timing slightly and also, it's not advantageous to me to get two answers to the same question.
I decided to see Andrew because I met him in the Hermetic House of Life server. Shortly prior to joining the server, I felt called to learning more about the decans in my astrological dabblings. Not only is Andrew one of the first people to specialize in the decans off Austin Coppock's 36 Faces, he was teaching astrology in HHoL for free. Andrew is open about where he learns his magical and astrological crafts, is a few decades older than me so he is able to provide perspective that younger astrologers can't, and got booted from his Druid order for not being transphobic.
I value Andrew for his openmindedness toward others and willingness to be a better person, but he's also consistently and incredibly accurate. In my first reading with Andrew in March 2022, he discovered and shared with me a major element that would eventually lead to the end of my marriage. I give him a lot of credit for bringing it up because I was offended by the idea of my new marriage ending at the time and didn't want to believe it. In the same reading, he told me I would start working with Venus later that year and well... yep. Thanks for that lead, friend.
Later that year, I saw David for the first time when that marriage was ending after I got a referral from our mutual friend Sam Block. Both David and Sam are initiated into Lucumi lines, which is important because that means David comes from a lineage with history as well as practical approaches to magical and spiritual concerns. At that reading, they firmly told me it was good I was thinking of ending my marriage and told me to look out for an employer involved with migrants in my area. I did indeed not long afterward obtain a job at an organization that ran one of the two migrant shelters in my city. David also was the reader to identify that I had Inanna attached to me via an ancestral line, an observation that culminated in my deepening ancestor veneration and gender awakening. I love having David as an ally and a reader because they have provided a lot of solutions for magical emergencies and have showed me an immense amount of patience through my highly emotional times of crisis.
As I make moves to return to consistent and professional reading, I try to embody the qualities of my own standards. I hope that I can provide for others the clarity and kindness that Andrew and David have gifted to me.
