In this episode, the founder of Esoteric Studies Institute, Tor Njamo, talks about the Ethics of Tarot Reading and some reflections following sessions with clients.
If you enjoy this podcast episode on The Ethics of Tarot Reading, please do subscribe, like and comment.
The Ethics of Tarot Reading Transcript
Hi there, and welcome to Esoteric. FYI.
This is a podcast hosted by Tor Njamo. Through this podcast, through this platform, I’ll be looking at my life. I’ll be looking at readings, healing and just life in general through a spiritual lens. I think that the podcast will, over time, just unfold and change. I’m quite content with that for now. I just want to start sharing, and then we will see how it develops over time.
If you haven’t listened to the first episode of this podcast, I would highly recommend that you go back and do that because there I’ll share more about myself and also the vision that I have for this podcast.
In today’s episode, I’ll be talking a bit about the ethics of offering someone a Tarot Reading and also some recent reflections that I’ve had following some of the readings that I had this week.
I can imagine that you who listen to this are perhaps into the spiritual esoteric space. And so I think you can agree that anyone who spends a considerable amount of time on TikTok or Instagram will have seen that Tarot cards and readings are currently going through a bit of a renaissance and many more people are offering sessions.
I honestly think that this is amazing because I think it’s so important that more people are being given access to guidance from the other side, right? From Spirit, from their spiritual guides and whoever else you think that is talking to you. And I think that Tarot cards and readings are an excellent way to do that. Aside from the meditation, however, one sort of thought that’s coming towards me is that many of the people who are offering Tarot readings, like they’re not mental health professionals or have any considerable training in that.
I’m very glad that I on top of my reading experience as a Tarot reader. I’m also a trained first mental health, first aider and also a coach. I’m not suggesting that that makes me a mental health professional, but at least I had some understanding.
And I also read extensively about mental health and psychology and mindset and so on and so forth. And I think it’s really important that people who consider offering Tarot Readings really take that into account because someone who comes to you might be in a really distraught place because to offer someone a reading is massive responsibility because just like I said, someone who will come to you might be in a really vulnerable position.
This week, someone was talking to you about like someone was talking to me about moving out of the house with their parents. Someone else had relationship problems, another one was having issues with their family. And all of those situations are serious and have enormous consequences on people’s lives. Right? What you say to someone, they will really very much hold on to that.
It’s something which is really important to mention and talk about because I don’t know, I haven’t seen many people talk about this in the spiritual space. I always open my session with a bit of contracting that each reading I offer is only advice and guidance and should only be taken as that people have free will and they have to make their own decisions. And I’m really thoughtful about the messages that I bring forward to people and I think that’s really important to take into consideration.
I don’t necessarily know what the next best step is here if it’s to like to create some sort of governing board or whatever, but I definitely think we need to start thinking about that as this space is really growing.
There could even be someone else who’s already talking about this and I haven’t seen them and I’d love to talk to them about it. So if you’re listening to this and someone else is already doing it. I love to be in touch with them and develop something because I just think that’s really essential as this space is growing. It’s not to like regulate or anything of that sort. I don’t think. But it’s just having a conversation.
Maybe come up with some agreements. Come up with some ethics around offering someone a reading. Because like I said, when they come to you, they can be in a really vulnerable place. It’s not always the case and it’s important to take that into consideration. I also had some other interesting readings which are more like life thoughts, I suppose, following some of the readings I had.
And one of them is sometimes you have to let people you love down to live your life authentically. Obviously that’s easier said than done, but sometimes I wonder if it’s the only way. We, of course, shouldn’t be like mean and cold about it, but we also need to live our lives in the way that we want to. We need to venture out into the world and set those boundaries and find our way. Relationships are complex. Each and every relationship that we move through is beneficial, even if it only lasts for a short time. It doesn’t really matter if a relationship lasts for like three months or ten years.
Each and every relationship is a part of our spiritual lesson this time around. And each and every life and each and every relationship also has an expiry date. We’re meant to be with someone for a certain amount of time and then it comes to an end and that’s a part of our life. And I think I don’t mean to take out romance out of that. If anything, it’s to do the quite the opposite. It’s to just be with someone fully as much as you can for the time that it’s supposed to last. So it’s actually to do the opposite.
It’s to be with that person and just let go of the worry of whether it’s going to come into the end or not. Just release all of that and be with that person. This follows on to that. I think we have to, and myself included, that we have to stop operating from a sense of fear and a sense of anxiety. Otherwise we will never truly flourish. I wonder if some people operate from that place because they’re afraid of being alone. But I don’t necessarily think that creates a healthy dynamic.
And also there’s something about if we hold on too hard, then we don’t let people be free and to be themselves. And I think that’s really important to consider. Another reflection is that family dynamics can be incredibly tricky. And I don’t think that we should build our identity around just one thing.
I think it’s so important that we have multiple interests, multiple friends, and multiple ways of creating a sense of purpose. Because if one of them goes, we still have other things in our life to rely on to create a sense of wellness and purpose and meaning in our life. So have various things in your life which you can lean on and create a sense of purpose and meaning from.
Yes, sometimes in your life. Again, this is really easier said than done, but sometimes crisis is what makes us change. And during that time of crisis, we might feel angry, upset, lost, without purpose, but sometimes it’s a catalyst to make us changing to something else. I mean, that’s a really easy thing for me to say, like I’m able bodied and all those kind of things.
But yeah, at least in my experience, crisis has really helped sometimes. Obviously, there shouldn’t be crisis all the time, but just maybe, perhaps now and again, because it shapes us and moves us forward. Also, sometimes we do lose our sense of purpose. And I think that’s okay because that’s a period of transition. It’s a period of transformation, the catalyst for change, the caterpillar becoming the butterfly.
And it’s important to remind ourselves of that. It’s just a time of transition. And perhaps even in some ways, we are fulfilling our purpose even without knowing that we are. We just don’t see it. And we need a bit of a reminder. These were some of my reflections for this week.
Hopefully you found some of that useful. Again, I just want to wind back down to this thing about being having an ethics board or whatever around readings. I just think that’s really essential. So this was my second podcast episode. I’m just going to see how they unfold. I’m going to go with it, share my thoughts, share ideas, and reflections, and maybe you find it useful, maybe not.
I would love to hear your thoughts, though. If you have any questions, comments, anything you want me to ponder upon, I am happy to do that. For now, I think it’s just going to be me. Maybe sometimes I’ll have guests, maybe not. And then we can just take it from there. And as always, you can find me on Instagram @tornjamo and also at @EsotericStudiesinstitute.