Insights into Running a Tarot Business

I have to admit that I’m reluctant to dive into the oversaturated world of “business content.” There’s so much information out there about running & starting your own spiritual business, not to mention the fact that each of us does things differently: What works for me may not resonate with you or even work for you.

We all come to starting our own business from different places and will be operating them under different conditions.

So there’s my little caveat out of the way! I’ll be sharing my insights and experiences about the business side of my tarot life here.

Reading tarot professionally is wonderfully gratifying, creative, and fulfilling work. That is, if you like reading tarot, which I’m assuming you do since you’re here.

It’s also, however, emotionally draining, even with the best self-care practices and a tough sell in an oversaturated market. You can read more about my major lessons and ideas in this post; now, buckle up, and let’s dive into the nitty-gritty.

10 Tips for Starting & Running a Successful Tarot Business

1. Make sure you’re ready for the other 90% of the work: Reading tarot takes up very little of your time as a professional. You’ll be creating content, marketing, engaging on social media, taking photos, cleaning your space, buying supplies, and so much more.

2. Be consistent :It’s easy to start a million offerings and projects, but if you don’t follow through on them it looks unprofessional. Start small and stick to it, whether it’s a bi-weekly newsletter, weekly free tarot reading, or regular instagram posts. People want to hear from you and will be impressed by your dedication.

3. Don’t overextend yourself: With the following point in mind, don’t put too much on your plate to the point where you can’t do it all. It’s far better to post one freebie regularly than it is to do five different things sporadically. Plus, it’s much easier for you.

4. Remember, you make the rules: I spent a lot of time trying to push through stale ideas, adopt weird inauthentic marketing plans, and doing offerings I didn’t actually like out of a false sense of obligation. Of course, it’s good to stick with things, but if something simply isn’t working, you can make a change! This is the beauty of being your own boss.

5. Have a clear brand and marketing strategy: This doesn’t have to be as stuffy as it sounds. Long story short, make sure you know who you are and what you’re selling, then make sure that your website, posts, copy, and branding reflect this message. Clear, straightforward, and easy-to-process material is the best. Once people get confused or oversaturated with text/information, they’re out.

6. Market yourself more than you ever thought possible: People won’t get readings from you if they don’t know you exist. It’s easy to set up a website and print some business cards; getting people to book appointments with you is an entirely different story. Marketing doesn’t have to be soul-crushing (though this has been a LONG journey for me!) Get creative and have fun with it. Can you get interviewed on podcasts (or host one)? Contribute to online publications, blogs, social media accounts? Join Facebook groups, forums, and meetups? Be active and get your name out there, and don’t be afraid to hand out business cards and let people know what you’re offering.

7. Value your time and stand behind your prices: There are a lot of people who offer readings for free online, but not you: Your’e a professional. Giving away readings is often an ineffective business strategy. Don’t feel pressured to give into pushy people. Once you begin your business, you are a pro reader and people should pay you for your time.

8. Do the math!: Before you start your business, consider how much you’d like or need to get from it. This will be different if you’re starting part-time (which I heartily recommend) or full-time. Tarot is not an intrinsically lucrative career path. If anyone is telling you that you can make three figures in a month (and ESPECIALLY if they’re asking you to pay for a class) they’re lying. It takes a lot to get consistent booking and, even so, you only have a finite amount of time. Look at your goals, map out how many clients you’d need to book to meet them, and plan accordingly.

9. Diversify your offerings: If you just offer one-on-one readings, you’re limited to an income stream that requires your active time and presence. Add other ways to make money that don’t require as much labor like group classes or events, and, even better, can give you passive income like online self-directed courses.

10. Get engaged with the community: Collaborating with, supporting, and connecting with other business owners and members of the tarot community is a wonderful way to stay inspired. Look for facebook groups, meetups, or reach out on social media. Tarot people are quite lovely and it’s so healing to have a sense of belonging and support.

Weekly Forecast: September 30 - October 6

I'm struggling with how to frame this reading, dear friends, since it has a unique energy. The virtuous Six of Pentacles is on one side, anchoring us in our desire to help and provide for others. On the other, however, we have the uneasy and dissatisfied Four of Cups. It's as if our outside life is masking our more turbulent feelings, and the decisive King of Swords is mediating between the two.

How to distill this into simpler terms? I think these cards are asking us to use our sense of discernment and judgment to dig deeper into our desire to please.

The Six of Pentacles is all about giving and receiving. Sometimes we give out of a true sense of altruism and generosity. And sometimes it's a way to mask our own inner turmoil.

This week we may find ourselves growing tired of the routines we use to avoid confronting our more difficult emotions. Are we directing our attention outwards, allowing our edgy energy to get channeled into pleasing, helping, or supporting others? It's important to be aware of how this may reflect a desire for control: If we can ease someone else's suffering (or think we have) then we can eliminate our own.

I'm drawn to the fact that this reading is using the Four of Cups to illustrate our true emotional state. This card is quite mysterious; there's a sense of stasis, pause, and the unknown.

When we feel unsettled and blah, it's tempting to fill that space with action and distraction. Yet we have the King of Swords bringing a powerful sense of discernment to our center, as if we're finally in a position to see our behavior clearly and adjust accordingly.

This week is a time to listen to our inner voice and to trust its messages and direction. If the giving stance of the Six of Pentacles seems hollow, off-putting, or uncomfortable, it's likely an invitation to step back, to move from the earthy realm of the pentacles and into our personal emotional experience.

The Four of Cups brings us into relation with ourselves as we are in the moment. What are we feeling? How can we sit with it? Time alone, practices of reflection, and plenty of rest can help coax out important epiphanies and breakthroughs. But we can't get there if we neglect our inner life.

I also think that the King of Swords represents a highly developed sense of self. We know, at a conscious level, that we need to turn inwards. And, perhaps, that our emotions have something deeply important to tell us.

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Weekly Forecast: September 23-29

My lovely friends, this is a reading to write home about! And, to be honest, a welcome break from all the soul-searching present in our recent forecasts. There's a bevy of cups available to us this week: satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, fun, creativity, spirit, and connection. So what's the first step?

Overwhelm, it seems, is an important sign for us, particularly the kind that arises from a wide sea of opportunities and options.

I'm getting this from the Seven of Cups, of course - that tricky and alluring exploration of our creativity. Like all sevens it represents the secret invitation of dissatisfaction. What happens when we peel aside the first layer of itchiness? Inspiration and a meaningful next step.

This card was also at the center of a collective reading we did at my local tarot meetup. In that reading, the Seven of Cups generated a lot of helpful and invigorating energy, and it does the same here.

We can try looking at the wide expanse of unknown in front of us as a grand stage to fill with actions, plans, and goals. The only requirement is that they're exciting and fascinating: No lackluster, half-assed dreams need apply!

If things have been feeling a bit heavy during the past few weeks we can expect that weight to lift. Our challenge will be to welcome that and all the silliness, experimentation, and dreaming that comes along with it. Embracing that will be healing, expansive, and fun (sign me up!) and bring us to the bounty of the Ten of Cups.

The King of Cups presides over the whole picture. We're learning our own creative language and taking our dreams seriously. And it's unlocking a much-needed and surprising source of inner leadership.

I can't think of a group of cards that would give us a more resounding invitation to think outside the box, lighten up, and walk towards what we really want, even if we're not sure why.

Underneath all this is a river of emotion; yet, like the King of Cups, we've looked into it and can now sail across its surface. What work have you been doing to integrate and process you emotional experiences? How have you been showing up for yourself throughout challenging times? What peace have you found within yourself?

I also think that the King of Cups has some words of gentle encouragement to share with us. Sometimes the Ten of Cups can be surprisingly triggering. All that sunshine and rainbows energy can seem ostentatious and flashy. Do we really think we're all that? What does it mean if we're a little afraid of our best possible scenario?

The King of Cups tells us that all of those conflicted feelings are welcome and necessary. We can have the rainbow and still be human, with all our fear, restlessness, and weirdness alongside the wonder and joy.

So let this week be one where you celebrate and explore your strangest dreams and ideas. Playing around will invite in the sense of feeling you're looking for as you start to move closer to your personal Ten of Cups.

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3 Things I've Learned as a Spiritual Professional

I got a wonderful question on my Instagram announcement about phasing out of reading tarot full-time at Incandescent Tarot:

What advice do you have for people stepping into this role?

When I think about all I’ve learned during my 3 year tenure as a professional tarot reader it’s difficult to distill it into concrete advice. My first thoughts careen through so many categories: spiritual components, business strategies, ethics and boundaries, and more. I’ll likely touch on some of these later, but for now I’d like to focus on the major lessons I’ve learned and approaches that have helped me:

Stand by your Style

Each person reads tarot, does reiki, or teaches meditation differently. When I started out I spend so much time researching the current “pro-tarot scene” that I lost sight of my unique approach. The more time I spent interacting with different readers’ business approaches and tarot philosophies the easier it was to unconsciously adopt their attitudes. This led to a lot of needless tension! Plus, it was almost comical how resoundingly successful I was when I embraced my true voice vs. how awkward and stilted things came out when I tried to be a calm, “enlightened” style reader with a soothing whisper voice. (Definitely not my natural way of being!)

I found that the more time I spent “researching” (aka comparing and drowning out my creative voice with other information) the more muddled and confused my marketing became. In a sense, I spent a lot of time running away from my authentic voice as a tarot reader and, delightfully, my voice won by a landslide.

So, to sum it up here, my advice is: Trust your abilities and work as your true self.

Be Professional!

Lest you think my advice to be yourself includes wearing your sweatpants to appointments! Truly, being professional from the beginning has been one of my best decisions as a spiritual business owner. Well, actually, as a business owner period.

Having your ducks in a row - that means terms & conditions policies, a code of ethics, local permits, cancellation policies, ironclad boundaries, and much more - is one of the best things you can do for your business. I’ve found that having all this ready from the get-go has done so much to ensure that I’m ready for whatever happens AND that I attract clients that are a good fit and know what’s expected when they work with me.

There’s a lot of misinformation and, sadly, disrespect for spiritual businesses that can sometimes lead to difficult situations. I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid most of the sticky situations I’ve heard about, in most part because I feel I’ve set up all the infrastructure to make sure people know what they’re getting and that they’re interacting with a legit professional.

Have Beautiful, Clear Boundaries

Ah, boundaries, how I love you!

This is somewhat of an offshoot of professionalism, but one that’s particularly important in any healing modality. When doing spiritual work you’re entering into a deep and often vulnerable relationship with your clients. A lot can come up in this space, and it’s your job as a professional to hold it for whomever is choosing to work with you. It’s a huge honor to do this work, and stepping outside your boundaries as a professional is a huge breach of that trust.

Where I think this gets tricky is that often people doing this work are extremely empathetic with a strong desire to help. Having a strong sense of self - knowing the boundary between where you end and another complex, sovereign being begins - is absolutely essential. This means having a healthy detachment from your client’s emotions, problems, and reactions. They belong to them alone and it’s not your job to fix or interject with unwanted advice.

Caring for yourself and your mental health is a great way to bolster your boundaries. Have an identity and life outside of your practice! Make time to be a weird, wiggly human being so that you can bring your clearest self to your time with clients.

All sorts of ethics come up here, which is why I think it’s key for each practitioner to spend time really thinking about what they will or will not do, how they approach their sessions, and how they’ll enact their boundaries in real life. For me, this means keeping our interaction within the bounds of our session together, respecting my client’s free will, and not giving prescriptive answers or solutions to problems, no matter how much they may want them.

I’ve written so much here, but there’s still a lot left unsaid!

Let me know if you’d like to hear more about the business side of the equation and, as I continue to process and navigate my gradual shift towards a more muggle profession, I’ll keep you updated on what insights and observations arise. And, as always, thank you for following along on this journey - I’m so grateful to have you here.

Weekly Forecast: September 16-22

What do we really want?

This week is bringing us a wonderful sense of focus and curiosity towards our inner life. Yes, I'm talking about The Hermit, the solitary hero of the tarot. Despite their wizened look and connotations of reclusiveness (and, perhaps, eccentricity), The Hermit is an immensely charismatic character. They embody the type of authenticity that's unafraid to chart new territory or look odd. If it fits and is personally important, it's a part of who you are.

At least that's what The Hermit teaches us.

Practicing this brave inner-alignment can be a challenge in the wider world. There are so many choices we need to make at any given time, from the relentless minutiae of everyday life to the bigger, crossroads-style choices that mark major life chapters. How can we keep grounded in ourselves amidst all this pressure?

Having The Lovers at our right points us in the direction of the "major life chapter" type of choice this week, which makes it all the more important to keep the small choices from adding up to serious fatigue. We need our energy, so it's essential that we say no to what doesn't matter, paving way for what's essential in the larger scheme of things. For The Hermit, this is not an issue; they're used to turning their back on anything that's a waste of time or energy with impressive ease.

Our reading is encouraging us to give ourselves plenty of time to think and regroup as we deliberate our next steps. Yet this isn't a slinking, cowardly retreat or procrastination. It's a wonderful, energizingly rebellious stand against our busy culture. We can stake out personal territory to think and feel things through, popular opinion be damned.

In the center of our reading we have the Six of Wands, a card that tells us we're doing this all in the service of our success. In other words, we're being smart here! So let's have fun with the time we can give ourselves; let's take our own counsel seriously.

With this in mind, The Hermit seems to be pointing to parts of ourselves that need integrating. Are there needs, preferences, or personality traits that we can celebrate instead of try to cure or fix? Are there some things we can just accept and love about ourselves instead of trying to change? Look to areas where you felt different, shunned, or shamed - how can you stand up for yourself and give yourself the uncompromising acceptance of The Hermit?

In fact, these parts may be the deciding factors in navigating this upcoming choice successfully. And I don't mean in an external, societally-approved way. Rather, embracing our weirdness may be the key to finding the right option that will lift us up in the long run.

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A Big Announcement

Hello Dear Readers,

It’s time for me to share an important change:

As of January 2020, Incandescent Tarot will no longer be operating as a full-time tarot business.

What does this mean? No more tarot readings, in-person or online, as well as some other shifts I’ll outline below.

So why this big change?

I’ve been running this business for 3 years and it’s been quite the magical journey, yet about six months ago I found the magic waning significantly. Blog posts were coming as slow as molasses, and my drive to market, promote, and be active on social media was almost nonexistent.

I’ve always loved reading for other people - to this day, it remains one of the few things that consistently energizes and inspires me - but, as any entrepreneur knows, running a business means you end up doing what you love about 10% of the time.

Although I love tarot, I found that making it my sole source of income was sapping it of its vitality and magic. Truth be told, I’m eager and excited to stretch my wings in a new direction and relieve tarot and spirituality of the pressures of being my professional identity.

I can always tell when I’m making a good decision by the feeling I get immediately after sharing it with someone close. When I first told my husband, I experienced a state of elation. Finally! This was what was weighing on my conscience and spirit.

And, with almost comical intensity, I found my inspiration rushing back. I had ideas for new podcast episodes! Blog posts! Newsletter topics! Tarot, spirituality, and intuition seemed exciting again.

In all honesty, this is the best part of my decision. I was feeling so disconnected from tarot and I can’t express how happy I am to find that my block was around creating a living out of it, not the act of sharing it with others.

Nothing has filled me with as much joy as seeing how tarot has lit up the lives of the people I’ve worked with. Sharing it as a practice, teaching it to others, and being invited into the process of so many special people in one-on-one readings has been a priceless gift.

You can still find me posting here on my website, sharing my card meanings and resources, and speaking about these topics on my podcast.

And now for the goodbyes

I’ll be phasing out services as follows:

• In-Person readings, excluding pre-booked appointments, will stop on October 15th, 2019

• Remote readings will stop on December 31st, 2019

• Mentorships will stop meeting on December 31st, 2019

• Events will stop on October 31st, 2019

• Classes will stop December 2019

• Weekly Forecasts will stop December 31, 2019

Needless to say, this is the last call for readings if you’ve been meaning to get one. I’m leaving space to offer occasional readings in the future if my inspiration/schedule allows, but that won’t be for quite some time.

Join the Newsletter to stay in the loop and book one of my last appointments here.

What’s going to stay?

• This website: I’ll continue to run incandescenttarot.com and keep up my card meaning dictionary, tarot spreads, and resources.

• The blog: I’ll post occasional tarot reflections and more. If my newfound energy is any indication, I’ll be more active here than I’ve been recently!

• The Newsletter: My more personal tarot musings and announcements will still go out here.

• The Podcast: Open Magic will continue to be a space where I share about tarot, spirituality, and intuition.

A Parting Offering

My last offering as a professional reader will be my annual Year Ahead readings for 2020. These are my favorite thing that I create, and this year’s format will be the best yet: A full tarot reading with a card for each month and extras for the big themes in your life, I put my all into these beauties and will be opening orders up on November 1st - December 3rd.

Stay tuned for more announcements

I’ll be posting more here about the ins-and-outs of this change and sharing my experience throughout. For now, thank you so much for reading along and for all your support: Whether you’re a casual reader of this site, a podcast fan, client, or general well-wisher, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the energy you’ve brought to Incandescent Tarot. I can feel it, and I’m so grateful and honored to have been a part of your tarot experience.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or more please share them in the comments below or drop me a line here

Check it Out: Robert Place on Tarot as a Spiritual Path

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about tarot and its many uses, particularly how to sum up my personal approach. As a tarot reader and teacher, I get asked this question a lot. And, as a spiritual seeker, my experience and outlook changes subtly over time.

One of the major shifts has been around the idea of spirituality. As a cynical child from a very secular family, I has an almost allergic response to the term. To me, spirituality meant flighty, irrational, and hopelessly outdated.

As any of you who’ve been following my work likely know, I was living a huge contradiction: My orientation towards the world, at least privately, was deeply spiritual. I saw the world as a living place, practiced free-form rituals as a young child, and even though I’d never admit it, found deep insight in the tarot.

Perhaps because I didn’t grow up in a religious tradition, I was unaware of the natural, human pursuit of spiritual meaning. To have other people to talk to about these questions and experiences would be delightful! But like any isolated and underexposed child, I thought I was completely alone.

So imagine my surprise when I learned more about what spirituality actually is and found I was already doing it, loving it, and finditing it deeply meaningful!

Which brings us to this article I’d like to share. I shouldn’t be surprised that Robert Place would be the person to so perfectly articulate tarot’s connection to spiritual practice. A renowned and wonderfully reliable scholar of tarot and divination, Place distills these ideas expertly in this interview with Buddha Weekly. He touches on the differences between divination and fortune telling (a key point!) and how to use tarot as a spiritual path.

I particularly love this quote:

“It is better to ask about relationships with other people or about routine decisions that need to be made. You want the Tarot to tell you things that may be hard to hear, about how you are being self-centered or short sighted. And then you want the Higher Self to show you a better way to behave. As you practice this day-to-day and act on the advice, you are making better decisions and becoming more like your Higher Self. This process becomes a spiritual path.”

— Robert Place

Check out the interview here and share your thoughts in the comments below. How do you view tarot’s connection with spiritual practice? What has your personal experience been?

Weekly Forecast: September 9-15

We have a mixed forecast for this week, dear friends. There's the heartbreak of the Three of Swords and the emotional indecision of the Seven of Cups. If this were the weather, I'd say we have clouds mixed with thunderstorms on the horizon. Fortunately, however, we have the determined energy of the King of Wands leading us through.

So what does this card instruct us to focus on? In a way, the Three of Swords and Seven of Cups show us the complex combinations of thoughts and emotions that make life both challenging and interesting.

What do we do when the going gets tough? The King of Wands couldn't be a more empowering archetype. We are prepared to handle this and then some. We've outgrown our tendency to get swamped by turmoil and challenge; that doesn't mean, however, that it'll be easy.

I feel like the King of Wands is starting our reading for a reason. As we launch into the week it's important to have a nice heart-to-heart with ourselves, particularly our ambitious and willful side. The King of Wands is a character who knows what they want and relishes the opportunity to flex their muscles and fight for it. Not in an exhausting way, but in a way that reflects their worldview - think of the thrill of the hunt or the satisfaction of completing a tough workout.

Some helpful King of Wands questions to consider: What am I working for right now? What strengths and accomplishments tell me that I can surmount these challenges easily? Think of yourself as an intrepid adventurer (perhaps one who was so dashing and daring they became a King) - why would you expect challenge to derail you when you've done so much to work with, through and around it?

Sometimes this is a wonderul opportunity to retell your story. Be as big and bold as the King of Wands. Spin a yarn, one where you're the protagonist. A little ego here is a good thing - same goes for faith in your abilities and vision.

Why am I doubling down so hard on the heroic, jazzy King of Wands? Because the other energies this week are murky and difficult. Some old wounds are getting kicked up with the Three of Swords and it's making us question our path, decisions, and abilities.

There are, however, lots of options. Ending on the Seven of Cups shows us mulling them over, wondering what to do next, which is why I'm endorsing the King of Wands so thoroughly. Has the challenge of the Three of Swords really shook things up so much that our plans have been pushed to the side? I sure hope not.

Use this energy this week to rally around yourself and prioritize your goals. The King of Wands is more than strong enough to commit to this vision no matter the stickiness that arises. Let's make the delibration of the Seven of Cups a temporary pause, not a halt to the bold path we're charting for ourselves.

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Weekly Forecast: September 2-8

What does mastery look like?

In tarot we often assume that it's embodied, at least in the everyday realm, by a King or Queen. After all, these archetypes are rulers. They're in charge, at the to of their game.

Being in that place, however, can be complex - fraught with pressure, perfectionism, and responsibility. This week, we're being asked to step away from these assumptions of power and play around in the middle ground.

The operative question is: What if what we're doing is perfect simply because it's what we're doing right now?

And, to dive a bit deeper, what if we're showing our mastery by rising to each challenge with a fresh mind, a sense of humor, and the humble ego of a beginner? Like, for example, the Page of Pentacles.

If we've been feeling the pressure of performance and perfectionism, it's time to step aside and see how that stance has been hobbling our work, creativity, and unique perspective. What I love most about these cards is how the youthful and new Two of Wands and Page of Pentacles are preceded by the next-level mature Temperance. Maturity and mastery may not be as stodgy and pressure-filled as we imagine. What we're doing right now is actually advanced, brave, and refreshingly open-minded.

So, it's a time to give ourselves all the patience and credit for proceeding imperfectly, without the utter certainty we might think we need. It's also, to be blunt, a time to chill out. Temperance shows us how balance in the different areas in our life is essential to our success and well-being.

What opportunities can we find in learning, planning, navigating new opportunities, and simply continuing along our current path? There's room for relaxation, play, innovation, and whatever else we may be craving to bring balance and freedom into our lives

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