Psychic - the "P" Word

There's a wonderful piece by Mary K. Greer on her tarot blog, about how tarot readers describe themselves. For example, some describe themselves as "psychic", some as "intuitive", and still others describe what they do as "therapeutic." The entire article, plus comments (including one of my own) bears reading in detail. But the following comment by Mary is particularly noteworthy:

Unfortunately, very few of us can be truly psychic “on demand.” It tends to be stronger at certain times than others. Psychic readers have to appear as if they’re “on” all the time, which leads to a lot of abuse of the credulity of the public - such as using suggestive generalities and other tricks in place of real insights - sometimes without even realizing what they are doing.

I do not claim to be psychic. Mostly, my readings deal with where a person is right now, and how that might have a bearing on the future. My aim is to empower people to be able to deal with what the future brings. Or as Mary so eloquently puts it: Tarot helps you meet whatever comes in the best possible way.

There's little doubt that "psychic" sells, and the fact that I steadfastly refuse to use the "P" word in my advertising, web site, and elsewhere probably harms my business. But if that's the price I pay for my "no B.S." approach, then so be it. I've seen how a tarot reading can benefit people, and I simply cannot allow myself not to help anyone who needs a reading. That's one reason I have my "pay what you will" policy. Also, I hope that even though I don’t claim to be able to predict the winning lottery numbers, I’ll still attract the occasional “average Joe (or Jane)” and be able to convince them that there is much to gain from my kind of reading.

A "cuddlier" Marseille deck?

I currently read exclusively with the Jean Noblet Tarot de Marseille. It's just so darned honest, bawdy and irreverent. It's the "no BS" deck!

The Noblet is not for everyone, though. If you'd like a "cuddlier" deck, I think the Tarot de Marseille by Spanish publisher Fournier might be just the ticket. The lines of the Fournier follow those of the Nicholas Conver Marseille, so it reads like the originals (unless you find the original coloring to be important in reading), but it has contemporary coloring, giving a different feel. It is the deck that I started reading with when I began my study of Marseilles.

The two cards shown here are The Hermit from the Jean Noblet then from the Fournier.

If you read with the Minor Arcana, you may find the fact that each suit has a different background color to be useful. Some people have pointed out that the intensity of the coloring can be a little inconsistent, but I have not found that to be a problem.

There do seems to be a few editions of this deck available. There's even a mini version, although some have commented that some of the resizing may not have been done proportionally, leading to some distortion (I read that the coins are not perfectly round, for example).

You can see images of the entire deck here.

This deck is available at Tarot Garden or in Europe from Alida.