Controversial Tarot: Reading for Health

Following up with my musings on the ethics of tarot, and after exploring the ethics of reading for third-parties, I have decided to open the next can of worms: Reading for matters of health and well-being. 

Keeping Away Death, by Julian H. Harris. Picture by Marc Merlin.

This one is, probably, the hairiest subject of them all. But after twenty years reading tarot and ten professionally established as a reader, I have opinions. 

I have gone back and forth about this subject for a while, but it was in the last two or three years that I have developed a more solid stance on it, even though I'm open to evolving if presented with new information.

I will preface by saying a couple of things. First, that this is always a delicate subject, and that medicine is best practiced by those who have an appropriate, regulated training on the subject. Diagnosing is not within the competences of a tarot reader, nor is prescribing treatment or its abandonment. 

Second, that what I am saying here is based on my experience and opinion, and it is not a blanket statement to say that anything goes, or that this is something that you should do if you’re not comfortable with it. 

In an ideal world, one would consult medical concerns with a doctor. Also, in an ideal world, people would have access to medical treatment without having to weigh it against feeding their families or keeping a roof over their heads. 

The turning point

I used to think that health readings were a no-go. Point blank, period. Nope. Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. I couldn’t fathom the reason why one would ask a tarot reader what should be answered by a doctor. But there was a problem. 

And the problem was that I was approaching this from a very narrow perpective. Concretely, my own. I live in Spain, and that what I’ve known all my life is that you can walk into a doctor’s office any day without a care in the world for the bill, any time off that you might need to take, or the cost of surgery, treatment or hospital stay. 

From that paradigm, the idea of going to a tarot reader to consult a health matter feels absurd. Why on God’s green earth would you do that when you can get an appointment tomorrow and ask to get panels done at no cost to you? But as I worked with people from different parts of the world, it dawned on me. Sadly, not everyone can “just go to the doctor”, “just get panels done”, “just get an X-Ray” or “just get sick leave” without consequence. Lack of access is not the only issue, even if it’s the one that made me change my mind about health readings. I’m going to be very careful here because I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I am against medicine (I am very much not) or that I believe doctors are out to get us (I don’t believe they are). That said, sometimes it is damn hard to get a diagnosis or to be paid attention to. I have had the luck of dealing with fantastic doctors for the most part, but I am no stranger to stories in which “just lose some weight” has become the go to diagnosis for a person with real symptoms and real pain. Or, to situations in which a collection of symptoms gets labelled anxiety and all you get is a pat in the back. Or, perhaps everything is done by the book: The querent can and does go to the doctor. The doctor is competent indeed, tests are ran, treatments are in place, and still, the situation doesn't seem to improve, or new symptoms appear that don't amount to a convincing diagnosis.

None of the situations above change the fact that I am not a doctor, and still not qualified to diagnose. But it does shed some light about why doing health readings is something worth considering. 

And, in a world where, awful as it is, a reader may be more accessible than going to a doctor for some people, or in which people have tried and failed to get a solution, I don’t feel it’s ethical to dismiss a querent with a concen about well-being without a second thought for what can be done about it, only because reading about health is unethical as a blanket statement.

That’s the core of the matter, isn’t it? 

What can be done about it without causing harm? My solution might be imperfect, but it is an imperfect world that we live in.

Deciding whether to do health readings

I don't have a hard and fast set of rules when it comes to deciding if I will take a health related concern or not, it's very much decided on a case by case basis. I will say I have one "universal" condition though, and it's being reasonably certain that my querent knows and understands the difference between a doctor and a tarot reader, and in no way misunderstands the capabilities of tarot as a system or of me as a reader. I have to say that I’ve very seldom encountered a querent who didn’t fit this criteria. Most people understand the limitations of what we are working with, understand that I am not misrepresenting myself or my tool, and don’t intend to replace the appropriate channels. 

Once that this is clear between both parties, the next question would be, can we actually help? And, when we have reached a point in which the qualified professional can’t give an answer either, are we causing further harm by giving it a go where tangible means are exhausted? 

The answer is sometimes yes, and sometimes no, and that’s what makes this subject so complicated, and what makes opting entirely out of it so tempting to save trouble.

And still...

I can say that I saved my cat’s life thanks to a reading that a friend did. The situation was as follows: My cat didn’t want to eat and had an unexplained fever, no other symptom. 

I took her to the vet, who ran some tests and found nothing except an ulcer in her mouth. The diagnosis was that the ulcer in the mouth was the cause for not eating and the fever was due to stress. But the cat continued not eating after starting treatment for the ulcer and the fever remained for another day.

I felt uneasy about it, and I asked my friend to look into it and she said “there’s chest pain, your cat can’t breathe”. Next morning I took my cat to the vet and asked them to take a torax X-Ray because I had a hunch. The result? The cat had bilateral pneumonia (and she hadn’t coughed once, which is another story). She was hospitalized for a few days and given proper medications and thankfully, she’s alive and well now. 

Had I done nothing, I don’t know how the situation would have played out. If the reading had been wrong, I would have been out of about 100€. Without the reading, perhaps I would have been out of a cat. 

I don’t know about you, but for me, the math of that particular situation maths. 

If I look at the situation, the right steps were taken in the tangible realm, the vet had no reason to suspect a pneumonia and found something that could explain the symptoms. And yet, without the reading, we could have been happily waiting while the situation turned worse unbeknownst to us. 

Could the reading had been wrong or misinterpreted? Also yes, that’s always a risk too, but, except for death and taxes, nothing in life is 100% guaranteed, so my overall take in regards to health readings is: As a reader, assess the pros and cons to the best of your ability, not anything goes. As a querent, understand the limitations of what you are consulting and take responsibility too. I believe that as readers, sometimes we can end up infantilizing our querents out of fear that they could make a bad decision with the information provided and blame us, which is why I believe that both parties need to be in understanding. If those criteria are met, I say go ahead and give it your best. 

What is a situation in which I wouldn’t “give it my best?”.

If there’s something I don’t like to do, that is pregnancy readings to the pregnant person. “Will I keep this pregnancy?” Is a question that, to me, has a greater chance of causing harm than of causing good. 

Fear and anxiety are known enemies of pregnancy. If the answer is no, aside from the possibility of it being wrong, there’s the potential additional harm that it could cause. Telling someone that they won’t keep a wanted pregnancy is in no way going to help alter the outcome. There’s a greater chance that someone will end up keeping the pregnancy if they are not panicking about an impending loss, and as such, the change of causing harm is greater than the good it can do. 

Now “How can I best support this pregnancy?” Is a different question. We all know the textbook answer, but perhaps is there a situation that you can potentially avoid, or some other information that could support a positive outcome. 

As it happens with most things in life, there are a lot of gray areas, what ifs and buts, and the perfect solution might not always be obvious. This is also something that requires being humble about the fact that there are no absolutes in this practice, and sit with the fear that it causes, then decide what we are willing to do with that, and what’s the most sensible path ahead. 

What are your thoughts on health related readings? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments.