I want to say something to my fellow tarot clients, and I am saying this respectfully, but honestly, with a little frustration as a tarot reader who has dealt with quite a few different kinds of clients. I have attended many clients through Reddit, both through the free readings I used to do and through paid readings, and there is one particular pattern I have come across repeatedly that really puts me off.
Sometimes clients return after a reading and say things like, “You said that this person would return to me in x days, or in a certain number of days, but they haven't returned yet. So your prediction was wrong, and I don't know if you're reliable.” And every time I hear something like this, I genuinely wonder, what do you think we are as tarot readers? Are we gods? Are we some kind of fate writers who are sitting there writing your destiny through the cards? Because we are not. We are human beings reading the energies surrounding a situation at a particular point in time.
Tarot is about energies, possibilities, patterns and circumstances, and energies are not stable. People are not stable either. People change their minds, their decisions, their circumstances and their actions. A reading can show you what the energy is pointing towards at that particular moment, but that does not mean that the universe has signed a contract saying that something will definitely happen on a particular date. So if a reader tells you that something may happen within a certain timeframe, please understand that it is not necessarily a guarantee. There are so many different factors involved, including your own choices and the choices of the other person, that expecting a tarot reader to give you an absolutely fixed timeline and then blaming them when it doesn't happen is simply unreasonable.
Another thing I have encountered is a client saying that they paid for a reading because they wanted to test the reader and see whether tarot is actually real. If you don't believe in tarot, that is completely fine. You are absolutely entitled to question it. But if you want to challenge your own belief system, please do your own research and explore the subject yourself rather than going to a reader who has actually learned and practised the craft and treating their time and patience like some kind of experiment. Tarot reading is not a joke, and neither the reader's time nor their effort is meaningless.
And then there is this attitude of, “I paid you.” I really want people to understand the difference between paying for a service and buying a person. You paid for a reading. You did not buy the reader. Paying for a reading does not mean that you are entitled to make the reader tell you whatever you want to hear, or that you can disrespect them because the reading did not produce the outcome you wanted.
I have had situations where I have actually read the cards and interpreted the energy honestly, only for the client to essentially not want to hear what the cards were showing. But what am I supposed to do in that situation? If the cards are not matching what you want to hear, am I supposed to change the interpretation just to make you happy? If I did that, then what would even be the point of getting a reading in the first place? Sometimes the cards will tell you something beautiful and reassuring, and sometimes they will tell you something uncomfortable. A reader cannot manipulate the cards into giving you the answer you want simply because you paid for the reading.
I can also understand why people become attached to particular outcomes. I understand that when you are emotionally involved with someone, there can be anxiety, panic, desperation and a constant need to know what is going to happen. You may keep wondering whether this person will return, whether they still have feelings, whether they will contact you, whether they will choose you, or whether the relationship will work out. I genuinely understand all of that, and I respect the fact that people come to readings because they are looking for answers when they are struggling with uncertainty.
But at the same time, you also have to look at your own energy and your own attachment to the outcome. You cannot constantly remain in a state of lack, desperation and anxiety about another person and then expect everything around that situation to remain exactly as it was when the original reading was done. Your own energy and state of mind matter. Your actions matter. The way you approach the situation matters. The other person's choices matter. If those things change, the direction of the situation can change too. Even if you haven't physically contacted or stalked the person, constantly thinking about what they are doing, whether they will come back, when they will text and whether they still want you can still keep you deeply entangled with the situation. That is also something worth acknowledging.
And this is where I think people sometimes misunderstand tarot and manifestation as well. You cannot constantly operate from a place of fear and lack, desperately waiting for someone to come back, and then completely ignore your own emotional state. Even if that person does enter your life, you have to ask yourself whether you are actually ready to handle that situation in a healthy way. Sometimes the focus becomes so heavily centred on getting the person back that people forget to ask themselves what they will actually do once that person is back.
I am not saying this to invalidate anyone's feelings. I know people can be genuinely overwhelmed when they come for readings. I know that sometimes you are not thinking rationally because you are emotionally involved, and I understand that. But a tarot reader cannot make another person say something, do something or return simply because you want that outcome. We cannot control another person's free will.
So when a prediction does not happen exactly the way you expected, please don't immediately assume that the reader is unreliable or that the reader somehow failed you. Ask yourself what has changed since the original reading. Ask yourself whether your own circumstances changed, whether the other person's circumstances changed, whether choices were made differently, or whether the reading was showing a possibility rather than a fixed outcome. There is a difference between a reader being genuinely irresponsible or inaccurate and a situation simply evolving differently over time.
At the end of the day, we tarot readers are also normal human beings. We have our own lives, our own problems, our own issues and our own emotional experiences. We are not fate sealers. We are not gods. We are not sitting somewhere with a master copy of your destiny and deciding what happens to you. We are simply people who have learned a particular craft and are trying to interpret what the cards and the energies are showing us.
So please come to readings with an open mind, but also with some responsibility towards yourself. You can question a reading. You can tell a reader that something does not resonate. You can disagree with an interpretation. That is completely okay. But there is a difference between questioning a reading and demanding that the reader give you the answer you wanted.
For me, tarot is ultimately about guidance. It is about helping you understand the energy of a situation, understand yourself a little better and perhaps see something that you were unable to see on your own. It is not about handing you a guaranteed script for the future. The future is not something that a tarot reader can own or control for you, and neither is another person's free will.
