I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before how a couple of my friends have said that when contacting tarot phone lines (where you can choose from a large number of readers), that their reader has answered the phone and then said that he/she “can’t feel a connection” and they’ve been told to press "0" and choose another reader. I’m sure it’s not intentional, but my friends said that this made them feel like there was something wrong with them! Why couldn't these readers connect with them? Had they got some sort of blockage or what?
Of course, when you're reading for somebody face to face or on a video call, you really can't do this! Apart from anything else, on a purely practical level, if my clients are paying me by bank transfer, they've generally done so before their reading. As they've also taken the time to travel to my house, I’m hardly going to turn them away and say that I can’t feel a “connection”!
I thought it would be interesting, therefore, to ask a fellow tarot reader what she does if she's having difficulty connecting with somebody or if she's having an off day (which we all get sometimes, either through tiredness, stress or whatever). I hasten to add I invited a number of readers to contribute to this post but Janis King was the only one who did - so thank you Janis! Here is her response:
“I've heard this mentioned before but honestly it's not something I think about. I never consider whether I can connect or not, I think it's a matter of intention and perhaps expectation? When I read for a client and while I initially shuffle the cards, I have a ritual that I always go through, I set my intention that I am now connecting to them through my guides and ask- 'Help me to connect to...... over all space and time and all dimensions, I ask permission to connect to (clients name's) higher self, to see what I need to see. I invite their helper spirits to join us and ask my own guides to assist to enable me to deliver the information they are looking for in the best and clearest way in accordance with their highest good'. Then I trust it will just work, and it does. It's not reliant on me 'feeling' intuitive at all. The energy does it's job and communicates through the cards, it's reliable and it's just my job to properly interpret and deliver the information. Also, I guess I'm asking not just to connect to the clients themselves but the energy in between and the spirit part of them. The problem with connecting with them as physical beings is that you can hit issues and brick walls with ego's and belief systems and all kinds of stuff which can really confuse things. Connecting with the energy in between is a much cleaner signal. Asking to speak to their higher selves, through what I guess would be defined as spirit energy, means it's not about me, I'm just a conduit. I always ask for help from 'my guys' and I trust them to show up and they do I guess, because it just works.”
Janis King www.tarotreadinglondon.com
I found what Janis said very interesting as it resonated so much with what I do. I also have a set ritual before I read for somebody and I find it is this which helps to put me into the right space both spiritually and emotionally. I remember that years ago when I was much less experienced, I used to get very nervous before reading for a new client. Perhaps this was because I didn't have a set ritual at the time and of course because I was indeed somewhat greener! However, now I find that I really look forward to reading for somebody new and trying my best to provide some clarity for them. All in all, I think that both Janis and I see ourselves as channels. For me it's a channel to the Universe and again no, I'm never going to say "sorry, it's just not happening for me....press "0"!