By Sheri Harshberger
Fortune Stellar: What Every Professional Tarot Reader Needs to Know, by Christiana Gaudet
Published by Jupiter Gardens Press
ISBN: 978-0-9830904-4-1
Also available as an ebook
Many of us have been there--we've been reading for awhile, feeling comfortable with our knowledge of the cards--comfortable enough that we are reading for friends and, maybe, friends of friends. We've done enough readings that we start thinking about reading as a business--and taking reading to a successful business level can cause a head to swim with the details of it all. Where will I read? What sort of reader will I be? How do I find the information I need? What do I charge? The list goes on and on, and as a result, many readers never step past what I call the "informal" reading phase.
Christiana Gaudet's new book, Fortune Stellar: What Every Professional Tarot Reader Needs to Know can help readers make that transition... and more, which I will talk about in a minute. This book is a framework that readers can work within to transition or enhance the service they provide. The book is organized into eight comprehensive, easy to read and work through lessons designed to help a reader work through the questions they have while leveraging the tool the reader knows the best... the Tarot itself. Completing each lesson leads to progress that is not only significant, but also done in an entertaining and thoughtful way using "model" readers and case studies. Dispersed between the lessons are additional readings, including study guides and essays. The tone of the book is that of a friendly mentor which makes this book a deceptively easy read while it imparts a lot of information.
The lessons cover business structure, ethics, structuring readings, dealing with difficult clients, growing as a reader, teaching and mentoring, appearances and performances, and fostering acceptance in local communities. There is a lot of business bang here for a reasonable price...even more reasonable if you get the ebook version and download it on your iPad or other e-reader device.
Readers that have already established businesses that wish to expand their businesses into providing clients with business insight and advice, can benefit from this book also, because throughout all the lessons, you are using your cards to complete them... so whether you are using the cards to flesh out your own informal business plan, or helping a client figure out theirs... the process is the same.
Some people might note that there is an absence of some detail in the book--if you are expecting a collection of checklists that will tell you exactly what to do, this is not the book for you. The reader has to do some work. I think it is written with just enough detail to get a reader started and moving forward. With laws, ordinances, community environments, and situations of a nearly infinite number, more detail risks the book becoming too focused on one area, or risks providing incorrect or confusing information.
There are only a couple of minor things that I am not a fan of in this book. One of them is the lesson on structuring professional readings and the other has to do with the types of "model" readers she identifies for the case studies. My own personal reading style doesn't differentiate between a reading I might do informally versus one I do in my office for a fee. Everyone I read for gets the same quality, in-depth reading they have come to me for. It's not intentional, but the feeling of the lesson is that you do something better if someone is paying for it, and that made the lesson uncomfortable for me. I believe the intent of the lesson is to ensure that the appropriate respect for the profession of reading for others is taught. The second "issue" I have is that all the "model" readers are "part-timers," in that the business they are looking for is going to be part-time rather than full-time career. I would have liked to have seen a model reader and scenarios that address readers who are working toward ONLY being readers and attaining a level of business that would be able to support them exclusively. However, please note that these are things that may be unique only to my own experiences and nearly inconsequential. The massive positive good in this book far outweighs these couple of things. This is a book I would readily recommend to anyone looking for this type of guidance, whether it's starting/expanding a reading business or using oracles for client business guidance, let me explain the bit about my use of the term "oracles."
As you read this review, you may have noticed that I am intentionally using the term "reader" rather than "Tarot reader." While the title refers to "Tarot," and the book is focused on Tarot readers, every lesson in the book is applicable to ANY reader, not just Tarot readers. If you are a palmist, rune reader, astrologist, etc., the lessons will be just as applicable. In fact, I have read many, many "start-up" business books as part of projects required in college classes as well as through my experience of starting and managing my own very successful small businesses in other fields, and this book is one of the better overall BUSINESS books I have read to date.