A Tarot Look at Health: Ethical concerns & Framing Questions for Best Results
By Lalia Wilson
The Healing Tarot; 78 Ways to Wellness by Juno Lucina and Monica Knighton, published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Health matters are one of the big three questions most readers get from their clients, friends, and even themselves. But for best results, here are some factors that will improve your readings.
Let’s start with some ethical issues. I recommend that you only do readings from the perspective of the person in front of you (or on the phone, or who has written you).
Remember that anyone you read for is your client, for whom you have a responsibility to do your best reading and to leave that person empowered to solve his or her problems. Even if you are a teenager and not charging for your readings, your words have power. Thus it behooves you to avoid either a too negative or a too positive answer to a question. Some cards are almost always positive, some usually more difficult, but you, dear reader, need to find a middle ground from which to speak to your client.
Now, your task is to solve the client’s problem. If someone asks a question for another it is ethically best to rephrase the question as one that puts the client as the questioner. For example, instead of asking “Is my husband seriously ill?” ask “Will I need to provide more care for my husband?” Instead of asking “Should I take my daughter to see Doctor X?” ask, “How can I support my daughter in receiving the best medical care?” You should see a pattern here. Good questions are ones like these:
“How can I support good health in my family?”
“What can I do to improve the diet of my family?”
“How can I steer my family away from problems with drugs and alcohol?”
“How can I assist a family member in seeking mental health services?”
“How can I feel that I have done everything possible to help a declining family member?”
These questions can give you clear answers, or sometimes less clear ones. Let’s use the mental health services question as an example. (Mental health issues are a serious problem for 3-4% of adults in any given year according to the CDC, see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/index.htm. Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year. Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—9.8 million, or 4.0%—experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. - See more at https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers#sthash.Oi91AVM4.dpuf.)
The question is “How can I help my teenager seek mental health counseling?” Let’s assume that you draw a single card for the reading. Here are some possible cards and accompanying short answers.
The Ace of Wands—encourage your child’s physical activities and participation in life.
The Five of Wands—be insistent (assertive, even argumentative) about requiring the child to engage in treatment.
The Hanging Man—do nothing, as whatever is needed will come from another.
The King of Swords—enlist the aid of a mature medical or mental health practitioner.
Let’s say that the question is about physical health, and you draw the Three of Swords. This card, with three swords piercing a heart in most decks, is frequently associated with heart surgery or heart problems. Unless you are a qualified medical practitioner, you need to say something useful without “giving medical advice” which is against the law. You might say something like, “This card suggests that you need to consult your physician about heart issues. Are you willing to do that in the near future?” In other words, you want to send the person to the correct specialist, yet not scare them. That particular card is also associated with emotional problems of the heart, and you could be mistaking one for the other.
You can follow a similar methodology for any health question. Remember to look widely at the card or cards you draw to see how they apply to your question. May you be highly useful in solving your clients’ problems.
This is plenty to work with for this month. I wish you caution as well as good results with your health readings. In the future, we will look at the remaining of the most asked questions: Finding Love.