Tarot Corporate Events Advice/Discussion

Hi there!

Currently dating a gf who just happens to do tarot, in fact she has a very successful tarot company.

So I did one of her corporate events last weekend where the death card came up. As we all know, death doesn't mean death, blah blah blah, reassured querrant it was not bad and that change is good, querrant I thought felt good when I finished the reading.

At end of event the client comes up to my gf and I and starts flipping out that one of their guests was quite upset that they got the death card. We both explain again about the card and it's positive meanings.

Here is my question. My gf says some of her other readers she uses takes out the so called 'negative cards' such as Death, 3 of Swords, etc... Personally I think this creates an unbalanced reading. What do you think of removing theses cards for corporate events?

My only solution I've found is recently bought a deck that has uplifting images where the title of the cards are NOT listed only the numbers and symbols.

Any feedback is great.

Thanks!

Henry_ said:

My only solution I've found is recently bought a deck that has uplifting images where the title of the cards are NOT listed only the numbers and symbols.

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This is pretty much what I would suggest. Luckily Lo Scarabeo has started making number-only titles their norm, so it's not difficult to find decks like this. Also, there are some decks out there that rename the 'negative' cards to something less scary. Doreen Virtue's decks are what come to mind. Death becomes 'Transitions', for example.

Another option would be to just trim the titles off the cards if this is a reoccurring problem she has and she doesn't want to switch decks.

As for removing cards from a deck, I doubt you'll find anyone here that would endorse that. It definitely would produce an unbalanced reading. If that reader doesn't want those cards, she might be better suited to an oracle deck rather than a tarot deck.

I agree about not removing cards and about using ones that do not blare words across the front, whether those words are 'positive' or 'negative' (like The Merlin deck which has some very firm words across some of them, like 'disaster' and 'disappointment', which then in the book are not actually called that--it made the deck unuseable for me while working with others). The numbered decks seem helpful if you know the deck well, and I started a thread a while back for "G-rated decks" for working with some very sheltered elderly folks I know which got a lot of comments including some helpful deck suggestions. However, the emphasis in that thread was more on less sensationalism as far as nudity/violence/death/dramatic depictions cards go for those new to tarot, and seldom did actual decks suggested meet those criteria. There have also been big ructions in that thread and others over the Doreen Virtue stuff as not being true to the spirit of tarot--you can also find discussions on the subject in threads here through the search function. Oracle cards may be helpful for corporate crowds, but then again it's not 'tarot reading' although it is 'card reading' or 'oracle reading'. I find that the folks around here (NY/NJ) who do oracle readings often feel compelled to make it sound more dramatic with terms like 'psychic' or combining it with little niche things like stones or claims of actual angel/dead advisors etc. helping with the reading, which may not be your thing or the girlfirend's company's thing--good luck with this perennial question of people thinking that tarot is 'entertainment' and yet it giving real insights that maybe the casual sitter doesn't want--I get that too among folks who pretty much want it to be either all fun, talldarkhandsomemoneysuccess stuff, or therapy for a cheaper price.

GlitterNova said:

This is pretty much what I would suggest. Luckily Lo Scarabeo has started making number-only titles their norm, so it's not difficult to find decks like this. Also, there are some decks out there that rename the 'negative' cards to something less scary. Doreen Virtue's decks are what come to mind. Death becomes 'Transitions', for example.

Another option would be to just trim the titles off the cards if this is a reoccurring problem she has and she doesn't want to switch decks.

As for removing cards from a deck, I doubt you'll find anyone here that would endorse that. It definitely would produce an unbalanced reading. If that reader doesn't want those cards, she might be better suited to an oracle deck rather than a tarot deck.

Click to expand...

Henry_ said:

Hi there!

Currently dating a gf who just happens to do tarot, in fact she has a very successful tarot company.

So I did one of her corporate events last weekend where the death card came up. As we all know, death doesn't mean death, blah blah blah, reassured querrant it was not bad and that change is good, querrant I thought felt good when I finished the reading.

At end of event the client comes up to my gf and I and starts flipping out that one of their guests was quite upset that they got the death card. We both explain again about the card and it's positive meanings.

Here is my question. My gf says some of her other readers she uses takes out the so called 'negative cards' such as Death, 3 of Swords, etc... Personally I think this creates an unbalanced reading. What do you think of removing theses cards for corporate events?

My only solution I've found is recently bought a deck that has uplifting images where the title of the cards are NOT listed only the numbers and symbols.

Any feedback is great.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I would never compromise the integrity of a deck by removing any of the cards so people don't get upset. (That's what angel oracle decks are for.)

However, when I did corporate events, or any FTF reading for a new client, I would begin each reading by asking the querent if he or she had ever had their cards read, or if they read for themselves.

If they told me they read for themselves, I would say, "Oh great, then I don't have to go into the whole thing about the Death card not meaning death and the Devil not meaning evil," and they would laugh and say, "No, you don't."

If they had never had a reading before, I would briefly say, "Well, just so you know, there are a couple of cards that nearly always show up in readings in the movies or on TV, but they are not as scary as they look. One is the Death card, but it doesn't mean actual physical death, it just means change or transformation, so it's actually a good card to get, and the Devil doesn't mean Satan or anything like that."

By that time the ice is broken, and if one of those cards comes up, the querent doesn't freak out; in fact, they usually look interested and say, "Oh cool, there's the Death card," or something similar.

It's all in how you package it, but you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, and there isn't a good way to rescue a reading when you realize that your querent is just staring dully at the Death card and most likely thinking, "I'm going to die...I'm going to die..."

I agree. A short "disclaimer" is a good way to go. I'm going to read for a work Halloween party on Friday. When I've done it before (with the Halloween deck), I said something like:

"This is a cute Halloween deck with funny ghosts and pumpkins, but it's a real tarot deck with some serious cards like Death and Devil. But if you get Death, it doesn't mean you're going to die, it means an ending or something like that. The cards are metaphorical."

(My audience is lawyers, so they know (or should know!) what metaphorical means . . .)

Henry_ said:

Currently dating a gf who just happens to do tarot, in fact she has a very successful tarot company.

So I did one of her corporate events

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I'm not sure how this works, I'm finding it hard to imagine. A Tarot company? She has employees? And she does Tarot-themed corporate events? How? How does Tarot even touch the corporate world?

last weekend where the death card came up. As we all know, death doesn't mean death, blah blah blah, reassured querrant it was not bad and that change is good, querrant I thought felt good when I finished the reading.

Click to expand...

So ... the card didn't come up as a part of a corporate presentation but as a part of a personal reading. For someone who came to the corporate event?

Here is my question. My gf says some of her other readers she uses takes out the so called 'negative cards' such as Death, 3 of Swords, etc... Personally I think this creates an unbalanced reading. What do you think of removing theses cards for corporate events?

Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure how Tarot gets involved in corporate events. I certainly don't take them out for Tarot parties or Tarot gigs where I am hired by a venue to do "free" readings for their customers (as I will be going this Friday night).

Think about it: You are a client who has had a grim life. You sit down with a reader, and they do a three card pull: past, present and future. Your past, which you know to have been a living river of misery, is all happy-happy-joy-joy. Your present, which you know to be rubbish, is all happy-happy-joy-joy. Why would you even listen to what they had to say about the future? The only impression you will be left with is that Tarot definitely doesn't work.

nisaba said:

Think about it: You are a client who has had a grim life. You sit down with a reader, and they do a three card pull: past, present and future. Your past, which you know to have been a living river of misery, is all happy-happy-joy-joy. Your present, which you know to be rubbish, is all happy-happy-joy-joy. Why would you even listen to what they had to say about the future? The only impression you will be left with is that Tarot definitely doesn't work.

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Well said! I agree.

I'm another one who wouldn't take cards out of the deck. If you do that, it's not a Tarot reading, in my opinion. It's an oracle reading, so why not bring Tea Leaf or Lenormand cards or something, but even those aren't without their death and illness cards because life isn't without those things.

And even though we all know that the Death card doesn't always mean literal death and the Devil doesn't always mean literal evil, we all know that sometimes those cards do mean those things, so what are we to do if we find the cards saying something bad will happen or death will happen? Surely we're not supposed to just fluff it all up and sprinkle fairy dust around and predict happy stuff.

The best you could do, I guess, is bring a Tarot deck that renames the cards or, as others have suggested, trim the cards to take the words off, but what do you do about the skeleton with the scythe and the evil looking devil? You can't cut the pictures off. Right?

Personally, I think the slap on the hand needs to go to the person who booked Tarot at their event, not the reader.The reader is just doing what he or she is paid for, after all. The person in charge of the event should have thought it through a little more, maybe?

Thanks all for your comments.

It's funny, I do a disclaimer thing when I do readings but it never occurred to me to do a quick one on the devil and death card. I think that is the best solution and if the client still has an issue with it then there is nothing I can do beyond using a deck where the names are not printed on the cards.