Flagrant Faking: Real or Imaginary?
AUTHOR’S NOTE: In a recent sub-reddit thread, someone asked whether it is possible to spot a “fake” tarot reader, and how that might be done. The person was understandably nervous about paying for a poor-quality reading by an incompetent practitioner. Many of the negative comments were aimed at YouTube readers, and I was inspired to put a new twist on the old joke: Question — “How can you tell if video tarot readers are lying?” Answer — “Their lips are moving.” Seriously, though, I’m encouraged to see more people becoming aware that tarot reading is most effective as an interactive art performed in a face-to-face setting.
My response to this inquiry was:
“I’m not sure I can say that they (particularly online readers) are intentionally fake, but I think a good many are inexperienced and are just using tarot apps for their content and reselling it as personal readings. That’s the only economic basis I can see for all the $5 and $10 Etsy readers out there. Find a metaphysical shop that has in-house readers and you’re more likely to get a working professional.”
The first rude awakening this individual faces is realizing that remote readings aren’t going to be very personal in nature, and I’ve even heard of “collective” readings that are intended for groups of people, like the old newspaper “daily horoscopes.” Unless the querent is part of the process, such efforts will only be intuitive or psychic guesswork using the cards as a prop (in other words, mostly mind-reading exercises, although the source of insight may not be the seeker’s own psyche, it could reflect the reader’s subjective bias, the advice of a putative “spirit guide,” or the ostensibly channeled input of some exemplar of “higher consciousness”). The results will almost inevitably be generic and not worth even $5 or $10.
Another clue is an extremely low price for readings. (I’m not talking about those who do free readings for practice; they aren’t faking anything.) As a professional reader, I know I can’t compete with the Etsy crowd and I don’t intend to try. My time and undivided attention are worth something and I charge accordingly, but I can almost guarantee that any cliche-dripping $5 screed will have been spawned by an electronic program. While they may not be purposely fraudulent, they are far from comprehensive and are not tailored to the individual querent. Because inadequate consideration is generally given to personalizing the narrative, it is about as useless as the first computer-generated astrological profiles that appeared in the late 1970s. Pretty much a waste of money. You might as well patronize a Zoltar Fortune-telling Machine.
A third tip-off is a litany of uniformly glowing reviews. An instructive case in point is Amazon: in recent years their product-review feature has been overrun with fake positive reviews, while in other instances wily competitors submit bogus negative reviews to drive prospective buyers away from a rival product and hopefully toward theirs. It’s a hotbed of dirty tricks, and it’s not limited to online marketers; I’ve heard of diviners who have their friends write their public endorsements. In many fortune-telling situations the experience level of tarot-reading recipients is no greater than that of the novice readers, so they are ill-equipped to judge the results except from an anecdotal perspective, which yields mostly “feel-good” testimonials. (Once again, “novice” doesn’t automatically mean “fake,” just shallow.)
A fourth cautionary hint is the tendency for shady operators to tirelessly “blow their own horn” in advertising by claiming to be empaths, psychics, intuitives, shamans, mediums, healers, curse-removers, love gurus and the like. I’m also suspicious of “toxic positivity” of the relentlessly upbeat kind and those entrepreneurs who are trying to sell stuff other than their divining skills. The thicker they pile it on, the less likely it is to be trustworthy; they’re just trying to get naive victims in the door with their self-aggrandizing razzle-dazzle. A visit to any of the online “regional metaphysical community” sites will demonstrate what I’m talking about. The kinds of service being offered get high marks for originality and ingenuity ( cacao sound bath, anyone?) but a grade of zero for pragmatic transparency; I’ve never before seen such phantasmagorical solicitation for mystical nostrums that I didn’t even know existed! (The world just gets stranger . . . it’s like living in the 7 of Cups!) I suppose they’re well aware whom their core clientele is and don’t care about attracting the uninitiated (that would be you and me), but anyone worried about spending money for questionable output should steer clear of them.
In the realm of face-to-face reading, I would be wary of anyone who fusses over the “window dressing” (crystals, candles, incense, “mood music,” ritual “cleansing”and the like) more than they do over getting the reading underway. As the Wizard of Oz bellowed, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” In these situations it’s more about the “theater of tarot,” and actually reading the cards is almost an afterthought.
Still, finding an in-person reader whom you can quiz a bit before laying money on the table is the best bet for ensuring that you won’t be ripped off. You should be able to tell immediately whether they are frank or evasive in their answers, and whether they have an open-and-easy manner that encourages dialogue, not a condescending attitude that implies “I know what I’m talking about and you don’t. Sit over there and shut up.”
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on November 29, 2023.
