Posted on Monday, March 02, 2009 at 03:41 am
(Note: Re-posting from my old Tarot site. Actual article written a few years ago.)
Should we give health-related readings? Is it okay to advise sitters in matters of one’s health? These are questions that have been asked many times by countless people. It is also one of the aspects of reading cards that I’m more strict about in my personal set of “rules” (a word I use loosely as I believe in very few rules as a cartomancer).
In general, I have always made it clear that health-centric readings is not something I practice. That’s not to say I have never touched upon health matters when doing readings (for example, when it comes up anyway or when I do a general outlook type of reading that covers an overall view of each area, etc.), but there is, I believe, a very fine line between generally advising and actually diagnosing- the latter being something I absolutely will not do.
It’s inevitable that issues relating to health will eventually appear in a reading, because it’s such an inherent part of life. And when it does come up, I always pay special attention and make it a point to be very careful in reading what the cards are saying. I may advise the sitter to seek a physician, get their health checked, or take better care of their bodies. I might give some warnings if appropriate or applicable, but I don’t tend to go beyond that.
There are those who say that as a reader, we should be more confident in guiding our sitters even in health matters, but to me, it has never been a matter of confidence. I simply believe that the human body is a very complex thing. There are too many gray areas, and I have no business in covering such a topic extensively with a client in an area I have no expertise in. It feels too irresponsible for me and it’s something that would never sit well with me because of that.
It may seem contradictory for me to say I refuse to do health-centric readings and yet still be willing to read about health sometimes, but I think the root of it all for me is where I draw the line between advising and diagnosing. Giving a general outlook on health and telling my sitters that they might be prone to migraines and to get it checked out is one thing… but to tell them that “yes, the pain you’re feeling is indeed caused by cancer” is an entirely different thing.
A lot of times, when something is wrong in the body, the person knows somehow. Unfortunately, it also happens too often where said person doesn’t get it checked out but would instead seek out a reader, hoping for answers to whether there’s really something wrong.
I guess what I’m trying to say is:
A reading, in my opinion, should never be used as a substitute for a professional diagnosis done by a qualified doctor. We can guide them, put forth a note of caution, or maybe even provide some insights… but just as we certainly wouldn’t pick up a scalpel to operate on our sitters because we’re not surgeons, I personally also wouldn’t attempt to determine whether a sitter has a cancerous tumor in his liver or not, because… well, I’m not a doctor.