Taming The Tarot Ego

If you read tarot long enough, one fine day you’ll deliver a reading that truly blows chunks. In fact, you may be so off the mark that it will leave you filled with fear and insecurity about your reading abilities. You will know DOUBT intimately.

And while that scenario may sound horrendous, there will also come a day when you do a reading that is so perfectly, sublimely dead-on-accurate that you will almost scare yourself as your chest swells with pride. And in some ways that may be worse than the former example. Why?

Because you’ll start to BELIEVE YOUR OWN HYPE.

You’ll think you’ve got it down. You might become a cocksure tarot rock star, smirking at those “unspiritual” plebes who cannot “see the future” like you do cause you have a “gift”. Hell yeah! (If you get like this, you’ll soon experience the other side of the coin – failure. The universe never likes a smart ass.)

And eventually you’ll start to understand that these mindsets come from a very similar culprit: the EGO. The ego will fawn all over you when you are “right” and it will crush your spirt like a sledgehammer when you are “wrong”.

And this, my friend, will get in the way of your ability to read clearly. When you approach tarot with attachment to being right or the fear of being wrong, you will muddy the works. And then you will REALLY struggle to read. Or worse yet, you’ll be haunted by the “bad” readings or gloating over the “good” ones and keeping yourself emotionally tied to every single reading. Maddening. And not a good place to be.

So what is the answer? DETACH. Tame that sucker. Shut it down. LET GO.

But how?

First of all, the more you practice tarot reading, the better. Do it often enough and you’ll stop being enamored of your abilities and you’ll also be less devastated with your mistakes. You’ll see that this is all part of the work. Now, that doesn’t mean you get sloppy or careless – you still do the best damn reading you can but you no longer attach yourself to the outcome. You LET GO.

You begin to allow the reading to be about YOUR CLIENT – not you or your abilities.

Meditation is another tool for coming to terms with your oh-so-fragile ego. A daily practice allows you to find compassion for yourself. As you begin to make friends with the essence of you, the ego dissolves. You find inner peace. And the more you meditate, the more insignificant things become. You LET GO.

But if meditation isn’t doing it, try spending time with a child. Kids are egoless. They tell the truth without any fear and then quickly move on to other things. They’re slick that way.

They don’t care how hard you work to hold up a carefully planned veneer to the world. They’ll rip it down and let everyone know what an ass you are in “real” life. Your secrets are not safe with them. You don’t get to have an ego with a kid around. They see you as YOU ARE. And they’ll let you and the whole wide world know it. KIDS WILL MAKE YOU STARE YOUR OWN SHAKY EGO DEAD IN THE EYE AGAIN AND AGAIN.

But a child will also make you realize how wonderful and beautiful you are. They SEE YOU but then they let it go and get back down to the business of being a kid.

Oh and if you are not kid-centric, get a cat. I’m serious about that. Here’s why: a cat won’t give a crap about “who” you are or how talented you think you are. They are indifferent to all that nonsense. (My cats treat me like a treat dispenser.) They don’t care one iota about how sacred you think your tarot cards are. In fact, most cats will be more than happy to flop right down on a tarot spread and pass the hell out.

And cats are the ultimate teachers of detachment. If you really want to learn how to master your ego observe a cat as they chase a bug. They are completely focused and in the moment during the act. It’s full on, baby! But after the job is done and the bug has been eaten, they SIMPLY WALK AWAY. They don’t obsess if they did it right. They don’t get too bent out of shape if the bug got away. They JUST MOVE ON. (And maybe take a nap in some cases.)

So the next time you find yourself getting hung up on being the “God of Tarot” or the “Biggest Tarot Loser”, just chill. Let it all go. DETACH. Meditate. Take a nap. Just be.

“Ego has a voracious appetite, the more you feed it, the hungrier it gets.” ~ Nathaniel Bronner Jr.

Blessings!

Theresa

https://www.thetarotlady.com

http://www.tarotmentor.com

The image is my cat and tarot card destroyer, Monkey. He is the true master of the “monkey mind”. 🙂

How do you deal with ego issues as they arise in your tarot readings? Share your thoughts in the comment section below: