Should I Be Getting or Giving Tarot Readings about Coronavirus?
Transcribed from the IG Live Session, “Tarot Readings about the Rona”, Listen to the audio here
So as you can see, I'm in my sabbatical wear, okay?! ... And I just want to talk a little bit about a question that my students have been asking that my students have been asking in the Cecilia Weston Tarot Academy and that is, "Should we be doing tarot readings about the Rona (Coronavirus, COVID-19)"?
This is something (hey), that my students have been asking. Within and outside of the Cecilia Weston Tarot Academy. Folks have been asking this question and I think it's a good question. I think it's a question that kind of rubs up against the ethics, ethics of tarot, which maybe I should have titled this, the ethics of tarot and what it means to do readings or to conduct readings during a time in... that there is a national pandemic.
Which, you know... who would have known that this is where we would would be. Right? And so one of the things that we talk about that is pretty important is that we are not doing readings about health. We're not doing readings about necessarily... "Okay, this is your health report." We're not doctors in that way, right. We're not providing diagnostics in that way, when we're providing tarot readings or any other readings (**the speaker clarifies in post-edits that there are some readings & divinations within African Traditional Religions which does offer medicinal prescription, where the idea of medicine is quite broad & includes, but is not limited to, both physical and metaphysical interventions. Given the time constraints of this IG live, as well as the desire to preserve sacred systems within their own contexts, we are not talking about those kinds of readings here).
At the same time, I think a lot of us could not have have have imagined that we would be doing and conducting readings or spiritual work during a pandemic. And so this is definitely something that I think is... the time is ripe for us to talk about.
So folks know, when I go live, I just go live and when I'm done, I'm done. So I'm going to answer this and talk about this and when I'm done, I'll be done.
You know, when we think about Tarot ethics, we know that in order to be responsible with our tools we have to refer. We know that referrals are just as much a point of a part of readings as the shuffling process, as the interpretive process, as the divination process. At least I believe that that's true - that the referral process is just as important as these other things that we do during our readings.
So if folks are having health concerns, it is important for the ethical practitioner to refer folks out to their doctors. To refer folks out to their care team. To refer folks out. Now, we're also living in a time where we know that not everyone has health insurance. Where we know not everyone has access to these different things. And so as diviners and as spiritualists, particularly those of us, I'm talking to, I'm talking to people of color I'm talking to people who are working class, I'm talking to people who are Black and Queer and Trans readers. I'm talking to us, right so we might be be doing referrals and folks might might say, "Okay, well I don't really even have access to that", right? So then what is the role of the spiritualist in that setting? These are the questions I think we have to wrestle with, you know, during these times.
So what is important is to make sure that we're not trying to take the place of any medical professional when we're doing our readings, because we're not medical professionals. That's just Period. Period, right? But that also means that if we're going to refer folks out, we should know a little bit about what are the community resources that are around us, right? Or that maybe our clients and our querents have access to, right? So that means that as practitioners, we can't just, you know, say, "Okay, we were referring you out and that's that about that." Especially if you're a Black, Brown, Queer and Trans person of color, reader of color. We need to know a little bit more about okay, what are the community health resources so that we can say, "You know, what, I can't actually give you a reading about do you have the 'Ro 'Ro (Coronavirus), because that would be unethical of me to do that, particularly in these times. But I can refer you to a community health center... or I can refer you to a place where you can get masks at at cheaper rates... or I can refer you to a community wellness center that is doing testing, etc. So we have to... in these times, it requires readers to be skilled and competent. Not just with the cards, but as understanding the role in the community of (a) spiritualist - as folks who are walkers in that middle world. Right? In that liminal space. We are between the spiritual and the material, the spiritual and the material.
So while what we can offer is, "Here are ways to keep your spirits strengthen, and fortify as we're all going through this pandemic moment...", right? We can offer that, right? Here are some spiritual ways that you can be fortified. And here are some material resources, about health, about wellness that we can give in and that you can utilize. Because if we're going to be readers, then we must also, in these times, be community workers. (We) must also be cultural workers. (We) must also be able to refer folks to places and spaces where they can access community health.
Because we are not medical professionals. Okay, so that's the first thing. The second thing is, when we're in moments of uncertainty, it can be very, very tempting. Because you might have folks that are coming to you and saying like, "I am scared. I am afraid and I I don't know like... can you tell me something about the 'rona (Coronavirus) that I don't know? Can you tell me something about (trails off)..." .The first thing that's important for spiritualist to do is to validate that (feeling of) fear. To validate the fact that we're all - spiritualists & querents alike - we're all in a moment of uncertainty. We're all in a moment.
We're all in a moment of uncertainty. We're all in a moment where we have to make some different adjustments. So first, we validate that that is key. The second thing we do is to remember our mission. Something that I tell the folks in Cecilia Weston Tarot Academy is to write down their "why". What is their why? So, if you've written down that "My why is to offer spiritual fortification for the folks that come in contact with my practice," then go back and remember your why and communicate your why to your querent. So that they know like, this is why we're here. "This is what I CAN offer. While I can't actually offer you any type of diagnosis or any type of diagnostic."
Now let's zoom in, excuse me, let's zoom out from the micro (one to one) to the macro. Particularly in the tradition of Black spiritualists, Black readers and Black diviners. Okay, this is not just an individual role. This is a community role. And something that I tell my students a lot is like, "Read the signs. In general, read the signs." So while we're not able to say to one on one querents, like, "Okay, you got it or you don't," because that would not be ethical - what we CAN do is we can say like, "Okay, let's read the signs in general. The cards are leaning to the same place that the stars are leaning. To the same place that the natural environments are leaning, right? To the same way that our natural like the way that humankind is moving. Read the signs! Overall, move from the micro out and back into the macro, right? This is the job particularly of Black Folk spiritualists and diviners - to be able to walk between the spiritual and the material.
So the material elements, right, we can read those signs. We see what is happening at the intersections of you know, these different political happenings. We can see! We can see these things that are happening! So we read the signs, right?
So what do I mean when I say read the signs? Well, particularly when we think about a certain skill or modality, many, many times it is kind of like the Whyte Western way of practice - and this is just in my opinion - that is the Whyte Western way of practice to look at each skill as completely separate from the others. Right?
If you're reading cards, then you're just reading cards. If you're reading the stars, then you're just reading the stars. If you're reading the elements of nature, you're just reading the elements of nature. And while that may be true for some folks? Very, very many times what is true of Black Folk metaphysicians is that we're reading the interdependent universe. We're reading the various signs in nature. We're reading the various signs in our community. We're reading the various signs in the cards and outside of the cards. Why? Because we're walking between the physical and the metaphysical, right.
So while we cannot, again, let me be super (clear). I want to be super clear, especially because I'm transcribing this too. *laughs* So I want to be super clear. While it is not ethical for a spiritualist or reader to utilize their tool to say "Okay, yes, I'm diagnosing you with something (post-edits: particularly like Coronavirus).” If we aren't a medical professional, baby, we we don't.... Baby that ain't our lane, okay? That ain't our lane. So while that might not be the ethical choice, (we must consider) what might be the ethical choice, right? So for some of us, for some of us readers, now we understand that we actually may need to fill our bank and fill our bank of information and knowledge about what are the community wellness resources, I can send folks to. Others of us might need to say, "Okay, I need to actually zoom out and say, 'As I'm reading the signs around me, as I understand myself in an interdependent reality, these are the ways that you (the querent) can stay safe." And the ways that you can say, stay safe, right are going to resonate, whether you're reading the cards, the stars, the people, the places the things. Okay? (laughs)
So there's a level of common sense that comes to play here. And I don't know about how they do in other spaces. But I know that hoodoo includes a lot of common sense. I would say that common sense... utilizing common sense is one of the main principles of hoodoo. Especially if you're a reader in a hoodoo context. The common sense, baby, is a part. Why? Because we're walking between the material worlds and the spiritual worlds. So while we can give some, "Here are some ways that we can be spiritually fortified regardless...", we also have to know our lane and we also have to know our limitations. Right?
So I have been getting this question a lot from the students in the Cecilia Weston Tarot Academy and in other spaces as well like, "Okay, shall we be doing readings about the Rona, right?" A lot of you are going to have to reframe your querent's expectations particularly at this time, and set that boundary. That while like I cannot diagnose you with ABC, I can give you this referral. And I can pull some cards around how you can be spiritually strengthened and fortified as we all move through these different ways of being. As we all move through these different processes". Right?
So we have to think about what are our ethics? (What are) the ethics of the spiritualist, particularly as we're here in a global pandemic? So, I wanted to kind of just share a little bit about that.
Transcribed from the IG Live Session, “Tarot Readings about the Rona”
I have this dream that all of the brilliant Black, Brown, Queer, & Trans* Folx who want to take the Cecilia Weston Tarot program will be fully funded. Cecilia Weston is the name of my great-great Grandmother, known in family history and folklore to be a healing woman of the old American Black Belt South. It is now my joy to share opportunities for folx to gather, learn, and create on the topics of Black, Brown, & QTPOC spirituality x spiritual wellness. So, if you are in a space where you can pay for your basic needs (food, shelter, water, and healthcare) with ample income left over, consider sponsoring a CWTA program participant or donating to the program.