Psychic Self Defense for Tarot Readings

by Rev. Jennifer Elizabeth Moore (C)1999

Reprinted from [TarotTips] March 1, 1999 - Protecting Your Deck & Yourself
An E-Newsletter - produced by The Tarot School

Whenever you provide a reading for someone, you open yourself to another person's life. You can be affected by this on many levels: physical, emotional, mental, psychic/spiritual, consciously and unconsciously. Whether you attribute this to thoughts, feelings and memories that were provoked within you during their session, or to a psychic transference of energy from the querent to you, there can be pronounced after-effects from a reading. When you have not properly filtered psychic energy you can find yourself feeling irritable, anxious, depressed, morose, drained, and/or preoccupied with the querent's situation and/or similar details from your own life. Therefore, it is wise to apply some psychic self-defense techniques to your Tarot practice. Psychic self-defense involves three basic steps: first, you clear and purify yourself of negativity and distractions; second, you connect and surround yourself with healthy energy; and third, you ground and discharge any extra energy you might have taken in. Below are some techniques for personal psychic protection.

It is especially important to remain "grounded". Being grounded has to do with your connection to the Earth, and your ability to release any energy that builds up within you. Just like electrical appliances need a complete circuit to function, a Tarot reader needs to establish and sustain an unbroken connection between the self and the earth to work most effectively. To establish this connection relax and imagine that the energy of the earth is rising up through your body and reaching beyond you to the sky, then imagine that the energy of the sky is showering down through you back to the earth. Imagine that this is a complete circuit of energy, with energy rising through you from the earth up to the sky and then back down through you to the earth. As you become more and more filled with this energy, visualize a ball of light all around you. Breathe in the earth/sky energy to fortify your filtering shields and aura.

Whenever you feel intense emotions or energy during a session with a client it is important to keep it flowing. There are three ways you might approach this:

1.] Become more aware of your breath, each time you inhale, imagine you are breathing in the serenity and Divine connection you need to do your work for the highest and greatest good. Then as you exhale imagine you are releasing all negativity with your breath and imagine that as soon as it moves from your body it is neutralized into calmness which disipates gently into the air.

2.] You could reinforce the sense that a cocoon of light surrounds and sheilds you. Then you could imagine that this shield of light is protecting you as if you were a smooth stone that energy flows around in the great river of life.

3.] You can increase your awareness of the grounded circuit of connection you have developed with the Earth and Sky. As energy moves through you from the Sky back down to the Earth, imagine that any extra energy you are feeling is draining down through your body, out of your feet and down to the heart of the Earth. By maintaining awareness of your connection to a complete circuit, you can always replenish any energy you release with new energy.