Tarot Readings with Psychic Sarah

This May, 2013, marks 10 years since I made the transition from part-time to full-time tarot reader. When I first went professional back in 2002, I had the idea that this job would just be a bit of fun, and something to support my art practice. I got so much out of that first month that it quickly became my main focus, and I gradually cut back on the wage job (ye ol’ video store) whilst picking up extra tarot reading days at various locations around Sydney.

10 years ago I didn’t have any great calling to go full-time, I just could no longer imagine wanting to do anything else. In 2002, the woman who introduced me to the tarot said casually in an otherwise ordinary conversation: “Next year when you go full-time…”, and I remember my senses waking up at that sentence. Next year. Ok then. I was so surprised by how much I was learning in my role as tarot reader, that it made sense to keep cutting back on the wage job and eventually do tarot readings exclusively. (Read this story about what I received from The Rat Lady on my last day at the video store!)

Taking this step with my business didn’t seem like a big, momentous thing to do at the time. I had been a student for the last five years (at the College of Fine Arts in Paddington) and as such I was used to having little money. I wasn’t transitioning from some highly lucrative career to ‘go all creative’, and wasn’t aspiring to a high-flying corporate career. So this transition suited me well.  When it finally became a job that supported me financially as well (it had been supporting me emotionally and spiritually from the word go), it was a welcome bonus.

Of late, I have been reflecting on what was happening in my life when I went full-time, as I decide how exactly to celebrate this milestone. It was a very transformational time. Perhaps the change in my work didn’t seem so big at the time, because a few days before I did my last shift at the video store, my friend Emma died.

It was the first time I had been touched by the death of someone close to me and it left me reeling in shock.  That beginning period of full-time tarot reading was when I first noticed the synchronicities that frequently occur in my chosen profession. For the next two weeks, most of the people coming to see me for a reading had also just had someone close to them die, also young, also suddenly.

It was a very moving and powerful time, and by the time I had eased myself out of the overwhelming grief stage, I felt stronger as a reader and better equipped to sit with big emotions, within myself and with others.

This is a job that has helped me clean up my life and get my priorities clear. Realising that with this job comes a huge responsibility for the care of my clients, over the years I have made decisions for my own life that may not be the choices of others, but are certainly what feel best for me, and how I want to work.

I made the choice to no longer drink alcohol (or take intoxicants of any kind). I began to eat healthily and exercise regularly. I chose to use my bicycle as my primary means of transportation.

I sought out supervision on a regular basis with an experienced psychotherapist so I could discuss any aspects of my work in a confidential and safe environment. I recognised the importance of daily meditation, and after I did my first 10-Day Vipassana meditation course in 2005, I started meditating for an hour every morning and an hour every evening. Though sometimes it is a real struggle to stay alert, that time on the cushion grounds me and prepares me for the day (and winds me down from the day) in a way that I am continually grateful for.

Thank you for being a part of my 10 years of full-time tarot. Sitting with and connecting with people from diverse backgrounds has been a constant source of learning and inspiration.  I am amazed at how lucky I am to work with such an abundance of people who I would have otherwise never met. My life is fuller because of all of you. I look forward to what the next 10 years holds , and beyond!

🙂

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