So I was talking to a friend and the subject of narcissistic personality disorder, and true narcissists, came up. And it got me thinking.... you know, those Tarot Thoughts I am prone to having....
I wondered.... since a narcissist's reality is at many times 100% true to him or her, even if it is 180 degrees opposite from true reality.... how would that work in terms of having them as a sitter or client for a reading?
Having done readings about and for people who later turned out to be narcissists, I can say that in my experience, it skews the reading, because you may be reading, with total accuracy, the wrong reality. They can sit there in your office, across the table from you, absolutely convinced of the story they are telling you, and the cards will read back to them working with that reality.
So what happens when your cards give you a really true reading, which to the narcissist would be completely wrong? How many of us, in that situation, might sit there, confused that the tarot seems to be saying things are abjectly different from what is being presented? How might we feel, in fact, when the client stands up, tells us straight out that we are full of sh** and that our cards are wrong, that the reading is bullsh**, etc?
Of course in this position I think hindsight, as always, would be 20/20.... but in the case of a person who is reading for someone as a client, we might never see that person again. She (or he) may just write us off as a bad reader, a fake, a loser, someone who didn't "have the gift" and we'd never know how accurate the cards may have actually been.
Why this crosses my mind now is that a lot of tarot readers are already struggling with confidence and trying to strengthen their professional situations, and this could be a staggering blow to someone who is newly in the business of reading professionally.
And while it is not our business to diagnose, not emotionally or psychiatrically or otherwise, our clients in any way, shape or form, it might be a very good idea for a person struggling with a so-called "bad reading" to read up on the various forms of personality disorders and learn what some of the signs and *red flags* are to indicate a person who might be exhibiting some of this behavior. I wouldn't advocate telling the person anything about it to their face, but if afterwards, we are looking up the signs and say "wow, that's them all over, look at all these symptoms, they fit every one!" then at least we would know not to accept their derision of the reading as being defensive of their own position, and not a valid criticism of our work....
Yours in tarot,
Gina M. Pace (aka Wicce), creator of the Pagan Tarot, published by LoScarabeo, and webmistress of Wicce's Tarot Collection, one of the internet's largest former tarot review websites and PENDING NEW AND IMPROVED SITE
Excellent insights, Gina! I have encountered people who react angrily to what the cards are showing them, and criticize me for my interpretation. One client was in a relationship with a married man, but was actively seeking a new relationship at the same time. The cards clearly suggested that ending her current relationship would help her find a new one. She blasted me because "people start new relationships all the time when they are already in a relationship!" Well, yes, they do. She couldn't accept that maybe in her case, it would be helpful to end the current relationship. She preferred to call that idea "ridiculous."
ReplyDeletesounds to me like she herself was probably married too or something! if she heard herself she should have been frightened to death, saying something like how people start new relationships all the time while they are in them... it's an accepted fact that a married person who is in a relationship with someone else has a high probability of cheating on that one as well....
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