Health Readings: How Far Do You Go?

The Salvador Dali Museum recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the museum's marketing director pointed out that Dali's wife, Gala, read the Tarot.

At DaliFest, there was a Tarot Reader on hand to read the cards. According to this article, the reader predicted cancer with one of the atendees:

Surrounded by images of Dali's work, Monica Hilbert, a tarot reader, warned one client about a pending bout with cancer, but assured that the illness would quickly pass.

How do YOU approach health readings, if at all? What are your thoughts about a "reading" like this one given at DaliFest?

Me--I believe in the power of suggestion and self-fulfilling prophecy...so I steer WAY clear of anything that smacks of a medical reading.

-- Janet Boyer

Comments

[Francine Blackwell]

I find it irresponsible for any reader to predict anything. I mean, look at Sylvia Browne's example.
I often have people come for readings who in fact have these health issues but when I clearly see that something's going on physically with them, I always ask if they have a health concern. I allow them to lay that one on the table.
One of my favorite clients was someone who did have cancer. He was a joy to read for. His acceptance of his illness was amazing. I didn't tell him that he had this disease, however.

[Tarot Source]

I think it is a very dodgy area, and when I have mentioned any health issue, it has been in a similar way to Francine, suggesting positively that they think about taking care of themselves, without any suggestion that something bad is just around the corner.

I agree with Janet's concern about suggestion and self-fulfilling prophecy, and I have yet to feel that tarot has ever told me someone has a specific illness. It simply isn't something worth my knowing, as I am not medically qualified and this is important to any querent.

I do like having a useful contact list, though, so that - if concerns of a specific nature are raised - I can suggest the client seeks more particular, and well established, help.

[Patricia (a/k/a Roswila)]

Yes, a very delicate area, along with finances and legal issues. All best approached very gently and non-specifically, if at all, IMHO. I also agree with having a contacts list. At one time I was seeing a lot of survivors of abuse, and that list got a lot of use.

As to what I say above about "gently and non-specifically" that pretty much applies to how I approached most issues. I never knew for sure what door might be opened, if it even should be. Also, I felt that need to respect the client's privacy and/or hesitations until some sort of rapport had been established.

There's also that issue of respecting one's own limits. Although being a survivor of abuse myself made me particularly sensitive to my clients with that same issue, it also meant I might be too disturbed by what I was seeing. On a couple of occasions I left doors unknocked on for just that reason.

I just saw that figure on the RWS Two of Pentacles, balancing back and forth... :-D Each reading is really like learning how best to dance together without stepping on toes or wandering off the beat, isn't it?

[Patricia (a/k/a Roswila)]

P.S. to that last sentence above...I should have more accurately said this is what readings were like for me when I was doing them for others. I don't mean to speak for everyone. :-)

[James D. Wickson]

Looking at such cards as The Moon and The Wheel of Fortune, one shouldn't be surprised that Dalí would eventually create his own deck. I've long considered The Moon trump to be proto-surrealist.

[Gayla]

It is completely irresponsible for a reader to make medical diagnosis. A year or so ago I read about a reader who had been arrested for doing just that, as it was percieved as practicing medicine without a license.
At the most, the reader should just suggest to the seeker they should consider seeing a doctor.

[Anna Murphy]

This is a difficult quandary. Querents usually want to know about love or money, but health is a close third. It's a topic that people are curious about, and one on which the Tarot can legitimately offer insight.

Readers should always preface anything health-related with "I'm not a doctor," et c. And, as always, encourage the querent to follow her own best judgment.

Predicting that someone will come down with cancer, though, is utterly unethical. As someone said above, what a self-fulfilling prophecy. The placebo effect works the other way, too, you know!