It seems to me there are Seven Deadly Traps all Tarot readers must avoid:

1. Questions with Should, Would, or Could
   • Such questions cannot be answered by you
   • Such questions cannot be answered by your Tarot deck
   • Your personal ethics will be questioned if you even try
   • Try to rephrase the question into who, what, when, where, which, why or how
   • Try to focus the question on the client and the client's free will to choose
2. Questions about other people (Who will, Who should, Who...)
   • You and your cards are tuned into the client and not any third party
   • The truth is you have no idea who the third party may be
   • The truth is you have no idea if there even is a third party
   • The third party (other person) may be the figment of your client's imagination created to "trick" you into exposing yourself as a fraud
   • Try to rephrase the question in terms of your client
3. Questions about time (When will...)
   • Tarot cards are not generally tuned into time lines and clocks
   • Tarot cards are tuned into events and sequences
   • Tarot cards can tell your client what events in what order will occur before the event in question (Blank will happen after such and such occurs)
4. Questions about being (Is ...)
   • Tarot cards can generally tune into your client but not others
   • Is my girlfriend cheating on me? Any answer is wrong!
   • Is my health failing? Any answer is wrong!
   • Is whatever happening? Any answer is wrong!
   • Refer these clients to the proper professional or rephrase their question into something you can answer
5. Questions about why something or somebody did something
   • Truth is we will never know the answer to this question
   • The Tarot cards tune into the client very well but they do not tune into something else or somebody else
   • Rephrase the question into terms of the client
6. Questions about what will happen in the future
   • Truth is we don't know what will happen
   • We can examine possibilities and
   • Our client can examine his or her future possibilities
   • And we can examine the present and the past
   • So can our client
   • We are not fortune tellers (nobody really is)
7. Questions about health, wealth and legal problems
   • Even if we have an answer it is better left unsaid
   • Refer these questions to the proper professionals
   • Unless you happen to be that particular professional

1. A lady asked me why her husband left her. The cards indicated a lot of anger. My gut told me to be cautious. So we talked about the anger and not her husband. There may never have been a husband who left her but there was a lot of anger.
2. An older woman asked me about her heart as she was worried about a heart attack or some other physical problem. She said her physician gave her a good report and felt she was anxious but her heart was in good condition. My response was she should believe her physician, nothing in the cards indicated any heart problem. MISTAKE! She suffered a stroke several weeks later. Today my response would be to seek a second opinion (from another physician, not me).
3. A young man asked me if he should get married. The spread was innocuous and never came close to addressing the question. It did point out some problems which he admitted he was resolving. My answer was he should get married when these problems were resolved and it would be risky otherwise. Later I discovered he was an undercover police agent. His picture was in the paper for a big drug bust. Hmm. He paid me in cash, too, even though I ask for checks made out to a charitable cause. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
4. A long time ago a young lady asked me if she should get married to this guy even though her parents objected. MISTAKE: I supported her decision to marry him anyway because she really did receive a good spread. Several years later we crossed paths again and I met her second husband who told me her first husband physically abused her. Ouch, BAD mistake. Isn't it interesting our paths crossed just before I undertook a major tarot reading project...
5. My brother asked me when a particular event would occur. MISTAKE: I gave him a time line and it never happened. Guess how much he values my tarot card reading ability. It's something we don't talk about any more. BAD mistake.
6. A student asked me if he should study the runes instead of Tarot. The cards gave me a positive answer. My intuition said the same. But. We rephrased the question into "Will the runes be a better divination medium for me than Tarot?" His original question was never answered. The message made sense to him and he intensified his Tarot studies. Today he happens to be a very good professional reader. My answer to his original question would have been "yes."
7. A close friend asked me if she was going to get the job she wanted. The spread said "yes, yes, yes." My response could never be construed to say either yes or no. We talked about issues and feelings. I was not going to fall into that particular trap (this time). Later she told several people she got the exact job I predicted she would get.

Tarot reading is fun so enjoy it to the fullest and have a great week.
John Gilbert