I’ve recently added a new service you can select from the menu of services I offer. I’m happy to announce the arrival of 1-Card Mini-Readings. At the time of writing, they are $5, and so are my most economical offering.

They’re a little different from my regular tarot card readings, so I thought I’d spend a little time describing them and their history.

First a bit of background. At some events I did readings at, children were attending. Sometimes, a parent would ask me whether I could do a reading for their child. Unfortunately, the tarot deck I usually use is by no means suitable for children, with its adult themes and bawdy images. Not only that, but I’m not really sure that Tarot is suitable for children, whatever the actual cards used. I think it’s too difficult to frame a reading in terms a child can relate to. Sometimes, I felt bad the children could not be included, so I decided that I would keep an eye open for a suitable oracle deck that would work for kids.

Oracle decks differ from Tarot decks as they are more freeform, and can contain anything the deck creator wants to include, depending on the theme of the deck. There are many such decks available, covering a wide range of themes.

One day, I was on Instagram, where people often post readings together with photos of the cards drawn. I was attracted by the artwork of one deck, The Roots & Wings Oracle Deck, created by artist Kat Ryalls, and decided to find out more. I found more images of the cards from the deck and like them. I also found that the artist was actually on Instagram, so I reached out to her to ask her whether she thought the deck would be appropriate for children. She was very willing to share her thoughts. I came to the conclusion that I should give the deck a try and ordered it.

Once it arrived, I ran through all the cards in the deck and was convinced I’d made a good decision. But I’d never read an oracle deck before, so I needed to spend some time familiarizing myself with it. One thing I decided to do to help with the learning process was to start posting a “card of the day” feature on social media. Each day, I’d ask the cards “What do we need to know today?” Then I’d shuffle them, deal a card, then interpret it, posting a photo and the interpretation.

Those little collective readings were very well received, and the more I used this deck, the more I found it useful. I started giving some friends of mine on Facebook a little personalized reading on their birthday. I also offered some free mini-readings elsewhere on social media. Again, people seemed to like them. So I started offering them as an option on social media.

So the time has come to officially add them as an option on my Order Page. They work very well virtually. I prefer to have a recent photo of the client as a focus tool, but it’s not absolutely necessary. Unlike my other readings, you don’t ask a specific question; I simply ask the cards what it is that the client needs to know right now. These readings are very good for a quick piece of guidance and can be done as frequently as you wish. They are quite spontaneous and can be completed quite quickly. They can easily be done in an email or in an online chat, so that’s how I’m offering them for now.

As for whether I’ll get a chance to use them for children post-Covid, who knows? Also, I may eventually try some other oracle decks, if they resonate with me.

Try one now.