Confidential LAS VEGAS psychic
Martha Woodworth
Psychic/Tarot/Astrology
(702) 866-6682
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How I Became A Professional Psychic Advisor*
Nervously, he came closer, peering down at the card. "Yeah," he said. "I'm thirteen, that's why I had my bar mitzvah. This is the age you're supposed to become a man." I assured him that the card simply meant that he was "crossing over" into a new way of life, and that from now on more would be expected of him. He was on his way to being a grown-up. He liked that, of course, and grinned at me nervously. "Okay," he said. "If you say so.")
by Martha Woodworth
*Reprinted from New Woman Magazine
I stare, trance-like, at the tarot cards lying face up on my table. There is a magic spell that must not be broken. "Your raise will depend on a report you're writing... you did not misplace the money, someone in the office took it...the interview will introduce you to a long-term mentor...2009 will be the most creative year of your life so far...the love of your life lives two blocks away from your workplace; you will meet in a cafe nearby..."
This is my work: putting together the pieces of the "psychic puzzle," telling the story of the man or woman across the table from me.
Tarot, numerology, palmistry, crystal gazing. Nearly everyone I meet has been to someone who practices one or more of these psychic crafts. Psychic readings have become a billion-dollar industry. Each year thousands of computerized astrology charts and tarot decks are sold. What is their psychic power? What separates the hobbyist from the professional? These are questions I've been asking myself since I first held a tarot deck in my hands more than 10,000 readings ago.
"It was as if I had walked into a room of people I'd been destined to know."
The dictionary defines "psychic" as: "Pertaining to the human mind or psyche, especially extrasensory and nonphysical mental process. An individual apparently responsive to psychic
forces. A medium."
With the psychic crafts as guiding tools, I came to discover I'm all those things. Using tarot, astrology, numerology and my natural gift of intuition, I puzzle out human dilemmas. The awareness that these gifts could propel me into a full-blown career developed over time. In the beginning they were just delightful hobbies.
I was a journalist, with a background in women's issues. I also had an inclination to be an artist. Then a friend gave me a gift of tarot cards. It was as if I had walked into a room of people I'd been destined to know - a colorful cast of characters beckoning me down the spiraling corridors of time - back into the past and forward into the future. I seemed to understand intuitively what the images on the cards meant, and the words to describe their meaning just came to me. My sense of awe grew for this "cultural memory bank," and for the infinite storytelling quality of the tarot I'd not found in any book.
"By far, the most important cards are the 22 trumps."
The tarot is a deck of 78 picture cards, of which 22 are called "trumps." As in regular playing cards, there are four suits representing different elements: swords (air) represent the mind; cups (water), love and emotions; wands (fire), spirituality and disks - or pentacles - (earth), money and material matters. Each suit has its courtiers: queens, kings, princesses (sometimes called "pages"), princes and knights.
By far the most important cards are the 22 trumps, which are archetypes, or karmic indicators that we are being led by something beyond the ordinary. Death, Justice, the Wheel of Fortune, the Fool and the Lovers are among these symbol-rich cards. In fact, each card of the tarot has its own astrological symbols (planets, signs) and number corresponding to the Tree of Life from the ancient Hebrew Kabalah.
My first years getting to know my profession were full of wonder - and some trepidation. No one in my middle-class family had ever dabbled in what psychics call "magick." I was skeptical myself about what I couldn't see or what couldn't be proven scientifically. But the cards themselves overcame my skepticism. They continually astonished me with their accuracy. As famed psychic magician Aleister Crowley noted, "The tarot is razor sharp."
I was fascinated, and my "success" led me on.
When I read the cards, a door opens, triggered by a visual image from the card, and I see into the future. I'm able to actually watch the future occur, sometimes in minute detail. People call and say, "Everything you predicted has happened!" For a while I did local fairs, giving short readings. Soon, people were asking me for longer readings.
A desperate single mother drew the Ten of Disks - the "Wealth" card. I told her she would soon receive some money from an unexpected source and to look in her jewelry box. Within a week a "worthless" ring brought her $3,000. A hairdresser, unhappy with his crude boss, drew a spread of cards including the Four of Disks - "Power." He was cynical when I predicted the boss would soon be gone and he would head his establishment. shortly after the reading, the employer died and the hairdresser inherited the shop. I was as shocked as my "querants" (the term psychics use for their tarot clients), and not a little spooked, but I was fascinated, and my "success" led me on.
"Will I ever love again?"
One Christmas season I was reading tarot cards in a shopping mall when I had an encounter that became a turning point in my life. A young man came in asking to be read. He was well-groomed, rather prosperous looking, and in good physical shape, but I could detect signs of depression. He seemed unhappy, preoccupied. It showed in the lines around his mouth and his stiff way of standing, as if poised to receive a blow.
"Have you a question for the cards?" I asked. (Naming the problem is sometimes half the healing process, I have found).
"Will I ever love again?" he asked. He almost choked on his words. I sensed he was near tears. He told me he was stationed in Germany as a career army officer. Two months before his Christmas leave his wife had written him to say she'd fallen in love with another man and wanted a divorce. They'd only been married a year.
"Maybe she still loves you," I offered, but he assured me there was no hope of reconciliation.
This was going to be tough. I felt an overwhelming responsibility to give him a positive reading. could the cards offer him the help he needed? I had him shuffle the deck and then choose several cards for the layout. It wasn't a bad reading. The Knight of Swords on his sleek steed, flying forward over smooth waters, took center stage. This "character" I recognized as my querant, dashing toward career success. In his future was the Six of Disks, representing group financial enterprise and a snug job situation. The entire reading spelled out that this person was active and fit, with business and career promotions coming soon. It was a dry reading, however. There were none of the sweet Cup cards that symbolize love and emotions that I'd been hoping for.
"Your health and career are excellent and will be for a long time," I offered lamely. "You've got to have good luck if you continue on this path."
"Thanks," he said, rising, and letting out a heavy sigh. "How much do I owe you?" I felt awful taking his money. I couldn't let him go away so depressed.
"I experienced a deep thrill at the sight of his renewed vitality,
as if I'd brought someone back from the dead!"
Suddenly, an idea came to me.
"Sit down," I said. "I want to give you a "Wish" card." I had never done this before. I felt I was being led by forces beyond me. I had him place his hands on the cards, visualize a wish coming true for himself, then look at me. He did so, squeezing his eyes tight for several seconds. I took back the cards and fanned them out, face down, in front of him. "Choose a card," I commanded.
Imagine my delight and surprise when he chose the "Two of Cups" - called "Love." I turned the beautiful card toward him and he stared at the lush image of two pink scaled dolphins entwined, and endlessly pouring a fountain of magical elixer. This card projects the playful intimacy and strength to stand alone that only true love can bring.
"You'll definitely get your wish," I affirmed. "Love will come soon, with a soul mate. You must put your fear of being hurt behind you. Stay open to receive the blessings of a great, lasting relationship."
His handsome face was suddenly no longer sallow. He was flushed and excited, his shoulders pushed back. I experienced a deep thrill at his renewed vitality, as if I'd brought someone back from the dead! 
"Thank you!" he said, handing me back the card and emphatically shaking my hand. His eyes were shining with tears. "I can have a fantastic holiday thanks to you!"
I never forgot that moment, the experience that once and for all decided me on my career. I now finish each reading with a Wish card, the closest I've come in my life to feeling like a fairy godmother! I truly believe that seeing the wish come true - or how to make it come true - can bring the desired results.
" I sometimes describe what I do as "play therapy for adults."
I see card-reading as a helping and healing profession. A tarot reading presents the querant with an opportunity to see the whole pattern of his or her life. It promotes practical problem solving and hopefulness often missing in what can be the grim work of traditional therapies. Through tarot and astrology readings I can say things no therapist can because we are both looking at the cards and birth charts of a client's life - objectively and creatively.
Most of the answers to a person's problems lie in their unconscious. With readings, I can relay the possibilities the future offers, but most important, I help them get in touch with the answers by bringing their unconscious knowledge to the surface. I sometimes describe what I do as "play therapy for adults." More and more I've come to realize the validity of that description and consider it a fine attribute of the psychic crafts.
"The reading is a prognosis of what's to come."
Last, but not least, is the spiritually healing quality of readings. Clients arrive downhearted, looking for answers and reassurance. So many of the listless, miserable people I have met in person have left smiling radiantly, renewed to face the challenges just presented them. I like to think my readings recharge emotional batteries.
This brings me to the question of the ethics and responsibilities of the professional psychic advisor. I do not believe it's my place to tell my clients what to do. I can only reveal the possibility of things to come, and hope that the knowledge helps the querant prepare to handle these possibilities. At the beginning of a reading I say, "What comes up here is yours to sort out. Only you can choose what's right for you, and discard what isn't. The reading is merely a prognosis of what's to come, based on my intuition and common sense. In the end, you have free will."
"It does not help to scare clients with gloomy predictions."
I also believe that a reader must be honest, above all. Being a good psychic advisor means knowing how to present truthful information with sensitivity and tact, and helping people cope with change. It does not help to scare clients with gloomy predictions. In fact, this kind of reading can harm people and make them fear psychics and counseling in general. Most of us want to know the truth - positive or negative - so we can be prepared. But again, it's the manner in which the psychic informs them that counts. This is especially important when the Death card, a trump, comes up.
It's well accepted among psychics that the Death card often means not literal death but change, transformation, the death of illusions or a way of life. How I interpret the card depends on my intuitive feeling the very moment I look at it. I try to have a positive approach to life, and it's my nature to celebrate challenge and change. Therefore, people are often surprised to see my face light up with a smile when they choose the Death card.
The Bar Mitzvah boy who chose the Death card
(An amusing psychic moment occurred when I did readings for a bar mitzvah party. The boy who had just been bar mitzvah'd chose the Death card, and became agitated, jumping up and dropping the card like a hot potato. I told him to look beyond the ominous image of the skeleton carrying a scythe and laying waste to all before him, and pointed to the number at the bottom of the famous trump card. "Isn't that your age today?" I asked him?
Nervously, he came closer, peering down at the card. "Yeah," he said. "I'm thirteen, that's why I had my bar mitzvah. This is the age you're supposed to become a man." I assured him that the card simply meant that he was "crossing over" into a new way of life, and that from now on more would be expected of him. He was on his way to being a grown-up. He liked that, of course, and grinned at me nervously. "Okay," he said. "If you say so.") I stay away from diagnosing or predicting health ailments, though many clients ask about them, because I'm simply not qualified. I'm always amazed (and alarmed) when I hear of psychics who make a practice of this. I consider it dangerous when one is not a medical expert.
"A man called to ask if I would help solve a murder -
and turned out to be a suspect in the killing himself."
Over the years, my clientele has developed from many sources: I was the host of a psychic talk show on cable, and appeared as a psychic detective on "Unsolved Mysteries." (A man called to ask if I would help solve a murder - and turned out to be a suspect in the killing himself). When my column "The Psychic Advisor" appeared in New Woman Magazine carrying my number (I had the first telephone psychic hotline in the national toll free directory), hundreds of people called for readings. Many of them are loyal querants to this day. However, the most important publicity tool has been word of mouth. Satisfied querants have brought me a wide range of people: pink and blue collar workers, hi-techies, housewives, college deans, physicians, stockbrokers, musicians, artists and writers of all stripes. They represent all nationalities, races, ages and religions, and come from every economic status.
Yet the majority of my querants are well-educated, middle-to-upper middle class women, age s 25 to 50, interested in solving career and relationship dilemmas. They choose to consult psychic advisors instead of traditional therapists. That's no surprise, because women have sough guidance from each other for centuries. My regular clients include the owner of a successful activewear company, a developer of Pilates workout programs, a Japanese curator of Oriental artworks in American museums, the dean of a prestigious nursing college, an architect, an executive in a major U.S. corporation, a British fashion designer and, yes, several psychics and astrologers like me!
I also read for men, and sometimes for children and teenagers. Recently, I was asked to read for an adolescent with an eating disorder.
"Most people want to know if the deceased loved one is at peace."
The most heart-wrenching readings I do are for parents who have lost a child, either through an illness, accident or suicide. I also read for those who have lost a spouse or beloved family member. They want me to contact the spirit of the person who has passed over. I simply lay out the cards or read the person's astrology chart and pick up on their "soul vibrations." Then I deliver "messages" to the bereaved client. Most people want to know if the deceased loved one is at peace. Difficult as they are, I welcome these readings. They help me grow as a person, because it is always gratifying to be in the presence of people expressing deep, heartfelt emotions. I feel the same way when I read for people who are terminally ill.
" Objectivity is nearly impossible when the subject is one's self."
As mentioned, I also read for other psychic advisors, and I have several professional readers I go to, because trying to read one's own cards is difficult. Objectivity is nearly impossible when the subject is one's self. I will always be too easy - or too hard - on myself. Just like my querants, don't like getting the Death card or the Tower (a violent image of a burning building, with bodies flying out) either. I need an interpreter, and I'm always amused at how fair and truthful my own readers are. I know some of the best, and each one of approaches our craft in a different way, but we're all good at communicating messages that need to be heard without blowing the querant away.
While most of the readers I know are female, there are male readers as well. When I met my husband James, it was a happy coincidence that he was a seasoned tarot reader, too. Soon after we met we started doing psychic parties and events together, and we still do. We call our service "Have Cards, Will Travel." After I appeared on "Unsolved Mysteries," James began working crime investigations with me. He has a talent for - and has used - a dowsing rod, helping law enforcement locate missing weapons and other evidence.
"I try to make every card-reading a "mini-class," explaining the craft as I go."
My own style is to teach. I believe the psychic crafts should be passed along to those with an interest in them, and anyone who has a reading with me is a potential student. I try to make every card-reading a "mini-class," explaining the craft as I go. I produced a video called "Learning Tarot," and have been teaching that subject and "Learning Astrology" at the college level and for private groups for many years. I like to teach the basics of the craft - to "demystify" them - because so many querants complained it was hard to learn those subjects from books alone.
"Astrology is your birth mythology, and thousands of years old.
You deserve to know what it is."
I learned astrology and numerology by studying the tarot. Each card has its own planet, sign and number, and by working with the cards daily I soon learned how to make my readings more meaningful - and accurate - by incorporating the other psychic crafts. Soon, I was casting astrology charts and delving into a whole new area of learning that would come to be as satisfying to me as reading cards. Numerology is also useful. Numbers in the tarot are associated with the ancient Hebrew Kabalah and the Tree of Life. As you can see, the psychic crafts are a never-ending source of fascination. One never stops learning and growing with them.
I wrote an article entitled "Numerology and Divine Numbers" for New Woman, and excerpts from it were re-printed in an advanced math text at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). Imagine my surprise, as I had been a very poor math student at one time. Learning and using numerology, I have found, is a wonderful way for "math-phobes" to become friends with numbers!
In ancient times people who were not psychic often consulted their own personal decks of cards, their astrology charts and the charts of their families. It was not uncommon for most people to know their planets and signs. It was understood, for example, that an astrology chart is one's "cosmic birth certificate." You don't have to believe in it as a science, but astrology is your birth mythology, and thousands of years old. You act it out on subconscious levels, and deserve to know it. If you have a good astrologer who can guide you, you can use it enhance your life. Some people are "hooked" on it, but I don't encourage that. I feel it's a useful tool, like any other, handy when you have a specific issue you want to address, or to learn what's coming up for the year ahead, so you can take advantage of the good stuff, and not get blind-sided by the difficult. If you are too dependent on it, it can become an obsession, and the whole point of psychic counseling, for me, is to restore balance and become a more centered person.
• I've said it before: most people are psychic in some way, and can develop a very natural sixth sense with practice. To all those wondering if they have the gift, I recommend this courser of action: find a psychic you can trust, one with compassion and wisdom, and study the psychic crafts you are drawn to. They will open you creatively and help you find your life's purpose. In the midst of your own self-actualization you may also find yourself helping others as a professional psychic advisor.
Ryder-Waite tarot cards courtesy of www.USGamesSystems.com
•Martha Woodworth is a writer and psychic advisor, specializing in tarot, astrology and numerology. She is the founder of the Psychic Learning Center, and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. For reading, speaking and teaching fees you can call her at (702) 866-6682 or click here to email her: Martha@confidentialpsychic.com.
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