Reading for Coworkers

I’m a part-time tarot consultant, full-time marketing writer and editor. At all of the day jobs I’ve held since I started doing tarot for money, my day-job colleagues have come to me to get tarot readings. Is it professional for me to read for them?

My instincts say yes. First of all, I make sure never to pressure a colleague to become a tarot client. If my tarot biz comes up in conversation, it’s usually because they’ve heard about it from another coworker, or because they mention an interest in tarot spontaneously (yes, it does happen in corporate settings!).

Also, a tarot session won’t necessarily bring up deeply personal issues—especially if my coworker/new tarot client doesn’t want it to. After about a decade of doing these coworker readings, I’ve never had anyone ask a question that could have impacted our business relationship (for example, by disclosing a workplace indiscretion). Personal stuff does come out in these sessions, but my clients are doing the driving, and they know the rules of the professional road.

There have been times when I’ve read for someone and they acted a bit shy around me for the next few days, as if they were worried they’d revealed too much. But that’s rare. Usually, it deepens both our personal and our professional bond. By reading tarot for them well, and proving to them that I can keep their secrets, I earn their trust. By respecting my tarot career, they earn mine.

PS This all reminds me of how some people I know won’t “friend” their coworkers on Facebook. I understand their reasoning—it takes a bit more attention to manage a FB account if you want to share certain photos and updates with only some of your friends. For me, I friend people whose voices I enjoy, whom I know (sometimes casually, sometimes deeply), and whom I’d like to loop in to my life a bit more (and vice versa). If that’s someone I happen to meet at work, I’m fine with that.

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