Doing Psychic Readings without Permission

When you decide to do tarot card readings, you need to set your intentions, shuffle the cards, and see if you can align your reading to your goals. Of course, you might have your intentions change and it can be hard to know which direction to go with the cards. What if your mind goes on to a certain person that you’re interested in? Maybe reading their energy would be harmless because they’d never know. This is one of the ethical questions that is often tested by tarot card readers. Is it okay to read for someone without them knowing?

Each tarot card reader has to have their own boundaries and ethics. The question of doing third-party readings is something that needs to be considered. Is it okay to do a reading without someone’s permission or is it crossing boundaries that aren’t ethical?

What Are Third-Party Readings?

Third-party readings are done when a reader focuses on a person’s energy without their consent. This can come into a reading when someone wants to understand their relationship with their partner more. The partner’s influence will automatically come into the reading but it’s important for ethical readers to make sure that the reading focuses on the client’s choices, actions, and thoughts and not the life of someone else.

Indirect Reading

Third-party reading occurs when a tarot reading is conducted about someone without their awareness or consent.

Indirect Reading involves another person being referenced due to their connection with the querent (the individual seeking the reading). For instance, if someone asks, “What insights can I gain about my relationship with my partner?” the partner naturally becomes part of the reading as their role relates to the querent. However, the focus should remain entirely on the querent—exploring their feelings, actions, and responses within the relationship—rather than delving into the partner’s private thoughts or decisions.

Are Third-Party Readings Ethical?

Many tarot readers give a hard no to doing third-party readings. This is getting into the private life of someone else without getting their permission. So even if it seems harmless, some psychics will refuse to do this.

Consider why you feel that you should read to someone without telling them. Is this to have control over them or to uncover their secrets? Ethical tarot card reading isn’t about having power over someone else, it’s about a tool of empowerment and self-discovery. By attempting to get into someone’s private thoughts and feelings, you push the tarot away from guidance and make it something more invasive.

Why Third-Party Readings Often Fall Short

Without involving the person that you’re reading about, a tarot reading will be incomplete or inaccurate. Tarot needs to have intentions and energy in order to give guidance. When energy isn’t there, the reading is less about the cards and more about the reader’s assumptions.

If you feel frustrated towards a coworker and you do a reading on them, the cards might make you interpret them towards more frustration. Even good tarot card readers can use their own emotions to make conclusions that aren’t real.

Learning About Someone New

It might feel tempting to do a reading about a new acquaintance or potential romantic partner to “get to know them better.” Instead, focus on your own role in the relationship. Let the relationship work out on its own without asking the cards private things about them.

Family Concerns

Even if you want to do a reading out of love and concern, it’s important to respect the boundaries of others. If you are worried about your adult child, you might wonder how you can support them during their struggles. Instead of getting a reading, ask your child about what you can help them with.

Reading Celebrities or Public Figures

Many celebrities and public figures will go to a psychic to get information about their life. The great thing about a reading is that it’s private. Celebrities don’t want to share their life on social media and when they get a reading, they give the reader a chance to look at their private thoughts and experiences. They are still people, and they deserve to have the same boundaries and privacy as anyone else.

While it might be tempting to do a reading about your favorite celebrity, it’s not ethical and you should respect their boundaries.

Relationship Questions

When asking about a romantic relationship, focus on what you can control. A question like, “What steps can I take to nurture this connection?” centers the reading on your actions and intentions, rather than prying into the feelings or motives of your partner.

A reading about love and relationships, it’s natural that another person will be part of the situation. You need to ask questions such as, “What can I do to make my relationship better,” instead of saying things like “What’s my partner’s deep secret that they aren’t sharing with me?”

A good relationship reading should give you the power to make decisions that align with your goals and values. It should give you a clear understanding of what actions you need to take in your relationship. By really understanding someone’s thoughts, feelings, and motivations, you can build a connection, and this is something that you should take action in doing instead of asking for answers in a reading.

What About the “Troublemakers”?

If someone is causing you trouble and you want to get a secret reading to find out something about them, this isn’t ethical. If you go in and ask a reader to tell you if your partner is cheating on you or talking poorly about you, it’s best that you reflect on what your real intentions are.

Instead of focusing on what the other person is doing, look at the choices in front of you. Sometimes your intuition already has told you that something isn’t right. The reading should be there to empower you to address your partner about what you’re feeling and not to spy on their life.

The Slippery Slope of Psychic Spying

There’s a fine line between intuition and what some might call “psychic spying.” Intuition is a natural gift that allows us to pick up on subtle cues and energies, often helping us navigate relationships and situations. Psychic spying, on the other hand, involves deliberately directing your focus to uncover private information about another person without their knowledge.

As a general rule, consider how you would feel if the roles were reversed. Would you appreciate someone delving into your private life without your consent? Respecting others’ autonomy and boundaries is a cornerstone of ethical tarot practice.

When Is It Okay to Include Others in a Reading?

In some readings it will be natural for another person to come up, but the focus should be on the client and not on anyone else.

Final Thoughts

One of the most important things about getting a reading is the ethics behind it. A reading should be about empowerment, self-awareness and guidance and not about control. By focusing on what you need and what you need to ask and keeping the boundaries of others safe, tarot readers will keep their integrity. If you aren’t sure what to do, ask yourself if you’re prying into someone’s privacy and how you would feel if it was happening to you. Respect the cards and the reader, and don’t go places where you wouldn’t want the reader to go about you.