When most people think of tarot, they picture intuition, archetypes, and mystery and not much else beyond that. But for me, ethical spaceholding is at the heart of the practice. That clarity comes from my training as a sociologist.
I earned my PhD in Sociology researching the lived experience of autism in women and gender-diverse people. This meant conducting deeply personal interviews and navigating the emotional, political, and psychological complexities of people’s lives. It also meant holding stories that were raw, contradictory, and intimate with care and accountability.This background shaped everything about how I now hold space as a tarot practitioner. Ethical tarot is not just about intent. It is about impact, boundaries, reflexivity, and responsibility. We talk about ethics in the spiritual world, but we also need to bring the same rigour and thoughtfulness to those conversations that we would expect from any other profession.
🪞 From Researcher to Reader: The Discipline of Witnessing
In qualitative research (especially when you’re a feminist researcher), you are trained to hold space for someone else’s story without inserting your own. That discipline is sacred. You do not guide the story. You do not extract from it. You do not decide what it means. You are there to witness.
I bring that same discipline to tarot.
When I hold space in a reading, I am constantly asking myself:
- Who is this really about?
- What power do I hold here?
- Am I imposing meaning, or holding space for discovery?
- Is my client’s autonomy being honoured in this moment?
This is what ethical spaceholding looks like. It is not performative care. It is the deliberate and ongoing work of maintaining clarity, consent, and respect in every single interaction.
🧠 Tarot Is Not Therapy. But It Can Still Be Transformative.
Tarot is not therapy. It does not need to be. But it can still create profound transformation. What matters is how we, as practitioners, manage our role.
Just like in sociology, holding space for vulnerability requires self-awareness. It requires trauma-informed thinking. It requires a commitment to non-harm. Not every reader has been taught how to do this. But every reader can learn.
This is why I have trained in Mental Health First Aid, Accidental Counselling, and inclusive practice workshops led by grassroots and community organisations. These have included First Nations cultural awareness, intersex inclusion, trans and gender diverse training, and Universal Design. I also run workshops and mentorship on neuroinclusive practice. These experiences have helped me refine my approach so that I do not simply offer insights. I offer care that is attuned, respectful, and safe.
The training that I’ve undergone has been especially important when working with clients from intersecting marginalised communities. Holding space ethically means understanding power, privilege, and positionality. It means not centering yourself. It means not assuming you know what someone needs.
📢 Consent Means You Don’t Ask Twice
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is this: we are not entitled to anyone’s performance, pain, or participation.
If someone has shared their story with you, that does not mean they are available for further access. If someone says no — whether it’s to an interview, a reading, or a follow-up — you respect it. Full stop.
Ethical spaceholding means we do not shame people for setting boundaries. We do not demand their labour under the guise of “helping.” We do not disguise extraction as care. When someone says no, that’s not a personal rejection. That’s a signal that you need to check your assumptions, your timing, and your role. Because when we’re holding space, we must remember that we’re not the ones doing the most vulnerable work. They are.
♠️ Power Dynamics in Every Reading
Every tarot session involves a power imbalance. The reader is seen as the authority. The one who has the insight, the cards, the clarity.
But ethical readers know that this power must be handled with deep care. You are not above your querent. You are not wiser. You are not a guide unless you’ve been asked to be.
What you are is a witness. What you offer is a moment of reflection — not diagnosis, not direction. You must be as willing to hold silence as you are to speak. You must be comfortable with complexity, ambiguity, and emotion.
Most of all, you must know when to step back.
🕯 Witness, Not Saviour
This is the principle I come back to again and again: witness, not saviour.
You are not here to rescue. You are not here to impress. You are here to hold.
This means you have to know how to ground yourself. You have to understand projection and transference. You have to know when you are being activated and how not to make that the client’s problem.
This is what I call ethical spaceholding. It is slow. It is quiet. It is powerful.
🌱 Final Thoughts
Research and tarot may use different tools, but the values remain the same. Whether I am conducting interviews, reading cards, or teaching a class, I return to the same guiding questions: Is this safe? Is this honest? Is this in service to something beyond my ego?
Ethics is not just a buzzword we throw around. It is the structure that allows deep work to take root. Tarot is not only about what we say. It is about what we make possible.
The Harpy's Oracle 
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