How a Reading Works
Some people come knowing exactly what they want to ask. Others just know something is stirring and can't quite name it yet. Both are welcome and both make for a good reading.
Here is what a reading with me looks like, so that nothing is a surprise.
Here is what a reading with me looks like, so that nothing is a surprise.
What to Expect
Before we meet
Once you book, I ask for your birth date, birth time, and birthplace. Then I sit with your chart. This is usually a couple hours of study, including where the planets were the moment you were born and where they have traveled since. I look for what is active right now: the transits most highlighted in your chart, the changes you may be in the middle of, and what your chart is pointing toward.
I also spend time with the tarot archetypes that are present in your reading, and work out your Life, Soul, and Annual cards from your birth date. By the time we speak, I already know something about where you are. We don't spend our hour together on setup.
During our session
We meet over video. You don't need to prepare anything but your questions. We talk first about what brought you here and what you're hoping to get clarity on. Then we work.
I read the tarot with you, not at you. When a card comes up we decode it together: what the image is doing, what the archetype is saying, and what it means for your life right now. You will be part of that conversation. Many people are surprised how much they already know once the symbol is in front of them.
We also look at your astrology, at what's active in your chart right now. Tarot and astrology often say the same thing in different languages, and when they agree, there's no mistaking the message.
Once you book, I ask for your birth date, birth time, and birthplace. Then I sit with your chart. This is usually a couple hours of study, including where the planets were the moment you were born and where they have traveled since. I look for what is active right now: the transits most highlighted in your chart, the changes you may be in the middle of, and what your chart is pointing toward.
I also spend time with the tarot archetypes that are present in your reading, and work out your Life, Soul, and Annual cards from your birth date. By the time we speak, I already know something about where you are. We don't spend our hour together on setup.
During our session
We meet over video. You don't need to prepare anything but your questions. We talk first about what brought you here and what you're hoping to get clarity on. Then we work.
I read the tarot with you, not at you. When a card comes up we decode it together: what the image is doing, what the archetype is saying, and what it means for your life right now. You will be part of that conversation. Many people are surprised how much they already know once the symbol is in front of them.
We also look at your astrology, at what's active in your chart right now. Tarot and astrology often say the same thing in different languages, and when they agree, there's no mistaking the message.
My own Lua Tarot with The Sovereign Oracle by Theresa Pridemore
After our session
This is the part most readers don't do. Over the following days I write you a report: your astrology and archetypes explained, photographs of the actual spreads we threw, and the guidance that came through, in color and in detail.
There is no need to take notes during our session. Everything important will be waiting for you in your report.
Book your reading →
This is the part most readers don't do. Over the following days I write you a report: your astrology and archetypes explained, photographs of the actual spreads we threw, and the guidance that came through, in color and in detail.
There is no need to take notes during our session. Everything important will be waiting for you in your report.
Book your reading →
Sample report shown. Client details are fictional.
On Archetypes
The tarot isn't a dictionary of fixed meanings. The cards are archetypes—patterns old enough and deep enough that they appear in every human life, every culture, and every century.
The Star means the same thing in every deck. What it means for you depends entirely on what you are standing in the middle of. We decode the symbols together. I will tell you what the archetype carries and where I see it moving in your astrology, and you will tell me what it touches in your life. The reading happens in that conversation.
The archetypes tell you what is relevant right now, and what is at work within you. It's a map rather than a fortune. It shows you where you are, and you choose where to go.
The Star means the same thing in every deck. What it means for you depends entirely on what you are standing in the middle of. We decode the symbols together. I will tell you what the archetype carries and where I see it moving in your astrology, and you will tell me what it touches in your life. The reading happens in that conversation.
The archetypes tell you what is relevant right now, and what is at work within you. It's a map rather than a fortune. It shows you where you are, and you choose where to go.
The Great Passages
Certain times in life are astrologically predictable. Everyone goes through them at roughly the same ages and they tend to come as upheavals.
Knowing which one you are in won't make it easier. It does change the question from what's wrong with me into how long does this last. It helps to know this happens to everyone, and that it ends.
Knowing which one you are in won't make it easier. It does change the question from what's wrong with me into how long does this last. It helps to know this happens to everyone, and that it ends.
Your Solar Return, every year
The moment the Sun returns to the exact position it held when you were born is your astrological birthday. A Solar Return chart maps the year ahead: what is being asked of you, what is opening up, and where you need to focus your energy.
A good time to reflect on the year behind you and to meet the one in front of you with purpose.
A good time to reflect on the year behind you and to meet the one in front of you with purpose.
The Saturn Return, ages 28 to 30, and again 58 to 60
Saturn takes about twenty-nine years to travel back to where it began. When it comes back around it asks a hard question: is the life you have built actually yours?
Careers and relationships can end here. However, some deepen instead. The first return is often when a person first feels like a real adult. The second asks whether the life you built with that adulthood is still the one you want.
Careers and relationships can end here. However, some deepen instead. The first return is often when a person first feels like a real adult. The second asks whether the life you built with that adulthood is still the one you want.
The Uranus Opposition, ages 38-44
Uranus reaches the point exactly opposite where it started. This is one of the transits behind what gets called a midlife crisis. It often arrives as restlessness and a sense that something has to change.
It is disruptive by design. Uranus is the planet of sudden awakening. The work is figuring out what needs to break and what you leave standing. I went through this one myself, and wrote about it in two parts. Uranus Opposition Part I: Consciously Navigating Your Astrological Midlife.
It is disruptive by design. Uranus is the planet of sudden awakening. The work is figuring out what needs to break and what you leave standing. I went through this one myself, and wrote about it in two parts. Uranus Opposition Part I: Consciously Navigating Your Astrological Midlife.
The Chiron Return, ~age 50
Chiron is the wounded healer. Around fifty it returns to its birth position, and the old wound, the one you have carried since childhood in whatever form it took, comes back up to be looked at.
This is difficult, and it is also the transit that most often turns people into healers themselves. What you have survived becomes what you can offer.
This is difficult, and it is also the transit that most often turns people into healers themselves. What you have survived becomes what you can offer.
The Dark Night of the Soul
These passages can overlap, and sometimes they stack up. When they do, people describe it the same way: everything I knew about myself stopped being true. It can be an isolating and liminal space.
This is the time a reading is most useful. Being able to name what you're inside of is its own kind of relief.
This is the time a reading is most useful. Being able to name what you're inside of is its own kind of relief.
Who's Reading for you?
I've been a practitioner of the mystical and healing arts for over twenty years, and I came to reading through my years as a licensed massage therapist. I've also created several tarot and oracle decks and written their guidebooks. I'm Portuguese-American and I read from Portugal, by video, so we can meet wherever you are.
Much of what I notice in a reading comes to me as a feeling before it becomes a thought. That's something the bodywork taught me.
My decks have been nominated for several awards and reviewed by Benebell Wen. I've also taught Lenormand at the NW Tarot Symposium. More about my work →
Much of what I notice in a reading comes to me as a feeling before it becomes a thought. That's something the bodywork taught me.
My decks have been nominated for several awards and reviewed by Benebell Wen. I've also taught Lenormand at the NW Tarot Symposium. More about my work →
Questions About Readings
What if I have never had a reading before? Good. You don't need to know anything about tarot or astrology. Translating is my job.
Do I need a specific question? No. Some of the best readings begin with something's going on and I can't put my finger on it. If you do have a specific question, bring it. It could be as simple asWhat do I need to know?
Will you tell me the future? That isn't how I work. Some readers have a genuine gift of clairvoyance, and I respect it. Mine is clairsentience: I feel what is active in your chart and what the archetypes are pointing at. Together we look at what that means for the life you are living now.
What if I get bad news? There are no bad cards. There are difficult times, and I will tell you the truth about them. The point of naming a hard transit is to help you move through it with your eyes open.
What if I don't know anything about astrology? Most of my clients don't. I explain as we go, and your report includes everything written down, so you can take it in slowly afterward.
Can I give a reading as a gift? Yes, I offer gift certificates. I read for the person in front of me, so the session needs to be theirs. The person receiving it books their own session when they're ready.
Where are you based? I live in Portugal and read over video, so we can meet wherever you are. You'll select your time zone when you book.
Do I need a specific question? No. Some of the best readings begin with something's going on and I can't put my finger on it. If you do have a specific question, bring it. It could be as simple asWhat do I need to know?
Will you tell me the future? That isn't how I work. Some readers have a genuine gift of clairvoyance, and I respect it. Mine is clairsentience: I feel what is active in your chart and what the archetypes are pointing at. Together we look at what that means for the life you are living now.
What if I get bad news? There are no bad cards. There are difficult times, and I will tell you the truth about them. The point of naming a hard transit is to help you move through it with your eyes open.
What if I don't know anything about astrology? Most of my clients don't. I explain as we go, and your report includes everything written down, so you can take it in slowly afterward.
Can I give a reading as a gift? Yes, I offer gift certificates. I read for the person in front of me, so the session needs to be theirs. The person receiving it books their own session when they're ready.
Where are you based? I live in Portugal and read over video, so we can meet wherever you are. You'll select your time zone when you book.
When You're Ready
If any of this landed, I'd be happy to sit with you. Book a reading →