Beyond the Shuffle: Tarot, Life & Everything In Between

Tarot Certification - Is it necessary?

• Adrienne Amari

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Have you ever had a reading from a "certified tarot reader"? Or have you ever considered getting a tarot certification yourself?

Tarot Certification is a hot topic in the community - so here are some of my thoughts, and to be honest, I've gone through a certification program before. I'll talk about the reality behind certification, and how it helped (and didn't help) me.


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Have you ever had a reading from a certified tarot reader? Or have you ever thought about going for a certification yourself? Hi there, and welcome to Beyond the Shuffle, a podcast where we explore this wild ride of the human experience all through the lens of tarot. I'm Adrian Amari, your host, guide, and certified tarot reader. So settle in, open your mind, and let's go beyond the shuffle. On this week's episode, I wanted to talk about something that can be kind of controversial in the tarot community, and that is tarot certification. Now I'm someone who has done, at this point, one and a half tarot certifications. I say half because one I never actually really finished. And I keep telling myself that someday I will, but I'll get into why I haven't pushed through to the finish line. So let's start with what even is tarot certification. So you'll see a lot of people out there offering certification in tarot. You can become a tarot master, a professional tarot reader with this certificate. And if you're someone who's considering doing this, I'd hate to break it to you. There is no certifying body for tarot readers. Now, some certification programs are backed by things like the CMA, the Complementary Medical Association, but there isn't one unifying standards or board for tarot that can actually certify you. So, for all intents and purposes, most of the certification is just done by the company or the person themselves. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but let's call a spade a spade. For many of them, it's just lessons and courses that you go through that maybe you do quizzes in and maybe you do a final reading. But for a lot of them, there isn't really a person-to-person practical part. And if there is, it's usually done in a group. And that can totally be super beneficial, but it's not like you're getting a license to read tarot or anything like that. So let me start with my background. I say I have one and a half done. I actually have another one that I bought and just never really did anything in. But the program I went through was Angie Banneke's tarot program. That's the one I finished and got certified at the end. We did have to submit a reading and she did give feedback, whether it was from her or someone else, I don't know, because it was all done through text. But there were video calls and interactions, and the community was really nice. The other one I did a good way through was Richard Knight's tarot program. But the problem with a lot of these is once you've been reading tarot for a while, they get kind of repetitive. I didn't need beginner stuff again, and I signed up to the course knowing that we would go through all that, hoping that maybe I would learn something new or get a new look on something. And for the most part, I didn't really. I learned a couple new cool spreads, but I could have gotten those from a book too. Now, is it nice to have a mentor and somebody that you can ask questions to and bounce ideas off of? 100% it is. It's also really nice to have a community of people who also just love tarot. But learning tarot, especially if you just want to dabble in it or read for yourself or just get enjoyment out of it on a kind of casual basis, shouldn't come with a crazy price tag. I almost joined the Biddy Tarot program so many times over my years reading Tarot, and I was in the community briefly for a while. I did the free reading platform in her forum community, and that actually helped me a lot. But the certification was just so expensive and I couldn't justify spending that much money. I've seen testimonials online of people who've done it and have loved it, but at the end of the day, the certification doesn't carry any more weight from there than it does from going through a book and having years of practice yourself. Based on my experience and experiences that I've read about, a lot of these courses they do give you the basics. They teach you the basic meanings of the cards, they'll teach you some spreads, maybe they'll talk about ethics and how to set up a business a little bit. But I haven't gone through one yet, and this is certification courses or just courses in general that really taught you the nitty-gritty of reading cards, that taught you how to connect the cards to your life, that showed you how to make them flow into a story. There's a few practitioners that offer courses like that that I would probably recommend just knowing their work. And not one of them has a certification course. Because I think people put the word certification in front of it to charge a higher price tag. And I can tell you with complete honesty, I have never, ever in the thousands of readings I've done had somebody ask me, Oh, are you certified? The only thing I've ever been asked in all my time reading cards and in all the events and markets I've done is where did you learn and who did you study under? And you're probably sitting there thinking, Adrian, why did you even go for not one but more than one certification program if you clearly don't think that highly of the idea itself? And you know what's funny? It's not that I hate the idea. I hate that it's misleading. But I think the promise of certification kind of overdelivers a lot of the time what you get and maybe some of the effort that's needed to really make a thriving tarot business. Because it's not just going through the course, it's doing the work, it's putting in the time, the effort, the contemplation, the practice. And a certification course or any course can really help you do that, but it's not something that will do it if you don't already have that within you. So do you need it? No. But why did I take it? Well, when I took these courses, I was in a place where I really wanted to grow my tarot business. But I felt shy. I kind of had imposter syndrome. I thought that my readings probably weren't good enough to make this a full-scaled thing. And I thought, just maybe if I had a mentor or a certification, then I could prove to myself and maybe everyone else, even subconsciously, that I was worth it and that I was good. And I will say that doing the certification, it did increase my confidence. It felt good to go through something and be like, no, I get this. I understand this. Yep, this is the word I would use, or the phrase I would use too. It was nice to be on a live call with a few people and someone who is a successful tarot reader and have them tell me that they liked my interpretation. It was amazing to get feedback saying, no, this reading is really good. Was all of that worth the price I paid? In hindsight, probably not. But at the time, it really made a big difference for me and it really shifted in me the way I approach my own tarot readings because it gave me that permission slip to know that my voice and my ideas and my interpretations weren't crazy and that far off. And part of me is kind of annoyed that it took paying for an expensive course for me to realize that because the certificate, it doesn't really mean anything. It's actually just shoved between two books on my shelf right now. But it did prove to me that I could do it and that I could see something through to the end, because I'm not someone who often finishes things. So finishing the course and getting that certificate to me was like, oh, you saw it through to the end. Good job. You're really into this. This is something that you should stick with. But that was all of my own insecurity. And looking back, I could have probably done a lot of that on my own if I would have just brought more awareness to it, done more practices, gotten out there more, asked for more feedback. Because asking real people for feedback at that time felt terrifying. Asking a mentor or a teacher for it was far less scary. And I think that's a fair assessment for most people. And you know what's funny? I had a friend ask me if I ever would want to make a tarot certification program. And no, I wouldn't until or unless there is an actual certifying body, like if there's a reason behind doing it. There are no boards of ethics or boards of standards in tarot. It's kind of up to each individual to figure that out. And there are some bigger groups that do try to have standards and rules for tarot readers that join their membership program, but like I said, there's no overseeing body. And to be honest, I don't even know how I feel about having a sort of certifying body for tarot. It seems really out there. It seems to take some of Tarot's soul away. That's something I would definitely have to think about more. But that's a big part of why I created the tarot lab in the way that I did. It's not a course, it's not a certification. It's a way to live through the tarot, to experience it, to experiment with it, to connect with it in ways that are helpful and useful, in ways that can build your skills. But to me, the most important thing is that people find their own voice and rhythm with the cards, because that's how you get really powerful readings. I 100% believe in the foundation of tarot. I do believe we need to understand the foundation of the cards, the journeys and the stories of the major arcana and each of the minor suits, the different numbers and the ranks. We need all of those building blocks, but then we also have to create our own life and language with the cards themselves. And it took me a long time to really accept that, to realize that, to give myself permission to read in that way. Because for a long time I thought if I wasn't saying the key words in the course, I wasn't doing it right. And I have to be honest with you, that's not reading tarot. Regurgitation is not reading tarot. And that's why people click with different readers, because we all have these different experiences and energies that we bring to our cards, and the people who are meant to receive readings from you will connect with that. And if you only ever want to use tarot for yourself and maybe some friends, that's okay too. I feel like in a lot of the certification programs, the end goal is to become a professional tarot reader, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's totally okay, but that might not be everybody's goal either. I personally get a lot of clients who are counselors and therapists who dabble in tarot and who come for readings because they like the insights the cards bring and want to or already do use them in their own practice. And I think that is so cool and such a valid way to use them. They don't have to be the star of the show. They are for me because I love them, but they don't have to be. You can utilize them in so many different ways. And I find with a lot of these programs, it's kind of the same thing. It's like, okay, well, here's the major arcana, here's the minor arcana, here's a spread to do, here's how to set up your reading space. None of that is bad information, but it doesn't foster your own unique outlook with the cards. From what I experienced, there weren't really any exercises that helped you do that. I think the only thing that helped me way back when I started is Little Red Tarot had like a do-it-at-your-own pace, learn tarot course that was just activities. And I thought that was really cool. It was different ways to look at the cards and think about them and group them together. And I don't think I ever finished it because I don't finish much. But I remember liking it. We also live in a time where there is so much information out there about tarot. It's on YouTube and TikTok, and there are books and magazines and podcasts just like this one. And I feel like that's often a blessing and a curse. Because it does create a lot of noise, doesn't it? There are people fighting over rules that are 100% arbitrary. There are people saying you have to use it this way or you have to use it that way. And I think a lot of the certification programs are like, well, this is how you read in this person's style. Which once again is inherently not a bad thing. We can learn a lot from other people, but we just have to remember, especially through courses like these, it's not the only way to do it. You know, I think another reason I always would partake in courses and went into the certification courses is because of FOMO. I didn't want to think I was missing out on something that was so awesome and so cool in the tarot world, in the tarot community. And I don't know about you, but advertising definitely works on me. When I see something that I'm interested in, it's hard for me to say no to it. And of course we have to because we only have so much time, energy, and money to invest into these kinds of things. But if I had the knowledge and insight I have now at the time, I wouldn't have purchased both of the certification courses. One should have definitely been enough. But I also think it's kind of telling that I felt like I had to go get another after doing one as well. Like it didn't fill that void 100%. I kept thinking, oh, maybe there's more, there's another secret sauce that I have to add to it. And the secret sauce can't come from somebody else. It has to come from you. So if you are going to invest your time and your energy and your hard-earned resources into a tarot certification program or any tarot course, just make sure it's something that will help you grow into the tarot reader you want to be. And maybe you're like, I don't even know what kind of tarot reader I want to be right now. That's okay too. Find something that will help you figure that out, that will give you the outlet to experience and to experiment and to try different types of readings. Because that's really where you're going to get the most bang for your buck. Because card meetings, you can find those a dime a dozen. There are a lot of amazing books out there and resources in general. And hey, how could I not plug my own little tarot card cheat sheet there too, right? So if you've been thinking about certification and sitting on the fence, I'm not here to change your mind. But just remember how hard you work for your money and make sure what you're paying into is going to give you what you want and what you're looking for. I'm always up for taking another course and for learning more because my favorite thing about tarot is that it's a journey that never stops. You never stop learning about the cards. The more experiences you have, the more readings you do, the more layers you add, the more the combinations come together easily. So, no, we should never stop learning. But my biggest takeaway from all this would be if you're going to drop one, two, three thousand dollars on a tarot certificate, really consider if it's worth it, because there's probably better things to spend your money on that will give you just as much bang for your buck. Honestly, probably even more, because again, not that many people out there, if any people out there, are looking for quote certified tarot readers, end quote. For me, I think the biggest draw to doing some type of certification is really the community that comes with it. Because I always say tarot can be a lonely journey. It's a solitary journey. You're kind of figuring it out for yourself. So having other people to talk to and bounce ideas off of is great. One more thing we have to kind of realize too is that a lot of the certification programs are run by people who are self-taught tarot readers. So it kind of goes back to the idea of where do the standards come from? Who is this unifying tarot force? There isn't one. And that can be both a blessing and a curse, I suppose. So more so than certification, go for mentorship. And if it comes with a diploma or a certificate or whatever, so be it. But don't make that piece of paper your driving force, because at the end of the day, the only one who it's going to impress is you. If you have any questions about the programs that I have been through or dabbled in, feel free to reach out. I am an open book. And again, this is why I made the tarot lab the way it is: experiments, experience, practice. Not just me saying, hey, this card means this and that card means that. Because tarot is about developing your own connection and your own relationship with the cards. If you'd like to learn more about the tarot lab, head on over to Adrian Amari.com/slash the Tarot Lab. And make sure you're following me, Adrian Amari Tarot, or Beyond the Shuffle Podcast on Instagram. That's where I'm active most and I'd love to get to know you more. But I hope this shed some light on certification programs. It maybe is a little biased, and again, I'm not here to put anyone down because I know people put a lot of work and effort into it, but let's see it for what exactly it is. And then make your choices accordingly. Do what's best for you, knowing that at the end of the day, the only person the label will make a difference to is you. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Beyond the Shuffle. If there's any topics you're ever curious about or want to hear me cover, reach out. I'd love to know. And until we meet again next week, grab that deck of cards, shuffle it up, give it a pull, and see what comes out. And I'll catch you next Wednesday on Beyond the Shuffle.