Things have come a long way since my youth when readings were frequently done by mysterious old women in secluded booths masked by beaded curtains. Divination of all forms and Tarot Card reading in particular has attracted its quota of dubious readers. But how can you tell?

Many readers engage in their work with a genuine desire to help clients sort out life issues and offer the insight to help them do so. Some are in it purely to make money and I think that to a certain extent this has made the public sceptical. There is a need to be careful.

With so many media now advertising readings of various kinds, how do you tell where you are likely to get good information and what is likely to be a rip off? Well, for one thing, you should look out for personal contact. Usually individual readers who set up their own web sites are more reliable. If a site has been around for some time, if the reader is experienced and is willing to answer any enquiry you may have, then the signs are good.

Naturally you want to be happy that your credit card details are secure. Internet sites where secure payment systems are used are a good bet. PayPal and Stripe are examples of well-established payment agencies. A good website is likely to use these types of secure systems, to protect its clients. It pays to be more cautious about sites which don’t use these types of systems and which take your card details themselves. A bona fide web site will also outline clearly what type of reading you get for your money and how much that reading is.

Areas where caution is needed are website or newspaper services where there is no clearly identifiable person dealing with the readings. If it’s organised by a virtually anonymous “company”, what are you getting? If there is no interaction with a real person, be cautious. Will the information you receive be genuine or something printed from a long list of “options” by a computer? If you are asked to send in your mobile phone number to receive your reading in that way, be very cautious. How much are the charges? Is this a “one-off” reading or will you be sent regular readings and how much will they be? If you are going to speak to a psychic on the phone, how much are the per minute charges? How much will they add up to if you speak for an hour, which is not uncommon? Often these kinds of operations are run by people who teach their readers to keep clients talking so they will spend more and more money. Ethical readings involve a one-off payment for a well described service.

To avoid problems, it is best to select a reading type from a site which offers a range of options. If you want detailed information about your life over the coming year, then you would be looking at a reading which is quite substantial and for which you would pay more. Simpler questions such as, “Will I find a lover?” can be covered in smaller layouts.

The issue is that you should choose a reading and know the cost beforehand. Sometimes clients think if they pay more they will hear more. This is another misconception about the nature of divination and it can be encouraged by readers whose focus is on making more money. There is usually a limit to how much can be seen about an issue at any time by a reader. So, if you choose an appropriate reading, it should cover the issue you are looking at adequately and there should be no need to have more readings on that topic. Indeed, it can be unproductive to ask the same question again and again.

Provided you bear these points in mind, then the Internet offers a wide range of readers, from different traditions, who are able to help you in your quest to understand your life better. That is what a reading should be. It should not be a lip trembling moment of consulting about your “Fate” but a genuine enquiry into the possibilities around you at the time.