I know talking about money in our community can feel awkward, but I’m genuinely curious about the financial side of professional tarot reading. I’ve been reading for friends and family for a while now and am considering making this my full-time work. I’m not expecting to get rich, and I understand this takes years of practice and wisdom to do well. But realistically, I need to know if I can pay my bills doing what I love.
For those who read professionally (or know someone who does), would you be willing to share some real numbers? What do you charge per session? How many clients do you typically see in a week or month? Do you offer other services like workshops or subscriptions? I’ve heard everything from people barely scraping by to others making six figures, but there’s so little honest discussion about the actual income ranges. I get that it varies wildly based on location, experience, and how you structure your business, but any insight would help.
Currently going through my Saturn return and all these questions about stability and planning for the future are hitting hard.
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I run a local tarot meetup and we just did an income survey last month. Got some interesting data from it.
Turns out most of us take a hit in January-February, like 30-40% less income after the holidays. October’s usually better, though. And Mercury retrograde periods for some reason. One thing that worked for someone in our group, she does sliding scale pricing now ($40-80) at our reading circles.
Says her income went up because more people can afford it at the lower end. We also started charging $15 for the monthly practice sessions, which helps with venue costs.
Still working my day job here. the tarot money’s ok but not quit-your-job money you know?
Juggling work, content creation, finding clients, plus actually doing readings. It’s a lot. could probably do better if I had a budget for ads, but whatever. I keep my readings honest though. none of that $500 curse removal scam stuff. Cards say what they say, I tell you what they say. simple as that.
If you’re starting out just actually like doing tarot. learn the cards properly before you start charging people.
Local psychic fairs were where I got started. Nothing like having strangers pay you to make you step up your game. Made okay money while building up regular clients. Online readers seemed to have more trouble getting consistent work. In-person readings just work better for building a reputation. If you’re into using cards for guidance, Three of Pentacles is good for community credibility work. Eight of Pentacles + Queen of Wands helps with confidence for public readings.
My first paid gig was $200 for four hours at a bachelorette party, and I was really nervous. These days, I focus on corporate events, charging $150 an hour for at least three hours.
Started out charging $10 when I was still figuring things out. Built up to $60 over the years as I got better and people started recommending me.
Best months I’ve made $3500-4000, usually in summer. Winter drops to like $2000 if I’m lucky. Did a reading for myself once that showed this pattern, Wheel of Fortune and Four of Pentacles came up. You can live off it if you hustle and do events, but the income swings are real. Some months are great, others not so much. That’s why I never quit my regular job.
Quick safety tip for anyone doing in-person sessions, always tell a friend or family member your schedule and where you’ll be. I never meet clients at my home. Having that boundary makes me feel a lot more comfortable, especially with first-time customers.
i started at around $20/hour too and honestly it wasn’t enough. between the time spent getting ready mentally and then processing everything after. The established readers in my area won’t touch anything under $45 now. makes sense when you factor in everything that goes into it beyond just the actual reading time
Yeah, many readers undercharge for way too long.
Even experienced ones need their friends or family to basically force them to raise prices. I know readers charging $500+ now. Higher prices seem to filter out the people just looking for entertainment - you get clients who actually respect what you’re doing.
I’ve thought about going full-time with tarot readings so many times. Been doing readings at parties and events, usually making $300-700.
Started charging $10 when I was new to it, now I charge $60. Back in university, tarot readings basically paid my bills. Every reading helped cover textbooks, food, and rent. Showed me what’s possible if you really commit to it. I’ve done the math - if I went all in, did two events a week and built up my regular clients, I could probably make $3500-4000 in summer, maybe $1700-2500 in winter.
Thing is, I like having a regular job too. The steady paycheck means I can do readings because I want to, not because I need the money. When you’re desperate for cash, it changes how you approach the cards. For anyone thinking about it, tarot as a side gig works well. The extra money is nice (and yeah, cash business has its perks), plus you keep enjoying it. Going full-time means running a real business, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet.
A friend of mine does tarot readings for a living. They’ve got a pretty good setup actually.
They run these beginner workshops once a month over Zoom. Gets about 10-12 people paying $40-65 each, and they usually sell out. That’s their main income really, more reliable than waiting for individual clients. They also do private readings for $90-120 an hour, but keep it to three per day.
Any more than that and they say they get too tired to give good readings. They work out of this little booth they rent at a spiritual shop for $50 a week. Not fancy but it works. Between the space rental and internet costs, they’re clearing about $2,500 monthly.
Could be making more but they don’t want to burn out.
Most successful readers I’ve met have multiple income streams, private sessions, workshops, sometimes making decks or teaching. Relying solely on individual readings can be… financially challenging.
The readers doing well financially run things like a business. They track expenses, maintain email lists, offer services at different prices. There was this discussion I read about someone who built up to six figures combining online courses with their reading practice. Pretty much comes down to treating tarot as a professional service that needs actual business structure.
Your Saturn return is definitely making you think about big changes. Going full-time is scary, I’ve seen a lot of readers struggle with the change.
Starting slow might help. Weekend markets are good, or you could do email readings as a subscription thing. $30-50 a month for weekly readings seems to work for some people. Just keeps money coming in while you figure things out. The boring stuff matters too, business licenses, insurance, saving for taxes (like 30% of what you make). Nobody talks about it but it’s important. Some readers I know actually prefer staying part-time. They say it keeps them from burning out on readings.
Started out doing only event gigs. Put all my eggs in one basket basically. Off-season was rough, no bookings at all. Empty calendar for months. Learned pretty quick that one income source wasn’t going to cut it. These days I do events plus online readings. Keeps things more stable when the event season slows down.
A lot of people assume theyll spend their day doing what they love. But admin tasks like scheduling and marketing can take a surprising amount of time.
When I started my card reading practice, I didn’t realize how much behind-the-scenes work there would be. It’s not all about reading cards. Balancing these tasks is vital for keeping the practice running and staying financially afloat.
I do part-time Tarot reading, and it averages about $900/month.
I’ve been thinking about this lately, self-care is a big deal. When you’re constantly giving energy to others, you need something to recharge. I do meditation most mornings, helps me feel less drained.
Looking at income data for readers, most of us are making $600-900 a week. Not exactly getting rich here, but it’s enough to cover bills. The high earners pulling in over $1,100 weekly are pretty rare. Guess that’s just how this field works, you can make a living but probably won’t be buying a yacht anytime soon.
I charge $125 per hour for readings. That seems to work well for both me and my clients. I do about 6-8 readings a day, five days a week.
Some days are busier than others, but that’s pretty typical. After taxes and business expenses (new decks, some advertising), I’m making around $10-12k a month. It took a while to build up to this point, but the income has been pretty steady.
When I started charging for readings, I found that working at local metaphysical shops and events brought in more steady money than trying to do it online. There’s so many free readers online that it’s hard to stand out.