A reader writes: “I paid forty thousand rupees to a tarot reader who told me I was cursed and would need a series of remedial sessions to be released. After the third session I realised the curse never resolved. What went wrong?”
What went wrong is described, in some detail, below. This essay is a working list of the patterns that distinguish a fake or exploitative tarot reader from a genuine one. We name them publicly because the unregulated Indian tarot market does not.
The twelve signs
One, A “curse” or “blockage” diagnosis. If a reader, in your first session, tells you that you are under a curse, that there is a generational blockage, that there is malefic energy attached to you, or anything in that register: the reader is constructing a problem only she can solve. The diagnosis is the first move in the upsell.
Two — A remedial follow-up package. Immediately after the diagnosis comes the prescription: a series of follow-up sessions, a ritual, a talisman, a stones package, a “cleansing.” The total spend grows from the original session fee to a multiple of it. Walk away.
Three. Urgency manufacture. “You need to do this within the next seven days or the energy will fix itself permanently.” Genuine practitioners do not invent time-windows. The work runs at the pace it runs.
Four. Predictions about specific named people. “Your husband will cheat by next March.” “Your colleague is planning to sabotage you.” A reader who makes specific predictive claims about absent named persons has crossed several lines at once, third-party reading, predictive over-claim, and the construction of suspicion in your existing relationships.
Five — “Soulmate” and “twin flame” vocabulary. The contemporary “twin flame” vocabulary is a specific commercial register that emerged in the late 2010s, almost entirely in service of monetising young women’s relational anxieties. A serious practice does not work in that vocabulary.
Six — Refusal to give a price upfront. “Let us start the session and see what your situation requires.” The price should be fixed and known before you walk in. Anything else is optimisation for your apparent willingness to pay.
Seven; Pressure to book quickly. Genuine practices have multi-week booking horizons; they do not call you back twice in a day asking when you will confirm.
Eight: “Energy reading” without the cards. Some practitioners advertise tarot but pivot in-session to “energy reading,” aura interpretation, or other forms that have no methodological constraint. The pivot lets them say anything without the discipline of having to read what is actually on the table.
Nine, Hostility to your questions. A genuine reader welcomes the question “how were you trained?” A fake reader bristles, deflects, or implies the question is disrespectful. Your skepticism is appropriate; a reader who cannot tolerate it is hiding something.
Ten, Anecdotalisation of other clients. “Last week I had a client whose husband was cheating and I told her the exact date he would confess.” A reader who casually breaches the confidentiality of other clients in your session will breach yours in someone else’s.
Eleven; No public ethics document. A genuine practice publishes its refusals, its complaints process, its boundaries. A practice without any of those signals is operating on no accountability framework at all.
Twelve — No published methodology. A genuine practice can describe, in print, the structure of its sessions. A reader who improvises every time has not yet thought about what she is doing seriously enough to commit it to writing.
If you have been exploited
If you have spent money on a series of remedial sessions that did not resolve the alleged problem. Because the alleged problem was constructed for the purpose of monetising your fear. You have been exploited. The exploitation is not your fault. The Indian commercial tarot market preys, by design, on serious adults at vulnerable moments.
You can report exploitation under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 (which prohibits the advertising of curative claims) and under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (which provides recourse for misrepresentation in services). The Razorpay payment-gateway chargeback process can sometimes recover funds if the exploitation is recent and well-documented.
If you have a complaint about any Trikaala-certified reader specifically, write to ethics@trikaala.com. We investigate and, where warranted, revoke certifications.
The composite
A practice that fails one of the twelve signs may still be worth a careful look. A practice that fails three or more is, in our reading, almost certainly not the right place to take a serious question. Apply the list to anyone you are considering, including us.
Frequently asked
Are all readers on Instagram fake?
No. There are serious practitioners on Instagram; there are also large numbers of commercial operators. The platform is a distribution channel, not a quality filter.
Is there a registry of certified tarot readers in India?
No. The market is unregulated. The Trikaala Academy issues certificates to its graduates but these are practice-specific, not state-recognised.
What if I cannot tell whether a reader is fake or serious?
When in doubt, default to the test framework. Twelve signs cover most of the commercial-operator behaviours. If a reader passes all twelve and the seeker still feels uncertain, the seeker should not book: the doubt itself is a signal.
Can a serious reader also be wrong sometimes?
Yes. Every serious practitioner has off-days, sessions that did not land, interpretations the seeker later found unhelpful. The difference between a serious practitioner and a charlatan is not infallibility; it is the honest contract and the willingness to refund or revisit when the session does not serve.