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Running a Tarot Business in the Age of Social Media

TL;DR: Going viral on social media won't guarantee regular clients or legitimacy. You can (and should) take your time growing your business.

I'm writing this at the very start of my tarot reading business, partly as a reminder to myself, and partly because I have a feeling many of you can relate to. Offering any kind of service today almost always requires some kind of social media presence. You put yourself out there to reach potential clients (keyword here is “potential”), and in return, you get advertised to just as much as you advertise.

Any marketer will tell you that maintaining a platform is a job in itself. When you're also running your own business, it can become genuinely overwhelming. There's a constant pressure to perform, to post consistently, to go viral. But what exactly does it mean? We put our business and image out on the internet, hoping to reach hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people, in the hope that we get some sort of return in income and regular clients. Because, truthfully, there’s a big difference between being subscribed to on a social media app for free mass readings than there is being booked for regularly, personal, intimate 1:1 sessions. 

In the tarot space especially, there's no shortage of "if you're seeing this, it was meant for you" videos and pick-a-card mass readings. I'll be honest, I considered doing that for a while, but after a few weeks, I noticed those videos were quietly disappearing from my feed. Algorithms treat content as trends, and when something stops trending, it stops being shown. That's not the kind of growth I'm after.

I’m focused on consistency and genuine community, and I say that without any judgment toward readers who take a different path. After all, we're all just trying to find our way. So where did I land for inspiration? Fungi, of all places.

What Mushrooms Taught Me About Building a Business

Mushrooms are one of the most remarkable and underappreciated parts of any ecosystem. Now excuse me while we professional nerd out together, and stay with me, because there is a point here. Mushrooms communicate with each other and with the plants around them. A species of fungi was discovered in Chernobyl that actively breaks down radiation. Scientists in Hawaii have discovered that a percentage of marine fungi can break down plastic in the ocean (great news for our planet!). Not only do they break down waste, but they can also fertilize the soil, clean water, feed animals and us, maintain the local ecosystem, and give psychedelic trips. Scientists and enthusiasts are still learning more about fungi. Just imagine the possibilities! So what does any of this have to do with starting a tarot business? I want to be part of a community… a real one. Over the past few years, I've traveled and met incredible people from all walks of life, and it's expanded how I see the world and my place in it. Social media has made our reach larger than ever, which means the energy and intention we put into the world carry further than ever before. Segwaying back to our fungi friends– mushrooms don't have roots the way plants do, but they have something arguably more sophisticated called mycelium– an underground network through which they communicate, share nutrients, and support one another. That's what I want to build. Not a following, but a network.

And just like different mushroom species fill different niches in an ecosystem, different tarot readers bring different things to the table, and that's a beautiful thing. My practice tends to be more secular. I don't work with spirit or deity readings, and I'm upfront about that. But being part of a community means knowing other readers who do specialize in those areas and being able to refer clients their way, just as they might send clients to me when someone is looking for a more agnostic or atheist approach to their reading. I'm an oyster mushroom out here looking for my chanterelles and lion's mane. (Mushroom nerds, please be gentle with me.) This isn't a new concept for me. Before tarot, I was a massage therapist working within a network of other medical professionals. When a client needed something outside my scope, I referred them. When my colleagues had patients who could benefit from massage, they sent them my way. Collaboration over competition. It works in healthcare, and it works here too.

The Darker Side of the Forest

Any honest conversation about community has to include the parts that are harder to look at. In the spiritual space, that means scammers who prey on people in vulnerable moments, and the growing wave of AI-generated "readings" that hollow out the very thing that makes this work meaningful. Being part of a community means refusing to look away from those realities. Just as a forager has to learn to identify toxic look-alikes alongside their favorite edible mushrooms, those of us in the tarot community need to be aware of common scams. It’s our duty to educate the people who come to us for guidance so they’re not taken advantage of. Pretending these things don't exist doesn't make them disappear, and I believe that acknowledging them does far more good. Did you know that some edible mushrooms can become poisonous after a certain amount of time? It’s the same with certain spiritualists who start out with good intentions, but can become too lost in the sauce of fame and fortune. It’s how we get a lot of cult leaders (who may have never had good intentions to begin with, but we may never know). Like any good forager/tarot reader, we must also learn how to tell the signs of fungi/people that would do us harm. 

Stay Rooted

I believe many people come into spirituality thinking that it’s a way to run away from their problems or to inflate their ego (cough, cough, The Hermit reversed). But true spiritual practice isn’t floating beyond these matters, but rather, being more present, more connected, more aware of what's happening around you and to the people in your community. Stay plugged into your local mycelium. Volunteer. Donate to mutual aid. Help your neighbors. Feed the stray cats, if that's your thing (it's mine). Every small act of connection counts.

From a purely practical standpoint, you only need a handful of consistent clients to sustain a business. You don't need to reach thousands of people, you need to reach your people: the ones who resonate with your style, respect your boundaries, and value what you offer. So don't grow like a virus, fast and indiscriminate and burning out just as quickly. Grow like a mushroom… slowly, intentionally, as part of something larger than yourself. Your niche exists. Your community is out there. And there is more than enough room for you in this forest.

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