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Certification is a hot topic in the Tarot world - either you are for it, or you are against it - there seems to be no middle ground. As Vice President of the American Board For Tarot Certification (ABTC), I stand firmly on the side of certification. What I am about to talk about here reflects my personal views as a Tarot professional, not the views of the ABTC.
I would like to begin by defining the two basic types of certification currently available. The first type of certification would be certification within a given system, such as that offered by James Wanless (www.voyagertarot.com) for his "Voyager Tarot" deck, or that given by the Tarot School (www.tarotschool.com) for courses taken from the school. This type of certification indicates that the individual has the ability to work within a specific system, or within specific areas of expertise.
The second type of certification is that given by an independent certification group. They are independent in that they are not connected with any specific school or system. They are not in the business of teaching Tarot, they are in the business of certifying that individuals have the ability to read with the Tarot, to work with it in specific ways. The two current certification boards work within the scope of defined levels of certification. Basically, we are looking at: (a) a novice level, where the individual is required to develop definitions for each of the 78 cards of the Tarot in both upright and reversed positions, and to be able to read spreads of approximately one to seven cards, and to have developed their own personal Code of Ethics; (b) a professional level, where the individual has performed a given amount of readings, and is in some way continuing to expand their Tarot knowledge (i.e. through attending classes or seminars, or thorough developing their own classes, amongst other things); (c) a master level, where the individual is able to show their proficiency through such avenues as published reviews of Tarot-related material, develop their own book or deck, or develop their own class structure; (d) the educator level, where the individual shows proficiency in educating students to a level acceptable for certification, has published articles on Tarot, or has helped plan a Tarot seminar, or in some other way shown that they are active in the area of education in the Tarot community; (e) a Tarot Sage or Grand Master level, which indicates that the individual has a continued record of service to the Tarot community.
Before an individual considers whether they want to become certified, and to what level, my personal feeling is that they need to develop two things for themselves in regard to their Tarot work: A Vision Statement and a Mission Statement. What this does is allow the individual to see their path more clearly, so that they can make the best use of tools and resources available to them.
Take the time to look at where Tarot is in your life, and what part you want it to play. Do you simply want to be able to read for yourself, family, and friends? Do you want to read Tarot professionally? Are you planning on adding the tool of Tarot to an existing career, such as writer, counselor, or personal coach? Do you want to use it to facilitate group activities, such as personal empowerment groups, or business groups? Do you plan on teaching Tarot, as well as reading with it? Write down everything that you think you might want to do with the Tarot, and then rank the statements in terms of how you want to develop your work.
Essentially, these become your goals within the field of Tarot. Try and set a time frame that you wish to accomplish each goal within. List the steps that will take you to each goal, and the resources that are available to help you along the way.
Your Mission Statement describes the purpose of your work. How do you plan to use the Tarot? As a divination tool? As a healing tool? As a counseling tool? As a source of income? A sample Mission Statement might read: "I use my abilities as a healer to help people access their inner wisdom through the use of the Tarot, enabling them to lead healthy, authentic lives."
Now you are ready to write your Vision Statement. This statement encompasses all that you wish your Tarot work to be. In as concise a manner as possible, write down what you wish to accomplish through the Tarot, and the (realistic) ways that you are going to do this. A sample Vision Statement might be: "My Tarot work encompasses empowerment readings; the development of a teaching module that will cover basic and advanced reading skills, the use of reversals and elemental dignities, the path of the Major Arcana, the path of each of the four suits, the purpose of the Court cards, and numerological, astrological and Qabalistic associations; and published articles relating to the Tarot."
Now that you have defined what place the Tarot serves in your life, you can better decide whether certification plays a part in your path. What are some of the advantages of certification? On a very basic level, certification lets an individual know that they have attained a given level of understanding of the Tarot. It provides them with a certificate that lets the public know that they have been judged credible by their peers. It provides an individual with a network of like minded people that they can refer to (many Tarot readers live in an area where there are no other readers, and they have no way of knowing whether what they are experiencing is normal or not). As states move towards requiring licensing for Tarot readers, certification organizations can attempt to assure that Tarot reading is not placed into a category that is either unacceptable, or totally unrelated to the work of Tarot.
What questions do you need to ask about the organization that you are looking into certifying with? Is the organization more than a web site? Check the ownership of the website (by checking the domain registration), then check the state that the domain was registered from, to make sure that the organization is registered (either as a for-profit, or as a not-for-profit entity). Contact the Better Business Bureau in the location where they are registered, to see if any complaints have been lodged against them. Check out the Board of Directors, and see what their background is. I think that I should mention here that just because you do not recognize the names of the board members, it does not mean that they are active in the Tarot community. Check the Mission Statement to see what drives the organization. Check the site to see what the certification requirements and fees are. Check the requirements for the people involved in doing the actual certification. (My personal feeling here is that a certifying agent should be two levels above the person they are certifying.) Check to see if there is a grievance procedure, and how it works. The answers to these questions will give you a fairly accurate picture of the organization itself.
A very basic question that I have seen on Tarot boards/forums concerns the authenticity of the certifiers - in other words, who in the heck told these people that they had the power to offer certification to others! From what I have seen, and from my personal experience, individuals from the Tarot world have stepped up and taken the responsibility because they felt that there was a viable need for certification. The people on these boards are individuals who actively work within the Tarot world. As far as I know, both boards are not-for-profit, so profit is not a motive. Each board works to set its own standards. This is an ongoing process, and evolves with input from the Tarot community itself.
There is also somewhat of a concern over whether the names of individuals being certified will become public knowledge. Some individuals use the initials of their certification levels as a professional tag (i.e. including it in their signature line, their bios, etc.), while others, who work in communities that are perhaps hostile to the Tarot, prefer their certification to remain anonymous. This will differ from organization to organization. The ABTC does not make these names public, and has no intention to do so in the future.
Another area of concern is the fee structure, and where the money is going. The proverbial paper trail! The easiest, and most comprehensive, way to look at this information is to look at the yearly financial report. If it is not posted on the site, and you feel that you would like to have this information before you certify, then you will need to contact the organization that you are thinking about certifying with and ask them to see their most recent report.
When I look at an organization that I am thinking of joining (or in this case certifying with), I look for the benefits. Organizations are in a position to use their numbers to get better rates on things like car rental, life insurance, health insurance and many other things. The key here is that membership numbers are required to do this. A small organization may not be in a position to offer such benefits, which in no way means that they are not fulfilling their mandate to act as an advocate for their members.
Certification is an individual decision. For some individuals, this will be an important part of their path. For others, it will not be part of their path at all. For myself, I found that working the steps involved with each level helped me grow as a reader, and as an individual. In no way did I feel that I was mandated to take someone else's version of the Tarot and make it my own. I was drawn to experiment, to push myself, and to move into new areas that I might not have otherwise. Could I have done this through taking classes, or certifying through a specific system? Yes, I could have, but I feel that certification worked as a better motivator for me.
I hope that each of you take the time to think through what place Tarot serves in your life, what your goals are, and where you want the Tarot to take you. We are only limited by the size of our dreams. :)
Bonnie Cehovet
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