Prospectus
Tarot Apprenticeship Program Overview
The Tarot Apprenticeship program is a comprehensive training in the art of tarot divination (communication with the Divine) taught by Toby Skibinski.
Over three distinct Stages, this online tarot mentorship program combines applied theory and hands-on experience to help the student reach genuine proficiency within 4 years.
Taught through Western Esoteric ideas such as Emanationism and perennial philosophy (‘ancient wisdom’), the course will appeal most to mystics, magicians and occultists on the Right Hand Path (such as Rosicrucians, Hermeticists and Theosophists).
Toby’s Tarot Apprenticeship Is For You If:
You are serious about mastering the art of tarot divination (as communication with the Divine). This includes predictive readings within a broader spiritual context, including the assumption that, whilst free will exists, outcomes are sometimes restricted by outside circumstances.
You are a Right Hand Path mystic, magician or occultist within the Western Esoteric Tradition (such as a Theosophist, Rosicrucian or Hermeticist). This is the niche that the course is primarily directed towards. Whilst you don’t strictly have to identify as a practitioner within this broad tradition, you do need to have non-conflicting beliefs and values to avoid confusion, overwhelm or conflict when taking the program.
You want to read tarot for yourself and others, including some pro bono work (free and low cost readings). You do not need to aspire to professional reading.
You can commit to a program which is comparable to part-time university study (several thousand pounds per year, 10-12 hours per week of work, mandatory assignments).
You are self-motivated, organized, resilient, open to constructive feedback, and have a can-do attitude.
But it is not for you if:
You are seeking a short-term mentorship program with optional homework and complete freedom. Toby’s Tarot Apprenticeship program is antonymical to these needs; it provides long-term mentorship, compulsory homework (with detailed feedback) and freedom within guidelines.
You are a professional tarot reader seeking certification or advanced training. This program is for beginner and intermediate readers.
You are concerned that a course taught based on Right Hand Path ideas within the Western Esoteric Tradition (Emanationist and non-sectarian perennialism) is likely to clash with your own spiritual practice.
You are not in happy agreement with the ethos of the Pro Bono Tarot Guild (which all of Toby’s Tarot Apprenticeship students join automatically as an important part of the program ethos).
How Toby’s Tarot Apprenticeship Program Works
The program is delivered online via one-to-one video calls (using Microsoft Teams or Zoom) combined with independent study, practical application, and structured assignments. It requires dedication, self-motivation, and active participation equivalent to part-time university study.
1-to-1 Time: sessions are scheduled based on your progress through the curriculum credits, averaging more frequent contact in Stages I and III where conceptual load or project work is heavier.
Emails: As a student, you will have access to my personal email to ask any questions throughout the course.
Credits: The course is completed through credits, with 1 credit being roughly 10-12 hours of work (like at university).
Assignments: Each credit involves specific tasks designed to build knowledge and skills, ranging from theoretical analysis and research to practical reading exercises and project development work in later stages. Timely completion and submission are expected.
Your Mastership Journey
Stage I: Apprentice - Foundational Mastery & Self-reading Proficiency (Credits: 40 / avg. 12 months): Building foundational mastery – learning the Rider Waite Smith tarot cards (Majors, then Minors, then Courts), ethics deep dive, energy management & psychic protection, intuitive development, reading for yourself and so on.
Stage II: Journeyman - Applied Professional Competence (40 Credits / avg. 12 months): Developing fluency through intensive mentored practice. Includes dedicated training on sourcing/handling pro bono readings, followed by conducting the required free practice hours (approx. 400 hours) for the public, and integrating feedback.
Stage III: Master - Consolidation & Specialization (60 Credits / avg. 18 months): Synthesizing all learning, demonstrating advanced proficiency, refining personal style, and completing a masterpiece/capstone project such as a tarot book or deck.
The 3 Stages In Detail
Stage I: Apprentice
Stage I focuses on building the deep philosophical knowledge, self-reading proficiency and ethical grounding for foundational mastery. The core learning includes:
Philosophical Assumptions: a) Understanding tarot divination as communication with the Divine b) with a twofold focus on 1. How tarot divination works 2. Pro bono tarot reading c) using Emanationist and (non-sectarian) perennialist ideas.
1-to-1 Sessions: The program includes up to 1 session per week of mentorship/tuition as needed, lasting one hour.
Foundational Mastery Course: Everything you need to know to read tarot for yourself in a masterful manner.
Assimilation, not memorization: A carefully designed, gradual process (which I used when starting out) that will teach you the card meanings in 9-12 months. It goes from reading the Major Arcana only with small spreads to eventually reading the entire deck with complex spreads (such as A.E Waite’s original celtic cross).
Developed Self-reading Practice: having integrated the card meanings, you will spend the rest of Stage I developing your self-reading skills.
The Stage I Video Course: Foundational Mastery
Stage I includes a comprehensive, 12 module video course covering everything you need to know about self-reading and reading for others. This course could easily stand on it’s own.
All 78 Rider Waite Smith tarot card meanings in context (applied to life areas, spread positions and paired combinations).
The fascinating scholarly history of tarot cards and their usages.
Clear explanations of the symbolism (often esoteric and in plain sight) on the Rider Waite Smith tarot deck, including the important influence of the female artist, Pamela Coleman Smith.
Effective and engaging methods for assimilating card meanings, symbolism and correspondences (astrology, numerology, Kabbalah etc.) No rote memorization necessary.
How to apply these correspondences for both spiritual and practical divinatory purposes.
Divination (communication with the Divine) vs fortune-telling (predictive readings) compared and contrasted for wiser readings.
The true dangers of divinatory tarot reading (yes, they do exist) that many diviners deny and how to mitigate them.
How to give free readings with joy (for pro bono work or as part of your selfless spiritual service to others).
A deep, metaphysical explanation of how tarot divination actually works (that you can actually understand) so you can give more accurate, ethical and compassionate readings.
How to safely and sensibly develop your psychic abilities and awaken your intuition.
How to manage your energy and ensure your “psychic protection” when divinatory tarot reading so you don’t burn out or become overwhelmed by unpleasant visions and emotions.
How to give predictive tarot readings (e.g. specific events and timings) to help people avoid unnecessary life dangers and inform them of their overall fate - as far as spiritually permitted (yes, fate exists in spite of free will).
A detailed look at different tarot layouts and techniques; spreads, lines, tableaus and reading methods so you can answer any appropriate tarot question asked of you.
How to design your own tarot layouts and techniques so you can develop your own flair for the art and stop being dependent on the techniques of others.
How to read your own cards as part of your spiritual journey to Self Knowledge. (Plus, if you can read for yourself then you don’t have to spend money on other tarot readers.)
Essential and avant-garde issues of ethics, legality and professionalism so you can a) pave the road to Heaven (rather than hell) with your good intentions b) differentiate yourself from your competition in the saturated marketplace
My hand-picked list of tarot books and other resources to help you master your craft.
Stage I Outcomes:
By the end of Stage I you will:
Know a clear, metaphysical explanation of how tarot works - in detail.
Be able to apply this theory for more accurate, insightful and ethical readings.
Be able to read for yourself in a reliable manner, with significantly mitigated bias.
Be proficient at reading any tarot layout - spread, line, tableau or reading method (algorithmic reading) - for yourself.
Understand in theory how to apply all of this knowledge and practice to reading for others.
In summary, you will be a confident, knowledgeable and practiced tarot reader. This is a transformation that many tarot students who self-study do not achieve in 2-5 years due to a lack of mentorship or structured curriculum.
Stage II: Journeyman
Stage II focuses on developing reading fluency, earned confidence, client communication and ethical public practice through extensive hands-on experience of giving free readings to real querents. To achieve these outcomses, you will:
Give around 300 hours of free readings to the public.
Mentorship & Feedback Integration: Receive regular feedback on your readings from three sources; your querents, your mentor (Toby) and yourself (via self-reflection).
Stage II Outcomes
By the end of this simple but very transformative practical Stage, you will:
Be an ethically robust, professionally competent tarot diviner.
Stage III: Master
This final Stage will be focused on synthesizing knowledge, demonstrating advanced proficiency, refining personal style, and completing a masterpiece project.
Pro Bono Work: You will perform hundreds more hours of public readings, this time as a professionally competent reader.
Masterpiece: I will supervise your completion of a feasible tarot masterpiece such as a tarot book or deck. If you create a deck, it will likely be Majors only or with non-scenic pips to maximize the chance of completion.
Note: In accordance with the non-sectarian nature of this program, any relation between tarot & hermetic qabalah is taught generally i.e. without advocating for one specific esoteric system of set of correspondence lists.
Program Benefits: Efficient, Effective & Ethical
Become a Master Tarot Diviner within 4 years. A lot of tarot students practise for several years without even mastering the fundamentals of tarot divination (court cards, contradictory cards etc.), nevermind the art as a whole. With the Tarot Apprenticeship program, you will become a professional reader in around two years and a proficient reader within less than half a decade.
Effective and engaging memorization methods. Many tarot teachers these days promise tarot students that no memorization is needed to start reading tarot cards. But a moment’s sober thought will dispell this silly trend which was started only to get clicks and likes on social media. That said, the old methods of memorizing keywords - through rote learning like you may have memorized your times tables with - are outdated and cumbersome in comparison to those methods based on modern memory science. In Toby Skibinski’s Tarot Apprenticeship program, you will be taught these modern memorization methods so that you can genuinely master the tarot card meanings in an engaging manner.
Learn how tarot divination actually works. It has been asked “if you study a subject for 25 years and still do not know how it works, are you truly an expert?” Yet quite a lot of tarot teachers and readers claim to have mastered their craft despite not knowing how tarot divination works. In Toby Skibinski’s Tarot Apprenticeship program, you will be given a clear, metaphysical answer to this question which you will then be able to apply to your craft for more ethical, compassionate and insightful readings.
Avoid causing unintended harm with a serious, in depth look at ethical tarot divination (and professional tarot reading practise). We all want to help others with our readings but how do we know that we are not really doing more harm than good? We will explore this fascinating and important question so that you can practise ethically and actually help to change people’s lives for the better. Moreover, unlike with many tarot courses that gloss over these topics, we will give them the time and attention that they deserve.
Dedicated study on pro bono tarot reading; learn how to serve all sincere seekers regardless of financial circumstances. A surprising number of divinatory tarot readers would like to give free or low cost readings - if they only knew how to do this without becoming bitter or burnt out. Thankfully, it is in fact possible to give back without giving up. To show tarot readers how to do this, I have founded the Pro Bono Tarot Guild; an association of tarot diviners, both amateur professional, who give free readings with joy. As my student, you will join the Guild automatically.
The Feeling Of mastery…
Imagine reading tarot with the sort of earned confidence that can only comes from putting in thousands of hours of hard work.
Imagine having your work recognized and trusted by a dedicated niche of tarot querents who value your ethics and integrity - loyal customers if you so wish.
Imagine living with peace, purpose and conscience as you cultivate your own flair for the art and connect with the Divine on your own terms - no external gurus necessary.
Imagine developing yourself personally, spiritually and professionally through this rigorous, intensive and long-term tarot training that demands high ethical standards, consistent commitment and a proactive, problem-solving attitude towards inevitable challenges.
Imagine giving readings that don't just predict future outcomes, but empower querents with the insights that they need to change their own lives. Not just by helping them out of difficult circumstances (that is not always possible) but by helping them to endure necessary suffering with more grace and resilience.
About Toby Skibinski
Extensive tarot divination experience (2,000+ professional tarot readings on the public).
Mentorship received from experienced professional readers (including Avery Woodbury of Seldom Dreams)
Former member of TABI (Tarot Association of British and International Members).
Hundreds of hours of tarot teaching experience via 1-to-1 lessons and online tarot forums.
50,000+ words of tarot divination articles written (public and unpublished).
Ongoing spiritual practise within the Western Esoteric Tradition since 2019.
Founder of the Pro Bono Tarot Guild (2023).
3,000+ hours spent on the Tarot Apprenticeship program so far.
Regular self-reading practice since 2019.
You can read about my in depth on the about page (if you haven’t already done so).
Testimonials
Student testimonials will be added as people make it through the program. In the meantime, here is a testimonial from a practising professional reader who received 1-to-1 mentorship for a few months (on topics like tarot reader ethics, handling clients and applying Emanationism to receive intuitive insights):
““He helped me get the breakthroughs that I needed as a professional tarot reader. He helped me in becoming the best reader that I could be that would help me in self-actualizing the clients in general and in their love life as well. Because of his mentorship, I am confident in reading for a Psychic Chatline that I am now working at. Book with him; you will be really well taught with the world class mentorship he will be giving to you.””
Pricing/Payment
You only need to commit to Stage I, with the payment options of:
Monthly: deposit £500 then pay £250 per month for 12 months.
Pay In Full: £3,000
This price includes one (1) session of private mentorship/tuition per week. If you do not complete Stage I within this timeframe but wish to do so, you will need to continue making monthly payments to cover the extra 1-to-1 time.
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There is one scholarship place available for an applicant who is a very strong fit but has genuine financial need. This is offered on a first come, first served basis.
The successful scholarship applicant will pay what they can afford with a minimum monthly contribution of £150 per month (plus a deposit worth 4 months of payment).
To apply for the scholarship place, please append a statement of financial need to your application letter.
If you apply and a scholarship place is not available, do not worry - I will offer to put you on a waiting list so that you can be contacted when a new scholarship place becomes available.
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Should you decide this Apprenticeship is not your path, a refund for Stage I tuition (minus the deposit) is available under the following precise conditions:
Eligibility Window: You may request a refund between 3 and 6 months from your initial enrollment date for Stage I (the day you sign the indenture).
Demonstrated Engagement: To qualify, you must have:
a) Completed at least 90% of assigned Stage I work.
b) Attended at least 90% of scheduled 1-to-1 mentorship sessions during the first three months of the program. This ensures you've genuinely engaged with the course.
Refund Amount: Regardless of your payment plan, you will receive all money paid, minus a non-refundable deposit amount.
Purpose: This policy significantly reduces the risk for dedicated students making a serious investment in intensive, long-term tarot training. It is my guarantee of commitment to those who genuinely put in the work.
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The price is the same because Stages I and II have the same amount of credits. Please realize though that you are paying for credits, not time. Stage II does not need nearly as many contact hours due to it’s simplicity.
Become An Apprentice
Program Materials
A desktop computer or laptop (you cannot complete the program from your phone).
Microsoft Teams for any virtual meetings.
A working headset, microphone and webcam.
A Google account.
Two Rider Waite Smith (RWS) tarot decks (one normal size and one miniature deck).
[Optional] approximately £500 to get the books on the recommended reading list.
Availability
Due to the intensive and personalized nature of the program, I can only teach up to 5 students at a time.
Application & Enrolment Process
After submitting your successful application letter, I will invite you to a Zoom call (to discuss your tarot divination goals & experience, and answer any program-related questions or concerns that you have). Then I will send you the enrolment form to be signed within 4 weeks, heralding the start of your apprenticeship journey.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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The course should be treated like taking a part-time degree, with 10-12 hours of work consistently required for true mastery to unfold.
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We will start with the Rider Waite Smith tarot deck since it is highly influential on modern tarot teaching. But from Stage II onwards you can choose your own deck to work with.
Please note that if you are a fan of Aleister Crowley (or his Thoth deck) then you will find that another teacher better meets your needs.
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Yes, with the following qualifications; I acknowledge free will and believe that fated events are relatively rare.
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The extensive free reading hours in Stage II (and qualified pro bono practice in Stage III) reflect the program's commitment to ethical service. Specifically, it signals the student’s agreement with the mission of the Pro Bono Tarot Guild (PBTG) - which all Tarot Apprenticeship students join automatically - that all sincere seekers should be served regardless of their financial circumstances. Offering readings without pay also encourages humility, reinforces ethics, provides practical reading experience and allows those interested in selfless spiritual service to practise this effectively.
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Apart from the general course structure listed, flexibility and personalization is built into the program via personalized tuition, 1-to-1 mentorship and the student’s choice of two pathways during Stage III.
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The course policies and rules are in the enrolment form, which will be sent if your initial application is successful. Once you receive it, you will have up to 4 weeks to ask any questions and sign it. If you are still concerned about this, please contact me to request a sample/draft contract.
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Yes - although you will get the most benefit by taking all of it.
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I will teach you Hermetic qabalah (in terms of it’s relation to tarot divination) generally, without focus on any specific occult order or tradition.
This means that if you are a Hermetic Qabalist yourself then you don’t need to worry about me using traditional Golden Dawn tarot correspondences even when you use a different set.
Ready To Become An Apprentice?
If you are ready to start your journey, the application and enrolment process for Stage I is as follows:
Write your application letter.
Attend an interview via Zoom/Teams so we can a) discuss your tarot divination goals and experience b) discuss any questions or concerns that you have about the program.
Sign the enrolment form within 4 weeks.