How specific can you get with tarot questions?

tarot readings tarot tips Mar 18, 2024

I am in the process of doing something I never thought I would attempt.

I am learning to drive.

I know that in many parts of the world, and especially in North American culture, driving is a necessity. And getting your license is seen as a rite of passage by some.

But I was never interested in driving. Maybe it’s because very few women in family learned to drive, either. Something seems to run in our blood to avoid it as much as possible.

My dad drove, though not always very well. My mother was a nervous passenger, which probably didn’t help.

And her nervousness quite likely rubbed off on me: I have always preferred to be a passenger, or a pedestrian.

I also spent most of my life in Toronto, a city where you can often get by without a car. There are streetcars, subways and buses to take you where you want to go. I don’t have many friends there who own cars of their own; a lot of them have let their licences expire out of lack of use.

My husband and I didn’t...

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Let your readings BREATHE

tarot readings tarot tips Mar 04, 2024

Whenever I pull cards for a tarot reading, I always take a moment to see what's there.

I call this "taking a breath," and I find it works best when all of the cards are face up so that they can be studied as one group. 

But that long, quiet pause? Boy does it ever make some clients nervous! 

Sometimes people worry and ask if I'm "seeing something bad." Or they think I'm about to deliver the worst-case scenario.

But I’m only concentrating. Thinking. Taking it all in and looking for patterns between the cards, or making decisions about what strikes me as the most interesting starting points. 

Tarot takes a certain level of focus. Even though many of us associate with intuition, that shouldn’t mean we assume or expect it’s always going to be easy and instant.  

It takes practice to tune into your intuition – to figure out how your instincts kick in, and to separate any distractions from the messages at hand.  

Tarot readings can...

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What does it mean if you can’t see the future in your tarot cards?

Last week I wrote about a few pros and cons regarding predictive readings.

Whenever I talk about predictions, I get a lot of questions. It’s ironic that the mainstream of perception of tarot is that it is purely predictive, when in reality the tarot community is so diverse and diversified in how it views tarot.

And predictive readings are one example of that: Some readers love predictions, some will at least entertain them, and others stay away from them altogether.

I say this off the top in case anyone reading this isn’t resonating with predictive readings, or isn’t sure they want to go down this path.

But the aim of this week’s missive is to answer a great question that came my way, which is, “What does it mean if you can’t see the future in your tarot cards?”

What does it mean if someone asks you, “What do you see coming up for me?” and you lay down your cards and…you’re just not sure what to make of them at all?

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The Pros + Cons of Predictive Readings

This is the time of year when general, look-ahead readings become really popular. 

Everyone wants to know what’s coming up in the New Year:  

“Do you see love in my future?”  

“Do you see my changing jobs?”  

“Do you see if I will receive any unexpected opportunities?”   

Overall, these are pretty common questions that people bring to tarot readers all year round – regardless of the calendar date. But there’s something about the turning of the calendar that really ramps up these questions. 

Everyone wants something to look forward to. A New Year inspires fresh hope and optimism that a turning point is around the corner.  

And predictive readings can help to build that hope and anticipation for what’s to come.  

But there’s also something very passive about these types of questions. Predictions can keep people waiting and wondering when and how...

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Answering relationship questions with tarot cards

When I first started reading tarot for other people, I was actually surprised at how many wanted to know about love.  

I thought I would be answering different types of questions about spiritual journeys and personal transformations.  

But I quickly realized how important relationships are to people, and how much is at stake when we are talking about love, commitment, loyalty and companionship.  

Some of the hardest questions I’ve had to answer as a tarot reader had to do with relationships.  

They can be really complicated. Especially if the people involved are cycling through a range of emotions: One day they’re on, another they’re off.  

Divining a clear answer about a relationship is not always easy to pin down when the people in question can’t be pinned down in the first place.  

Another challenge can arise when clients are impatient about the answer: They feel like they’ve already been...

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Tarot, choices and the importance of free will

How are you? October was a big month for me. After the stillness of the last few years, this autumn has felt like life has really come roaring back in so many ways.

I had the opportunity to read tarot at some great Halloween parties, and also at the closing party of Likely General, a shop where I read every Sunday for two years. I loved having that residency and loved part of the community that had grown around that store.

Likely General closed its doors at the end of October, and I’m glad I could be there one last time to offer a few tarot readings as we all said goodbye to the space.

One of the things I found myself reiterating throughout my readings in October was that we have choices in life.

Whenever I read at events, I know I am going to have some nervous sitters on my hands. People are often curious about tarot. When they see a tarot reader in the corner at a party, they might decide that today’s the day they’re going to finally give tarot a try.

But...

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When tarot reminds you to rest

I’ve been knee-deep in one-on-one readings this month and it’s been a wonderful state to be in.

Reading tarot isn’t always easy, though: It takes a lot of concentration and care. Readers see and hear a lot. We help to move energy in people’s lives. It takes a lot of time to sit with it all, but there is also great gratitude that comes with this path.

One of the things I have come to learn through my work is that tarot isn’t always pushing you towards a big change.

Often, clients come in for readings expecting to hear that something major is about to occur. Or that they have some kind of big opportunity on the horizon.

And there’s nothing wrong with wanting change, or working towards it, especially if you feel like you’re ready for a new experience in your life.

But sometimes we have to remember that things might be OK just as they are right now.

Our lives all go through different seasons. Sometimes there are seasons of change, and others of...

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When You’re Not Sure If You Can Help Someone

What is the hardest question you’ve had to answer as a tarot reader?

In the time that I’ve been reading for other people, I’ve had my fair share of difficult questions.

Difficult, of course, is subjective.

Some people find questions like, “Is my ex coming back?” challenging because they are yes or no questions with an emotional charge to them.

Others find predictive questions difficult because their tarot reading style is less focused on the future and more on the present.

Tarot readers are always defining the boundaries of their work, and determining the best ways they can use tarot.

When I was starting out as a professional reader, there was a common piece of advice out there to turn down readings that didn’t feel like a good fit for your work.

There have only been a few times that I’ve turned people down, however. Sometimes, clients will come for tarot readings needing a type of support that just isn’t possible through tarot. Or,...

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When you feel frustrated by “mundane” questions in your tarot readings

When you start reading tarot for other people, you quickly realize that a lot of questions people have revolve around the same few categories:

Work.

Relationships.

Money and security.

Focus and contentment.

And just as often, we can find ourselves asking variations of these same questions when we’re reading on our own.

It’s something that I’ve been asked about a lot over the last few years:

“How can I take my readings deeper? What else should I be asking about?”

And, “What can I do to get my querents thinking differently, too?”

I used to feel the same way.

But I’ve come to appreciate these “mundane” questions, and I encourage you to try to, too.

Because one thing I have come to realize is that these questions are what life is about: No matter what it is we are trying to achieve in our personal lives, many of us share common fears and desires at the end of the day.

Everyone wants to feel love, and be loved.

Everyone needs a...

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How do you listen to your intuition when reading tarot?

Tarot and intuition seem to go hand in hand: At least that’s what a lot of us are told when we start working with the cards.

But finding the synergy between an intuitive hit and following the cards as you’ve learned them can be a steep learning curve as a tarot reader.

Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering that very thing: “When should I go with the basic meaning, and when should I go with my first impression instead?”

Sometimes what sits behind this question is the fear of getting a reading wrong by going too off track with your interpretation.

I don’t think there’s a perfect answer or pat solution to this: Sometimes, you just have to be willing to go out on a limb with your interpretation to see if it resonates. Practice, experimentation, and patience go a long way to building your relationship with the cards.

Of course, what works for me may be different for someone else – intuition has its own ways of manifesting within each of us....

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