Tarot: When the Answer is a Question

We usually think about using tarot cards to answers questions, right?

Sometimes, the most useful thing a card can do is ask a question.

This often confuses newer readers, who are surprised by the idea that the answer provided by the tarot reading isn’t an answer at all; it’s a question!

Of course, it is always possible to pull a few cards to answer the question posed by the cards. However, sometimes a great reading offers the client thought homework for their own contemplation.

“The thing you need to contemplate, or meditate on, is this” can be a helpful directive for focus. Empowering clients to look within for their answers may seem counterintuitive to building a good tarot business. The truth is, helping our clients to know their questions and seek their answers is exactly what great tarot readers do.

If you are not used to finding the questions within the cards, try going through your deck and looking at each card. Ask yourself what question that card might be asking.

Of course, in divination, very specific and unique interpretations can come up for any of the cards. Being open to the idea that a question can be a legitimate interpretation gives you another dimension with which to work.

Two cards that very often show up to ask questions in my professional readings are the Four of Cups and the Five of Wands.

The question the Four of Cups asks is this.

Is it better to take the least undesirable option now, or is it better to wait for a more desirable option?

Sometimes further fortune-telling divination can help answer this question. You might want to know the likelihood of new options appearing, for instance, or what would happen if an option were immediately chosen. You might even need to look at the individual options to discover which is the lesser evil.

The Five of Wands poses an inherent question for me. What are those people doing? Are they fighting, are they building, or are they playing?

When I am conduct a reading where the client can see the cards (so, like, not a phone reading) I will often ask the client to look at the (Waite Smith) Five of Wands. Without any other introduction, I will simply ask the client, “What are the people in this picture doing?”

So far, clients have always chosen either building, playing or fighting, even though I do not give those possible choices. Whichever a client sees is the energy they are currently dealing with, or the energy they are advised to bring to the situation the reading is discussing.

Should they be playful, collaborative, or prepared for a fight? That’s the question the Five of Wands asks. Often, the answer is provided organically by the way the card impacts the client in the moment.

In the process of divination, tarot cards give us valuable answers. They also ask us important questions. Sometimes those questions beg more divination. Other times, those questions provide the springboard for the exploration that leads to growth.

If you are a pro reader, or want to be, check out my book, Fortune Stellar!