The great thing about tarot is that you can really ask about anything you’d like, BUT there are some good practices and a few things to keep in mind if you want to get the most out of your experience.
This guide applies to you if you’re a querent/seeker (someone getting a reading from a tarot reader like me), but all of this information is also useful for readers to keep in mind.
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It’s about HOW you ask, not what you ask about.
The way questions are asked can have a significant impact on the answers received during a tarot reading. Some readers place more emphasis on how questions are asked than others. Thankfully, this is something you don’t need to worry about if you get a reading from me. You can ask whatever questions you like because, as a practitioner, it’s my job to make sure the questions are effective and the phrasing works. This is also helpful when you have an issue you want help with, but you aren’t sure what questions are best to ask or how to ask them. In this case you can describe your situation as best as you can and I will formulate the appropriate questions on your behalf.
Generally speaking, you can be as specific or as broad as you’re comfortable with in the details you provide to your tarot reader. Context helps us better understand the insights we read, but we don’t necessarily need the nitty-gritty. If you feel like a detail is relevant and important, feel free to share it! If you’d rather not, that’s okay, too!
Some questions are meant for specialists.
While it’s true that tarot can help with any aspect of life, it’s still important to be smart and realistic with legal, medical and financial questions. If you ask about these topics you will most certainly receive insight, and it will likely be helpful, but it’s best to consult a professional in these fields when appropriate because tarot insight is not a replacement for specialist expertise. In fact, there are even tarot cards that have the message: ‘Seek help from an expert professional’! I do my best as a professional tarot reader, but I’m not a doctor, lawyer or financial advisor.
Sometimes YES/NO questions don’t get a YES/NO answer.
While it’s perfectly understandable and normal to desire a simple and definite answer to questions like, ‘will xyz happen/work out’, in reality and in tarot as mentioned above, nothing is truly guaranteed like that. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask yes/no questions. You absolutely should! But, it is important to temper your expectations. Some situations may receive a yes or a no answer, but most often there are conditions and requirements for that yes or no outcome to actually turn out that way.
Having no questions is a good thing!
You don’t actually need to ask about anything to have a tarot reading. Open-ended tarot readings are often some of the most interesting and insightful readings you can experience.
During open-ended readings, there are no limitations or boundaries set on the kinds of insights you might get. You essentially let whatever messages show up in the cards lead the reading. If you want to, you can choose a broad area of your life like love, career, or spiritual growth, or you can let the reading be completely open. These are some of my favourite kinds of tarot readings to do, especially for myself, and especially if I’m working with Spirit guides.
It can be particularly profound when you allow the cards, the Universe, and maybe even your own Spirit guides, to take the wheel during an open-ended reading, because it allows them to tell you the things they want you to know the most, rather than be restricted to only talking about the things you want to discuss. It’s surprising how often a querent/seeker ends up hearing exactly what they need to, without realising they needed to hear it!
>Shop Open Ended Tarot Readings
The future is not set in stone.
If you’re not familiar with tarot reading, you may have a perception shaped by what’s commonly seen in media and pop-culture; the image of the gypsy-like ‘psychic’ fortune teller that’s surrounded by crystals, might seem a little kooky, and predicts your future. The truth is that divination is only one of many aspects of working with tarot, and it very rarely reflects those stereotypes and misconceptions. I’m not a fortune teller, and I don’t predict the future, but tarot does allow me to extrapolate potential future outcomes surprisingly well. The future is not set in stone, however.
While there may be certain events and experience that are meant for you, and there are certainly many, many things that are inevitable and properly outside of your control, our lives and paths are largely determined by our free will, our choices and dispositions. The topic of free will versus fate is an in depth discussion for another time.
The main take away of this point can be summed up like this: a tarot reading may indicate that a particular kind of success, or a particular kind of failure, is a highly likely potential outcome of a path you’re on, but whether or not you actually get to that success or failure depends on your decisions and actions. If you want to achieve or avoid those potential outcomes, tarot can help you figure the best way to go about it, but it can’t guarantee that they will happen- that part is up to you. The key word in all of this is: potential!
The number of topics may be limited per tarot session.
It’s understandable to want to tackle as many issues as possible in a tarot reading when you have a lot to figure out, but just as with most cases in life, it’s a better practice to take on one thing at a time. Tarot sessions can get quite in depth, even intense, and sometimes the information to take in can feel overwhelming. They’re also often time limited. This is one reason why I restrict my readings to two questions, or two areas of focus, at most. The other reason is that the more issues I have to focus on, the less time and attention I can give to each of them.
In an ideal situation a tarot session focuses on one specific question or one general aspect of life, and allows for a more thorough reading into that topic and a potentially deeper understanding of how to move forward. Your reader should let you know if they have time and question limits, but you can always ask them if it isn’t clear.
>What To Expect When Getting A Tarot Reading
If you’re not sure about something, it’s okay to ask for clarity!
During tarot reading sessions, professional readers do their best to convey and explain things in ways that are easy to understand. I often using examples from my experiences and from daily life. Nevertheless, there may still be a moment when something isn’t quite clear to you, and if this is the case you are more than welcome to let your reader know about it! We will be happy to help! During an in-person, video-call or over-the-phone session this usually happens automatically, anyway, as an organic part of the conversation.
With pre-recorded readings your reader might be happy to let you send them requests for additional clarity after you’ve received and listened to the recording. My clients are able to let me know what they aren’t sure about by responding to the email in which I’ve sent their recording. It’s important to note that asking for clarity is about making sure you understand the reading, it’s not the same as asking new questions, or asking about new topics.
>What Kind Of Tarot Reading Should You Get?
The purpose of tarot is to empower you!
A tarot reading will provide insights, suggestions and encouragement to help you with any situation you’re dealing with, but tarot cards and Spirit guides cannot make decisions for you. Ultimately, the final say in your life belongs solely to you, and it’s up to you to accept and apply the insights you receive, or reject them, as you see fit.
My goal as a professional practitioner is for a reading to help you see and understand the paths available to you more clearly, and for you to feel more confident about making the choices that are right for you, not for a reading to make those choices for you. While it’s true that readings can sometimes feel intense, you should come out of a reading feeling more knowledgeable about your situation, and more capable of navigating your life.
Featured image & cover photo credit: expandingsapience.com
