I am often asked why a person who can read tarot well for others, would struggle with information when they are reading for themselves. I will always go to the question, layout and intention. These are the master three when it comes to getting accurate information. It is precisely this type of problem that led me to write ‘Tarot Companion’. With a large number of layouts, you can get varied and accurate information while asking about different areas of your life.
Let’s start with intention. If you have something that is playing on your mind, you might use the cards as a distraction by asking about other aspects. Love may be an issue, but you ask about finances. The cards are more likely to reflect the stronger energy and not the question which can be confusing. The way to avoid this is to address the issue at hand. If you feel you are asking about one thing a lot, you can use different layouts and questions to get to the bottom of things. Another important area related to intention is to maintain the question in the interpretation. If you don’t understand cards well you may think that asking about career and getting emotional cards makes the answer more about love or passion. It doesn’t. Hold tight to the intention you had when laying out the cards. This is explained in the Card Interpretation are of ‘Learn Tarot’. Intention is important when it comes to what you want to gain when you layout a spread. If you want repeated predictions, it doesn’t help because once you have a prediction, that information doesn’t necessarily change. You can change what you are doing, saying or how you are behaving. What is your intention really? Are you seeking a new action, a way to help yourself out of a jam? If you get a prediction that isn’t inspiring or is open ended, then think of the next spread that can offer you a way to heal, inspire or change the future to your benefit. That may not get you what you want today, but it will give you a way to explore new avenues and create something different. There are layouts for healing, planning and partnerships which can be immensely helpful to ensure you keep going forward.
Next we look at Layouts. Three card spreads are a great way to do mini readings often without over indulging in a single area while covering all the bases. This resolves the intention question by ensuring if it is there, you address it. You can conceivably read five separate layouts with three card spreads, and get more accuracy than you could imagine. Bigger readings like a Celtic Cross can be too complex for single area readings, and in particular are not helpful if you are doing regular layouts. It is too easy to end up interpreting the cards based on how you feel, and not the information being offered up. Using layouts with specific directives makes a huge difference, we can’t always do a past, present and future spread and expect helpful information. Even if you ask about the same situation, by using different and appropriate layouts can reveal information that can help you.
The question is the ultimate guide to the answers you are seeking. A common mistake is to ask the wrong question. As an example if you are asking about a particular man/woman and the prediction is negative for a future. Add to that, if you have a non future scenario for anything, you can’t get accurate information by progressive questioning or changing how you ask the question. Suck it up buttercup and move on. Continuing to ask about that person is pointless. You can use progressive questioning to see which direction things will go. Say you get a negative for a particular person, you can then open up the questioning by asking about love in general, then you can also ask questions about process. Is there something you can do or change to increase your chances of finding love in a timely manner. Insert career, finances, family or lifestyle into the main interest on the day. If you have a problem at work, asking about career in general won’t elicit the information you need. Ask specifically about that problem and use the questions guide to find the best layout. If you are causing the problem, the cards will show you that too, in which case you can look for a solution.
Tarot reading can be an intense and precise form of advice, it requires no other person if you can do it for yourself, and can help you through stressful times if used well. Learning or having a reference for the symbols in the cards, using timing without changing the meaning of cards and more are worth having around when reading for yourself so that if your eye is drawn to a part of a card you can know what that means. If you have a question that includes timing, make sure you are clear about using the word when rather than how long. There are good clear questions and then there are bad murky questions, the latter won’t yield good answers. When you develop your knowledge and have resource or reference to guide you, it is easier to think outside the box and by doing something a little different it breaks Tarot habits that can be limiting.
