Why you can’t get a yes/no answer from Tarot - with better questions to ask….

A couple of weeks ago I had client who admitted she’d gone through just about every card in her deck trying to work out if she was being told a simple yes or no to her question. She was a little embarrassed by her confession, in fact, she hadn’t been able to pick up her cards since that evening, but there was also a feeling of disappointment too, she couldn’t get the answer and what was the point if it wasn’t forthcoming?

Unpopular opinion incoming, I don’t think you can get a Yes/No answer from Tarot, I’ll explain why in a moment but first I think you’re doing yourself and the Tarot a massive disservice if you’re trying to get one.

Like coaching, Tarot does not instruct, Tarot is not a fortune telling or future revealing tool, your life is your life, your decisions are all yours to make, your life and everything in it is for the choosing and creating. The energy within each and every card is unique, it’s fluid and where it arrives in a reading can have a much greater impact than a binary answer. When you have reduced a big decision or question down to a straight Yes/No it already feels like you have ran out of road with something, life is frantic for most of us, there’s never enough time, space or clear sight. You might be suffering from decision fatigue see my blog on the Two of Swords for more on that or you may be in a situation where there are no good choices and you need to make a clean break.

The problem is no card truly works alone, especially when it comes to decision making, when you have chosen your cards and they are there in front of you, I imagine the energy from each card moving to its neighbour, tiny strands of energy, to become the story of this moment. And as the cards start to interact with each other, connections form with the other cards you have chosen, colours or symbols pair up and numbers sequence, multiply or divide. There is nuance and layers created in that moment that can’t be instantly reduced to a Yes/No. Even a single card will speak to you with greater depth if you allow it to connect with you and your question. Tiny details within a card’s image that seem so irrelevant suddenly make something in your brain click and the choices can open up Infront of you.  Remember the position of the cards in a simple line can give context or bring up things you might have forgotten or hadn’t seen within situations. I’ve seen two cards lined up together be enough to help clients see the choice they want to make, the following cards then bring in the how and why, the context and the plan.

Tarot can always take you deeper into an issue or block, the Majors are of course heavily associated with the soul’s journey and many people lean into the Majors to do the heavy lifting but if the 3 septenaries are the big points on the map then the Minors are there to show you how to get there. They can show what to try and quite often what not to try and when you use them alongside coaching can light up the areas where your mindset, motivation and planning might need to be worked on and of course coaching can support you to do that.

If you feel like you need a Yes/No response from your cards but you’re not getting it and feel as disenchanted with the process as my client did then here are a few suggestions of questions to ask your cards that may help to nudge you to a clearer decision,

·       What am I really searching for in this moment, is it clarity, certainty or do I need to be more honest with myself?

·       Why does this decision feel so difficult?

·       Who might have an influence on this decision am I worried or nervous about that person’s response?

·       Am I missing anything in this decision, either consciously or unconsciously?

·       Do I need to make this choice right now, sometimes we feel so much pressure to be seen to be taking action and being decisive? how high are the stakes or could you wait and see where the energies take it?

·       Are there any patterns in the cards I’ve chosen, are there any colours, numbers, figures, shapes or other elements that have a connection to my question, what are these trying to tell me? Could you free write or mediate over them for a while to get a deeper understanding?

·       Am I procrastinating? What would support me in taking action, do I need to take other steps to allow me to come to a decision? What emotional, financial, or spiritual changes do I need to think about before I can say Yes or No?

 You can pick one or a couple of these different questions to help you explore your need for a Yes/No answer in greater depth, the Tarot, once a relationship with your cards is established, is generous and will always support you even if it’s in ways you might not have imagined.  As for my Yes/No client, we worked through her question in greater depth at that session, she picked 5 cards which lined up with her need for change in the first instance and a story appeared that helped her to work through both potential outcomes from her Yes/No question until one insight became so obvious she understood why she needed a definitive answer so badly. She left the reading with better options than she had before and as far as I know she’s friends again with her own cards!

I believe Tarot is the ultimate tool for personal development and self-guidance but sometimes you have to realise that context, depth and connection will always come to the fore with tarot rather then convenience and instant 21st century response. Taking the time to connect to its wisdom and what it can tell you will always be time worth spent.

If you’d like to know more about tarot coaching or help with making the big decisions, don’t be stuck, dop me a line and start your tarot journey today.