What You Ask v. What Else You Want/Need to Know?

Jade4813

I have a question for more experienced readers out there. I have something that's been weighing on my mind lately, but I don't want to keep focusing on the same thing. So I've been trying to do other readings to sort of focus on other things. But sometimes, the readings I do come up and they just seem a bit confusing, like they're picking up on the question I really want to ask but am trying not to.

I ask because I tried to do a reading for a friend about work, but the cards that came up said something to me about family. I then found out she was actively (almost obsessively) trying to get pregnant - checking her ovulation every single day, even. Now, she told ME she was going to ask about work, but she didn't say her question aloud as she shuffled the cards, so I don't know that she wasn't concentrating on that question as she shuffled, though she was trying to hide her genuine question from me.

So my question is...do you find that this happens to you? Am I just "reading into" things so to speak? I'm still pretty new to doing readings, so it's possible the cards are approaching the question I'm overtly asking and not bringing in anything else.

Let me give you a sort of basic example, since I don't want to go into actual specific details that are personal, but it might clarify what I'm having issues with. I might ask something like, "What's going to be the outcome of this conflict between X and Y?" But what I REALLY want to know deep down is how the outcome of this conflict is going to impact ME, because these two people are close to me and I know I'm gonna get dragged into the middle. So I'm trying to ask a question like I've got purely altruistic motives, but deep down, I have selfish motive for asking, and I have to wonder if the cards are answering my actual question - how this will impact me.

But I'm curious, because it might be something I need to keep in mind when phrasing my questions in the future. I know I should be more honest in asking questions when I recognize that I have ulterior motives. But I wonder if sometimes there are ulterior motives you have that may come out in the readings but you don't yet recognize that you have those motives?

I just don't know whether, when I get a reading that comes up with strange like that - that seems to address my ulterior motives even though I didn't ask about them - I'm finding it strange because the cards really ARE addressing those motives...or whether they're addressing the question as it was actually asked and I'm getting a little difficulty reading that particular card or whatnot because I'm new.

Hope that wasn't too confusing! Basically, I'm curious to know how much you think the cards read what you actually ask versus what else you might want or even need to know.

lilangel09

Jade4813 said:
So my question is...do you find that this happens to you? Am I just "reading into" things so to speak? I'm still pretty new to doing readings, so it's possible the cards are approaching the question I'm overtly asking and not bringing in anything else.

I often find that Tarot will answer the question that I feel is most pressing at the time. So while I'm shuffling, let's say my mind wanders towards the pain I feel because I was just in a break up, even though the question I intended to ask was about career. The cards will talk about the break up, because that's what I really wanted to know about. So, I would say what was one your mind while you're shuffling affects the cards. That's why, if I'm feeling confused, the cards tend to turn up confusing, too.

So when reading for someone else, I read for their question. However, I also take into account that the sitter may actually want me to read about something else (what they were thinking/feeling most strongly about while they were shuffling), and the cards will reflect that.

Barleywine

lilangel09 said:
I often find that Tarot will answer the question that I feel is most pressing at the time. So while I'm shuffling, let's say my mind wanders towards the pain I feel because I was just in a break up, even though the question I intended to ask was about career. The cards will talk about the break up, because that's what I really wanted to know about. So, I would say what was one your mind while you're shuffling affects the cards. That's why, if I'm feeling confused, the cards tend to turn up confusing, too.

So when reading for someone else, I read for their question. However, I also take into account that the sitter may actually want me to read about something else (what they were thinking/feeling most strongly about while they were shuffling), and the cards will reflect that.

Because the tarot operates at so many different levels of subtlety (from purely mundane to purely psychological), I find that it frequently cuts right through any "red herrings" that the conscious question places in its path and zeros in on the message that most needs to be delivered. The challenge lies in making sense of this detour so the querent can understand why it was crucial for that information to be imparted and no other. Those who recognize that the reading is just responding to their more deep-seated (and often unacknowledged) concerns at that time are usually quick to see the relevance. I always explain this possibility before I start a reading.

Cerulean

Sounds like you are quite intuitive without the cards

It sounds like you almost already knew 'what you know' inside in terms of some questions; not to sound flippant. The description of your reading and what you read seems to show wisdom coming out in the way of understanding your situation and your friends.

The tarot reading might have helped you a little in digging out some surface understanding. The reading could have just started an opening up the topic of how you feel and helped unearth the ideas. Sometimes I think the thinking process that tarot readings might start will help you reach the same conclusions you had suspected a little faster.

Sometimes I believe the same result would have happened if I had written down questions and answers focused on how I feel about a topic. Or if I had talked somehow to someone experienced in the same matters? What I like about tarot is it helps 'expedite' my imagination, because I tend to be a very visual sort when it comes to certain ways of thinking out situations.

So I will sometimes ask a certain question that might sound clear and unbiased, but when the card reading comes out, I may have a real bias or feeling or belief revealed by the pictorial impression and the reader's interpretation. Although a few times I might have had a reading where the reader wasn't really reading me or the cards--the reader was following a script.

Jade4813 said:
I have a question for more experienced readers out there. I have something that's been weighing on my mind lately, but I don't want to keep focusing on the same thing. So I've been trying to do other readings to sort of focus on other things. But sometimes, the readings I do come up and they just seem a bit confusing, like they're picking up on the question I really want to ask but am trying not to.

I ask because I tried to do a reading for a friend about work, but the cards that came up said something to me about family. I then found out she was actively (almost obsessively) trying to get pregnant - checking her ovulation every single day, even. Now, she told ME she was going to ask about work, but she didn't say her question aloud as she shuffled the cards, so I don't know that she wasn't concentrating on that question as she shuffled, though she was trying to hide her genuine question from me.

So my question is...do you find that this happens to you? Am I just "reading into" things so to speak? I'm still pretty new to doing readings, so it's possible the cards are approaching the question I'm overtly asking and not bringing in anything else.

Let me give you a sort of basic example, since I don't want to go into actual specific details that are personal, but it might clarify what I'm having issues with. I might ask something like, "What's going to be the outcome of this conflict between X and Y?" But what I REALLY want to know deep down is how the outcome of this conflict is going to impact ME, because these two people are close to me and I know I'm gonna get dragged into the middle. So I'm trying to ask a question like I've got purely altruistic motives, but deep down, I have selfish motive for asking, and I have to wonder if the cards are answering my actual question - how this will impact me.

But I'm curious, because it might be something I need to keep in mind when phrasing my questions in the future. I know I should be more honest in asking questions when I recognize that I have ulterior motives. But I wonder if sometimes there are ulterior motives you have that may come out in the readings but you don't yet recognize that you have those motives?

I just don't know whether, when I get a reading that comes up with strange like that - that seems to address my ulterior motives even though I didn't ask about them - I'm finding it strange because the cards really ARE addressing those motives...or whether they're addressing the question as it was actually asked and I'm getting a little difficulty reading that particular card or whatnot because I'm new.

Hope that wasn't too confusing! Basically, I'm curious to know how much you think the cards read what you actually ask versus what else you might want or even need to know.

MareSaturni

The cards respect the intention of the person who asks the question.

They will probably answer to what they really want to know, rather than what they think that they want to know. The strongest intention will guide them more than a weak one.

That's why when people don't really have a question, the reading is a bit boring. Because there was no real intention behind the question, no real desire to know, so the card work with a weak vibration.

And there are times in which the querent does NOT want to know the answer - at least not deep inside. And in such cases, I have seen the cards refuse to give any answer. They will not work against the querent's wish, specially if it's that strong.

So I think it's very plausible that your friend's reading about work ended up being about family - that was her main concern. That is the question that is plaguing her mind and moving her intention. That is the vibration that the cards are working with.

Barleywine

Marina said:
And there are times in which the querent does NOT want to know the answer - at least not deep inside. And in such cases, I have seen the cards refuse to give any answer. They will not work against the querent's wish, specially if it's that strong.

I've had a (very) few readings like that over the years. The reading nibbles around the edges of the real issue but, getting no corroboration from the querent (who is stonewalling even if they don't realize it) that would encourage deeper exploration, it rapidly gets disjointed and ultimately futile. The spread may still be trying to deliver a valid message but the querent isn't buying. So I fold my tents and . . .

What You Ask v. What Else You Want/Need to Know?

Jade4813

lilangel09

Barleywine

Cerulean

MareSaturni

Barleywine