Does asking the same question twice ...

Hello Everyone,

I'm sure this question has been asked before but I wanted to know your opinion and experience in this regard.
I am new to reading the Tarot (about 5-6 months), as I had no one to practice with or ask me questions (before I joined this forum to which I love the "feedback" section for readings). I have been only doing readings for "myself". This has been a painful road, since I feel like I'm a "test" to my own experience. When I do my readings I focus on accepting whatever it is to tell me whether good or bad and learn from it. This has been very helpful so far as although many readings I can't understand AT ALL.. some of them have been VERY good in teaching me the meanings through experience (1- Doing daily readings and at night getting back to them at end day 2- going through a painful breakup and asking questions and seeing things develop, more on this last one.). So far, things have happened or guided me correctly (the ones I can understand) ...but I'm drained.... and I am afraid that if I continue like this I'm actually killing my hope and trust in my spiritual being and the Universe. In regards to learning I have decided to learn outside of myself (asking feedback to friends for readings I do, developing my intuition through meditation, etc) but I am ALWAYS tempted to do more readings in regard to this painful breakup. To which I understand I can be bias so I've seeked the help of a Tarot reader who has been very direct, kind and HONEST and pretty right on point ...the thing is that sometimes I wish the "death" card would come up between us but instead it tells me all the opposite and although I want this very much, I am just drained. Perhaps the death car will come now, lol... but what I want to know your opinion in this regard, if a spread comes up so strongly (with many positive Major Arcana, etc) and someone else is reading for me (not bias).. and I do a reading later (which I prob shouldn't but that's my issue)... how can I trust myself, or who? my spread, the other...

Whats your take on asking the same question within the same time period? and your experience in
Reading for yourself or letting others do it?



Thank you so much!


Thank you so much for reading!!! and sorry for the long text

Hi there

First of all I am sending you a cyber hug, a break up is painful and I think many of us can relate to doing repeat readings on issues that are difficult and painful for us.

I can only speak for my experience but I have been where you seem to be and done the whole repeat reading thing and I think the point I need to make is to consider how truly helpful this is for your state of mind. Does it bring you peace and clarity or do you think about it, over analyse it and turn it around and around in your mind, so actually do these readings wind you up? If so this is not helpful or healthy for you.

To get a little more back on topic, ensure if you have a reading about something so important to you its from a reader you trust so look for validation in the reading so that you can trust prediction. If this reader validated information for you, if she made sense in every way then why not trust what her predictions are.. At some point with tarot and with life you have to experience a trust and a letting go. Unfortunately we cant control some situations painful as that is and so we have to believe that things will develop as they are meant to be. So in a way there is little point to repeat readings as on a base level you arent trusting the results anyway..

My experience of repeat readings is that the readings will go deeper everytime and will bring up more information and so i don't see them as a bad thing from that point of view. I would suggest that you use the tarot to your best advantage and work through the situation as constructively as you can. when in a slimiler situation I started asking questions like, why do I feel the need to keep reading this question, how can I find some peace of mind, what do i need to learn from this situation before I can move to the next stage... All these sorts of questions really helped me to cope and move forward rather than focusing on the outcome of the one question.

Reading for yourself is very difficult for some people and reading for yourself on something that matters deeply to you is difficult for most people, so it is a real test in how objective you can be, personally I think unless you can be sure of your objectivity on something that is important then it would be better to have a reading from someone else...

I hope that helps - I don't see the problem with repeat readings personally although some people do but you will either get the same answer or sometimes more detail, focusing on yourself and how you can deal with the situation is so much more helpful and calming to the mind that is also in a state of stress...

Well, I find that it depends how you ask and why. I've been known to "argue" with the readings i do for myself, since there are things I don't want to accept about myself, am not proud of or just don't want to be true. In those instances, I either get confused readings or a complete blockage. But the reason for that is not that I am asking the same questions again and again, the reason is something deeper.

On the one hand, it can be equated with asking a friend for advice. The first time you ask, they will give you advice to the best of their abilities, and that's that. The second time, they may word it differently, trying to take another track with you. The third time you ask, they will probably be fed up with you, since what you are asking for is not advice, but reassurance, and that is something Tarot usually can't give you.

On the other hand, if you approach the reading with a genuine desire to learn about yourself, the problem at hand and seek to understand both better, then it will never let you down, but you do have to stay on your toes about this. I really can't stress this enough, Tarot can only be as honest with you as you are with yourself. I like what NikkiB said about reading about why you are asking a certain question, as that shows growth, and the answer may not always be one we really want to hear, but it is an answer nonetheless. Tarot also works as a tool to help us decide our own fates, questions like "will they call" may make for interesting readings, but they may be stale since you can't really help what other people do, you only have control over yourself.

We can get to different answers if we go about seeking them in different ways, but deep down inside, we know why we're asking, and that is when we have to own up to ourselves and out own fallibilities, and admit we're not really seeking information or to seriously observe our lives, which is about all Tarot can give us. Nothing more, but since that in itself is a great and wonderful thing, certainly nothing less.

As to your situation, I would ask, If you're so keen on Death appearing, why is it so important to you, and if it is, why can't you end it? How can you learn to cope with situation better, what can you learn from it? When you get your answers, really sit down and think about them, and more importantly, do something about it. Tarot can only give us another point of observation, if you merely read and then let the universe run over you, what's the point of reading? Remember that you have an advantage, you're a Tarot reader, that already gives you a wonderful and different point of view, now go use it.

Asking the same question before you have done ay work on it and the situation hasn't had time to change, merely tells your deck that you don't believe it.

How would *you* answer questions if you knew the listener didn't believe you and was going to ask again?

Hi LB, and a cyberhug from me as well.

I don't actively read for myself or for family members for a number of reasons, the main one being that I don't fully trust my ability to remain genuinely unbiased and objective to the best of my ability. When I started out with Tarot, there was always a small part of me who wondered whether I really was being objective, and I rapidly got tired of wondering. So I just stopped.

Asking the same question in a very short time span, is, from my own point of view, not a good idea. I did it from time to time back when I started learning the Tarot, and I found that with each consecutive set of cards, I got more and more puzzled and confused. The more often I drew on the same question, the less I could make sense of the cards. The conclusion I came to over time is that for me, the more I tried to push an issue and want to "force" an outcome with multiple readings, the more the cards were flipping me the bird.

Respect the cards, respect the question, respect yourself. That's my spin on it.

ETA: yes, definitely what NikkiB said about being honest with oneself about the true motivation behind a question.

nisaba said:

Asking the same question before you have done ay work on it and the situation hasn't had time to change, merely tells your deck that you don't believe it.

How would *you* answer questions if you knew the listener didn't believe you and was going to ask again?

Click to expand...

I'd flip 'em the bird. Tarot's really good at doing that.

Asking the same question repeatedly in a very short amount of time is a wonderful way to obnubilate yourself to the point you don't even understand your situation anymore.

Trust me, I have been there quite recently.

Reading can become an addiction, specially when you are living a situation you feel you have a complicated choice to make or when you cannot see a way out of it. It's easy to hand the control of the situation to the cards and avoid embracing the challenge. But you've got to make a conscious effort to overcome this. I have been trying.

Right now, as I cure myself from the "self-reading addiction" trap that I fell into, I am putting at least one full week between two readings about the same situation. Furthermore, I have been looking for opportunities to read for other people in order to not fall back into reading solely for myself and getting lost in my own readings. I have been looking for different ways to practice with my cards that do not involve me and my problems directly.

I am not 'cured', but at least I am not indulging in self-befuddlement anymore.

You are not alone in this.

NikkiB said:

Hi there

First of all I am sending you a cyber hug, a break up is painful and I think many of us can relate to doing repeat readings on issues that are difficult and painful for us.

Click to expand...

Thank you!, this is very helpful and I take it!

NikkiB said:

To get a little more back on topic, ensure if you have a reading about something so important to you its from a reader you trust so look for validation in the reading so that you can trust prediction. If this reader validated information for you, if she made sense in every way then why not trust what her predictions are..

Click to expand...

Yes, I did seek a Tarot reader with a lot of experience that has been reliable and honest (even with things that I may not want to hear deep inside) so I trust him, has predicted things that have happened, I guess for this I feel worst because is not necessarily him or the Tarot (I trust it) but "myself" in trusting things and the energies. To the point that I feel guilty for asking again, "reassurance".
I think what lies beneath is being AFRAID that I "Trust in my self " and I don't want to FAIL ME because is the only thing I have (or a person has, which is "trust in what we believe"). But yet again, I also know that Trust includes letting go. Ironic.
although I know this is TRUE . Ex. This is the reason I've come a long way... because of my trust to things... I think the "obstacle"' in my situation is "TIME" ..... the more time it takes, the more impatient and stressed I get and I lose confidence in things.


Anyhow, I hope I made some sense... thank you for replying and sending your comment, it's very helpful.

NikkiB said:

My experience of repeat readings is that the readings will go deeper everytime and will bring up more information and so i don't see them as a bad thing from that point of view.

Click to expand...

Yes, I think is the details that may be affecting me. Perhaps I just need to let those go... the details can matter in certain situations but perhaps in mine is unnecessary and need to balance myself with just the overview.


Anyhow, Much GOOD Energy sending you NOW!....thank you

closrapexa said:

......Tarot can only be as honest with you as you are with yourself.......

Click to expand...

Very well stated!

Thank you everyone for your replies, this has been very helpful. I know I need to "trust" and believe in what I do deep inside and that means the spreads itself. I trust them and I know everything with time will fall into place, one day I will recall them and say to myself..I remember that time. But for now I think what I need to work on is "TIME"... and that means patience in order to be balanced. I just don't know how to sometimes, perhaps because I'm still learning to trust what my energies and intuition are trying to tell me and that battle my mind has with the old me (only logic) which to logic has come to change upon Knowing what is true (which is this). The subconscious the intuitive part and the conscious. I know this is all part of the learning process and I thank you for being part of it with your answers.
The next step, meditation on "Time" and learning to accept every minute of it!


Much good energy and light sending you all!