Asking the cards questions?

Or asking the questions properly?
I'm fairly new to Tarot, and absolutely loving the learning process. But one block I have is asking questions. Maybe I don't have enough drama in my life Can you all give me any tips on how to think of things to ask about.

I'm sitting here laughing at this post because I must sound like an absolute dullard, I'm not, but to even ask this question sounds dumb!

I know to phrase in a positive manner...not 'I hate my job, what can I do about it' but rather 'what can I do to make my job a good place to be' (I love my job by the way)...but I just can't think up the questions in the first place.

Go ahead, laugh, but please give me some guidance. If I can't help myself, how can I help the eventual querents?

What I've done, and I'm not sure how anyone else feels about this, is that I'll ask about a chair, bird, animal, etc and see how it lines up.

I love asking about nature, because it helps me to understand more about the connection between us and nature. I usually check books dealing with totems- animal totems or even tree totems or historical meaning of plants, herbs...etc. It is usually very accurate.

The reason I've done this in learning, is because I was uncertain if I wanted to develop ideas or perceptions about the lives of other people...(projections) it just seemed to me that nature practicing on nature would be more objective, less judgemental and more detached or authentic.

Oracle Deck

Get an oracle deck, and just lay some cards out, Have a conversation. I do it all the time. I light pink candles, plumeria incense and lay out the goddess oracle, and have a conversation by asking what Goddess are with me.

Ok, who's going to commit me?

TCRose, I use the Druid Animal Oracle for my one card draw, and I never ask it a question, it seems to have plenty to tell me in general. By the way I read your posts yesterday, I'm amazed you do a 78 card draw for readings. The info must be overwhelming to your querents

YDM42, that is a good suggestion, we have a lot of wildlife going on up here in the sticks to use for subjects. I know my problem is thinking too literally, and once I figure out how to unplug that I will learn the cards quicker.

More suggestions?

Well, if you can't think of a question the old standard "What do I need to know right now?" will pretty well get you the info on what is most important for you to look at right now.

Otherwise, for myself I usually have so many questions they backlog and I don't have time to do all the readings I'd like. Basically anything at all you are curious about in your life, in your connection to the others around you and to the universe.

Not all questions have to be about the future, you can ask about the present or past as well.

If someone hurt you in the past and you'd like to know why, and that person is now out of your life there is not reason you can't ask "Why did .....act as he did?"

Something's hurting you? Questions like "How can I best heal from...? " or "How can I forgive...and let go of the pain fully?"...kind of thing can be good.

If you find yourself acting in ways that you don't understand (likley something unconscious is going on)... questions like "Why am I acting in this way now?" are very useful. Or even "What past events are triggering these reactions in me now?"

If you believe like me that all life's experiences are lessons sent to teach us to grow and improve ourselves, questions like "What was this lesson sent into my life now to teach me?" are good or "How can I best learn this lesson now?"

Tarot is great to help you create the future you want. If you want to be at a certain place in your future, ask "What steps can I take now that will help ensure I am.....in the future (or in 5 years)?"

Even moods: If you're feeling a bit down, ask what steps you need to take to feel happier about things or to feel more confident, ...or whatever you feel you want to change.

Anything you want to understand or create in your life the cards can help.

That being said though, I have heard and beleive that it is not good to ask your cards to make decisions for you. Like asking "What should I do now?" They are just there to help you see all available options, help understand things, and help create yourself the future you want.]

In case anyone is curious, my current reading I am working on is about finding myself, the true authenitic me (the one I was born to be not who I was taught to be), and reacting to the world from there. Hope someone here knows what I mean. LOL The questions are:

1) How can I best come to truly know and recognize the real me?
2) How can I best learn to overcome anything preventing me from being the true me in this world?
3) Why is it important that I manifest my uniqueness in the world?
and
4) How am I meant to manifest my uniqueness in the world?

(As you can see, usually I don't use spreads. I do on occasion, but not often. Usually I just write out a series of interrelated questions--like these--and do them one at a time,pulling a few cards for each.)

Babs

YDM42 said:

What I've done, and I'm not sure how anyone else feels about this, is that I'll ask about a chair, bird, animal, etc and see how it lines up.

I love asking about nature, because it helps me to understand more about the connection between us and nature. I usually check books dealing with totems- animal totems or even tree totems or historical meaning of plants, herbs...etc. It is usually very accurate.

Click to expand...

That is so very fascinating YDM42! I can't wait to do a reading and ask about animals. It might give you a feel of what it's like to be an animal. Like if I saw a bird flying by, I could ask how he feels when he flies. Wouldn't that be a cool way to experience things we can't in this lifetime? Wow I love that idea!

Babs

Oh thanks for starting this thread AuthenticJoy I see some cool ideas here

A spread I sometimes use when I have no other questions:

"How do I become a better tarot reader ?"

1. What I already do well
2. What I need to work on
3. External resources for improving
4. Internal approaches for improving
5. Overall advice

(I don't know who to give credit for this spread, it was posted on AT a long time ago)

Have fun. Be spontaneous.

AuthenticJoy, the theme of this thread you've started is an important one, and it's great to see people piping in with such interesting, helpful suggestions.

My advice is not to be afraid to just have fun with the Tarot. Not every reading has to be about some terribly serious, life-changing issue. Sometimes a spontaneous reading for a rather light question that pops into your mind can provide good practice at reading and be very revealing, too. For instance, last Wednesday I was scheduled to meet a college professor friend of mine who had just returned from a two-month summer vacation in Boston. We hadn't been in touch for that period and were to meet that evening for a beer. At lunchtime, it crossed my mind that it might be fun to ask the Tarot to tell me three things my friend would likely talk about that evening. I drew three cards and wrote down my interpretation on a piece of paper with the date and time. That evening he actually talked about all three things, and I pulled the piece of paper out of my shirt pocket and handed it to him. (Freaked him out.)

The point isn't that my reading turned out to be accurate but that it can be fun and good practice to do simple readings about everyday events when the fancy strikes us, especially for those of us who are not professional readers with lots of chances to read for others. If we waited around for earth-shattering events to stimulate us to read, we might never learn to read the Tarot at all.

Clay

Another thing you can try is read down the Index of the Tarot Spreads Forum. Thanks to the folks here, past and present, there are a huge number of very worthwhile ways to examine your world using tarot.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=31867

Authentic Joy, I, too, am glad that you asked such an important and good question. It is wonderful to see all the ideas everyone has posted. I try to do a general reading sometimes to just see what is in store for me for the day. I love all the new ideas posted here, and will be trying some of them.