yes or no answer to question
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 Mar 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| judylea1 |
20 Mar 2005 |
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Is it possible to get a yes or no answer from a 3 card tarot reading? Just wondered if anyone has come up with a method of doing this.
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| tarotbear |
20 Mar 2005 |
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Why use three cards? For yes/no all you really need is one.
Two, actually. The Fool is No and the World is Yes. Shuffle and ask a question yes or no and whichever of the two is turned over first is your answer, but then, you can also get the same results flipping a coin ... :smoker:
Tarot does not deal best with yes/no questions. All that info at your fingertips and you waste it on yes/no? Tarot is there to tell you the reasons why ~ yes/no doesn't need any reasons.
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| rainwolf |
20 Mar 2005 |
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I partly agree...LOL I posted a spread on this, and although it does give yes/no, it also gives reasons and consequences. It should be in the spread page, but i guess ill post it here for easy reference.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=36362
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| psychic sue |
21 Mar 2005 |
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Thanks for that TB! I agree though, why waste a whole deck of tarot?
I have used Rainwolf's spread several times now and it very good. It gives you the answer (yes/no) with further information, thus making good use of the other cards !
Thanks rainwolf,
sue x
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| Adjustment |
21 Mar 2005 |
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Why use three cards? For yes/no all you really need is one.
Two, actually. The Fool is No and the World is Yes. Shuffle and ask a question yes or no and whichever of the two is turned over first is your answer, but then, you can also get the same results flipping a coin ... :smoker:
Tarot does not deal best with yes/no questions. All that info at your fingertips and you waste it on yes/no?
I agree with Tarotbear in this one, there is a lot more information that you can get with a deck of cards than just a yes or a no.
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| full deck |
21 Mar 2005 |
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I use many three-card readings, where I fan out the deck and select cards from the deck. I tend to pose questions more like "tell me about X" instead of "yes" or "no" simply because fishing for a yes or no answer is like in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" when the answer to the question "what is the sum of all knowledge in the universe" comes out to "six". (WTF)
Context is everything. Without context, most answers don't make much sense.
I usually try for symmetry in my pulls though, for example:
x-X-x
where the middle "X" symbolizes the subject I want to know about, be it person, thing or situation. The two outer cards are commentary. This has worked well for me and it does answer questions like "should I" or "should I not".
I don't aim for having certain positions of cards mean certain things simply because attempting such is more like trying to write melodic "serial" music that is pleasing (ha!) and misses the point in using Tarot, being that it is more so to develop and use the intuitive and rational faculties in tandem -- not for the sake of conforming to any preconceived schema that is inflexible and not suitable for the occasion.
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| rhinoa |
21 Mar 2005 |
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You can do a yes/no reading with just two cards. Shuffle your deck as normal and deal off two cards. The first is yes and the second is no. Read into each how things will go for yes and for no. Whichever you feel is more positive is the likely outcome. It's useful to just do a reading with one card for each sometimes to remind yourself of the meanings by themselves without other cards supporting them.
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| rainwolf |
21 Mar 2005 |
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Thanks for that TB! I agree though, why waste a whole deck of tarot?
I have used Rainwolf's spread several times now and it very good. It gives you the answer (yes/no) with further information, thus making good use of the other cards !
Thanks rainwolf,
sue x
Thank you psychic sue!! That means a lot to me :D
Not to be arrogant, but i think that spread i made puts yes/no to good use even if you find yes/no superficial because it does explain why, all the while being informative.
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| judylea1 |
21 Mar 2005 |
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Thanks, all -- this has been illuminating.
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| Keslynn |
22 Mar 2005 |
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There's also a cool spread that James Ricklef uses in Tarot Tells the Tale. It's 3 cards in a row:
1. Yes, if...
2. No, if...
3. Maybe, if...
I haven't tried it for myself, but in the book, he uses it for some interesting questions. It seems fairly insightful.
:) Kes
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| Iamwhatiam |
24 Mar 2005 |
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Why use three cards? For yes/no all you really need is one.
Two, actually. The Fool is No and the World is Yes. Shuffle and ask a question yes or no and whichever of the two is turned over first is your answer, but then, you can also get the same results flipping a coin ... :smoker:
Tarot does not deal best with yes/no questions. All that info at your fingertips and you waste it on yes/no? Tarot is there to tell you the reasons why ~ yes/no doesn't need any reasons.
I agree with that. One card is probably the quickest way to determine a yes/no answer, and you have to pay attention to the card you draw to understand the implications of it on you or the querent. But, I don't think it is a good practice to use and I'll explain why later.
There are other methods to. Using reversals you can do a simple 3 or 5 card reading and count the number of reversals or upstanding cards, a preponderance of reversals would mean NO, and vice versa. However, you still need to look at the cards themselves for clues as to what drives the situation, because the cards you draw are far more important and meaningful than a simple yes/no.
I have practiced doing these methods, and I feel strongly that the tarot does not do well with yes/no questions. In fact the answer could be NO, but that doesn't mean that the outcome is necessarily a bad or hurtful one. And if your focus in on the yes/no aspect you will miss some important information.
In general if I want to know if a yes/no type question, I do a past-present-future-outcome reading. When I do this I consider the future card as determining a yes/no and the outcome as how it will affect my life down the road. You have to be careful with readings like this though, because they are ripe for misinterpretation, especially if the question has personal meaning for you.
For example, last summer I did a quick 4 card reading on whether a credit card application would be approved. My future was the 6 of Pentacles and my outcome was the 3 of Swords. I was extremely confused. Turns out, my credit card application was approved, however I decided I didn't want the card because of the terms, and didn't activate it, hence the 3 of Swords.
So if you haven't been reading for long, pulling the 6 of Pentacles and the 3 of Swords could really wind you up being confused. And that is the danger of such readings.
IMO using yes/no with the tarot is no better than flipping a coin, you stand a 50%-50% chance of a yes or no. Those odds are meaningless. The meaning in tarot is causality and the implications on a querents life.
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The yes or no answer to question thread was originally posted on 20 Mar 2005 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.
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