When the cards go and do their own thing (Hallowquest)...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Oriana	20 Apr 2005
What do you do when the cards do their own thing, and give you what might be "an answer", but one that appears to have nothing to do with the question you asked? That happened today, and I'm trying to identify just where I went wrong. Browsing through the forums a short while ago I was intrigued by The Churchyard Spread, and was frankly on the look-out for an excuse to try it. (As a comparative newbie to tarot, I suspected from the start that I might be biting off more than I could chew with this, but I went ahead anyway...) Today seemed like a good day, I wanted to ask about aspects of an issue that has been ongoing in my life for a few years now - which I have reason to hope will soon be concluded, but which on the other hand might drag out for a year or so more yet. I was figuring The Fool would turn up several cards into the spread (a linear spread, where the Fool's position shows how close you are to the start/end of the issue you're reading on), hopefully well into the second half... I was rather perturbed, therefore, when he turned up as the very first card. As I turned over the remaining cards, I realised that while they might make a reasonable story concerning a future arising from the issue I wanted to know about, they weren't by any stretch of the imagination a direct response to the question I'd asked. I'm wondering if perhaps it had something to do with the deck I used, the Hallowquest. Some time ago I put this one aside, to be looked at but not read with, as I got the impression that the cards didn't like my clumsy attempts to read them ("Go away, you're not worthy, you're too much of a newbie to appreciate us properly. Come back when you know more and we might co-operate"). Today it felt like the "right" deck to use - I thought, maybe I've progressed enough to get some sense out of it (now, I suspecting not :D). Being a little nervous around the deck, I talked to it as I was shuffling, asked it to be patient with me and explained what I would like it to tell me about. I did wonder if maybe saying the words out loud I'd somehow phrased it wrong and led to confusion... But really, I get the feeling that it's more a case of the cards going "We don't like what you asked. We don't want to tell you about that. Here, we're going to tell you about this instead." I'm now debating, whether I should try again in the next day or two? - probably not the same spread, and definitely not the same deck, but the same basic question. Normally, I would steer clear of asking the same thing over again so soon * - but since it's not a case of "getting an answer that I don't like" so much as "getting an answer that (I feel) had nothing to do with the question" I wonder if I'm justified in making an exception...? And, I'm also wondering what I should do with the reading that I actually got. I could try to make up the story for it, but I rather feel I'd be groping in the dark. I have no experience of doing "fortune-telling" readings; what I mainly use the cards for is for insight/guidance on current problems and situations (where I have some basis of reference to check if I'm getting it right or not! ;)). Any suggestions would be appreciated. :) Apologies for the lengthy post, Oriana * Many years ago, before developing a real interest in Tarot, I was dabbling one day with the I-Ching... I asked it a particular question and didn't really think much of the answer it gave me. So I asked again. And again. The second and third times it turned up the same hexagram, and the book meaning included a final sentence of which the gist was, "This hexagram is often turned up by those who seek to waste our time by asking the same question repeatedly when we have already answered it..." I was spooked by this at the time, and I don't think I have actually touched the I-Ching since; but it did mean that at least one common newbie pitfall, that of asking the same question over again till you get an answer you like, was cleared out of the way before I ever got to Tarot!

Thirteen	20 Apr 2005
This has come up before and the simple answer is that sometimes the cards want to talk about something that they feel is more important. Sometimes, in fact, what we *think* is important isn't or has already been asked by us so many darn times that the cards are bored and want to just move on. There's a tendency for readers, especially we who read for ourselves, to think we have problems we may not. Have you ever been upset and blamed it on, say, your partner when it wasn't their fault at all? Have you ever been so obsessed with something, so anxious for a certain answer that you kept asking the cards the same question, unsatisfied with the answer they offered? The cards tell us what we need to know--not always what we want to know.

magpie9	21 Apr 2005
Thirteen wrote: The cards tell us what we need to know--not always what we want to know. What she said. you could try to figure out what it's talking about, and if that doesn't work, you can ask the cards to tell you more directly. I would suggest useing the same deck for it......I suspect it finds you worthy :)

Maelin	23 Apr 2005
Oriana, I use the Hallowquest deck as well. In my case it seems to have a preference for certain subjects - the purpose of life, the purpose of this life as one of a sequence - (if that is your belief), the bigger pictures of life if you will. Whether this is the personality of the deck, or perhaps less criptically, the underlying mythology behind the structure of the Hallowquest deck - it is not a deck for everyday questions - or so it seems to me. The deck would never find you unworthy - only you can make that call! But it will tend to tap into the bigger questions in your psyche and subconscious - my bet is that's what the deck was up to! Best wishes

The When the cards go and do their own thing (Hallowquest)... thread was originally posted on 20 Apr 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.