Past Cards... why do we do this

[tarotbear]

If you are doing this almost daily why don't you just pull a single card and skip the P/P/F thing?

[MissJo]

Sometimes we don't really know where we've been.
Sometimes we think we know but we have the wrong idea completely.
Sometimes we missed something that was important.
Sometimes we don't understand something that we really should.

[SunChariot]

Originally Posted by fyreflie24

Hey! I often use a 3 card past, present, future spread as I'm a relative beginner and I find this spread accessible but today, I was thinking about the past cards. Why do we use the past cards? Yes, they help us understand where we've been but don't we know where we've been? Or not?

Hum...

I'm just curious what everyone else thinks about the use of past cards and how they are relevant in your readings.

Thank you!

Depends on what the question or the topic is. ...but in the past of most situations there were other people besdies us involved. We may know what the sitation was for ourselves but not for them. A part card can let you see that. Or sometimes there is something we don't know. Life the past can show it if the other person had a crush on you and you never even knew it. OR sometimes we are not seeing even ourselves clearly. That somtimesi can happen as well.

Babs

[Druid11]

As mention by other users, the "past" card serves really two purposes:

1. As feedback to you and your readee, to validate what you are reading and confirm that you are following the right path.

2. To understand the current situation and it will help you understanding how would be the best way to overcome it.

Please note that more often than not, when you start reading cards (i mean studying), is easier to read like you said, past, present, future. But take into consideration that they all form a single sentence, they worked as positions and as a whole at the same time, so, under this light, the past card also functions as a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.

This are not facts what so ever, just my personal point of view! I just wanted to give my two cents.

[starrystarrynight]

To me, a "Past" card often signifies the specific energy that has led to the current situation being asked about. Sometimes we know what that energy is, but sometimes, we don't. Take, for example, a seeker asking about where a relationship is headed. She may not know that it's headed for the Tower and then the Fool--or why. But having pulled, say, Justice for the Past card, it could explain that her relationship is moving toward the crapper because the person she is with is already married to someone else. (Bad, superficial example, I know...but it popped into my head.)

So, I think it's a pretty important position in a spread (somewhat like the Foundation and/or the Receding Energy card(s) in a Celtic Cross.) Even in a self-reading, you may not understand what it was that happened in the past that has brought you to this exact point in time.

[EdgarAllnPwn]

For me, tarot is all about the loops/cycles we get ourselves into.
The past card shows us how we transition from one "stage" to the next.
The more we study these transitions the more concious we will become in the present moment.
I know alot of people of people like to focus on the future position, but that doesnt have as much to teach you.
Unless of course your future is pre-determined...... kinda boring if you ask me.
As so eloquently stated before (Druid11) you are better off reading the past, present, future as one sentence describing the present moment.