Jeh
If what you draw to answer someone's question doesn't make sense, do you ever redraw? Is that an ok thing to do, if you really can't figure out what the first draw is trying to say?
If what you draw doesn't make sense,
earthair
I'd draw more cards to clarify.
or
Sometimes if I'm really not understanding it and it's not urgent and the readee agrees, I stack the spread backwards into the box (after I take a photo of the spread with my phone) and 'sleep on it'.
But I wouldn't start again.
or
Sometimes if I'm really not understanding it and it's not urgent and the readee agrees, I stack the spread backwards into the box (after I take a photo of the spread with my phone) and 'sleep on it'.
But I wouldn't start again.
Zephyros
It depends on how serious or important the reading is. There are mundane things in which the reading doesn't matter or isn't important and for those I am pretty free in what I do. For example, suppose I want to give someone a gift and I do a reading about what to get, then the more readings I do equals more ideas. The ultimate decision is mine, Tarot is simply a means to expand my view.
More important readings, though, when I am aware of my own biases, I do only one and think about it for a few days. But not every reading warrants that.
More important readings, though, when I am aware of my own biases, I do only one and think about it for a few days. But not every reading warrants that.
Barleywine
In tarot I don't ever redraw. I also seldom draw additional clarifying or quintessence cards - the concept was unknown back when I first learned and I've never warmed up to it. My position has always been that the cards that appear in the spread convey the message that needs to be heard, if only we have ears to hear it. In that regard I treat a difficult spread something like a three-dimensional conceptual puzzle. If the surface layer is garbled and unintelligble, I'll peel back a layer, say moving from practical interpretation to a more abstract - emotional, philosophical, spiritual - viewpoint. I won't stay on that level, though, because that's not what the querent came to hear. I'll just use it to come back at the heart of the matter from a different angle, obliquely or perhaps from bottom up or back-end-to, whatever gives me intuitive ingress into the knotted innards of the reading. If I'm momentarily stuck I may jump to the end of the spread and work backwards, regressing from postulated effects to tentative causes until something gels and I can start theorizing with more confidence. I was reading yesterday about Hindu yantras, and one of the most telling analogies was that they are "conceptual looms," which is exactly what I consider a tarot spread to be. It has a warp and a woof and you can weave the strands over, under and around one another in creative ways until you wind up with a finished fabric.
JackofWands
I very much agree with Barleywine. I do not ever redraw, nor do I pull a "clarifying" card.
The art of Tarot is in interpreting the cards that come up for you in your first reading, because they will have something to say, even if it isn't apparent. If I'm having trouble with a reading, I'll snap a photo and walk away from it for a couple of days. But if you get in the practice of reshuffling every time a reading doesn't instantly make sense to you, then you risk censoring your readings--redrawing over and over until you get a set of cards that portrays the message you want to hear, instead of the original one that came up for you.
The art of Tarot is in interpreting the cards that come up for you in your first reading, because they will have something to say, even if it isn't apparent. If I'm having trouble with a reading, I'll snap a photo and walk away from it for a couple of days. But if you get in the practice of reshuffling every time a reading doesn't instantly make sense to you, then you risk censoring your readings--redrawing over and over until you get a set of cards that portrays the message you want to hear, instead of the original one that came up for you.
PathWalker
If you don't understand the cards, clarifyers can confuse!
(Adding a bit more here, I realise it might have seemed quite curt) - Reading tarot cards isn't like reading supporting texts for a subject you're studying, for example. If you're trying to write about something, gain insight and knowledge, then maybe the more books and articles you read, the more you learn.
But tarot cards, nope! You've asked your question, you have the cards' reply. If you don't immediately "hear" what is said, adding more and more voices makes it harder not easier to hear. The same with all the fancy qunit cards and extras and so on. They may have their place eventually when you feel confident, but at the beginning you need to learn to work with the few cards you put down.
Same as reading celtic cross if you still feel that you're learning the cards - don't do it. Stick with something smaller. 3 or 5 cards maybe, until the way cards work together and speak to you becomes easier for you to 'get' - then start to work with larger spreads.
I'm with Barleywine and Jack of Wands - make the question clear and pertinent, and then keep the cards out as you think and work through the possible meanings you see.
(ETA) This is the time when a book which examples the nuances of card meanings can be helpful - Tarot Reversals Mary K Greer for example gives a wide range of meanings - even if you are only looking at upright meanings it can help by showing the more positive and negative possibilities. Someone said to me recently - in a feedback situation- "this card ALWAYS means this"... and I didn't agree. I didn't argue (wasn't the time and place) but each card has a range within it - and sometimes it's harder for us to see the less preferred option, so we say we don't understand, or the card is wrongly placed.
But we are all always learning - so I'd say give it time, let them speak to you. Ask yourself questions, like are the figures talking to each other, looking away, happy, and so on. If it was a linear spread, what do they say if I move them to be one above the other in a line, like a road map heading north or south? What changes?
But don't just give up, and don't throw more cards down, honestly I don't thnk it helps at that stage.
Good luck with it - Pathwalker
(Adding a bit more here, I realise it might have seemed quite curt) - Reading tarot cards isn't like reading supporting texts for a subject you're studying, for example. If you're trying to write about something, gain insight and knowledge, then maybe the more books and articles you read, the more you learn.
But tarot cards, nope! You've asked your question, you have the cards' reply. If you don't immediately "hear" what is said, adding more and more voices makes it harder not easier to hear. The same with all the fancy qunit cards and extras and so on. They may have their place eventually when you feel confident, but at the beginning you need to learn to work with the few cards you put down.
Same as reading celtic cross if you still feel that you're learning the cards - don't do it. Stick with something smaller. 3 or 5 cards maybe, until the way cards work together and speak to you becomes easier for you to 'get' - then start to work with larger spreads.
I'm with Barleywine and Jack of Wands - make the question clear and pertinent, and then keep the cards out as you think and work through the possible meanings you see.
(ETA) This is the time when a book which examples the nuances of card meanings can be helpful - Tarot Reversals Mary K Greer for example gives a wide range of meanings - even if you are only looking at upright meanings it can help by showing the more positive and negative possibilities. Someone said to me recently - in a feedback situation- "this card ALWAYS means this"... and I didn't agree. I didn't argue (wasn't the time and place) but each card has a range within it - and sometimes it's harder for us to see the less preferred option, so we say we don't understand, or the card is wrongly placed.
But we are all always learning - so I'd say give it time, let them speak to you. Ask yourself questions, like are the figures talking to each other, looking away, happy, and so on. If it was a linear spread, what do they say if I move them to be one above the other in a line, like a road map heading north or south? What changes?
But don't just give up, and don't throw more cards down, honestly I don't thnk it helps at that stage.
Good luck with it - Pathwalker
Tanga
How beautifully expressed.
I agree.
If it doesn't make sense to you - repeat to the querent the scope of possibilities that the card represents. To them, it may very well make all-the-sense-in-the-world.
ana luisa
I shamelessly redraw. I figure that I and the deck "communicate". If people sometimes have to rephrase what they say why not the cards ?
Also, something that many may not experience but does happen to others (me included) is that the confusion or "blankness" of a message does not rely solely on the reader but also on the sitter. It feels as if depending on the person who asks for the reading, the message will come truncated. The sitter unconsciously does not "allow" the connection. Has anyone else experienced this ?
Also, something that many may not experience but does happen to others (me included) is that the confusion or "blankness" of a message does not rely solely on the reader but also on the sitter. It feels as if depending on the person who asks for the reading, the message will come truncated. The sitter unconsciously does not "allow" the connection. Has anyone else experienced this ?
Tanga
Lol.
Re: the sitter effect - but ofcourse! every interaction is two-sided, no matter how minute (imo). And what you draw may reflect that.
It depends how sensitive you are and how able to 'screen off' this effect.
Barleywine
This is an interesting insight and I can see where it has its place. I consider every reading to be a dialogue (I'm not into one-sided "pronouncements"). If sitters seem closed-off or unresponsive, I coax them with alternative impressions and observations until they open up and engage. (Did you ever "force" a flower bulb to open up? It's worth the effort
) But I stop short of redrawing or embellishing with additional cards. If I'm going to grasp at straws it will be ones that are drawing from the deep well of my intuition.