IMHO - with 20 years of Tarot behind me - I say the cards are not wrong; the question was wrong. I agree with GryffinSong 100%.
100% agree with this. My experience is not considerable, just started reading cards few months ago, but I think what you ask, and the way you ask, makes a world of a difference.
I get that with a friend all the time. As starters she asks the cards every single day. While I respect her choice to do so, Thirteen once explained that we really do not need to consult the cards every single day, and he quoted an example : it would be like checking on a baby around the clock. Ok now he sleeps. Ok now he is crying. Ok now he needs a diaper change LOL instead of just focusing on : is the baby well taken care of or happy ? LOL I am not sure if you can see the point, sorry to relate this to motherhood but until recently that was my everyday experience ( I have a 3 year old who just dropped the diapers some months ago
)
Second : she is not specific. She just asks : Ok what is going on with my situation ? of course she does not know if the answer relates to her, or her boss, or a third party, or her boyfriend etc. I have suggested to her to narrow her questions and make them as specific as possible. The very first reading I had months ago after years of not trying, the guy was very specific that if you wanted to be accurate, you needed to be specific and visualize. In that case he made a general reading to me but still was very specific in the positions of the spread he used, no room for getting confused. He lighted incense and really concentrated, it was so interesting / scary ( it was my first tarot reading and I was still terrified of the cards at that time LOL )
I also think that one needs to really study all the possible meanings and then run through intuition the possible meaning of each card. What I do is make a note of the card and later on when relaxed, search online all the meanings and I see different images from assorted decks. I let the card speak to me, then make notes on the meanings, then check with the rest of the cards for correlation with them. I open a word file with the card image and the possible interpretations, and it helps when reading the previous positions and the next positions to pinpoint the energy around them, and the right answer. I have to say I take my time and normally I only do e-mail readings, cause for personal ones I would need to already know by heart all the meanings of the cards... and I am still learning. I can still use my intuition, but until I learn more about meanings, I like to check them online, specially in this forum.
My friend sends me a pic of her spread and tells me : OK, I see this and that... and it is terrible, horrible !! what I am gonna do !! LOL she gets a little carried away. I take a look and see things very different... give some time to check again meanings, then give her my feedback. She gets reassured and then later on tells me : you were right... you are so much better than me at reading cards !! I tell her it is also related to the amount of time you dedicate to really understand the meaning. It cannot be rushed. You need to allow time to go through it. Rushing gives false interpretations all the time.
I also think that while it shows tendencies, energies, etc. we are the only ones who have power on what happens. No psychic, no tarot, no spiritual path can tell you what to do precisely. They can guide you but you can also use your free will. I think that free will is key to our future. I see tarot or psychic counseling as if you were getting psychological support, only on a more spiritual, deep, amazing way. I receive plenty of support from the spiritual thanks to Tarot, it is just amazing what they tell me and how right on they can be, it is mostly supportive. They can tell me that a challenge is coming and that I need to be strong, remind me of the spiritual strenght I found, tap into relaxation and meditation... and not necessarily tell me exactly what the challenge was, but I was well prepared to sail through it without wanting to cut my veins because of it LOL
I am very sensitive and emotional and I guess sometimes having these "heads up" from the spiritual through Tarot has helped me a lot. I focus it on me, mostly, not really asking what the others are gonna do, but what I need to do to become a stronger person and what energies I should be made aware of, either working to help me or in opposition.
I also make short, weekly draws and I try to focus as much as possible. I pray before consulting them. I do meditation and grounding. I keep open to the signs and syncronicities later on, and can even confirm cards I was not very sure about in the next days.
I guess if you are sincere in your questions and you are specific, the cards will be sincere with you too. And I do agree it is more of a self reflection tool, cause really, only the Divine has the last word on what happens, and we have our free will as well
even if the cards advise on stuff, the final decision is ours.
Blessings !
Firefly.