Pulling Clarifiers After the Reading

Hi there
I wanted some clarification on a habit I just recently noticed I've fallen into and was hoping all of you here would have some feedback.

I tend to prefer to do freestyle or freehanded readings (ask questions and pull cards as I go rather than using a spread). I find that technique works well for me but on occasion I see an interesting spread and feel the need to try it out. When I do this, I notice that I'll interpret the cards, finish the reading and then a few days later I may have questions/want more information. What I do is recreate the spread with the same cards and then pull clarifiers for the cards I need more information on.

Is this valid? Would you trust the clarifying cards even though they were pulled days (sometimes weeks) later?

Sorry if this is an elementary question. I'm still relatively new to Tarot and to reading in general.

I wouldn't personally do it.

How does it work for you Does it seem helpful, or just confusing? If it's helpful, keep doing it. If it isn't, stop.

Recreating the spread and trying to read it in more depth later by the use of clarifiers can be limiting. For one, you may find that certain cards that best clarify the situation are already pulled from the deck. Secondly, reading weeks later may need a fresh reading since the situation could have (and many times unknowingly) changed. Lastly, you may find it helpful to have a conversation with the cards, reshuffling when necessary, to get the kind of scope and depth you need at the time so you aren't left with uncertainty. Taking the cards and pulling them as you read can be effective instead of a spread where you interpret after choosing the cards.

I'm not a fan of clarifiers. I will often recreate a spread with the same cards for further meditation, but I don't use clarifiers. Sometimes, I will pull the same cards from a different deck for comparison and for new ideas. Maybe you could recreate the spread, then ask more detailed questions, using your usual "freestyle" method.

I almost never use clarifiers, and if I did I would pull them where needed while reading the spread, not days later. Once or twice I've pulled two extra cards (#11 and #12) for a Celtic Cross to add detail to a puzzling outcome card (turning it into an extended look forward), but it's not something I expect to do often. Usually working back through the spread and picking up what I most likely missed provides enough clarification. (In other words, it's usually my negligence and not the cards that introduced the confusion.) I've also created spreads where extra cards are an optional feature depending on the direction the reading takes.

Maybe instead of clarifying cards, you could research the cards meaning more in depth. There are many astrological, kabbalistic and occult symbolism in tarot. It might be an opportunity for you to take the cards into a different realm of understanding.

Laurelle said:

Maybe instead of clarifying cards, you could research the cards meaning more in depth. There are many astrological, kabbalistic and occult symbolism in tarot. It might be an opportunity for you to take the cards into a different realm of understanding.

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Many of us will agree with you, although not everyone is "wired" that way. Still, it is the next level of "acquired knowledge" for a newbie beyond absorbing the basic keyword meanings and reading methods. And it does supplant clarifiers and other "augmented" reading techniques quite nicely, since there is almost always another worthwhile angle to explore within the original spread.

Interesting, I have never thought of doing so. Personally I would not pull clarifiers for a past reading, I would simply do a new reading. That's because the reading is a unique product of a certain moment and you can't recreate that moment in time. That being said if it works for you, then why not continue doing the way you've used to, there is no law saying how we should read Tarot.

I like to go back to my readings, too, and I may keep thinking or I search more information on a certain card.

Clarifiers are a bit confusing to me. I prefer to limit the number of cards to 5 maximum in my readings, feel that this way the results are always more accurate and easily read.

Barleywine said:

Many of us will agree with you, although not everyone is "wired" that way. Still, it is the next level of "acquired knowledge" for a newbie beyond absorbing the basic keyword meanings and reading methods. And it does supplant clarifiers and other "augmented" reading techniques quite nicely, since there is almost always another worthwhile angle to explore within the original spread.

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No you're right. It's a big leap for beginners.

Clarifiers help narrow down what a card is saying while making you think deeper about what they both mean.

I do not use clarifiers