The 'Just drawing a card...' problem.

I have no focus for a daily card; I just wait and watch for it to come in some form throughout my day. I usually read it in the morning, forget what I've drawn, go about my day, reflect on it at night, and see how it ended up playing out.

I stopped doing them a long time ago because I found they weren't giving me anything useful beyond practice (which seems to be their main purpose). I was asking something like "What will my day bring?" and then recapping at the end of the day to see if anything remotely like the answer came about. I wasn't looking for specific events, more "tone" (pleasant day, neutral day, difficult day). But I was also interested in any surprises, which never seemed to appear when shown in the draw. Doing daily draws for a while pretty much put me off single-card pulls since they're static and don't give much if any indication of movement or development. Three cards is the minimum I use now on the rare occasion I read for myself.

Amanda said:

I have no focus for a daily card; I just wait and watch for it to come in some form throughout my day. I usually read it in the morning, forget what I've drawn, go about my day, reflect on it at night, and see how it ended up playing out.

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This, but I ask "today?" when drawing the card. At the end of the day, I recap. I have noted the cards take on a very literal flavour when done in dailies, and their impact is greatly diminished. For instance, the Tower might just be about tripping on an object and falling over. Or the World card might indicate looking at a map. Things like that.

I've drawn and blogged 3400 daily cards on my blog. I never ask a question and I never expect an answer. I let the card drag up what it will, then I spit it out in words.

Your question reflects your intention. What is your intention?

*Why* are you drawing a daily?

Are you looking for a daily prediction? Are you learning your deck, or learning symbolism in a new deck? Are you using it for meditation and ways to expand your awareness?

Every single reason is a valid reason to draw a daily, and every single reason would point in a different kind of "question" to ask, prior to drawing your card.

AJ said:

I've drawn and blogged 3400 daily cards on my blog. I never ask a question and I never expect an answer. I let the card drag up what it will, then I spit it out in words.

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I just visited your blog. Very touching. I recognized in your words many familiar feelings, questions, quests. Thank you for being.

page of wands said:

when i draw a card for the day. my sole purpose is to learn tarot. i keep a journal and write about the card. but what i've found is every single day the card has predicted the day or set a theme for the day. or for today, it described perfectly an important person i would speak with. all i did was draw a card for the day, thinking "wednesday" in my head. not much deeper than that.

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This is what I've been doing too. I'm a tarot newbie, just doing what I can to get familiar with the cards. I do some reading and take some notes after drawing a card. Sometimes the process can take a while, sort of a stop and start procedure, but I do enjoy the experience. Some days, having the freedom to get back to it is a real relief, so I guess for me, it's a bit of a quiet refuge.

It's a meditative thing for me, but it does sort of carry over into the rest of the day, as I think about the various meanings in the card, my own insights, and where ever my meandering thoughts and internet surfing lead me.

Barleywine said:

Doing daily draws for a while pretty much put me off single-card pulls since they're static and don't give much if any indication of movement or development. Three cards is the minimum I use now on the rare occasion I read for myself.

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I find with the right deck that single-card pulls generally work well for me, *if* I've put some thought into it. Otherwise I'm exploring symbolism without really attaching it to real life. I don't find them static - but yeah, it's really deck dependent. I'm using the Touchstone and it really connects with my art history. Some decks, not so much.

But this combined with Padma's comment about the tripping over... yeah, I think reducing the cards to commenting on what is often really mundane and uneventful might be problematic. It might work differently if one were thinking about deep things...

You could always remove the Majors from your daily draw deck, set them aside, and let the more mundane Minors speak about the qualities inherent in the day They tend to have a better connection with smaller or daily events. Imo.

ETA oh, and that way, you could also draw a Major if you were in "deep think" mode on a particular day. You'd be able to cover two bases.

I do it for daily draws but I like using it for a quick yes or no question. For me, I usually do have a question in mind when I do a one card draw. Although sometimes I use it for writers block as well. That might sound silly, but I like writing stories and if I am stuck either I will draw one card or a series of them and it does help at times.