If what you draw doesn't make sense,

I've had a "blank" reading come up twice. I didn't even study the cards, I just knew that they were wrong.

If you don't know the meaning of the card in front of you then crossing or even clarifying won't work.

Maybe you could just look at the picture and drawing a conclusion from that. The pictures may trigger a feeling in your mind.

ana luisa said:

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 ?

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Yes. Especially when they ask fake question A because they were too embarrassed/underhanded to ask real question B. Then the cards answer B and I sit there blankly for a while wondering if I'm on the correct planet. Drawing another card to clarify what the 'key' to interpreting the cards is, is especially helpful in these cases.

I don't see why some people are so against drawing an extra card? -as long as you keep it separate from the original spread, I don't see the problem.

JackofWands said:

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.

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When we draw cards for a spread, we're given the answers to our question. If we only understand part of it, then that's what we're supposed to take away from it. Write the spread and question in a journal and put it away. Go back to it later and see if what transpired was pertinent and that helps you to build your Tarot "vocabulary" for future readings.

Quint cards, shadow cards, "jumpers", "clarifiers"---all those things just muddy the water. The cards in answer to the question will have been drawn and will lie in front of you. You'll get what you're supposed to get from them and that's how it works.

Sometimes if I'm extremely emotional or extremely tired, I've picked up a spread and started over. But I don't do that most of the time. And I've never done it for a sitter.

Coming back to add that we all find that Tarot works for us in our own unique way. For me, the above is true and is my opinion. But for someone else, the exact opposite may be true. You find what works for you and do it. That's how it works for you.

I do strongly suggest, though, that you not get into the habit of picking up the spread and starting over and most certainly you should try hard not to do it at all with a sitter in front of you waiting for a reading to come out.

Jeh said:

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?

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Yes, it is ok. There are no Tarot police, or rules that you must follow. The question really is if it is beneficial to do it or if there is a better way.

Opinions will like vary on that, I can give you mine, but also trust your instincts.

IF that happens where cards come up that you have no idea what they are trying to say, it can happen at times, the first thing I do is ask myself if I was paying attention when I was shuffling and pulling the cards. Or if I was overtired and went into automatic mode without thinking. If I really was not paying attention and forget the question, or something of that nature I consider it my fault and scrap the reading and start it over at a better time when my attention is up to par.

If that was not the case, then I presume the right cards came up and it is me who is not understanding them.

That leaves a few options. I can pull come clarifiers to explain the ones I did not get OR yes start over. If I decide to start over, I tend to ask the cards the question: "I did not understand what you are trying to tell me, could you please explain it to me again in a different way?"

That usually works. I tend to take note of what cards originally came up. With the clairity from the new reading, some of the original meaning may then become more clear. Sometimes at that point I do add in some of the elements that came up in the first one once I can see more what it was saying.


Babs