"Do not tell" cards

[Astraea]

I knew a woman many years ago who read playing cards, and if a reading opened with the Ace of Spades she wouldn't go on - she saw it as the death or dismemberment of the question. The querent could ask the question again later, or in a different way. Traditional horary astrology includes a similar principle in its "considerations against judgement," whereby certain configurations warn the astrologer that the reading will be inaccurate, or that the conditions for answering a question are not yet ripe, or that it is too late to ask.

In a tarot reading, I think that the appearance of a predetermined card might suggest something similar, but the full meaning of the card would hinge on its relationship to surrounding cards and its place in the spread - in other words, that card would contribute to a description of the situation or question, instead of denying validity to the whole reading. And considering tarot as a visual medium, the message would be built into the card, itself: for example, the Wheel of Fortune suggests change and an upset of the present order, within the context of surrounding cards - so it might suggest that not everything in the reading can be fully known or understood in that moment (either by the querent or the reader).

I suspect that much would also depend on the reader's identification with a deeply personal system or set of interpretations, evolved over years of close observation that might not tally with other readers' experiences.

[Hemera]

Originally Posted by DaisyDragonfly

Well, I sometimes find the High Priestess card to mean: 'Not going to say, not going to explain. Stuff's happening, but it's not for you to know. Not right now. Sorry!':

I sometimes get this message from the reading but the card in question varies. It depends on the spread, on the original question and on the deck I´m using. In Ludy Lescot I´ve had that interpretation come up with the Wheel. It is the Wheel of Madame Fortuna after all, and she may give but also take -and you never know what mood she is in.
But as I said I´ve had that with many other cards as well. It just depends..

[Kelly-Ann]

Originally Posted by DaisyDragonfly

Well, I sometimes find the High Priestess card to mean: 'Not going to say, not going to explain. Stuff's happening, but it's not for you to know. Not right now. Sorry!'

And the Moon card can sometimes mean: 'That's not for you to know, not right now. Things are in transition, the coin's still spinning, the dice are tumbling on the table. Don't know how they're going to fall, and any answer that's given would be based on a illusion.'

Maybe this says more about my limitations as a reader, though...

Not at all! I think that's really interesting. The High Priestess sometimes offers me a similar message. She often appears when a querent really needs to be told that the answer is actually deep down inside them, accessible to them but only through concerted effort to dig deeper. So, basically, it's a 'follow your heart' message, which can be frustrating to a querent who wants a clear message one way or the other but hey ho!

[MaineGirl117]

Originally Posted by DaisyDragonfly

Well, I sometimes find the High Priestess card to mean: 'Not going to say, not going to explain. Stuff's happening, but it's not for you to know. Not right now. Sorry!'

And the Moon card can sometimes mean: 'That's not for you to know, not right now. Things are in transition, the coin's still spinning, the dice are tumbling on the table. Don't know how they're going to fall, and any answer that's given would be based on a illusion.'

Maybe this says more about my limitations as a reader, though...

I would agree with this! I once drew the 2/swords and couldn't figure it out and pulled a clarifier - High Priestess! I gave up and let the message come to me in it's own time..

I would agree about the Moon too - and maybe even the Hermit.. Following a path where you can't see very far ahead but you know with every step you take you get closer to the answer.

[MissJo]

You mean, a specific card that I refuse to read with? No. That card ended up in my spread for a reason, I'm going to read it.

[MissJo]

Originally Posted by DaisyDragonfly

Well, I sometimes find the High Priestess card to mean: 'Not going to say, not going to explain. Stuff's happening, but it's not for you to know. Not right now. Sorry!'

And the Moon card can sometimes mean: 'That's not for you to know, not right now. Things are in transition, the coin's still spinning, the dice are tumbling on the table. Don't know how they're going to fall, and any answer that's given would be based on a illusion.'

Maybe this says more about my limitations as a reader, though...

The same thing has happened to me, I've also had the cards tell me not to ask a certain question either (it related to a sexual abuse incident I was pretty much over, I think that was the cards way of keeping it over).

There are somethings that you aren't meant to know for whatever reason *shrugs*

[nisaba]

Originally Posted by JadoreHauteCouture

well, since this search engine is not the best i just went ahead.
What are your do not tell cards?

What about you?

I don't have any such card. If I'm not to tell, my mind just goes blank and I have nothing to say. Occasionally in mid-reading I'll get a bad coughing-fit when I'm not sick - that is my sign that I've strayed off message and I'm being given a moment to correct myself.

[Grizabella]

nisaba just beat me to it. I had just come back to say that if there's something not to be known, I just won't have it come to me during the reading.

It may be related to this topic---or not----but when I first started reading it used to bother me that sometimes, after I'd done a reading for someone and they were long gone, suddenly I'd think of other things I'd seen in the cards but that hadn't come to me at that time. I'd wonder if I should contact them again to tell them the added information and it would really bother me. It would leave me torn. But then I realized that those things weren't meant to be known at that time because the sitter wasn't to be given that information, for reasons unknown to me and that I didn't need to know why. These days I don't think twice about anything that comes to me afterward, if anything does, which it usually doesn't. Maybe it was just the Universe letting me keep my training wheels on while still learning the cards---giving me information to help me learn the interactions of the cards or something when I was new. Who knows?

[JadoreHauteCouture]

wow, I am very pleased and surprised this thread is having so much feedback. Im grateful for both positive and negative replies Thank you

I think i have to clarify more what i meant by these cards.
First of all, combination of cards is also an option. Im not limiting it to only one card since it was said before that this particular could pretty much become useless in readings.

Secondly, yes. I mentioned this lady who just stops the entire reading, but i consider the option when you do not answer certain question and then go on with the reading. I also agree that stopping the reading is quite radical solution.

Thirdly, I think i could illustrate the situation better. I know about 20 tarot readers in my area and at least 5 of them have these cards or card combos that I know of. Although there are some people who are coming to you with good intentions. There are some that just wanna try this "voodoo". In my country (im not from Czech Republic originally), some people are.... lets say it nicely... vengeful... If you tell them someone did something to them (even though it was querents fault), they are still willing to either go to that person anyway, cause the biggest scene ever and burn the bridges, or curse the other person (I mean with spell, like witchcraft, which is serious). This sounds bad but there are some psychos like that here and u never know who comes to you for a reading.
Some questions are also invading others peoples privacy or are revealing things querent should find out from different source.. maybe like being cheated by partner and so on, depends on spread.
Some people are cool when u give them good advice, they will listen to it. But then you have these people that you can tell them very good spread but they will turn it around 180 degrees cuz its not what they wanted to listen. And then it can make them go into depression or non-doing cuz things are not going their way (even though they had good cards) or getting lazy when they will think spread is too good...
Here, at AT we are working on ourselves and we take the both positive and negative message. but in real life, you dont always have querents like this. some people may come to you just to find out about others people privacy and then use it against them. or they do not seek any help or any advice at all...
Also when you get person with depression, mentally unstable or even mentally ill, you can tell them stuff but you never know how they will interpret it.
Lastly, im also thinking about this in association with your karma. I knew this lady... She got into numerology by accident and basically within year or two she got obssessed with it doing thousands and thousands names and date of birth numerologies being very progressive. She started to find out what numbers and their combinations are causing what sicknesses, life paths and so on. She got so good and precise. She was a teacher so she had an access to many student names and dates of birth so she could practise endlessly and basically see the answer immediately. However, then she started approaching people and their parents about numerology and changing the name cuz it might improve their bad fate. Some people did, some people didnt. However, since then strange things and misfortunes started to happen. She got ran over the car, She got attacked and so on. When things got crazy and she ended in hospital, she stopped "helping" people but only gave advice when someone asked her explaining that she realized she was overstepping the line even though she had only good intentions. Everybody has their karma and even though it might be horrible, the help from outside could only worse things since person is not willing to listen. that person has to decide itself when they wanna do something about themselves.. In case of tarot, you get querents but they just wanna check tarot readings out and might not be looking for any spiritual growth or advice.. they simply wanna know the future... So its kinda complicated what to say. Especially if they are not spiritually oriented, they could get confused and misinterpret the message.

2Morwenna - no, im not talking about the difficult cards.. Reading has to be objective... Leaving cards with negative message to make reading positive is not any helpful in case they have serious advice for someone who is seeking help.

[SunChariot]

Originally Posted by JadoreHauteCouture

well, since this search engine is not the best i just went ahead.
What are your do not tell cards?
You know everytime you read, you can pretty much tell whether other person believes you or not. You also see whether they will listen to your advice, whether they lost touch with reality, whether they have... lets say darker sides... you know.
you see the problems and how to solve them but sometimes its not good to tell, cuz they wouldnt listen, they are not ready, it would mess up their lives, they would think youre crazy, it would hurt someone else and so on... I know many readers who have do not tell cards. When they get them in readings, they are like.... hmm, blah blah commenting it without saying anything (any advice) cuz they are not supposed to, or they are just quiet and ask you "what do you wanna know" leaving you speechless cuz its the thin ice...
For instance, I know this lady and she uses 1 deck for 1 reading session (not putting cards back) and when she gets X - Wheel, she immediately stops reading, even though it could be pulled as a first card.
What about you?

I don't get cards to tell me that the querent will not listen so don't tell them. For me perosnally anyway,I beleive that divination is quite literally a communication with the Divine. More than that I believe that if someone was drawn to have a reading from me that they were meant to/destined to have it for some reason in their life. The person who does not seem to be listening right now, may somehow remember what you said months or even years later and benefit from it. We can never know that. But I beleive if they were drawn to me to have a reading it is like a soul contract, there was something we were meant to accomplish together. Whether they appear to be getting it or not is not up to me. I am jsut the messenger.

That being said, I DO get cards telling me that the querent is not meant to know the asnwer to the question they just asked me. That is is not in their best interests to know that right now. In that sense, and I have had this a number of times, the cards just tell me the querent is not meant to have the answer to the question they asked right now/if is not in their best interest to know right now. Usually I think it comes when someone's soul iso working on leanring a life lesson and they need to learn it on their own and figure it out on their own.

The cards that tell me that vary though, I get that kind of thing more from the card iamges and from just sensing it there. I don't have one specific card that means that, I just sense it in the iamge at the time.

Babs