When a postion requires a card that's already used

[WalesWoman]

Ok, this is a bit weird question lol. But lets say you have a big spread, for example the horoscope spread with 12 positions. So obviously you will pick the card in each position that is most descriptive. But after a while what if the deck "wants" to use a card in a position that is already placed in a previous one? What happens then? Will a card in the same suite appear?

I noticed once that the queen of wands fell in one position, then the page of wands fell in another, and I had the feeling it was the same person described.
What are your experiences around this? Wouldn't that potentially ruin the reading?

I don't think that when you shuffle and lay your cards out in the positions that Tarot second guesses itself and is thunking itself on it's head for putting the wrong card in the wrong position... but if such a thing did happen, tarot will certainly find the next best one and put it right where it needs to be. And unless you are doing some sort of meditation or manifesting spread, usually don't "pick the card in each position that is most descriptive"... it's the luck of the draw (also called the mystery of Tarot) that places cards where ever they end up.

A card of the same suit might appear, but I wouldn't count on it, in fact more likely it might be the same numbered card either from the majors or another element, but it will be one that gets it's point across no matter where in the deck it happens to come from...it's up to you to use your intuition and imagination to figure it out. It might even be something in the card more than what the card is supposed to mean in the first place... using symbols and such to get the message across. Sometimes tarot is very literal.

There are a lot of cards that can share very similar meanings and nuances, often you don't even realize how much they are similar until you have to read them using the positional meaning with the card meaning... so it makes you see and realize something you may not have before, especially if you tend to stick with stock keywords and meanings rather than opening your mind to exception. Various court cards that might be referring to someone, could be giving you an additional insight to the facets of their personality, there are many, many sides of ourselves and those things that make us who we are.

I honestly don't see the purpose of using two decks together, it just seems like it would only add more confusion to something already fairly huge and confusing in the first place. Use a little more trust and keep it as uncomplicated as possible.

 

[Cerulean]

Big grin...

And if you are reading for a priestess who has lots of lunar and spritual affiliations, maybe every card with a moon or water association comes up....

I will return later....


CeruleanYou

Adding onto this, some of the cards are closely related too.
The Moon and The Priestess, for example, one time I redid a reading. Oh, I think I must have done something stupid and confused the hell out of myself with positions (it happens... I just redo the readings then, asking for the same message '<_< [and apologizing, 'cause I'm that kind of person who apologizes for everything to anything... >_>']). I remember in the first set of cards, the important characteristic, I got The Priestess, dealing with the unknown, faith, intuition, psychic. In the second reading I got The Moon, dealing with the unknown, faith, intuition, psychic.

There are so many meanings when it comes to a single card! Not all are interchangeable, but some definitely are, as in the case of The Priestess and The Moon.

Trust that whatever forces are behind Tarot that they know what they are doing. Because really, whatever is goin' on in what ever deck you use (Tarot, Oracle, or even using your average Casino playing cards), it's working.

But you know, if this really concerns you that much you could combine 2 decks and deal with shuffling 156 cards. I'd go with just trusting them though... that just seems a lot easier...

 

[flyingwind66]

Let me tell you a little story.

... they peeled the top card off the remainder of the deck. It was Strength. After we discussed that, the Strength card was put back in the deck and put aside. Later in the reading, one of the cards turned out to be Strength when it was flipped over.

The card managed to be everywhere where it was needed. In accordance with cutting-edge physics (the Heisenberg Uncertainly Principle, and quite possibly Shroedinger's Cat), the card managed to be in two places at once because it was needed in two places at once - just so long as we didn't *know* at the time.

Oh I had a friend who had something similar happen to them! More than once actually.

Like has been said, there are 78 cards, the right card will fall into place where it needs to be to best describe a situation

 

[irisa]

I believe I always get - not the cards I want or think I should have - but the right cards in the right place - I have to work it out and trust the deck. The only way I use 2 decks together is by sometimes drawing clarification from an Oracle. Seems to me 2 tarot decks twice the confusion if the message is unclear in the first place what if you get 2 cards you consider in the wrong place yikes!