Yes/No Questions and the Tarot

[DaughterOfDanu]

Hey all. I've been pretty busy lately (Finally did get business!!) That's the good side to it, the bad is I get a lot of questions such as "Will so and so talk to me again?" "Will so and so be my boyfriend by..."

I've been sidestepping yes/no questions. Explaining the tarot doesn't do yes/no and I can instead give them the situations surrounding what will happen if the event will happen and the events if not with suggestions on how to make it happen.

But sometimes I just can't sidestep it. I don't like turning down customers.

What do you do when you recieve questions that are requiring a yes/no answer? How do you answer questions that are like the above?

Thanks all!!

 

[MareSaturni]

Why wouldn't tarot answer yes/no questions?

Aren't them valid questions? Is Tarot such a prejudiced oracle that it steadfastly refuses to answer questions it considers below itself?

I think Tarot can answer yes/no questions. But I believe that getting the 'yes' or the 'no' (or perhaps the 'maybe') out of a reading is something that comes from the reader's mastery over the oracle. I admit not being that good with the tarot, so it'd not be my tool-of-choice if I had to answer a yes/no question. But a good reader should be able to do it with basically any oracles they know intimately, such as cards, astrology, geomancy and runes.

A few years ago I'd cringe at the idea of a yes and no question, but nowadays I think they are just questions, like any others. Of course, it would always better if people were interested in getting deeper answers, that would help them to truly change their circumstances for the best, that would help them to see... But, many people don't care. They want to know if X. loves them, and they preferably want the answer to be yes! X. is just too immature to understand his deep love for you!!!

The sad truth, you can't really help everyone.

That said, I also believe that the world of divination is developing a lazy culture of "we don't answer this and that". I know, because I have done that too. Oracles in the past would answer anything, from "will I conceive this year?" to "will the crops die before the next harvest?" But the New Age divination changed this, and now oracles (specially the tarot) are too elitist to share their wisdom properly in shallow and mundane questions.


My point is... you cannot escape yes or no questions. You'll have to learn, in your practice, if a spread is giving you a "yes" or a "no". Or a "maybe". I'm not sure if the layman wants to consult an oracle that refuses to answer this or that, to be honest.

 

[DaughterOfDanu]

I would turn down yes/no questions mostly because I did not want to give such a short reading. I believe in giving people bang for their buck. Replying to a request with "Yes" and charging them was just simply out o the question. I'd find a way to rearrange their question to sidestep the yes/no answer and give them information on how to achieve what they wanted.

As to people not wanting to be read from someone who couldn't answer a yes/no question, I haven't been met with any issues I just want to see how others handle the situation.

 

[NikkiB]

For yes and no questions i would either rephrase them

so does he love me becomes how does he feel about me

or answer then in a way that says yes but you need to be aware of this that and the other around the answer.....

or do the Mary greer unright and reversed cards for yes or no - i have used this when trying to find something for a freind for example - is it here or there type questions and it worked really well for that, found the book she had lost hidden behind the curtain behind her desk and she had looked there twenty times but narrowed it down and found it very quickly this way....

so really it depends...

 

[Yurikome]

I don't really like those types of questions either, but when there's absolutely no way around them I use a little 3 card spread and try to get the most out of it (possibly leading to more yes/no questions, or to something more elaborate). All in all, I find it to work rather well. So: I shuffle to get reversals, which I usually do not use, and pull three cards. All three upright mean a definite yes. 2 up 1 reversed = "yes, but..." 2 reversed 1 upright is "no, but..." and all reversed is a definite no. And you read them for clues. So the only reversed card in an overall yes answer could be the downside to the outcome, or what's slowing it from happening. The upright among 2 reversed cards could be the good that will come out of the unfulfilled etc. And then you can always look at the numerology, suits, anything to fill in details regarding circumstances surrounding the question and the outcome.

You can always add that this is how things are looking up right now. So the sitter shouldn't be too disappointed if something isn't looking like they'd want it - if they change their strategy or try to influence things a bit harder, change is still possible. That is if you believe we make our own future and it isn't set in stone (which I do).

 

[Sulis]

I've never turned down a customer but I don't use my cards for answering yes or no questions.

I explain that tarot is a descriptive medium and so in my opinion it's not the best thing for questions that need a yes or no answer and I rephrase the question to something like:

'What does X need to know about?'
'Tell me about'
'Describe'.

 

[gregory]

I wouldn't say I don't do them - but I think they are a bit of a waste of the cards. I look to the cards for insights. If they say yes or no - well, what's the point in bothering looking any more at whatever ? I already know the answer. If I am going to get the job - well, now I needn't bother going to the interview, right ??? See what I mean ? I want more from the cards than that.

 

[rif]

I'm with Marina on this one. Why can't tarot answer yes or no? It may come about through a descriptive answer, but the story told by a spread should make the yes or no evident.

If someone asks if they'll get a raise, maybe a three-card draw shows:

7 of Pentacles - Judgment - 10 of Pentacles

That seems like a yes to my way of thinking. The seeker's hard work will be noticed and rewarded.

If I am going to get the job - well, now I needn't bother going to the interview, right ??? See what I mean ?

I must disagree with your statement. Few people are going to NOT interview for a job because they were told they'll get the job. If they do, they have bigger issues than how tarot talks to them. I think your example has more to do with general views of prediction and free will, rather than whether tarot can answer yes or no questions.

Want to empower someone with a yes or no reading? Take my example above and turn the cards into advice: yes, you are likely to get the raise, provided you continue to work hard and nurture your particular projects. Remember to trumpet yourself appropriately, and make clear what you are doing to be worth that raise. It will pay off in the end.

I think the original question about tarot should always have a follow-up: if tarot doesn't answer yes-or-no questions, what divination method does?

Horary astrology, for example, was and is used to answer these kinds of questions long before the paper to make cards ever existed. It answers them with aplomb -- in skilled hands, of course -- and gives a very straightforward story as to why the yes or no is likely. It was used in the past in all walks of life, and by many intelligent people whose well-being, if not lives, depended on answers and advice from the astrology. I doubt anybody ever said, "Sorry, astrology doesn't DO yes or no questions, so I can't tell you if that horse is a good purchase or who stole your family crest. I can tell you why you drew these things to you, though."

Many people are treating horary astrology as a serious and spiritual pursuit yet today. You can search the web and see this. Even in AT's astrology subforum. Why is tarot different?

Tarot doesn't have the same rules in place but does that mean it can't help the reader to intuit answers? Doesn't a story from a spread tell the outcome, provided the reader is willing to look at the outcome?

Visiting the Lenormand section of this forum will show many predictive readings and nobody asks whether yes-or-no is feasible. People don't have any qualms about using the Lenormand that way. Why is tarot treated so differently? Both are merely tools for accessing intuition and insight. They are pieces of stiff paper with symbols, which have conventional meanings. These meanings are grouped together in a reading to produce an answer. What is the difference in the medium itself?

Explaining the tarot doesn't do yes/no and I can instead give them the situations surrounding what will happen if the event will happen and the events if not with suggestions on how to make it happen.

As with any other kind of divination, it's not 100% guaranteed; we humans aren't omniscient. But your approach seems fine to me.

 

[gregory]

I must disagree with your statement. Few people are going to NOT interview for a job because they were told they'll get the job. If they do, they have bigger issues than how tarot talks to them. I think your example has more to do with general views of prediction and free will, rather than whether tarot can answer yes or no questions.

Want to empower someone with a yes or no reading? Take my example above and turn the cards into advice: yes, you are likely to get the raise, provided you continue to work hard and nurture your particular projects. Remember to trumpet yourself appropriately, and make clear what you are doing to be worth that raise. It will pay off in the end.

You make EXACTLY my point (thank you !) The example you give is just what I would look to from the cards. It does NOT give a yes answer; it gives a yes, probably, IF.

As you say - turn it into an advice reading.

Yes/no is bald "end of" stuff.

 

[Amanda]

Take your best educated (educated meaning informed here, whether through knowledge or intuition) "guess" based on what you see in the cards. And then explain what else you see that the cards are addressing.

Here is how I did it here - take a look.