Frequently Asked Tarot Questions
As a professional tarot reader I get asked a whole range of questions. I decided to reach out to my Facebook community to see if there were any tarot related questions that you wanted me to answer. I’ve pulled together a mix of questions that I regularly get asked along with those questions that my Facebook community wanted me to answer.
If you have any additional questions please feel free to email me as I save these up and will address them in future blog posts – david@tarotavenue.com
With a lot of these questions there is no right or wrong answer. Everybody has different ways of doing things but I’ve gone into detail about the way that I do it. I’m a very down to earth and practical guy so I like to keep it as simple as possible.
How long should I shuffle the cards?
After saying that I am totally practical, I do have my own little mini ritual that I follow.
I always light a candle before I start a tarot reading. It doesn’t mean that I can’t do a tarot reading without it but for me it’s just about setting an intention to do the best reading possible.
I do a riffle shuffle and I always do this 3 times before laying down the spread. If I am doing a face to face reading I will let the person shuffle but I take the cards back and lay out the spread from the top of the pack.
Occasionally I will have a quick look through the deck to be sure that I have a good mix of upright and reversed cards. If it doesn’t look like there are many reversals I will split the deck in 3, turn the middle stack 180 degrees then shuffle them. I always like the majority to be uprights so if it looks like about 75% of the deck is reversed I’ll just flip the whole pack.
I don’t obsess about any of these steps and will do what ‘feels’ right at the time.
Other tart readers have their own rituals. Some readers will not let the client touch the deck and other will get the client to pick out the cards.
I would encourage you to do what works best for you. Keep it simple and if you feel like mixing it up on the day, that’s totally fine.
Can somebody else touch the cards?
Some tarot readers say that you have to be gifted a tarot deck and you have to keep them in a silk scarf above eye height! Again if that’s your thing then that is absolutely fine but that doesn’t work for me.
I’m happy to let my clients touch the cards if I’m doing a face to face reading. I always keep control of the reading and take the cards back before laying out the spread.
When somebody shuffles I feel that their energy goes into the cards and even the way somebody is shuffling I usually start to pick up some energies and get a feeling about how they are doing.
I have had one occasion when reading at a market that I didn’t have a very good experience with the reading. After that I kind of wished that the client hadn’t touched my cards as something was off with the energy. That brings me on to my next point….
How should I clear my tarot cards?
If you google this you will find 1000 different ideas on how people cleanse their cards. Here are a few….
*Leave you cards out during the full moon
*Burn white sage over the top of the cards
*Simply lay out the full deck and put them in order
*Store then in a silk cloth above eye height
*Keep certain crystals close to your cards in between readings
I view the cards as my tools to deliver messages to those in need. I treat them with respect but don’t really follow many of the steps above. One thing I do is occasionally slap the deck in between readings. It sounds bizarre but for me it just gives the energy a shake up.
I do a lot of shuffling in between readings. I feel that this really helps me cleanse the cards.
If I feel my readings are turning dark (which has only happened once or twice) I will take the deck and rearrange all the cards so they are upright. This is my way of bringing back some positivity to the deck, not that I see reversed cards as negative.
I have an interesting story about the last time I did that. I would say that 99% of clients shuffle the cards and keep them all facing the way that they received the deck. When I had put them all upright my very next client took the deck, cut it in half then switched one of the halves which meant 50% of the deck was reversed. I took this as a sign that I was supposed to have reversals in there.
What time-frame does a tarot reading cover?
Timing is tricky in tarot. I often rely on my intuition to tell me about timing but will never make any promised on it.
Traditionally, if there are a lot of Pentacles in the reading this usually means that things will unfold at a slower pace; and Wands can represent speed.
Some of my tarot spreads have past, present, future in them and even recent past, near future. This is where the client comes in to play. I will always ask them what near future means. Some people see ‘soon’ as being tomorrow whilst somebody may think of it as 3 months away. It’s definitely good to consult with your client to get a clear understanding of what it means to them.
What type of questions should I ask? General or specific?
This is a big one for me, in fact, I’ve written a whole post on it. I like nice specific non yes/no questions to get stuck into. However, sometimes that just doesn’t work for the client. I do find that a lot of people come to me with no question. I’m working on developing a system where they choose a tarot card and that will determine their question – watch this space.
Other times I will just do a Celtic Cross or Horseshoe spread and see what comes up. For me I much prefer to have context for the cards rather than just dealing a range of cards and seeing what comes up. There are many different styles and this is just what works for me.
Here are examples of questions that don’t work for me.
Am I going to meet the man of my dreams?
Will I sell my house?
When will I get a promotion?
I much prefer working with a client on questions like:
What do I need to do to maximize my chances of meeting the man of my dreams. Are there any blockages and if so how do I release them?
What do I need to know about selling my house? Is there anything that I am not seeing? What action do I need to take to maximise my chances?
What’s stopping me getting a promotion at work? How can I improve my relationship with my boss? If I get a promotion what would the new job look like and where could it take me?
Which tarot spread should I use?
I have some favourites but I really like to mix it up. You can see some of my favourites here.
During a reading I will almost always do a horseshoe at some point as it really resonates with me. However, I’m a big fan of creating custom spreads. I think there is a spread for every occasion.
A lot of tarot readers start with the Celtic Cross but this is a complicated and intricate spread. It can be incredibly useful but it can often be good to keep things simple. For instance, if your questions is about something quite small do you really need to know how your friends/family feel about it or what issues from the past are affecting this decision?
I’m a big fan of the 3 or 4 card spread. When I’m doing my live readings of Facebook Live, I like to keep it snappy. I quite often do a simple 3 card.
What do I need to know right now?
What do I need to do right now?
Where am I headed/what is the outcome?
Here are some examples of my custom spreads:
How accurate is a tarot reading?
Where do I start? It’s a tricky question as it really depends on what your expectations are. This is where you really get to know your tarot reader before you buy a reading so you fully understand what their style is.
An example of this would be if somebody asked about selling there house. I can look and see that conditions are good and yes if they follow certain steps, address any obstacles then it looks like they will sell their house. However, if that person doesn’t put their house on the market or clean the house for the inspections, then the chances are greatly diminished.
My style is not really predictive as my belief is that we all have control of our own destiny. However, I can look at where you are headed if you continue on the path you are on.
I hope you enjoyed these questions. Don’t forget if you need any clarification on any of these point or if you have any other questions then please just comment below or drop me an email david@tarotavenue.com.