Is it possible that tarot doesn’t work for everyone?

Have you ever pulled out a few tarot cards, looked down and them, and felt that they just didn’t want to be read?

Maybe the cards that showed up weren’t the ones you were expecting to see.

Or the cards didn’t seem to fit the question you asked, so you took it as a non-answer.

Or you just felt totally disconnected as soon as the reading started.

These things can and do happen when we’re reading tarot. And it’s easy to assume there’s something wrong with the reading. Or that the timing is off. Or there’s no connection between you, the cards, or the sitter.

But I actually think that tarot always provides an answer. No matter what cards are pulled, and no matter how you might feel during the reading, there is information right there on the table.

I know my perspective on this isn’t one that everyone holds. But I’ve yet to meet someone I couldn’t read tarot for.

Have I pulled sets of cards that were challenging to interpret, though? You bet. Tarot sometimes feels like a big puzzle. When you're still learning how to put it all together into a cohesive reading, it can feel like a big brain teaser.

I don’t think it's a matter of luck, or chance, to be able to put it all together. Nor do I think it's about energy or connection.

It’s because I believe that whenever there is a question asked of the cards, there will be an answer.

Sometimes, the answers take a bit more work to find.

But every tarot card contains a wealth of information. It’s just like opening a book and reading off the page, except with tarot, you’re reading art instead of words.

Once you start trusting that tarot will always provide an answer, and once you know how to see the information tarot makes available to you, there are no more moments of disconnect.

But it took some practice, and some self-awareness, to get to that point. When I started studying tarot, I had certain cards in the deck I favoured more than others. And like many readers out there, I developed some bad habits along the way.

For example: If I pulled cards I didn’t like or want to see, I would put them back in the deck, shuffle again, and try another pull.

I knew, though, that if I wanted to read tarot for other people in a serious way, I’d have to be comfortable reading all of the cards, no matter what the question or subject matter. And picking and choosing my way through the deck wasn’t going to help me do that.

I also knew that some of the things I’d heard out in the tarot sphere might not be the best advice out there. For example, I’d been going to a tarot meetup where someone had told me that if the cards that showed up didn’t make any sense, it meant it wasn’t the right time for the reading.

As I got more comfortable reading my full deck, though, I realized that this not true: The cards that show up in a reading are there for a reason.

I started to think of it like this: The question you ask, or the spread you use, is like a job assignment. And the cards you pull are the workers who’ve shown up to take that assignment on.

If you decide you’re not going to let those cards do their job, then you’re missing out on what they’re hoping to help you with.

As tarot readers, we need to be honest with ourselves in moments like that. It can be easy to give up on a reading by deciding the cards just don’t want to be read.

But sometimes, it might actually be our own resistance to exploring those cards further that is getting in the way.

It’s important to be able to work with your full tarot deck because you never know where a reading will take you. This becomes even more important if you’re reading for someone else – you don’t want to just opt-out on the spot.

Tell me: Is there a card that often stumps you in your readings? I’d love to know, and offer some tips to help in a future post.

Hope to hear from you.

Liz

p.s. If you’re ready to learn more about how to grow your tarot skills to deliver reliable readings, check out my free masterclass for intermediate tarot readers: