Asking Tarot a good question is a skill in itself — perhaps even an art.
For me, a Tarot question is ultimately a question about possibility: what may be developing, what may influence a situation, what consequences may follow from the way things stand now, and what other paths may be available. That is why I generally don't begin with questions designed to produce a simple yes or no. I prefer open questions. But being open does not mean being vague.
1. Be clear about what you actually want to understand
A good Tarot question should be specific enough for the cards to have something meaningful to address.
For example, if someone wants to understand another person's attitude toward them, “What does he think about me?” may not be enough. There may actually be several different questions hidden inside it:
What does he think about this relationship?
What does he feel?
What does he want from it?
How is he likely to act?
Thoughts, feelings, intentions and actions are not necessarily the same thing. Separating them can completely change what we ask the cards — and what we are able to see in the answer.
2. Context matters
Before I draw the cards, I want to understand why this question is being asked now.That can be just as important as the question itself.
Imagine someone asks: “Should I move to another city or province?”
My first question would probably be: Why are you considering moving? Is the person looking for better work or more money? A relationship? More affordable housing? A different lifestyle?New people and connections? Or simply the feeling that something in their present life has reached its end? The answers to these questions can be surprisingly revealing.
And sometimes, once we understand the real reason behind the original question, we discover that the question we need to ask Tarot is not the question we started with at all.
3. Don't ask Tarot to make the decision for you
There is an important difference between asking Tarot for perspective and asking Tarot to take responsibility for a decision.
Questions such as: Should I leave my job? Should I buy this house? Should I end this relationship? ask the cards to give a verdict. That isn't how I prefer to work with Tarot. The cards don't have a personal preference about whether you buy the house, accept the job or stay in the relationship.
Instead, we can explore the possibilities around the decision:
What may develop if I stay in my current job?
What should I understand about accepting this new position?
What may I be overlooking about this house?
What could this relationship look like if the current dynamic continues?
Now we have something much more interesting than yes or no. We have something to examine.
4. The reader needs some distance from the question
This is one of my most important principles when I read Tarot.
I try to approach a spread with as little attachment as possible to what I want the answer to be. Strong emotions can make us notice the cards that confirm what we hope or fear — and overlook the cards that complicate that story. For me, Tarot works best when the reader can step outside the situation for a moment and simply look at what is there: the images; the direction of the figures; the relationships between the cards; the repetitions; the contradictions; the things that seem strangely absent.
I see Tarot as a way of bringing intuition into focus. And intuition becomes much harder to hear when we have already decided what we want it to say.
5. Ask when you genuinely want to know
I don't believe every passing curiosity needs a Tarot spread. The most meaningful readings usually begin when a situation has reached the point where someone genuinely wants to understand it. Perhaps something no longer makes sense. Perhaps a decision has to be made. Perhaps the same problem keeps returning. Or perhaps the person simply senses that there is something in the situation they are not seeing clearly.
And there is another part of this that matters: You have to be willing to see an answer you may not particularly like.
A useful reading does not have to reassure us. Sometimes the cards support what we already believe. Sometimes they don't.
For me, the purpose of the reading is not to produce the answer we were hoping for. It is to look carefully at the situation and see what the cards may illuminate.
You don't need to arrive with the perfect question
After all of this, there is one thing I don't want someone requesting a reading from me to worry about: You do not need to know how to formulate the “right” Tarot question before you contact me.
Tell me what is happening. Tell me why it matters to you. Tell me what you are trying to understand.
From there, we can work out what the real question is — and sometimes discovering the question is already the beginning of seeing the situation differently.
— Clio