Why I almost never pull clarifier cards?
Sometimes no answer is the answer
You have a three card spread in front of you, and you are trying to interpret the cards but the cards are not revealing a clear answer to you. You are confused. And you pull a card to clarify, if that doesn't help, you pull another. Somehow, instead of finding a clear answer, you end up being more confused.
When people first start reading tarot, this is something they tend to do because either they don't have enough information about the meanings of the cards, or they can't clearly interpret specific cards next to one another. Be careful what you wish for. If you want to pull a card for further clarification, that's completely fine. But at least stick to one single card. Because without realising, you might be pulling too many cards until you see one that suits you, and that is what goes against intuition.
I recently did a reading for a client who asked me "What would be the outcome if I contacted my ex?" I pulled three cards. One was the knight of pentacles, the second one was the wheel of fortune, and the last one was the Moon. Long story short, what I told her was this: "You should think about it and plan it carefully. A lot of time has passed since you last spoke to him and it seems like there might be some external and/or internal factors that might impact this situation. The outcome is uncertain and it depends on these factors. But I feel like this might not be a good idea because you might be very confused about your emotions and to me it seems like your emotional healing should be your priority." My answer did not satisfy her and I could tell she was frustrated.
Interested in buying a reading? Click on the photo.
"But isn't a tarot reading supposed to give you clarity? I am now more confused than before" she said. "Can't you just pull some extra cards to clarify so I can see what these factors are and how I can navigate through them?" I told her that I would not do that. And the reason was that sometimes, there is a reason why the cards do not give you a clear answer or yet, they give you an answer you clearly were not expecting. And in all the years of doing tarot readings, I have learned to trust the message that is given to me, rather than forcing a satisfactory one (negative or positive) to get rid of the frustration and confusion.
She had broken up with her ex 8 years ago. That is a long time spent with lingering emotions and hopes. There is a reason why sometimes the cards do not give you any clarity, or as I mentioned above, they give you a message that is much different than your initial question. In her situation I wanted her to focus more on the Moon card. It is a card full of intricate layers of meanings. From intuition to deception, from subconscious mind to uncharted territories, from disillusion to confusion. I wanted her to focus on the Moon card for herself. I told her that the cards are trying to tell her that she should look inwards to understand why she is stuck in the past with this person. She could be living in a bubble of illusion.
She told me they had a very intense and special connection (believe me I have heard this a million times from almost anyone, not that I am under estimating the intensity of anyone's situation, but come on), and she wants to know if he is still thinking about her and if he is feeling a similar connection. 8 years… No contact from this person, who left her for someone else, and who is still with that person. She knows because she is spying on his social media. And this is specifically why I wanted her to focus on the unclear message the cards gave her. She had to focus on her shadow self, her unconscious mind to find a way to heal from this, and move on.
Many readers pull clarification cards. I have nothing against it. If they are doing it responsibly. If I had to pull an extra card, I would only pull one card and not more. Otherwise, what is the use of an intuitive reading? Same reason why I do not usually stick to the booklet keywords given for each card to do my interpretations, but that is another story. Tarot cards are full of symbolism, references to numerology, astrology, colors, and so on and so forth. This means, each card is a canvas full of possibilities. Focus on those possibilities. Does the number of the card tell you something? Are the colors depicting a certain mental or emotional state? Are there any hidden symbols on that card? Which zodiac sign is the card related to?
Speaking of social media, I am glad that many readers are out there and that the tarot and oracle cards are more accessible for a lot of people. However, this too could be a catch. People asking for readings, or watching certain readers online, are seeing desks full of cards and different decks. They might think the more the merrier, meaning, if a reader uses a combination of decks (again, there is nothing wrong with that as far as it is done responsibly), and clarification cards, they are a better and more thorough reader. But is it really so?
There are many books out there, also a lot of videos for anyone to improve their interpretation skills. I found it more helpful for myself when I started diving deeper into the history of tarot. Going back to the Order of Golden Dawn, Hermetic roots, even more so, to the iconography and renaissance art, families for which specific decks were created, also psychologists who used occultism like Carl Jung, or masters like Alejandro Jodorowsky. I don't mean to dismiss any contemporary books or publications, as I said there are many great ones out there, but if one truly wants to become a better reader, one should at least try to make the effort to go deeper into the history and dive a bit into psychology.
Obviously, there are no rules. Each reader interprets the cards they way they feel comfortabe with. This is just my way of doing my readings. How about you? What are your thoughts on this? Please feel free to share your experiences and ideas.
