What To Do When A Tarot Reading Doesn’t Feel Right
The following is an excerpt from Tarot For Beginners by Kat Elmwood.
There come times where traditional and even intuitive card meanings just don’t fit. They don’t feel right, or we can’t see how it all fits together.
What happens if you just can’t draw a connection to the meaning, or if what the card is downright wrong for you and your question?
Here’s an example situation:
Say you’re worried about finances. You’ve got a cash flow problem and can’t figure out any way to cut any more from your spending, and can’t figure out a way to bring in any extra income.
You ask the cards for guidance.
You might expect to see a lot of Pentacles cards, the suit associated with money and other traditionally materialistic worldly manners. Perhaps you want to see cards that speak to abundance like the Empress or something like the Nine of Cups, (also known as The Wish Card), that speaks to receiving all kinds of blessings.
These types of cards would make perfect sense in a reading about money. Even negative cards like The Tower could apply with the right framing.
Instead, you draw the Ace of Cups, a card that is the essence of emotion, and the Four of Wands that’s all about celebration, and The Devil. How on earth do these cards apply to your financial situation?
You consider the Devil. Maybe you’re trapped by materialism and excess and it’s a sign to give something up? But what if that’s just not you? What if you’re frugal and already restrict indulgences?
The guidance from the cards might come from your negative reaction to them, not the cards themselves. That Devil card, your conflicting reaction to it, along with its fellow cards might say: “it’s not you that’s the problem here, it’s the economy, so lighten up on yourself, shake off this lack mindset, and look to how you feel and what there is to celebrate in life.”
If you intuitively react negatively to a card and can’t see how it applies, consider the reasons it doesn’t fit. Find your answers in the opposite of what the card is suggesting. Tarot is always a prompt and sometimes those inspired ideas and answers can come through a process of lateral thinking.
