Clarification Cards

[shadowcatto]

Is there any rule or good practices to observe when laying down clarification cards? If a clarification is sought for one card, must clarifications cards also be pulled for others in the spread? Is there any risk of misinterpretation when pulling clarification cards when messages of the original card/cards don't seem to match the question, perhaps for other reasons (e.g. wrong energies, not being familiar with card meanings as I'm relatively new to tarot)?

[2dogs]

I never managed extra Tarot cards as clarifiers but found drawing Oracle type cards for each Tarot card and comparing them could give more insight. The ones that worked best for me were one each from the Photographic Card Deck of the Solar System / Elements.

[DanielJUK]

You can use tarot however you want but I think there is a guide to using them in the best way because it can get really confusing if you use them in perhaps an unhelpful way in your reading.

 

You usually take a clarifier after a card you are confused by, you can take one for as many cards as you want but you don't need to take one for each card in the spread, unless confused by each position. I think taking a clarifying card is different to having a few tarot cards in a position or mixing systems and say having a tarot card + oracle. In that situation you are reading them together, so the meaning of that position if the cards in it. So if you need to take one, just take it for the card as needed.

 

Clarifying is when you are not clear what a card (or cards) means in a reading. I think people use them wrongly a lot and it causes a lot of confusion. So I think personally it's not a good idea to take more cards if you don't understand a card in a reading. Not understanding a card is different to not being clear about a card's meaning in the spread. When we are starting out, we don't know everything and a card could come up we don't understand. It's a much better idea to try and understand that card first. Like search online, on google, on here, or in books and get different ideas about the card. You can always post a reading here for help in our reading section, you need to give your own interpretations first and then we try and give other ideas and help, but it's a second opinion. It's the Personal Tarot Reading section if you ever need that, please read the posts at the top before posting there.

Also I recommend sitting with a reading, taking a photo of it or writing it down and thinking about it. I find suddenly it all comes to my with a little thinking time. So take more cards as a last resort. I think their purpose is when you pull a card and it just doesn't seem to fit that reading or give an answer one way or the other.

 

Traditionally you just take the cards off the top of the card, already shuffled and put them by the cards you want to clarify. When you take a card, it's important to remember you are clarifying the original card. So you card 1 and card 2 (clarifier). Card 2 is making the first card clear, this isn't a whole new card in the reading. It is less important than the first card. Some people take several clarifiers, but the original cards are the most important.

 

We get people posting here for help and they are so confused, they took like 20 cards for clarifying and so confused now! Well the more cards you take, the more confusing it becomes! The clarifier cards are not to help you understand the first card, nor to give you a new message. I find people take them quite a lot when they just don't like the first card but you can't just use them for a whole new reading. So my big tip is to use them sparingly, try to understand the original cards first 🙂 . They are just to bring clarity to confusion in the reading.

 

I find as people get more experienced with tarot, they use them less and less. They can both really help a reading but also be very unhelpful 🙂

[Grizabella]

I don't use clarifiers.  They just muddy the waters. Some say c;larifying cards say the same thing as the card you're clarifying but in a different way but that doesn't make sense.  Tariot is a 78 card language.  If you've only got 78 "words", you would certainly not make any two cards say the same thing, would you? I don't think so.

 

For learning the cards, I suggest you're going to learn a lot more if you stick with whatever cards you draw and just ponder over them till you figure out what they're telling you.  If you never figure it out, then just move on becauase as you keep studying Tarot, you'll eventually understand the cards better. 🙂 

[gregory]

I never use them. The answer is there. It may take tie. It may be that you just don't want to see it. Whatever - a clarifier won't help. And in my experience the people who use them are hoping adding cards will in the end deliver the answer they hoped for. 

I may be being judgemental. Well, I AM being. But as Lily Tomlin used to say

 

[shadowcatto]

Thank you all! Yes, I admit that sometimes there's an element of not liking the answer when I feel I don't understand it! Perhaps I'll try to ask another question based on what I've learnt from the original card instead. Thinking time and writing are great suggestions. 

 

[Chariot]

I feel that folks can be too quick to assume that people use clarifiers because they don't 'like' or want to accept the meaning of the single card.  I agree that this is not a good idea, if avoidance is the reason people want to flap down a bunch of clarifiers.  However, I think clarifiers are a bit like adjectives and adverbs.  There are writing instructors who claim you should never need an adjective or adverb ...and yes, these  CAN muddy the waters a lot. But they exist for a reason, and should not be automatically discarded, in my opinion.  They can help make a generality clear, when used with discretion.  There is a difference between cat and elderly cat. There is a difference between laughter and hysterical laughter.  

Many different meanings can be associated with a single tarot card, and you might not be sure which meaning is appropriate for a given position—especially if the card appears in a future position in the reading.  That's when a clarifier can really help.  Think of it as the tarot's adjective!

Let's say you draw the Magician reversed, in a future position.  The Magician reversed can mean deliberately using talent for destructive purposes.  Deliberately making bad things happen, maybe running a scam, etc.

 

However it can also mean a lack of initiative, or an inability to make things happen at all.  Or the use of powers goes haywire due to lack of skill or ability to control these powers.  (Think the Sorcerer's Apprentice ...a very good embodiment of the reversed Magician.  But so is Saruman ...an entirely different vibe!)

You might not know which of these very different meanings will apply in your reading, and this is where drawing a clarification card can save a lot of time and trouble—and error.

If you draw, say, the 4 of Cups as the clarifier, chances are the reversed Magician indicates a lack of initiative or enthusiasm.  3 of Pentacles reversed, would indicate that skills are not up to scratch.   3 of Wands reversed might indicate that it will be a good idea to go back and review the entire situation before employing your skills.

On the other hand, if you draw the 5 of Swords as the clarifier for the Magician reversed there is likelihood that someone will use all their powers to get what they want, including tricking or abusing others.  A 7 of Swords could indicate that the Magician reversed is a tricksy sod who will take daring chances but will get away with it—to your detriment or the detriment of others (as the Magician is reversed.)

And so forth.  There is a lot of difference between being unable to make things happen, and making bad things happen on purpose!  A difference between The Sorcerer's Apprentice (the well-meaning but cack-handed Mickey Mouse in a pointed hat) and evil Saruman from Lord of the Rings.  No point wasting a lot of time wondering which meaning applies, is there?  The clarifier will usually cut to the chase.

I have only known about clarifiers for a year or two, and I find them INCREDIBLY useful, when used in this way.  Sparingly, but without fear.  Most of the time you shouldn't need them for past or present positions, as you will know what is being shown as these things have already happened or are happening now.  You might need to think deeply about it, but chances are you will know.  But the future? That can still be a blank.  A clarifier can help you to understand what MIGHT happen, even if that piece of the puzzle isn't in place yet.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Chariot

[fire cat pickles]

1 hour ago, Chariot said:

However, I think clarifiers are a bit like adjectives and adverbs.

I have yet to see a single person on this forum draw a "clarifier" card for this purpose. When someone has a question about their "clarifier" card, it's always because they didn't understand the meaning of the card in the position of the throw. It may not be the case in other places, but this is not the case here. (Forgive me if this is different in the exchange forums. I am referring to personal readings where folks ask for help with their readings.) I defer to @DanielJUK excellent advice. (I might also add that this is the third or fourth thread about "clarifier" cards on this forum and we keep giving the same answers to the same problem for people who seem not to want to read the cards in their tarot spreads before adding more and more cards!)

 

If I see someone asking for help in personal readings on a particular reading and I see they are using "clarifier" cards,  I will generally skip the thread entirely because it makes me feel they are not putting forth the effort to interpret the original cards in the first place. Or I will ignore the "clarifier" cards altogether if I decided to help at all.

 

And mathematically, when using a  "clarifier" you are exponentially confusing yourself even further. When you draw another card, you aren't simply to interpret that one card in relation to that original card. You should be interpreting that card in relation to every other card in the spread. Cherry-picking really isn't allowed in tarot. Does anyone really think that a drawn card in relation to the spread can be taken out-of-context in relation to the rest of tarot spread as it impacts the rest of the meanings of the cards??? (Especially if you draw a Major Arcana!) Context is everything! This will add even more confusion. In a three card spread, your first card had three interpretations in relationship the other two surrounding cards (including itself). Again, "Everything in context!" By adding a "clarifier" you will add six more interpretations. It isn't a simple matter of tagging on adjectives and adverbs, as you say. (And this is just and example of a 3-card reading. What if this were a 10-card reading? Then your factor of exponents potentially doubles from 10 to 20!)

 

And what happens if your "clarifier" is the 2 of Wands for the 3 of Wands? How about the Knight of Wands for the Queen of Wands. How in the world in this supposed to help? Even worse would be if you were to get the 10 of Swords as an adjective for a seemingly opposite card like 10 of Cups. especially if one were doing a romance reading or something like that.

 

If you do have a question about a single card, I was taught to take out that card, concentrate on it and do a completely different reading on that card as a completely different reading with a carefully formulated question surrounding that card.

[Grizabella]

   If you don' t understand a card, then how can an adjective or adverb card help?  To use your example of a cat vs. an elderly cat----if you can't read the cat by itself, then how will the clarifying elderly do anything to clarify the cat because you won't know it's a cat that's being described as elderly?  And of course, this is assuming the person using the clarifier even knows the meaning of the clarifier either, especially if they're just learning, which they usually are.

 

Chariot, everyone is entitled to read the cards any way  they choose and I'm not attacking your opinion or your way of using the cards, I'm just trying to give some good info here for new people.  To give them the best Tarot "education" possible is our goal, right?  I respect your Tarot practices and everyone else's here.

 

On 6/2/2023 at 7:00 AM, shadowcatto said:

Is there any risk of misinterpretation when pulling clarification cards when messages of the original card/cards don't seem to match the question, perhaps for other reasons (e.g. wrong energies, not being familiar with card meanings as I'm relatively new to tarot)?

 

Shadowcatto is new and she asks a very good question here.  Being new, the answer is a resounding  YES there is a definite risk of misinterpretation when pulling clarification cards.  Of course there is.  If she doesn't understand the original card, then she probably won't understand the clarifiers either, even if she thinks she does, and she can botch a whole reading this way.  

 

I'd far rather know that new people are not trying to rely on clarification cards because in the long run, it's just going to mess up their learning the cards and that's very sad.  

 

I'm also not a fan of people being accused of doing things with the cards till they get the answer they want.  I'm not omniscient so I don't know why other people do the things they do and accusing them of just drawing cards till they get the answer they want is really not my place and shouldn't be my opinion.  It all started back on AT when someone said it and then it caught on and became the "in" thing to say, I guess, but I don't believe it's true.  Maybe of some miniscule minority but who are we to say?  

 

ETA:  I drew extra cards when I was just learning, too, but it wasn't to get the answer I wanted, it was in hopes another card would be easier to read.🙂 I was just learning the card meanings and didn't know them well enough.  The readings I did were on TV shows and things like that.

Edited June 4, 2023 by Grizabella

[shadowcatto]

Thank you @Chariot for the alternative opinion here, I am inclined to approach tarot as a language too, and getting clarification for major cards was my initial sense for this approach, given how layered they can be.

 

Taking the adverb/adjective idea, I guess this makes sense with @fire cat pickles’s advice to do a separate reading on the card in question, which is what I arrived at in my previous post on this thread, so good to know that it seems to be recommended track! Your very practical and mathematical breakdown of what happens definitely helps put things in perspective. 

 

Thanks @Grizabella for the very balanced and thoughtful round up.

 

I do always spend time looking up the meanings of original cards before drawing additional ones, and my intent in drawing clarifiers is not to force an outcome but to try and see what more the cards are saying, especially when I feel there is something incomplete and incoherent. Will take note that it’s not a good idea to rely on clarification cards as a learning tool in place of getting a deeper understanding of the cards in context of the spread, and I’m excited that there’s the Personal Reading Section which I’ve yet to post in! ☀️

[Chariot]

9 hours ago, fire cat pickles said:

I have yet to see a single person on this forum draw a "clarifier" card for this purpose. When someone has a question about their "clarifier" card, it's always because they didn't understand the meaning of the card in the position of the throw. It may not be the case in other places, but this is not the case here. (Forgive me if this is different in the exchange forums. I am referring to personal readings where folks ask for help with their readings.) I defer to @DanielJUK excellent advice. (I might also add that this is the third or fourth thread about "clarifier" cards on this forum and we keep giving the same answers to the same problem for people who seem not to want to read the cards in their tarot spreads before adding more and more cards!)

 

If I see someone asking for help in personal readings on a particular reading and I see they are using "clarifier" cards,  I will generally skip the thread entirely because it makes me feel they are not putting forth the effort to interpret the original cards in the first place. Or I will ignore the "clarifier" cards altogether if I decided to help at all.

 

And mathematically, when using a  "clarifier" you are exponentially confusing yourself even further. When you draw another card, you aren't simply to interpret that one card in relation to that original card. You should be interpreting that card in relation to every other card in the spread. Cherry-picking really isn't allowed in tarot. Does anyone really think that a drawn card in relation to the spread can be taken out-of-context in relation to the rest of tarot spread as it impacts the rest of the meanings of the cards??? (Especially if you draw a Major Arcana!) Context is everything! This will add even more confusion. In a three card spread, your first card had three interpretations in relationship the other two surrounding cards (including itself). Again, "Everything in context!" By adding a "clarifier" you will add six more interpretations. It isn't a simple matter of tagging on adjectives and adverbs, as you say. (And this is just and example of a 3-card reading. What if this were a 10-card reading? Then your factor of exponents potentially doubles from 10 to 20!)

 

And what happens if your "clarifier" is the 2 of Wands for the 3 of Wands? How about the Knight of Wands for the Queen of Wands. How in the world in this supposed to help? Even worse would be if you were to get the 10 of Swords as an adjective for a seemingly opposite card like 10 of Cups. especially if one were doing a romance reading or something like that.

 

If you do have a question about a single card, I was taught to take out that card, concentrate on it and do a completely different reading on that card as a completely different reading with a carefully formulated question surrounding that card.

It works for me.  I was just citing examples to show how the clarifier card might relate to the original card—as an adjective.  If I drew the Knight of Wands or the Queen of Wands, this would be a clue as to what kind of person or personality trait would be in play—or even who the person might be who will embody The Magician reversed—when the situation manifests itself. 

Fair enough if you don't want to use clarifiers. But for some of us, they work.  And NOT as an 'escape' or as a way to draw until you get what you want to see, but ...as the term implies ...to 'clarify' which meaning is most pertinent.  The insight happens in a flash, and I can move on.  It's just an extra card!  I don't see how this is any different from taking out the card and doing a separate reading for it.  I really don't.  

But whatever.  

As for the cat example (and perhaps it's the example I chose and not the principle behind it that's the problem  here) as mentioned by @Grizabella ...yes, of course you need to understand what a cat is.  (You also need to understand what The Magician reversed is. 🙂 ) But what if you have four cats?  Might be nice to know ...quickly ...that the issue at hand refers to your elderly cat, not any of your others?  Why spend time WONDERING and/or meditating on which cat is being referred to, when adding the adjective 'elderly' makes it clear right away?

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Chariot

[gregory]

@fire cat pickles @Grizabella - thanks for clarifying what I said and adding to it - I never saw drawing c;larifiers as malign, just as something people do often as a reflex action, usually when they haven't got the idea that tarot actually works, and think it needs to be LED to where it "ought" to speak, somehow. I also take Grizabella's point that

 

On 6/3/2023 at 10:34 PM, Grizabella said:

 If you don' t understand a card, then how can an adjective or adverb card help?  To use your example of a cat vs. an elderly cat----if you can't read the cat by itself, then how will the clarifying elderly do anything to clarify the cat because you won't know it's a cat that's being described as elderly?

 

Returning to add - surely the other cards in the spread clarify, anyway. You don't need more modifiers. You get Tower in the "what's next if" position - what on earth do you need to add ? You get it next to "advice" and HP - "well, she warned you." Followed by 5 cups as outcome "VERY sad over loss." Or maybe 8 cups - "Move on."What adjectives do you need - you have a very clear picture and now you need to tie that to your question. The neighbouring cards are what modifies.

Edited July 21, 2023 by gregory

[Chariot]

On 6/4/2023 at 9:24 AM, gregory said:

 

Returning to add - surely the other cards in the spread clarify, anyway. You don't need more modifiers. You get Tower in the "what's next if" position - what on earth do you need to add ? You get it next to "advice" and HP - "well, she warned you." Followed by 5 cups as outcome "VERY sad over loss." Or maybe 8 cups - "Move on."What adjectives do you need - you have a very clear picture and now you need to tie that to your question. The neighbouring cards are what modifies.

If The Tower is forecasting something you're not aware of yet ...it helps to know what sort of situation is going to experience that Tower.  You might be sailing along, having a good day, then suddenly The Tower.  The picture is not always clear at all.  Things often affect your life that you didn't —and couldn't—forsee.  If the building you work in catches fire overnight, it would be nice to know that The Tower refers to your workplace, and not an unexpected death in your family, or the economy crashing.   And etc.  

If a card appears and—even after thinking hard about it and looking at all the other cards in the spread—you still truly don't know what it refers to, there is nothing wrong with drawing a clarifier.  If you don't want to do that, fair enough.  But it's nice to know how to use a clarifier ...and how NOT to use it ...if you feel it can help.

Tarot is a language, and a language that operates with very few words.  (78 if you don't use reversals, 156 if you do.)  Considering it deals with ALL aspects of life in many different situations, and each word can contain many different—sometimes contradictory—meanings, it sometimes helps to have an additional word handy to make a meaning clear.  You still have to use intuition, and experience helps as well.   But I prefer a clear answer to a vague one any day, really.  Clarifiers can help.  In fact, I've had a clarifier snap a situation into focus so many times that I would NOT be without them.  

I've only been using clarifiers for the past couple of years—and I've been doing tarot since the mid-1970s, so I'm not a newbie—and I find them extremely helpful when it comes to cutting to the chase in certain situations.  I wish I had known about them sooner.
 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Chariot

[fire cat pickles]

3 hours ago, Chariot said:

I've only been using clarifiers for the past couple of years—and I've been doing tarot since the mid-1970s, so I'm not a newbie—and I find them extremely helpful when it comes to cutting to the chase in certain situations.  I wish I had known about them sooner.

I think this is the caveat here--to learn to crawl before you run. Too many newer folks are using them and it is not helpful.

[Chariot]

@fire cat pickles Yes, I understand the concern.  But my own attitude is 'does it work?'  If laying down lots of extra cards ...or even ONE extra card ...actually produces a useful, accurate result, I think we shouldn't discourage the practice, just because we personally don't think it's necessary, or we don't do it ourselves.  (Obviously if it just confuses an issue in a particular reading, or for a particular reader, then it's not working.)

I didn't create the concept of clarification cards ...they've been around a while.  It's just that when I finally learned what they were and how to use them, I found them incredibly helpful.

Some people find it perfectly acceptable to take a card they need more information about from a reading, and do another complete reading around that card, to get more information or insight on it.  Yet, for some reason, it's not a good idea to just pull ONE card and apply it to the original reading, to do basically the same thing more efficiently?  I'm not sure I see a problem with either approach.  Both are looking to expand understanding of the original card.  And the goal of tarot is to expand understanding, isn't it? 

I reckon the only thing we should be asking ourselves about clarification cards is, 'do they work?'  The answer will be different for different people.  For me, they certainly do.  

[fire cat pickles]

On 6/2/2023 at 10:00 AM, shadowcatto said:

Is there any rule or good practices to observe when laying down clarification cards?

This is the question, not "do they work?"

 

The OP is broadly asking good practices. Some opinions,  different from yours, is simply that it isn't a good practice as they believe it clouds the original meanings of the thrown cards by piling on additional,  needless information. Fair enough. You simply happen to disagree.

[violett-h]

On 6/3/2023 at 2:52 PM, fire cat pickles said:

If you do have a question about a single card, I was taught to take out that card, concentrate on it and do a completely different reading on that card as a completely different reading with a carefully formulated question surrounding that card.

 

Hi @fire cat pickles,

Could you give a quick example of this? I understand what you are saying but a quick example would be helpful.

[fire cat pickles]

Say you got the 4 of Swords for a question about going on vacation, "How will my vacation turn out?" and this particular card landed in the "Family Opinion" (8th) position in a Celtic Cross. Take the 4 of Swords out of the deck and reshuffle. Put it in the center, or have it as the center focus. You would then do a new reading based on that card with the question such as "Why does my family think my vacation is any of their business?" Or "What can I do to get my family to understand my need for self-care better?"

 

Because this card in this particular question/answer context, 4 of Swords in the "Family Opinion" could be confusing and elicit further exploration to say to the least! One's family may be seeing a person who is isolated and alone, perhaps depressed. Not a "vacation-y" card at all! Why is my family so concerned about me? (I am making all this up, of course. I haven't been on a vacation in years! lol) It shows a person laying in a tomb, in a state of deep meditation, more than just relaxing (vacationing). Are they afraid that I will be completely out of touch with them while I am away? (Another potential question I could ask.) Pulling one card as a clarifier would hardly be adequate for me. I'm not saying I would do another CC, but a Triage en Croix may work. 

 

 

[Natural Mystic Guide]

2 hours ago, fire cat pickles said:

4 of Swords in the "Family Opinion" could be confusing and elicit further exploration

Yes, I realize that this is hypothetical, but I love what you are doing here.  Taking an interesting card in the original reading and doing a whole new reading around it.  Very organic. 

BTW, this is a card I would love to get for my vacation!  I see the knight as taking a break from his mission and deeply relaxing.  It's hard for many of us to leave our work behind and just chill out.  Maybe this hypothetical reading is for you!

My relationship with this card really changed when I did an exercise in Divination and Creative Journeying with the Spirit Keepers Tarot.  Benebell Wen posits that every Tarot card is a gateway that we can enter.  Enter I did, into the 4 of Swords.  I found deep replenishment and rest -- something my A+ personality needs.