Stalker Cards - what do they mean to you? Who's stalking you lately?

[Misterei]

Hello dear Tarot friends,

 

First of all ... definitions. STALKER CARDS are cards that repeat across two or more spreads.

 

I just threw cards tonight and had to laugh.

Of 10 cards I drew for the full moon reading ... 5 of the same cards appeared in tonight's spread. 3 of them in the exact same positions.

Reading #1 used Triunfi della Luna. Reading #2 used Lightseers. VERY different decks ... yet they served the same cards.

 

Stalker cards definitely strengthen a message for me. A deep theme. If this is a conversation, they're speaking loud and clear.

A card appearing across two spreads is noteworthy ... when it appears in the SAME POSITION ... it's statistically less probable and thus even more noteworthy.

All I can say is that 50% of my cards repeated and 30% repeated in the same positions. What are the odds?

(Who knew that Tarot would make me wish I took statistics in college?) But I digress.

 

What defines a stalker card in your practice?

What do stalker cards mean to you (if anything)?

 

Cards currently stalking me:

Death and Priestess. Knight Swords and Knight cups, 4 swords.

4 swords, knight cups and Priestess were all in the same positions.

 

Not a stalker per se. Outcome card in spread #1 was 9 pents. Outcome card in spread #2 was Hermit. These cards are both nines and both evoke the theme of solitude. I take it as showing progress in the situation. Repeating cards might show "stuckness" in some contexts ... in this case the progression from the Pip to the Trump is encouraging.

 

 

 

[DanielJUK]

Stalker cards to me mean that they are something you have to work out the meaning of. It's not always obvious at first but they will keep appearing as a message. They will keep appearing until something happens that they have predicted or you have answered / responded to what they are saying. I've seen it said that they keep bugging you until you act on it.

 

In practice though, isn't always easy to know why they keep coming up. Sometimes it's a regular current theme in your life right now, something that will happen or something you need to work through. If I can't work them out, I read with them using them like a significator at the top and lay more cards around the card (s). What is this stalker card(s)'s message?

[DanielJUK]

We can't discuss the individual cards or give reading help in this section, just this topic 🙂

[Misterei]

11 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

Stalker cards to me mean that they are something you have to work out the meaning of. It's not always obvious at first but they will keep appearing as a message. They will keep appearing until something happens that they have predicted or you have answered / responded to what they are saying. I've seen it said that they keep bugging you until you act on it.

Yes, the part about they bug you until you act on it totally resonates.

In this recent experience I was in a rut of feeling sorry for myself and thinking the situation couldn't change and my needs would never get met.

The stalkers lit a fire under my a$$ to take some action. And also to believe that my needs might possibly be met if I actually told people what they are.

Crazy, I know.

 

I think stalkers can show an interplay between "stuckness" and movement when they appear in spreads separated by several days.

Like the repeats in the same position show you're stuck there ... but when they move positions you're moving forward or backward.

Same issue different energy.

 

@DanielJUK said

<<In practice though, isn't always easy to know why they keep coming up. Sometimes it's a regular current theme in your life right now, something that will happen or something you need to work through. If I can't work them out, I read with them using them like a significator at the top and lay more cards around the card (s). What is this stalker card(s)'s message?>>

 

I also think the stalkers are a way of elevating a Minor.

Normally I take Majors as karmic life themes and Minors as mundane life. But when stalked by a Court or a Pip ... it tells me that even the Minors can reference deeply karmic themes.

 

I've done the significator / clarifier technique you mention for clients.

I'm super strict about clarifiers in personal readings. When reading for myself I will generally force myself to sit with those cards until they make sense.

I have a bad habit of using clarifiers to lie to myself **sigh**.

[Arania]

Depends on the deck. I have a few decks which behave rude or funny and the meaning is different then. My relatively normal decks usually do mean i need to work out something, or avoiding it.

[FindYourSovereignty]

On 9/4/2023 at 4:43 PM, Misterei said:

@DanielJUK said

<<In practice though, isn't always easy to know why they keep coming up. Sometimes it's a regular current theme in your life right now, something that will happen or something you need to work through. If I can't work them out, I read with them using them like a significator at the top and lay more cards around the card (s). What is this stalker card(s)'s message?>>

Yes! I just did this very thing today. I’ve had three cards repeatedly showing up in personal readings the entire Venus Retrograde so today when they all came up together in my daily 3-card pull, I put each of the cards at the top of my table and did individual readings for each one. I asked the same question for each card:

 

What is the (insert card name) trying to tell me? 
 

And I pulled three cards. It was super helpful and informative to receive additional insight, unrelated to my daily question or the day’s energy update, on what each of these cards wanted me to know. They had a lot to share, hence their effort to communicate with me these past 30 days.

 

 

[Misterei]

On 9/6/2023 at 8:39 AM, FindYourSovereignty said:

 I’ve had three cards repeatedly showing up in personal readings the entire Venus Retrograde so today when they all came up together in my daily 3-card pull, I put each of the cards at the top of my table and did individual readings for each one. I asked the same question for each card:

 

What is the (insert card name) trying to tell me?

This is interesting. We still have mercury and Saturn in retrograde just now. And my original spread was while Venus was still rx and there were THREE rx planets.

I wonder if stalker cards appear more often during retrogrades?

There's something about the whole do-overs aspect of retrograde periods that's similar to stalker cards and doing clarification readings on the stalker cards. Hmmm.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Misterei

[FindYourSovereignty]

21 minutes ago, Misterei said:

This is interesting. We still have mercury and Saturn in retrograde just now. And my original spread was while Venus was still rx and there were THREE rx planets.

I wonder if stalker cards appear more often during retrogrades?

There's something about the whole do-overs aspect of retrograde periods that's similar to stalker cards and doing clarification readings on the stalker cards. Hmmm.

Much to ponder here. I like it and will pay attention to this in the future. There could very well be a pattern here. 
 

 

[Chariot]

I get an 'ah-HA' reaction when the same card turns up in more than one reading about a particular ongoing subject.  For me, it signals I'm on the right track with my interpretation.   It usually stands for something I know to be true, or know is happening, and gives me renewed faith in what the cards are saying to me.  I find stalker cards very reassuring when they pop up like that.  Depending on what positions they fill in the spread, they can show progress, or maybe underscore the need to address that particular issue.

I can't think of any instance where a particular card—or cards—have stalked me through readings on several different issues, though.  That would be disconcerting!  I would definitely want to know why.