How do you determine the credibility of a (seemingly) very positive reading?

[greenribbon]

When you get the vibe that the spread you've pulled are too good to be true, how do you know it isn't just your own wishful thinking influencing the cards?

 

A few times recently, I've pulled cards to gain insight into a couple different aspects of my life that haven't been going so well, and suits like the Six of Wands or the Sun have turned up in relation to the outcomes with surrounding cards to support more positive interpretations. I know every suit can be ill-aspected and no card is unambiguously positive, but still I'm left confused. Should I trust that something better is coming my way? Or chalk these readings up to my hope for a better outcome helping create the illusion of one? How do you tell the difference?

[DanielJUK]

It is possible to get a very positive reading, sometimes we do get them! But also it's true that we can interpret it wrong or our too positive on our own readings.

 

I think the only way you can determine the credibility of the reading is to get a second or other opinions on it! Get a friend to look at it or get a professional reading.

 

We have a section of the forum if you want to post a reading to see how others interpret it. That section is here - Personal Tarot Readings

You need to get to 5 posts around the forum to access it, then follow the rules at the top. You need to interpret it yourself first, then members will give you their ideas and perspective and then you get them feedback on how you found their ideas, the quality of their help. It's a learning process, members help with readings and the original poster says how it helped them.

 

Apart from getting other views, I think you can only see how it turns out. This is tricky if you ask about something in the next ten years, but you can "test it" by doing a reading for the next week or month or day and then seeing if it was true or not. I think seeing how it turns out is a really good learning method.

[Raggydoll]

8 hours ago, greenribbon said:

When you get the vibe that the spread you've pulled are too good to be true, how do you know it isn't just your own wishful thinking influencing the cards?

 

A few times recently, I've pulled cards to gain insight into a couple different aspects of my life that haven't been going so well, and suits like the Six of Wands or the Sun have turned up in relation to the outcomes with surrounding cards to support more positive interpretations. I know every suit can be ill-aspected and no card is unambiguously positive, but still I'm left confused. Should I trust that something better is coming my way? Or chalk these readings up to my hope for a better outcome helping create the illusion of one? How do you tell the difference?

I think that the most important thing is to look at the question that was asked, and then make sure your interpretations are focused on answering that question. If you asked something specific and got an optimistic answer, then I see no reason not to trust it. You can always evaluate the interpretations later and see how well they matched what actually transpired.
 

Sometimes I see that people ask something specific and then give a more general interpretation, which makes the reading less reliable. But as long as you’re actually focusing on the question, then you should be able to trust the answer. 

[Ferrea]

Maybe the tarot's idea of "positive" doesn’t match yours in that specific reading. Just taking the two examples given in your opening post, @greenribbon: The Sun can indicate a clarity we’re not yet ready to embrace. It can be the antidote to cards like the 8 of Swords, 7 of Cups, the Devil, and, of course, the Moon, which precedes the Sun.

For example, one might ask: Should I go out with my friends and celebrate? Most people would interpret the Sun as a clear yes. But imagine the person has a problem with substance abuse, and that will be part of the "celebration." In this case, the Sun would be clear advice to stay sober, to stay free from the entanglements of the Moon. For me, the Sun is more about clarity and consciousness than happiness.

The 6 of Wands, in my experience, can as well be a confirmation of what I thought would happen. You thought this would go badly? High-five – you've been spot on!

 

You can ask clarifying questions and pull at least two cards for this. Avoid negations. So, instead of asking, What am I not seeing here?, try something along these lines: What does that mean exactly? or What most significant aspect of the card is being referred to here? This is just based on my own experiences.

 

Another option would be to read with reversals and be very determined about how you interpret them.

 

This is all not to say that a change in an unfavourable pattern doesn’t show up in the cards. I recently experienced something similar: good cards on a subject where confusion and disappointment had prevailed for some time. I actually leaned back, crossed my arms, and said, I don’t believe you! Which is kind of funny. But yeah—why not? The effect it had on me was an easing up, a dissolving of tension around the subject. I’m not amped up but curious.

 

[gregory]

Also - maybe the cards were trying to show you that there is a more positive side to it all, and you need to change your attitude.

[Misterei]

18 hours ago, greenribbon said:

When you get the vibe that the spread you've pulled are too good to be true, how do you know it isn't just your own wishful thinking influencing the cards?

I use *test cards*. The cards in the Past and Present positions should hit. If these cards don't hit, then I know something is off.

 

As per false positives, yes it can happen. Humans have a negative bias [survival and prepping for danger] but sometimes we overcompensate with a positive bias. I address the issue by assessing the vibe of the spread as a whole before getting into specific card meanings. Frex if the vibe is mostly neutral, it will caution me about being overly optimistic with the benefic cards or overly negative with malefic cards. Of course this can go wrong, too. A spread has a positive vibe which turns out to be wrong. Just like weather predictions, there's an error factor. The news predicted sunshine and warm weather and instead it's cold and foggy. It happens. The goal is to make correct predictions 90% of the time since no one is 100%.

[greenribbon]

Thanks, all, for the input!

 

@ferrea, you make a good point about context influencing the tone of the cards' meanings. I appreciate the tips on clarifiers, too.

 

@gregory, you're probably right about needing to change my attitude. I've always had difficulty accepting good news at face value without looking for the hidden strings.

 

@misterei, I love the test cards idea. Gonna try that and see what if anything changes for me.