I’ve noticed that the way a question is phrased can really change how I approach a tarot reading.

A very broad question can sometimes produce a broad message, while a more specific question gives the cards a clearer context to work with.

Do you usually spend time refining your question before a reading, or do you prefer to let the cards guide the direction? 🔮

Oh it's absolutely about the question for me. And the refining of question, to narrow down exactly what you're trying to understand, without trying to predujice the answer. involve a thrid party, ask "yes or no", but have clarity, and personal choice and responsibility.

Oh, I realize that al sounds a bit heavy and serious LOL but that's how I use taort mostly.

Edited September 20Sep 20 by PathWalker

I completely agree. I think refining the question without trying to force a particular answer can make a reading much more useful. I especially like your point about personal choice and responsibility. 🔮

For me, it depends on whether I'm just practicing reading tarot, or whether I have a situation that needs addressing. I find that the clearer the question—AND the spread itself—nearly always produces a helpful result.

I don't ask a question, then throw out a bunch of cards in a random way. This doesn't produce a clear result for me. Instead, I create a spread BEFOREHAND, set up to address the separate aspects of the situation I want to address.

Yes. If I have a querent, I will absolutely try to pinpoint the question before reading - & I prefer using spreads - so at that point I might modify a spread I know or make one up.

When reading for myself - it all depends on my mood, what the question is, & who I'm asking.

Let me open with saying that i don't read for others . . .

I feel that questions and skew my interpretations, maybe in the idea that too often we focus on our wants and not our needs.

Personally I find if I let the cards do the speaking, more often than not something that should be a concern is addressed by the cards and when I examine the results it becomes more apparent.

Just me . . .

I think vague questions tend to produce vague answers. Because the cards are so rich in symbolism, they can be interpreted in many different ways… Sometimes intuition, of course, can guide you towards a more exact answer, but it's also easy to end up hazy and ambiguous, which I don't find very helpful in divination.

Also, in my experience (especially when reading for others), vague requests for reading come from not actually needing, or wanting, a reading. In my initial years reading for others, I'd often have people ask me for a reading without wanting to share anything (neither a question, nor an area to focus on), and later I'd realise they just wanted to test me. THAT SAID, I do not think an objective, super detailed QUESTION is needed. I think the important thing is to have a focus or an intention (ie. at least an area of life you want guidance on). It's like you have to give something of yours before receiving something from the oracle. And if you don't want to know anything... then why are you asking for a reading?

I understand that some people use the cards differently, and that they actually prefer the oracle to show the way without imposing any focus or intention. I can see the point, but that's not how I usually do it (except perhaps in exercises that are meant to use only intuiton, such as the ISG exchanges). Even when I do general readings, I usually pick a spread with defined positions as to grant me some structure.

Oh, interesting question. A question about questions ;-)

For me, the question is really important, and that's why I create my own spreads. If I use a ready-made spread, it must really fit my goal of what I want to know. And I don't do spreadless readings, I need the structure of a spread with positions. I can do a permutation later, but I always start out with a spread.

And I create the spread to give me a maximum amount of information with the minimum number of cards. I don't like bloated spreads that are difficult to pull together. Even if I do a grand tableau with tarot, I won't read all the cards; I'll focus on the main messages.

I can do all this only after really giving thought to the question. I develop the spread from the question, then I lay out the cards, and then I put the whole thing together again.

Yes, actually, it's a to-and-fro-movement between analysis and synthesis. It works very well for me.

Btw, it doesn't matter whether I read for others or for myself. It's always the same process: develop the question (analysis), lay out the cards, look at each card and their interaction (synthesis),

Creating a designated spread for the question at hand really helps understanding the issue to begin with. It's like mapping the terrain.

However ...

2 hours ago, nord_drache said:

Let me open with saying that i don't read for others . . .

I feel that questions and skew my interpretations, maybe in the idea that too often we focus on our wants and not our needs.

Personally I find if I let the cards do the speaking, more often than not something that should be a concern is addressed by the cards and when I examine the results it becomes more apparent.

Just me . . .

... we are are dealing with an oracle. Sometimes an answer can be found by distancing oneself from the initial objective and trying to understand what the cards are talking about irrespective of the topic we're focused on.

11 hours ago, Marina said:

...Also, in my experience (especially when reading for others), vague requests for reading come from not actually needing, or wanting, a reading.

....Even when I do general readings, I usually pick a spread with defined positions as to grant me some structure.

I like both of these points. It doesn't make any sense to ask a question if you/the querent doesn't care about the answer, does it? Then, I suppose, it's fair enough to just do a general reading without previously forming a burning question to answer. We members probably often do that here on the TT&Me reading circles, just because we are trying to learn more about tarot reading itself—not because we have some huge ongoing issue in our lives.

However, setting up a structure (a spread) nearly always gives some usable information.

If you don't ask a question or set up a spread, what do you get? Just cards. What they might refer to, you just have to guess. (If you're truly psychic, a few random cards may be enough, but if you're psychic you probably don't need cards anyway. 😊)

On the other hand, a spread gives you—the reader—a starting point to begin the reading. It may prove intriguing to the querent as well. There is a difference between the Hierophant card plonked down with no reference at all, and the Hierophant card that appears in a spread position labeled 'Past.'

Edited Tuesday at 06:32 AM2 days by Chariot

Just a brief and deeply profound thought in this.

If you don't get the question right you will not get the answer you need. So yes, the question is THE most important thing. You may get useful information, but if you ask the cards what will happen if you do X, and what you really want to know is WHETHER you should, the answer will be skewed, as the cards will assume you are going ahead. Also - woolly questions are what gives us the opportunity to cheat. I don't read for myself, as I know perfectly well that I will cheat. Don't get the answer I hoped for ? Yeah, but actualy this COULD refer to this other aspect of my life - yeah that fits in a way I find acceptable....

That said, one of the most significant YES moments I ever got was a side issue I saw in the card (remember, I use the images, not the learned meanings, so maybe this doesn't happen to others !) right at the end of the reading, nothing to do with the question (which I had answered to the sitter's satisfaction.) It was a sort of by the way thing, and it was a direct hit.

It starts with a well phrased question.

We regularly see people here asking for help when they have asked a wrongly formed question or want a yes / no answer when they are asking for advice. The question and the spread are the foundation for the good reading to come. I mean context is everything, I have had some great readings with just want the universe wants to tell me, totally free-form but if I would like to know something, I need to formulate the question to get the best answer.

A member posted for reading help a while ago and wanted to know if their job interview would go well? It was a yes / no formatted question but from the answer, they were trying to get advice on how to make the job interview go as well as possible for them. But that was not the answer to the question asked, if you want advice on something, you need to ask for that in the question. There are so many love readings and break up readings where people ask really generalised questions, will he come back to me? Will I meet my soul mate? I think it's not helpful ultimately without getting specific in a difficult situation. Will I hear from him in the next month? What do I need to know about any romance in the next 6 months? I also think we should try and keep the question optimistic or at least neutral.

This foundation is like stage one of a good reading and stage two is the interpretation.