What Would You Consider To Be a Really Good And Meaningful Question To Ask The Tarot?

[pinkvelvetz]

I would like to ask why I’m here on this earth. For example, what is my purpose of life?

[pinkvelvetz]

On 7/2/2019 at 2:46 AM, gregory said:

What can we best do to make humans wake up to the damage they are doing and start to work together, before it's too late ?

Gregory, this is a really good question that I would be asking too. It’s the reason why there are so many wars in the world.

[sage_lacroix]

On 7/2/2019 at 4:14 AM, Raggydoll said:

I don't really know if this counts as a question, but my favorite approach for personal readings is to come with an open mindset and simply say: "I'm here. I'm listening. So, tell/show me."

When I do readings for myself, this is my usual M.O. because I feel like I tend to ask self-centered or biased questions when I'm in a pickle (and therefore need the guidance of the cards the most). 

Last year, when I was deathly ill, I had an experience with tarot that I think changed my relationship with it (in a positive way). Normally, I would ask "what is my purpose?" or "what is the outcome between these two choices?" but this time I had almost died from a punctured colon (it's a long, super "fun" story) and was on bedrest so I pulled out my oldest deck and I asked "how do I achieve my life's purpose?" because at that time I felt like, well, I am still here so I must have some time of purpose (not matter how small it is). I didn't ask what it was but how I would achieve it. I don't know why, but the "how" helped me a lot more than the "what" in terms of planning my next moves. So now, I approach the tarot from a "what can I do?" or "how can I create meaningful action?" mindset instead of a "what am I supposed to do" mindset. Not sure if that made a lick of sense, and I hope I didn't bore with you a personal story, but I hope you get the gist!

[Raggydoll]

28 minutes ago, sage_lacroix said:

When I do readings for myself, this is my usual M.O. because I feel like I tend to ask self-centered or biased questions when I'm in a pickle (and therefore need the guidance of the cards the most). 

Last year, when I was deathly ill, I had an experience with tarot that I think changed my relationship with it (in a positive way). Normally, I would ask "what is my purpose?" or "what is the outcome between these two choices?" but this time I had almost died from a punctured colon (it's a long, super "fun" story) and was on bedrest so I pulled out my oldest deck and I asked "how do I achieve my life's purpose?" because at that time I felt like, well, I am still here so I must have some time of purpose (not matter how small it is). I didn't ask what it was but how I would achieve it. I don't know why, but the "how" helped me a lot more than the "what" in terms of planning my next moves. So now, I approach the tarot from a "what can I do?" or "how can I create meaningful action?" mindset instead of a "what am I supposed to do" mindset. Not sure if that made a lick of sense, and I hope I didn't bore with you a personal story, but I hope you get the gist!

It made a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing!

[Annabelle]

On 7/2/2019 at 4:46 AM, gregory said:

What can we best do to make humans wake up to the damage they are doing and start to work together, before it's too late ?

This. 100% this. 

[Carla]

All questions are valid, all are fascinating, and all are worthy of an answer. 

[gregory]

Well, yeah but no but yeah.... I think the original question is still worth thinking on. THE question, like.

[Grandma]

What??

[bookshop]

Quote

Well, yeah but no but yeah.... I think the original question is still worth thinking on. THE question, like.

I like this thread a lot even though I don't see tarot as channeling any external wisdom, so questions about anything outside myself won't get me far. To me, the "THE question" of tarot is 'what am i projecting into these cards right now, and how can i use that to help me,' etc. 

 

I don't normally just do strict question/card-flip readings, and maybe i should do them more. But I depend a lot on the pre-determined positions of spreads to tell me what I need to know. I think the best framing of this question for me might be, "What's an ideal three-card-spread," because in that case for me the standard go-to is probably "what's the current situation / what's the root issue behind this situation / what can you do about it."

[AV86]

Anything involving happiness or love. I'm a Libra, so partnerships are always on my mind.

[Grandma]

This might be an interesting thread to revive. Most of the posters are no longer active and we have many more members who might like to contribute.

 

My answer to What Would You Consider to Be a Really Good and Meaningful Question to Ask the Tarot is

 

Who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp
Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong
Who put the bop in the bop shoo bop shoo bop
Who put the dip in the dip da dip da dip
Who was that man
I'd like to shake his hand
He made my baby fall in love with me (yeah)

 

Those of you who don't know me may be wondering exactly who this Grandma is and should we alert someone. Those who do are perhaps chuckling ruefully over the fact that I am back in action. My answer would be the same as before. 

 

On 7/2/2019 at 12:11 PM, Grandma said:

I pretty much only read for myself and I always ask the cards to please tell me something important and meaningful that I need to know today.  Or else I ask if the guy I met last weekend is thinking about me and if he's going to call.  

 

No, just kidding.  I use my Magic 8 Ball for that.

 

Still kidding - I don't meet guys and if I did I would just wait and see.

 

[Aliki]

On 7/1/2019 at 8:33 AM, Little Fang said:

What Would You Consider To Be a Really Good And Meaningful Question To Ask The Tarot?

I mostly have a category/s of spreads instead of a question based on that but i like to do from time to time a "what i should know right now etc" as a mostly full spread question or one-few cards question it really depends that way i see on what i should listen to instead of what i want so it's a more of a guidance/advice question 

[Aliki]

I also like to ask my decks which of their cards i am/describes me kind of questions too even though i always get the same one from all of them so far 😅 you get a nice perspective some insight to your inner self or your core self and it's also very interesting and kinda fun to my opinion 

[Raggydoll]

I have one thing to add to what I wrote in the past. This topic really only applies to the readings I do for myself, because when I am reading for others it is all about what they wish to know and not whether I find it a meaningful or good question. Sure there are ways to phrase certain things more effectively so that the reading has a greater chance at answering their question, but mostly I do as little rephrasing as possible. 

 

When it’s to do with readings for myself, I still find my previous answer helpful: 

“I'm here. I'm listening. So, tell/show me."

 

[Mehraban]

A really good question to ask is, 'Show me the truth.' But the hard part is when you already know the truth, and it doesn’t align with what you see at that moment

[xTheHermitx]

recently, it has been centered around: "how do I/we survive the next 4 years?" 😒 😖

 

when I do reads for others, I usually tell them not to vocalize the question out loud until after the read. I feel like if I hear the question first, it messes with the stream of the fates. I do also give them advice on what not to think about...like making it too detailed, or too close to just a "yes/no" answer. I also usually prefernce the read by letting them know ho the cards work, esp if they have never had a read done. I remind them that the cards don't read like a Magic 8 Ball...(I also often times have to remind them that they are not going to Hell, and/or there will be no sacrifices or possessions....)

 

I don't read professionally, meaning, I have never been paid to read. I usually do it in a more casual situation, but not like as a "parlor game".  Often times the querent is family, or friend, or someone I have had some prior contact with. 

[Nemia]

Rachel Pollack wrote a whole book about trying to answer the Big Questions in life using the tarot, and the results are fascinating. A Walk Through the Forest of Souls. 

 

I tend not to ask questions about the world and its problems; they're too big for me and I know quite a lot of answers without the tarot. A whole lot of more empathy, tact, mutual respect, consideration of others and better conflict management skills would bring this whole world forward, and the tarot as a whole embodies these values for me. However, these Big Questions are very important and I will take some of them and read about them. Thank you for the great ideas in this thread! 

 

My question is usually: where am I right now, where should I go and what am I missing? The tarot works like a compass for me, and I learned over the years, that it gives surprisingly concrete, helpful answers. So for me, the best and most meaningful questions to ask the tarot are questions anchored in the current situation, especially: what am I not seeing? I believe that the tarot knows what we know but don't want to know. 

 

I admire readers who can get a lot of meaning from unstructured readings. I use tailor-made spreads for the situation, or I use tried-and-trusted spreads that I found somewhere else. So the best question is one that can be broken down into sub-questions, for me ideally: four questions. Four directions of the sky, four faculties of the mind, SWOT, Blind Spot readings etc. 

 

You might say that the hidden fifth and overarching question is always: how do I have to act in my life to add to the good in this world?