If you’re a tarot reader, you’ve probably been there—after finally determining that you need help on a particularly pressing issue, you go to the cards for help.
There they are, your carefully shuffled cards spread in a Celtic Cross, a 10-card spread, or a simple three-card draw.
And the results are…non-committal at best. Or at worst, downright confusing and contradictory. You stare in horror at what you've pulled, hoping for clarity but instead stymied by cards that simply don’t make sense.
How to Read Confusing Cards
According to Layne Young, a professional tarot reader in Oregon, these confusing cards “are here to get our attention.”
In other words, if you ask a question about a rocky relationship and pull the Tower (and if the Tower is perhaps not the answer you wanted to hear), this does not mean the card is incorrect.
Instead, says Young, “the cards are asking you to stay with the question, and to trust or respect that the card will be a crumb to lead you through the maze.”
What’s more difficult for most people, says Young, is when the cards don’t seem relevant to the question asked.
For example, what happens when you ask the same question about the aforementioned towering inferno of a relationship, and receive something noncommittal? Such as the Knight of Cups.
Does this mean your Prince or Princess Charming is on his or her way to your side? Does this mean you need to slay some dragons? Or does this mean…something else entirely?
Most folks who aren’t professional readers will immediately jump to their guidebooks or online, and find an explanation that leaves them even more confused than ever.
Instead, suggests Young, you’ll have better results using a more holistic method of reading.
Throw away Your Guidebooks
“Reading a tarot card is like reading a word,” Young explains. “Reading a few tarot cards is like a sentence.” And reading a full spread? “A paragraph, of course.”
The cards, she insists, tell a story—a story that is revealed slowly, carefully, and creatively—the same way you might puzzle out an ancient text, or a treasure map.
The visual clues of the cards are also important. Young prefers to use a Thoth deck, developed between 1938 and 1943. However, she has a variety of decks and will often use those based on the person she is reading, and her own spiritual guidance for the reading. “Each deck interprets with a different vibration,” she explains.
When choosing cards, she will sense the energy of the card with her hands, rather than simply pulling from a shuffled deck. She’ll also frequently rearrange cards into new orders, such as taking the Celtic Cross and arranging the cards into pairs or triplets, to help her spot patterns both visual and symbolic.
Using Your Innate Intuition
If a card confuses you, she suggests focusing your energy on the card and picturing it in your mind's eye. “Ask the card what it needs to tell you. Allow the thoughts to come into your mind.”
Finally, Young relies on her innate psychic ability for every reading. "Often times I will understand what the reading will be before the person even has the reading,” she says. "The source of the reading is the same—the universe. Thus, whether you use the cards or psychic intuition, or both, the result will always be in alignment.”
And, she advises, don’t overuse the cards. “A reading from a professional reader should last a long time,” she said—at least through the next significant period of change or transition you face.
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