Y’all are getting your money’s worth today - I am revealing my tried and true techniques for using the “right questions” to get “good answers“.
By the end of this post you are either going to think I am crazy, or a genius.
If you watched True Detective, Night Country you may have noticed the fervent way Jodie Foster’s character Liz Danvers would bark, “wrong question!” when she and her young colleague were trying to figure out what happened with the crime they were investigating.
I think Jodie/Liz barking “wrong question!” stuck in my mind because I’ve been really noticing all the ways we block ourselves from knowing information that would, ironically, be very good to know. Information that, if we have a good divination practice, is actually available and in plain sight.
Instagram and YouTube are full of people pulling cards for the collective, sharing their favorite decks, and doing readings that we can follow along with. Now, more than ever there is a beautiful deck themed out for any conceivable style and occasion.
And yet, no matter how beautiful the deck, it seems we all have had the experience of pulling cards and really not getting a “good reading” that vibes well with the rest of what we are seeing, feeling, thinking, dreaming.
The way I see it, our brains are always making meaning, often/sometimes the meaning made results in errors in thinking, which creates boxes and blocks that act like blinders; keeping us from seeing larger truths.
To complicate things further, each of us contains multitudes - different ‘selves’ with different ‘goals’ - that want to experience different things. We might have a rogue energy inside us that called a card forward, who isn’t an ideal representative for our whole Self.
Additionally, when we don’t take the time to calm ourselves (meditation is my favorite way to settle down) before we pick up our cards, we often craft narrow kinds of “wrong questions” that limit the type of information the cards can deliver. We are too tight, too specific in our inquiry. We aren’t giving the tools room to move and offer us the full portion of their magic.
All of this combined is the reason why “should I?” type questions rarely deliver the intel we desire. The question is too small and doesn’t allow a wide range of information to come through in its wholeness. I don’t categorically make big rules about mystical actions, but I can honestly say I believe with any “should” inquiries (or “what will happen if” questions) we are asking the “wrong question”.
I also believe that shuffling and pulling cards when we are triggered is only going to result in a reading that confuses or triggers us further.
Arriving at the right question takes a little time sometimes. We have to let the waters of our being settle, let all the sediment of emotion stop swirling, dive towards the ultimate core of the matter and then swim back to surface to ask our cards to answer this new, deeper (often more wide-open) inquiry.
The reason this is so effing hard is that we often turn towards our cards in moments of heightened emotion or anxiety. So, in that moment, there are parts of us that just don’t want to settle down , they just want the cards to show them that what they think they want is on the way.
Fortunately, I’ve been pulling cards since the 1900s (1990s lol) and as I am an efficacy-based spiritual person, I feel I have some worthwhile methodology to share.
My relationship with my cards - published decks and the SoulCollage® deck I made - is always on-going. I have daily, monthly, yearly routine pulls I do, I keep certain cards from readings out in specific places to remind me where to I wish to focus my energy and intent, I often keep an important card on my phone home screen and I routinely cleanse my decks and give them little treats like nesting them in rosemary and lavender or gridding them with crystals, etc.
I don’t “get readings” from anyone any more. Back in the 1900s (1990s lol) I loved to get readings and in the early 2000s I felt very lucky to be surrounded by many talented colleagues that I could source my readings from. At this point, I have developed my own intuition and relationship with my spiritual tools to the point that I trust my own system to such a high degree that consulting someone else, however talented, would only muddy the water (at best). I also prefer to do my divination work alone (rather than with a friend) as I notice I get the “best readings” when I am not “performing” for an audience.
I have a very broad, “nothing is all good or all bad” way of interpreting cards. I am very open to a classically “tricky” card being my hero for a day. I am very open to a tarot card with a traditionally “scary” meaning becoming my best ally. Likewise, I am also aware that when I pull a card my ego “really likes”, that could have a trickster element to it.
I am in loving relationship with my cards. For many years, we’ve lived each day and each year together, which allows me to realize and embody their wisdom in profound, life-affirming ways. When I pull a card in the morning, we literally spend the day together - I am learning about their magic and they are adding to mine. This also helps me go beyond the traditional “this is a good card, this is a bad card” binary.
I choose (and make) cards both intuitively and intentionally. Picking a card intuitively is the method we classically think of - I close my eyes and let the right cards be shuffled and selected. Picking a card intentionally is very powerful - it is when we go looking for a certain energy in the deck and call it forth on purpose. For instance, when I intentionally pick a card for inspiration for a project, that card is my companion as I bring that project to fruition.
I am never not consulting my cards. I get “good answers” because I am in constant communion with my divination tools. They are not something that I pull out in a moment of crisis and confusion. We are in a life-long conversation and I don’t put them in a spot where I am demanding solace and instant manifestation from them. I get “good answers” because I have easy routines that deliver a lot of information and I take the time to settle the waters of my being before consulting my cards for a specific purpose/reason.
I understand and allow different aspects of my being to connect with my cards. For instance, I sometimes pull a card for my emotional self, then another for my mystical self, and then another for my worldly self. This way I am connecting with the cards on mulitple levels which always invites nuance, perspective and depth to my readings.
However your personal divination practice is right now, I am here to tell you that you can skip the “wrong questions” and get “good answers” too!
As promised, I am going to get into the nitty-gritty and show you my actual process (developed over many years).
I am showing you this not so you immediately imitate it (although you are welcome to! it is a really elegant and effective system!), but rather to spark your imagination regarding your own practice.
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