Questions to Ask During Tarot Reading
Questions to ask the reader while a tarot reading is happening, so you leave with something you can use rather than a blur of card names. Includes what to ask about the cards themselves and where a reader should decline to answer.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How do you like to work: should I bring a question, or would you rather start open?
Why ask it
Readers differ, and getting this wrong wastes the first ten minutes. Some build the whole reading around a stated question, others prefer to pull first and hear the context afterwards.
What kind of questions do you not read on?
Why ask it
Many readers decline health, pregnancy, legal matters, death and questions about third parties, and it is better to hear the limits at the start. A reader with no limits at all is worth being careful with.
Can we work on a decision I am facing, or would you rather look at the situation first?
Why ask it
Naming a decision gives the reading something to be about. Readers often prefer to lay out the situation before the choice, and knowing which order they use helps you follow along.
What does that card mean here, in this position, rather than in general?
Why ask it
A card's textbook meaning and its meaning in the spread can be quite different. Asking this keeps the reader interpreting rather than reciting, and it is the single most useful question during a reading.
What in the spread made you say that?
Why ask it
Asked without hostility, this is a fair question and a good reader will answer it easily: a card's position, a pattern of suits, a repeated number. Vagueness in reply is worth noticing.
Which card here surprised you?
Why ask it
The unexpected card is usually where the reading has something you did not bring with you. It also stops the session from settling into confirming what you already said.
How much of this is the cards and how much is your read of me?
Why ask it
An honest reader will say plainly that both are in play. The answer tells you how to weigh what you are hearing, which matters more if you have shared a lot of context.
What would you say this reading is not about?
Why ask it
Narrowing is more useful than expanding. It also catches the common problem of a reading that grows to cover your whole life and therefore says nothing specific about anything.
Where does this suggest the choice is mine, and where does it suggest it is not?
Why ask it
This separates what you can act on from what you can only respond to. It also moves the reading away from prediction, which is where readings tend to be least useful.
What am I contributing to this situation that I might not want to look at?
Why ask it
The question most likely to produce something uncomfortable, which is generally the part worth keeping. If the answer is entirely about other people's behaviour, press once.
What does this look like if I change nothing?
Why ask it
Useful because it is checkable against your own experience. A description of the status quo that you recognise gives you more reason to take the rest of the reading seriously.
What is the least comfortable reading of this spread?
Why ask it
Readers soften, particularly with paying clients who look upset. Asking for the harder version explicitly gives them permission to say what they were shading.
What keeps coming up that I have not asked about?
Why ask it
Repetition across a spread is the pattern a reader will notice before you do. It often points at the subject you have been carefully steering around.
Which parts of this should I not treat as prediction?
Why ask it
A plain answer here is a sign of an honest practitioner. Timing claims and statements about what other people will do are the parts that most often turn out to be simply wrong.
If I only remember one thing from today, what should it be?
Why ask it
Forces a summary while the reader still has the spread in front of them. It is also much easier to write down than the reading as a whole.
What is a better version of the question I came in with?
Why ask it
Questions arrive as "will he come back" and are more useful as "what would I need to see to trust this again". Reworking it is a skill readers have and clients usually do not.
What would you suggest I do this week?
Why ask it
Small and concrete beats large and symbolic. Be wary if the suggestion is to book more sessions, buy an object, or pay for something to be removed.
How should I record this so it is useful in three months?
Why ask it
Photograph the spread, note the question and the two or three sentences that landed. Readings read very differently later, and the record is what turns one into something you can learn from.
What should I do if none of this matches how I feel?
Why ask it
A reader who says to set it aside is being straight with you. One who insists you will understand later, or that resistance proves the point, is closing off the possibility of being wrong.
Where do you draw the line between guidance and advice?
Why ask it
The distinction matters most on money, health and legal questions, where the answer should be a referral to a professional. Ask it early if you came in with a decision of that kind.
Getting a useful reading
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Framing what you bring
Ask about your own position, not other people's minds
"What am I not seeing about this job" gives a reader something to work with. "What is my colleague thinking" does not, and many readers decline third-party questions on principle.
Avoid yes or no
Closed questions collapse a spread into a coin toss and waste the detail in the cards. Convert them: instead of whether to move, ask what moving would cost you and what staying would.
Bring one question, not six
An hour holds one subject examined properly. Six questions produce six shallow answers and a reading you cannot summarise afterwards.
Say how much context you want to give
Some clients prefer to say almost nothing so the reading feels unled. That is a reasonable choice, but say it out loud, or the reader will keep asking and you will both be uncomfortable.
Where a reading is the wrong tool
Medical questions
A reading cannot diagnose an illness, confirm a pregnancy, or tell you whether to take a medication. A responsible reader will say so and suggest you see a doctor, and that is the right answer rather than a lack of skill.
Legal and financial decisions
Custody, immigration status, contracts, investments and debt need a professional who is accountable for the advice. Use a reading, if at all, for how you feel about the decision, not for the decision.
Questions about someone in crisis
If you are asking about a person at risk of harm, put the reading aside and contact a doctor or an emergency service. This is not a limitation of tarot so much as a question of timing.
Signs to end the session
- A reading that identifies a curse or a blockage and offers to remove it for a further fee
- Pressure to book again immediately, or a discount that expires today
- Refusal to explain which card an interpretation came from
- A prediction of death, illness or serious harm to you or someone else
- Being told that doubting the reading is proof it is accurate
- Requests for information a reader has no reason to hold, such as bank details or documents
Afterwards
Write it down the same day
The question you asked, the cards if you photographed them, and the two sentences you remember. Detail fades within a day and the paraphrase you keep is usually the part that suited you.
Separate the reading from the decision
It is reasonable to take one line from a reading and act on it. It is a different thing to hand the choice over, and readers worth returning to will say the same.
Wait before booking again
Repeat readings on the same question tend to produce contradictory answers and rising anxiety. Give the first one time to be tested against what actually happens.