Astrologer Steven Forrest has a wonderful teaching that “the planets ask the questions — the answers are up to you.” It reminds me of astrologer Noel Tyl‘s statement that “planets don’t make things happen; people do.” I get excited by such phrases because I can apply them to the tarot. For me, the tarot is a tool, a set of symbols that help us become more conscious about what is within us and around us, a map to help us evolve as individuals and as a culture. When I translate Forrest’s idea to the tarot, my whole body responds with an immense YES:
The cards ask the questions — the answers are up to you.
Many of you know that I’m an ardent fan of questions, employing them in the preparation I do for people’s tarot consultations as well as in the sessions themselves, taking them into council circles and casual conversations, dropping them judiciously into workshops and classes, and posting them online. Questions keep the doors of possibility open. Questions stimulate awareness. Questions expand our sense of who we are becoming.
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To approach your Wisdomsource (however you conceive It) with a topic, issue, or enquiry, then allow a tarot card (or other wisdom device) to generate a question in response to it is a rich and empowering experience, far more so than a blanket pronouncement. If you really take the question into your whole being, let it work you, then respond with naked honesty, you will derive much insight. A greater sense of personal responsibility for creating your own life comes out of such a process. An encounter with a card’s question(s) always makes me feel like I’m aligned with Life and that things make more sense.
The cards ask the questions — the answers are up to you.
Here’s an abbreviated example. A woman comes to a tarot counsellor wondering what it would take for her to increase her financial income. After mixing the cards, she draws Trump XIII, Death, upright. The tarot counsellor notices the main character’s bare bones and scythe, so he asks the client, “What in your world needs to be eliminated or pared down?” then lets the seeker take the question in while looking at the image. She responds, “I have a basement full of old furniture and books that needs to be cleared out. I could sell a lot of the items on Kijiji. Hmm…I could curb my spending by not eating lunch out every day. Oh yeah, (laughs under her breath), if I’m honest with myself, I need to eliminate my belief that more money always equals success. Phew!” The tarot counsellor says, “I appreciate the insights you’re expressing here. The last statement you made invites us to ask what your soul’s true definition of success is. Does that feel appropriate?” The client nods in affirmation and pulls another card from the face-down deck: the Two of Cups, reversed. After a thoughtful pause, the tarot practitioner says, “This card poses the question, ‘What spiritual, intuitive, or meditative experience do you choose or prefer over any other?'” The woman reflects for a moment, then says, “The moments when I can find a quiet spot in the woods and write in my journal. It makes me feel like there’s more to life than work, laundry, meals, or my house and car.” The tarot counsellor enquires, “How might that sense of ‘something more’ apply to your soul’s definition of success?” The client responds, “Success is sensing and cultivating deep intimacy with nature, with all beings, human and non-human alike. Wow!”
The questions posed by the tarot practitioner, stimulated by the cards, really take the querent into her or his own Knowing, allowing the person to really own what comes up in the session and to activate the understanding in real life.
The cards ask the questions — the answers are up to you.
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Image: The High Priestess from the Jungian Tarot by Robert Wang.
Good article, thank you for posting it
Jean
You’re welcome, Jean.
What’s alive in you as a result of reading it?
This one is brilliant, James! I agree wholeheartedly.
Thank you, Christiana.
What has your own experience around this way of being with the tarot been?
Beautifully put, James! This for me is when the Tarot is at its most enriching – when we see it as opening up our possibilities, rather than closing them down.
Thank you, Brian. What has been YOUR most enriching and opening with the tarot in this way? I’m sure that it could teach our readers more.
Beautiful. Well said😍
Sent from my iPhone
Thank you, Rana, for reading and commenting.
I pulled a card for questions on how to respond to this post, which I enjoyed very much and received the Knight of Pents (Tarot of the Bastard). Which techniques are worth repeating and working with continuously (as opposed to single experimentation)? Ones that resonate with our strongest tangible and practical alignments, such as this one.
Great question, Diane, and great personal response to it. Cheers!
Are you in my mind, James? 🙂 Ive been mentally toying with client sessions that consist of only my asking questions… making no statements and allowing the cards to guide the questions. Thanks as usual, for this thoughtful post!
We must have been travelling on the same astral jet plane, Jenna 🙂
The occasional statement to help sum things up can be helpful, but I really enjoy posing questions rooted in the randomly pulled cards. It can take us to surprising places. In that spirit, if such a tarot practice were a question, what might it be?
Let us know how you get on with it.
Wonderful article, James and what a beautiful deck. I recently had the High Priestess and The Empress show together in a reading. I could ask; what are you keeping to or from yourself? What is your intuition telling you? What can you do to become more nurturing? What do you need to feel more nurtured? There is a lot to be considered there. How rich!
The tarot certainly provides us with such riches, doesn’t it, Elizabeth?
With the Priestess and Empress paired up, one might blend their possible meanings to create even more questions:
* What spiritual practice nourishes you most?
* How does intuition increase your sense of safety?
* etc.
Thank you for this wonderful article. It certainly has me thinking of ways I can use this with my clients and my personal readings
You’re welcome, Teresa. What ways of using the tarot can you now envision?
for starters, I plan to use the cards to help clients that are unsure what they want to ask the cards. and for those already wrestling with an issue, I think this will provide even more clarity on the best way to deal with it. for myself, the possibilities are endless. all in all I think this will add much more depth to readings as the client takes a more empowering role in their readings.
Thank you, Teresa. I appreciate the sense of clarity that comes through what you’ve written here.
This sort of reminds me of the gestalt method of reading that is described in “Heart of Tarot: An Intuitive Approach” by Amber K. &, Azrael Arynn K. Is this book still in print? I watched a local reader use the method here at a workshop, it can be very powerful, but you really have to draw the client into the process.
Yes, very much like their approach, which is also used by Mary Greer, Elinor Greenberg, and several others. Very powerful, isn’t it, Fred? As long as a tarot practitioner is clear with people beforehand that this is how they’ll be working, the drawing in is easier. Glad to see you here!
A beautiful example of Tarot counseling… thank-you for sharing and making it ‘real’ / do-able
The question plus the card image and card concept take us into the mythic, then other questions can bring us back from the mythic world to the tangible. I love doing that!
Thank you, I’m happy to read this as I am a young and not so experienced tarot-reader 🙂 (getting prepared and getting more insights!)
Welcome to the world of tarot, Agija. Please explore more of the articles on this site/blog. I wish you much success on your tarot journey which, ultimately, is the journey to the remembrance of wholeness.
The cards definitely ask me questions when I’m reading for myself, but now I’m ready to use this with my clients. Thanks for the insight!
The cards certainly spur some wonderful inner conversations, don’t they, Kim?
Id like to know if this method would work for The Crowley Tarot which relies heavily on the interpretation of Symbolism . So there should only be one question from the Querent , which requires your Expertise in Interpreting this sacred symbolism hence the Magick
The method works for all decks. Use the symbolism to create questions, then respond to the questions as honestly as possible. The magick is in the question 🙂
James, it reminds me of a song “that’s the way I like it!!”
Well done!!! Love love love!!!
Incredible! Thank you!
You’re welcome. What’s the thing you take away from this blog piece? I’m curious.
What really spoke to me in this blog piece is the nature of tarot not being an answer to our questions about our fates, but rather about us, ourselves having the answers within us, while the tarot is merely the tool for asking ourselves the right questions to help us grow.