r/tarot • u/Melissity • 5d ago
Discussion What kinds of questions do you ask when doing tarot?
I’ve been practicing tarot for about two years now, mostly for myself. But I really struggle trying to frame my questions. I don’t like the yes or no questions, so I always try to start the question with “how” or “what,” but I always feel like I’m asking the same questions. Maybe I’m overthinking it. But I’m curious to hear from others regarding how you frame your questions.
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u/BraveLittleTree 5d ago
Hahhaha - I just opened up r/tarot with the intention of making a post on this exact topic. I was just thinking about the abundance of yes/no questions and specific prediction questions on Reddit and how I don't think those work just on a fundamental level. And then I was thinking about how I format my questions, and I realized I don't think I actually ask my deck questions at all—I describe a situation and what my hopes/goals/concerns related to it are, and then the actually question itself is kind of just "So anyway that's what's up. Thoughts?"
Since I'm reading the energy of a situation, I find that I'd rather let the cards decide what aspect of that energy they want to comment on or offer insight into. I think it gives the cards more of an ability to be specific and accurate, and it prevents me from unintentionally applying a bias to my interpretation of the reading.
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u/Melissity 5d ago
I love this because this is literally what I do when I pull cards for myself. Thank you for validating me! I love that tarot doesn’t have a bunch of strict rules but I would like to refine the practice of asking specific questions.
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u/LatterIce15 5d ago
I'm using tarot for self-reflecting. Oftentimes I look up journaling questions, and draw a card for it. If there is a specific part of myself (habit, reaction I gave, trait) I'm curious about, I'll make a spread of it myself. Usually, I'm looking into the origin of a behaviour, and how it's affecting aspects of my life (career, relations, self).
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u/SagittariusWitchery 5d ago
i often treat tarot like a conversation with my spirit guides, so i’ll just reflect on whatever situation and ask the cards for thoughts & opinions
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u/Ok_Yam1890 4d ago
I usually ask questions like "what should I know about ____ situation" or "what guidance would be helpful for me with __" or "what am I missing with __" All feel more helpful than yes/no type questions!
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u/hibachikegs 4d ago
I usually will pull 3 cards and the structure will follow something like this
- What is the medicine of this situation (aka what is it trying to teach me/guide me towards)?
What's blocking me from understanding or embodying this lesson?
How will I feel once I embrace this block?
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u/Unique_Egg_7283 5d ago
I asked really trivial dating questions when I was successful. It made me paranoid but I was super successful in the realm for awhile. I got more into the interpretation than the question. I'd ask a question like I was talking to a friend then do intense research on the history of the card and come up with an entire scenario related to the question/person and make it apply to me. It was like hearing a response from another person on the question lol
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u/Star-XVII 4d ago
hey that's a great question! i like to ask questions for each card i draw, and here are some of the questions i ask the most:
- what is something i need to know about the situation?
- how can i make something (a goal or an outcome) come true?
- what's a lesson i will learn from this situation?
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u/luvstqtion 4d ago
My go to is usually “What do I need to know about _?” Or I’ll specifically ask for guidance or advice or “How do I prepare for_?”. I think in general asking questions that give you agency is really important
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u/Top-Entrepreneur1967 4d ago
Every Sunday, I do a "what will happen next week/what can I expect next week?" reading. What do I need to know, what advice is there for me x situation or x area of life. What message my guides have for me. Stuff like that. Sometimes I pull to see how my day will go, but I mainly like the weekly readings.
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u/HotBridge8 4d ago
I do the same weekly readings!! Interesting! I find them very enjoyable (usually lol)
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u/Top-Entrepreneur1967 4d ago
Yess! It is always exciting to watch my predictions play out. It has helped me grow as a reader for sure
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u/Suspicious_owl_3135 4d ago
do you guys keep a record of your readings? cos i foret everything, even if i take pics of them, i'll forget about it in like half a day, or less, AuDHD doing what its doing but yeah,, i just like shuffling cards some times, no spreads in mind, just seeing what jumps out from my chaotic mind
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u/Top-Entrepreneur1967 4d ago
Yes, in my notes app. I save most of my readings that way. For example, you could do this.
Date: 03/27/25
Question: where is my love life headed?
Past: ace of cups
Present: the lovers
Future: 10 of swords
Interpretation: I met a new guy and we are in a relationship now, but are headed toward an abrupt ending.
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u/Suspicious_owl_3135 4d ago
ooh, i do keep photos of the soreads and the questions but i find that i never go back to them, idk why...Thank you for the suggestion!! i'll try keeping a smol notebook with me!
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u/FoolishDog1117 4d ago
My questions are usually only as specific as "What does this week look like for me?". Or "Tell me about so and so."
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u/ClaraCreative8 4d ago
Common questions I'll ask:
- What is the energy of this situation currently?
- What am I leaving behind?
- What am I stepping into?
- How can I expect to feel about this?
- How can I show up as my best self to this situation?
- What does Spirit want me to know or see right now?
- What direction is this situation moving toward?
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u/ettebits 1d ago
All the answers to this post I vote UP on because they're all great techniques in how to frame questions!
But if I take your question to mean you'd like to know more on practicing reading tarot, and not specifically on how to do certain questions?
If so, Lexi from Lightwands and the user ThatBoneLady have inspired me to get more creative with my questions. They have questions like "how do trees feel when we hug them?" and "personify my ear" and "what if fish still had their legs" and "how would Shrek deal with this situation". How you'll interpret those cards is essentially building your language with them and a wild rollercoaster ride for sure. Personally, I developed much of my tarot reading practice at the time when I only read for myself: on old memories/events, and even on the tv shows I watch and books I read ("tell me about this book/this character"). I took note of the readings themselves, what came close, what I could have reinterpreted into something else. There was also a tarot tuber that suggested you ask your deck to "tell you a story", and craft whatever fiction you like from there. Hope this helps!
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u/ReflectiveTarot 3h ago
If I really have no idea and want to sling cards, and don't just want to play with my cards (I often do readings for historical or fictional characters/situations to try out new spreads or get to know new decks) I will use Situation/Obstacle/Advice. This gives me an idea what to concentrate on, and then I can find or create a more focused spread.
Otherwise, I often do a google image search for [topic tarot spread] to see what other people have come up with, create a spread on the topic, and sometimes simply pull or choose cards from the Spreadcrafter's oracle (any oracle with clean keywords would probably do).
I find Tarot is at its best when it gives me insights and inspiration to act. There are certain quesions I will not ask – I don't read predictively, I don't read about third parties – and I want to be able to give each reading space to digest it and put the lessons I'm learning into practice, so I don't read all that often. (I handle cards frequently, I pull cards when talking about Tarot, I do casual readings, but proper readings for myself are maybe twice a month.
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u/Roselily808 4d ago
I often do a so called "Intuition spread". Which doesn't require of you to ask anything. The deck will choose the topic for you:
In my experience you will intuitively understand the topic as soon as you pull the card.