What to Do When Your Tarot Reading Doesn’t Make Sense

If you read the Tarot cards for yourself, does the following situation sound familiar?

You ask the Tarot about a challenging relationship but when you interpret the Tarot cards in your reading, nothing makes sense.

For the present situation, you draw the Sun (a card filled with positive energy) but your relationship feels anything but ‘sunny'.

For the underlying issue, you draw the Eight of Pentacles (a card of apprenticeship and mastery at work), but your relationship has nothing to do with work.

And for the future, you draw the Tower (a card of upheaval and difficult changes) but breaking up is the last thing you want for your relationship (you just want to be able to work things out).

A reading like this can completely throw you off course and send you in a tailspin. You start thinking, “Is my Tarot reading wrong?” “Am I using the wrong meanings?” “Am I actually any good at reading the Tarot cards?”

Not exactly the highly intuitive and insightful experience you were hoping for from reading the Tarot cards for yourself, huh?

Not to worry. In this post, I want to help you navigate your way through a Tarot reading that doesn't make sense. I'll show you why your Tarot reading may seem ‘wrong' and I'll walk you through 3 specific strategies you can use to understand the deeper meaning of your reading. You'll know exactly how to turn your confusion into clarity and make sense of your Tarot readings, no matter what the message.

Why Your Tarot Readings Don't Make Sense

First, let's talk about why some Tarot readings don't make sense when you first interpret them.

You're Unconsciously Aware

A confusing reading may be a sign that you're unconsciously aware of a situation. That is, you don't know what you don't know… yet.

You have an inkling or an intuitive sense about what's happening, but it hasn't come into your conscious awareness just yet. It's like your intuition is trying to tell you something, but the question is, are you ready to listen?

The Future is Yet to Unfold

The challenge with accurately predicting ‘the future' is that the future is yet to fully unfold and therefore it is impossible to know right now, when you're doing the reading, whether the cards are ‘correct' or not.

As a professional Tarot reader, I've seen it time and time again when a client will say after a reading, “That's never going to happen. The reading is wrong!”, only to email me a few months later and apologize because it had actually unfolded the way I had outlined in the reading.

So, even though it may seem impossible right now, it's important to remember that the future has not yet unfolded and indeed anything is possible.

Your Interpretation is a Little ‘Off'

You know the saying, “The Tarot cards never lie”? Well, I believe it is, for the most part, true. So then why is your reading not making any sense?

At the core, the Tarot cards represent energy. That energy is what holds to be true, always. Where things can go a little off course is how you interpret that energy within a Tarot reading.

You might see the Tower and interpret it as a break-up. But really, it turns out all that upheaval energy is in fact a major change in the relationship for the better.

So it isn't that the cards are wrong, but rather your interpretation may need a little tweaking.

Now that you understand why your Tarot reading isn't making sense, here's what you can do to bring greater clarity to your reading.

3 Strategies for When Your Tarot Reading Doesn't Make Sense

1. Record the Reading And Come Back to It

Even if your Tarot reading doesn't make sense, write down exactly what you see in the reading.

You might want to highlight the messages that you don't resonate with straight away, knowing that you can come back to these at a later stage.

As time passes and your situation unfolds, come back to your reading. What messages give you greater clarity now that you have the gift of hindsight? What new messages are emerging? What interpretations might you modify or tweak in your original reading, based on what has happened?

This is an excellent learning opportunity, both from a technical perspective and a personal one.

If you're curious about the benefits of recording your readings, see my blog post Why Every Tarot Reader Should Keep a Tarot Journal.

2. Be Curious

When you receive a message that doesn't make sense, you have a choice. You can dismiss it completely and quickly sweep up the Tarot cards as if the reading never happened (and ignore the opportunity to learn more about yourself).

Or, you can keep an open mind and be curious about what new information it has to offer you.

You see, when you allow yourself the opportunity to be curious, you allow yourself the opportunity to discover that which is unknown or unconscious.

And with an open and curious mind, you can use a number of techniques to inquire even more deeply into your situation:

• Free write for 10 minutes about what the message in the cards might possibly mean for you.

• Meditate with the Tarot card that has you stumped and see what new insights emerge from your subconscious.

• Talk to a good friend about the message within the reading and see if they can offer you an outside opinion of what's really going on.

• Do a follow-up Tarot reading to ‘unpack' the first reading and reveal what it truly means for you. (A word of caution… it's easy to ‘over-read' a situation with multiple readings. Set some boundaries around the follow-up reading and ensure you're not simply trying to get the answer you want.)

3. Sharpen Your Tarot Reading Skills

If you find yourself drawing a blank or feeling completely confused in your Tarot readings, there are lots of great techniques to help you interpret the cards.

I teach some of my top tips for reading Tarot accurately & intuitively inside my  FREE Training: How to Become an Intuitive Tarot Reader (spoiler alert: no memorization required)!
Inside this training you'll discover:

• The easy way to feel confident every time you interpret the cards – even when your intuition doesn’t match what the book says
• How to go beyond basic meanings and instantly understand how each card applies to any situation
• How to free yourself from the guidebook for good so you can give readings anytime, anywhere
• My proven technique to get into flow for more accurate and efficient Tarot readings

This workshop is absolutely free and there are spots available across all time zones. Click here to join the FREE Training!

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