posted January 14, 2012 05:53 AM            

To add to the confusion, most people are not clear about their situations and many times they don't know how to focus on the important bit of their experience that they need help with.

Unloading your confusion in a vague question is not going to help you. Your reading will reflect the vagueness of your question.

Factors to consider when you phrase your tarot question:

The reader
Also remember that the reader is a person who does not know you or your situation or your thoughts and feelings. Helping them understand your tarot question will benefit you as the reader will focus on the right thing on your behalf. If you meant X and the reader understood Y, you will get a response to Y, which is irrelevant to your X. So, always always make sure your communication with your reader has been successful, and do not hesitate to smooth any rough edges; it is for your benefit!

The deck or spread used
Some questions obviously are more suitable for certain spreads. For instance, a tarot question like "I would like to know about the future of X" will work best with the 3-card Past-Present-Future spread. (We will look at some of the most popular spreads later on this course.)
Sometimes even the type of deck will be more suitable for certain questions and less effective for come others. For instance, Angel decks are best for guidance and advice on a situation rather than yes/no questions.

How to phrase your questions
So how can we phrase our tarot questions so as we get the answers we need?
And what kind of questions work best with tarot cards?

There are many different ways to ask a question. The most common distinction is between general questions and specific questions.

Many people feel like they get better tarot readings when they ask general questions. For instance: "What is affecting my career/John/etc.", or "What do I need to know about X".

An open-ended question like "Tell me about Y" will allow the cards the freedom to offer insight into a wide variety of topics and sub-topics.

And here it is important to notice the context of your reading and reader. Some very general open-ended questions may be fantastic for face-to-face readings but they may not be suitable for online readings or when the time and energy limitations of the reader are obvious. Imagine if 10 people approached a reader and all 10 had a question like "Tell me about my life." Expect your reader to have time and energy limitations and always listen to what they are able to offer you. Some will guide you in terms of how general or how specific they would like your question to be.

What is a yes/no question

Any question that can be answered with a Yes or a No is a Y/N question. For instance, "Will I marry John?" is a Y/N question.

Not all specific questions are Y/N questions. For instance, you may ask "When will I marry John?". This is a specific question that cannot be answered with a yes or a no. You are asking for a particular piece of information in this case time.

A word about specific questions:
The goal is to focus both the querent and the reader on the focal point at the center of the querent's heart. You will find that very often the cards are not giving direct answers to specific questions -unless of course the future is clear and then of course they will.

Bottom line:
There is no one perfect way to phrase your tarot question. The "best" question is the one that elicits a good response from the cards. For this reason, the best approach is to communicate with your reader regarding any time/energy limitations, and deck/spread specifications, and just ask what's in your heart. An experienced reader will know which question would work best with his/her deck so don't be afraid to build some kind of rapport with him/her. Above all, take the time to think and feel what it is you truly want to know.

posted January 17, 2012 04:47 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Cancer/Scorpio729:
Thanks for bumping this.
Why are general questions not so great for online readings?

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Thanks for the question!

First, let me make a distinction between the two senses of the word: 1. general as in vaguely defined and 2. general as in open-ended.

It is never OK to phrase a question vaguely because honestly what do you expect anything than vagueness back? As a reader, always make sure you tune in to the energy of your Querent. I have found that with some Querents, just a look at their eyes and body language is enough for me to go ahead with the reading regardless of how they phrased their q's. But with online readings you don't have that luxury of the physical presence.

Sometimes, a Querent will ask a general (as in vague) question because they really do not know (yet) what is bothering them exactly. Many people have a hard time with focusing their minds. So they may ask you X but they truly mean Y. So, when "general" is equal to "vague", the reading will probably be a miss.

Now, when "general" means "open-ended", this is a whole different kind of animal. Most face to face readers prefer this kind of open-ended q's ("Tell me about X") because they allow them the liberty to pick on anything that pops so to speak. If the reader is a psychic or at least intuitively "attuned", it's going to be easier to respond to an open-ended question than to a very specific one.

Now, with online readings, and I mean readings done with no physical presence of the Reader and the Querent side-by-side, an open-ended question will be harder to "evaluate". What this means is that the Reader has fewer ways to figure out the Querent's energy and tune in to it. There is no looking into someone's eyes or body language anymore. All you have is their words.

A carefully-expressed question allows the Querent zero in on the central matter at their heart, and allows the Reader to focus their energy on what matters most.

Again, sometimes the cards will pick up other stuff anyway. The questions are often just an excuse for the tuning into the Querent's energy.

Another thing is that in online readings people line up and the Reader ends up with a number of people/energies/questions and limited time and energy resources. An open-ended question from each Querent in this case can be very taxing for the Reader. It takes a lot of focus and a particular state of mind to do a reading the way it is supposed to be done. Otherwise, anyone could just flip a card and call themselves a "reader".

Hope this clarified a bit. Let me know if you have any further q's.

Anongrl10