AUTHOR’S NOTE: I believe I’m speaking for the divination community as a whole when I say that the more experienced we become with our method of choice, the more often it seems that everything clicks and we can do no wrong in our insightful observations. Other times nothing that passes our lips comes out as plainly as it might even though we know exactly what we’re trying to convey.

Consistent success amounts to acquiring both the wisdom to recognize what we should say or not say about the matter and a precise sense of timing for when to do one or the other during the session. This assumes, of course, that we see ourselves as sympathetic consultants of the “helping” kind and not simply as impartial oracles.

This subject comes up frequently during online conversations about the professional challenge of having to deliver “bad news” to a client in the most constructive way possible. Some uncompromising types acknowledge that they communicate everything they see directly to the querent in an unbiased manner and let the individual figure out how to handle it. As one who takes great pride in finding the most sensitive language to make my points, I wince at this attitude. The cards may be blunt but the delivery of their message doesn’t have to be if we hope to “empower” our sitters with the information to make intelligent decisions. If we are doing our job correctly, we will neither coddle nor demoralize them.

The dilemma reminds me of the old joke about two crusty prospectors who are in the middle of the desert when one is bitten in the groin by a rattlesnake. The other treks back into town and asks a doctor what to do to save his companion. The doctor instructs him to take a sharp knife and make an incision between the puncture wounds, then suck out the poison. The prospector hikes back out to his partner and advises him solemnly “Doc says you’re gonna die.”

I tend to be philosophical about the “good news/bad news” scenario since the outcome of a prediction is seldom as favorable or unfavorable as it seems at first glance. The human condition is a mixed bag of emotional ups-and-downs at any given point in time, so every pronouncement I choose to make about the subject is tempered with that understanding.

It’s great to be entirely upbeat about the answer to a question when the reading leans that way, but it’s rare that all of the cards in a spread will speak in the same cheerful voice so adjustments and trade-offs must be made in the narrative. I see it as more equivocal than just attempting to “put lipstick on a pig,” but on the other hand there is little to be gained by being overly pessimistic. In the interest of making what French tarot author calls “a full and helpful divination,” and with apologies to the noble tenets of transparency, I try to adhere to the advice of the old Johnny Mercer song:

“You’ve got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-Between.”

However, it must be said that the “in-between” is often the only prudent course to follow when there are sharks circling on both sides of the situation, so I will toss out another platitude in response: “Discretion is the better part of valor.”