AUTHOR’S NOTE: Lately I’ve been using the analogy of “white noise” when discussing the lack of a cohesive (it doesn’t hang together) and coherent (it isn’t intelligible) message in the cards of a tarot reading. All too often, when diviners are confronted with such ambiguity in a spread, the sound coming out of them (myself included) can resemble the splutter (think “oral flatulence”) emitted by an inflated balloon when it’s released. In short, it’s just so much “hot air.”

Although we may not let such inanities escape our lips, the discourse can subside into puerile “umming-and-uhhing” (the modern equivalent of “hemming-and-hawing”) that is mainly a “flanking” maneuver to get us to the next worthwhile thought. (This is the curse of many amateur YouTube “talking heads” who haven’t quite conquered the art of presentation.) As I’ve mentioned before, there is nothing more damaging to our credibility than sitting across the table from an anxious sitter with our mouth gaping open and nothing pertinent to say. I don’t want to disgrace myself like the previous night’s audience mentioned by a musician at a show I attended long ago: they were so dull “you could put your ear up to their mouths and hear the ocean.”

Rather than making “small talk” to hide my embarrassment, I will often fall back on something I said earlier. Steering the narrative toward a previous card in reference to the current one if there is even a small chance it will shed more light on my original observations gives me a brief interlude to gather my thoughts. The segue is usually something like “In thinking further about Card “A,” Card “B” offers another way to look at it.” Ideally, I can return to where I left off with a fresh set of eyes. This works like a charm since it serves to advance the story in meaningful ways while saving face. It’s not something that can be used too often because we can be suspected of padding the commentary when we don’t have a clue where it’s going.

I don’t like to work that way as a rule and will only do so when in a bind or when I see something truly inspiring that warrants revisiting based on subsequent insights. It’s just another useful technique to “keep on keepin’ on” when up against a mental block. I often paraphrase Franklin Delano Roosevelt when describing the solution to this predicament: “Say something, and if it doesn’t connect, say something else. But above all, say something.” Silence can spell death to spontaneity and momentum.

I’m seldom at a loss for words, but I like to have the option in my back-pocket when I am. This adaptability to a situation that in sports jargon is called a “broken play” is the mark of a seasoned reader who has mastered the skills required to never back away from a line of inquiry that hasn’t played itself out. There is usually more that can be said without waffling or tap-dancing, and almost always a “further bridge to cross” in making sense of what is in front of us.