AUTHOR’S NOTE: While following an r/occult sub-reddit thread, I came across the concept of “excess importance.” Here is the technical definition:

“Excess importance is a concept from Vadim Zeland’s Reality Transurfing that refers to overvaluing a person, object, or goal, which creates ‘excess potential’ (unbalanced energy). It manifests as desperation, fear, or obsession, often leading to the opposite of the desired result because ‘balancing forces’ act to neutralize this imbalance.”

In tarot reading, overly optimistic expectations that pin our hopes on unrealistic aims can produce “confirmation bias,” a form of denial that disregards all but the answer we want to receive no matter what the cards are trying to tell us. It’s “toxic positivity” at its most devious since no amount of affirmation will make a difference. Rather than desperation, fear or obsession, the results may be disillusionment and depression when those hopes are ultimately dashed. We could say that the Universe is giving us an object lesson in “reality dynamics” presented as “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?”

The same might be said of the Law of Attraction, whose proponents are advised to take a cautionary hint from Norman Vincent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking, its spiritual predecessor that caused neurotic and sometimes psychotic episodes in those aspirants who couldn’t make it perform to their advantage. The message as I see it is “The Cosmos doesn’t work that way, it leans in the direction of cause-and-effect centered on acts of will rather than toward spontaneous manifestations prompted by wishful thinking.” Another way to put it is “There’s no free lunch.”

In the zero-sum perspective of the title, the “excess potential” resides in the minds of seekers, who only want to hear about their forthcoming success, and of accommodating diviners, who intend to deliver only encouraging testimony even when the cards categorically refute the likelihood of any such outcome. This stab at empowerment requires expending a great deal of mental energy in trying to turn a “sow’s ear into a silk purse,” the sketchy upshot of which can do more harm than good to both the querent’s peace-of-mind and the reader’s credibility by reducing the matter to a state of “null return on investment.” If this is the “balancing force” postulated by the definition, it is indeed a harsh corrective.

When I read for clients, I make sure that they understand my position on “how tarot works:” the cards will answer directly to their subconscious awareness of the probable future and could pass right over any conscious desires or preconceptions they harbor on that score. It may go as far as not even speaking to their stated question, instead offering observations on something unspoken that is even more important, particularly if it is the antithesis of what they envisioned.

My job is to fashion those stray insights into a coherent narrative that makes sense at some level of their private reality. This adaptive response is the source of the premise that “the cards are never wrong but the diviner might misinterpret them.” The truth is that many tarot readers aren’t up to the task and instead default to feel-good “cheer-leading” that sounds promising but can be no more substantial than “empty calories.”

It may seem like they’re waxing profound when in fact they’re imparting nothing of any real value to the querent’s cause beyond ego-stroking and psychological conditioning. It’s far safer to reserve judgment until all of the cards have had their say, then come down somewhere in the middle with a reasoned statement of probability that depends upon the querent taking an active role lest any perceived opportunity become the proverbial “non-starter.”