AUTHOR’S NOTE: Querents often sit for a tarot reading when they are completely in the dark about what to do next in their current situation. At its best a forecast will illuminate the path ahead and give the sitter something to shoot for in the way of self-directed effort. But all too often the vista is darkened even further, either by strongly unfavorable cards in the pull or ambiguous cards that don’t come together in any kind of coherent narrative. Reversals can complicate the outlook even more.

The diviner’s task in all cases is to find a ray of light in projected developments that will brighten the querent’s prospects for recovery of self-confidence and momentum. This is straightforward when all of the cards are upbeat, not so much when some or all are gloomy in their portent. The unsympathetic reading may still be enlightening but what it reveals could be far from what was desired and entail considerably more effort to pursue. If pestered with repeat requests, the cards can even deliver a scolding: “What part of ‘No’ didn’t you understand?”

“Empowerment” may be the reader’s goal, but the tools of the trade don’t care what anyone involved in the matter wants to happen, only what needs to occur to fulfill the aims of the Universe as they apply at the personal level. They are an agency of awareness. not an enabling or disabling influence in their own right. There is often a tendency to trust them implicitly, but if we could ask them they would most likely respond “Why would you want to do that?” Trends and tendencies are their forte, not absolutes, and they are impartial in their reckoning.

While I don’t fully agree with it in all instances, the premise that “there are no bad cards, only opportunities” proposed by James Wanless plays right into this paradigm. Every card has something valid to say in any reading that hosts it, and the challenge for the reader is to factor that input into the overall perspective in a way that makes the most of it. An unfortunate card could be an outlier in an otherwise auspicious spread, but it almost always provides more than an incidental “oh-by-the-way” even though its testimony might amount to just a brief cloud passing in front of the Sun.

In its most beneficial sense, a sobering card may serve to temper what might otherwise come across as “toxic positivity.” I would rather see that single cautionary note than an unbroken string of “cheerleading” cards. A mix of clouds and sun will usually forestall both a bad sunburn and a total wash-out, making for a well-reasoned argument against either eventuality. While nobody wants to be told they are unlikely to achieve their ambitions easily and in full, we would be doing them an equally grave disservice by creating an impression of false hope when their is insufficient justification for it.