Card Talk
CARD TALK is a mini podcast featuring tarot basics and evergreen insights, supporting you from your very first reading to card-slinging with confidence. Whether you're a curious beginner or an experienced practitioner, CARD TALK is your new go-to tarot podcast for quick tips and practical tricks.
Hosted by 3am.tarot creator and Finding the Fool author Meg Jones Wall, a queer and non-binary tarot reader dedicated to creating accessible, inclusive tarot resources.
Card Talk
so the tarot messed with your head
Today on CARD TALK, I’ll cover:
-recurring cards & messages in readings
-unclear answers in readings
-answers that keep changing
-tips for making your way through
Resources mentioned:
-tarot spreads to try: understanding your recurring card / dazed & confused / so you’re uncomfortable / curiosity & connection
-confusing tarot readings CARD TALK episode
-next level tarot lecture series
-tarot for troubled times by theresa reed & shaheen miro
For more on Meg, check out 3amtarot.com, and order your copy of Finding the Fool through Bookshop.org or your favorite local bookstore.
Find episode transcripts and more over on the CARD TALK website. And as a special thank you for CARD TALK listeners, click here to download a completely free, exclusive workbook for building your best personal tarot practice.
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CARD TALK is written, edited, and produced by Meg Jones Wall of 3am.tarot. Theme music created by PaulYudin.
I'm Meg Jones-Wall and this is Card Talk, a mini podcast for tarot basics and evergreen insights. I'm here to help you build a tarot practice that works for you. Glad you're here. In today's episode, we're going to talk about when a reading messes with your head or when the tarot's fucking with you. Essentially, this is part of a larger mini-series that I'm doing here on Card Talk addressing personal issues that might come up within your personal tarot practice Questions you might have, challenges you might be facing, etc. Etc. Let's get into it Now. What do I mean by a tarot reading messing with your head? Now, this could look like a particular reading, like one specific reading that delivers a message that's tough for you to receive, but it could also look like a card or a message that keeps emerging and is shaking you up. And, of course, there are some other ways that tarot can mess with you that we'll address later in the episode. But first, right here, up at the top, I just need you to hear that this is so fucking normal. It is so normal.
Speaker 1:The tarot is a really personal thing and tarot readings, even if you're reading about something that doesn't feel super vulnerable, can still end up getting to a very vulnerable place Because we're bringing the cards, our fears and our hopes and our ideas and our longings and our concerns, and then we're working to interpret the answers in a way that makes sense to us. Now, sometimes the answers themselves feel unclear or confusing or opaque, which can be stressful on its own, and other times we get information that's the opposite of what we want or what we were hoping to hear, which can bring up all kinds of emotions like grief and rage and sorrow and discouragement and whatever. And sometimes a card that we don't like or a card that we have become annoyed with keeps showing up. Sometimes, when we see the same card over and over and over, it makes us feel like we're losing our marbles and that can feel like we're getting trolled by our deck. So what do we do in these circumstances? What do we do when this keeps happening? Well, let's talk about it First. Let's talk about the repeating card slash, the repeating message phenomenon.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're not familiar, this is basically when, in your readings, the same card keeps popping up over and over again. Sometimes it's literally the same exact card, and if it can be a card like the tower, or temperance, or the devil or death, or one of the more challenging cards from the minor arcana, like the 10 of swords or the five of cups, or if it's just a card that you have a stressful relationship with for whatever reason, even if the card itself doesn't always have negative connotations, whatever it is. Seeing the same card come up over and over again, whether you're doing readings about the same topic or readings about all kinds of different topics, can get really annoying right, and it can start to mess with you because it can make you feel like you're missing something, or like the tarot's like scolding you or yelling at you or keeps telling you something that you feel like you already know. Now I also want to expand the idea of this repeating card to a repeating message, which is to say, it's not like there's no overlap in the cards, and so sometimes it might feel like we're receiving the same kinds of messages or the same group of cards or the same style of cards, or basically like the same advice or the same insight over and over from our readings, even across time, or when we're asking our question in different ways. Either way, this can be a really frustrating phenomenon.
Speaker 1:Now, sometimes you might hear this phenomenon of the repeating card talked about with a particular expression and you will find, if you go far back enough in my own work, references to this phenomenon using this expression, which I'll say once. It's stalker cards. I have been lovingly called in by a number of community members that this particular expression can be kind of triggering or insensitive to people who have dealt with actual stalkers. So I have moved away from using that language in my own practice. But some of the resources you might find that I've published over the years will still use that phrase, especially ones where I was hired to write about it for a different outlet. So just want to acknowledge that if you're looking for resources on that, using that phrase might give you more results. But it's also worth knowing that it can be harmful to certain community members, so I tend to refer to it as the repeating card phenomenon instead.
Speaker 1:But again, regardless of how you refer to this experience, it can kind of suck and it can really start to mess with you because again it can make you feel like you're missing something. So I want to offer a couple of potential tips that you can use to navigate this if this is a thing that's happening to you. My first suggestion, and the one that I find the most useful in my own practice is to do a reading on that card specifically, which is to say, to keep that one card or a couple cards if it's like a message that keeps showing up, to keep them out on your reading surface and then do a reading, perhaps using a specific spread or perhaps not whether or not you're into spreads doesn't matter, it's totally fine. But doing a reading where you essentially ask the cards what am I missing? What do you want me to know? What do you want me to hear? What do you want me to do? Right, like what? What do you have to offer me? What medicine am I not receiving? Why do you keep showing up? Basically, doing a reading like this can be really helpful in just feeling like you're addressing the question head on, and it might turn out that what you've been thinking, you've been receiving or understanding as a message from that card, it might be that the tarot wants you to know something completely different, and so doing a reading like this again, whether or not you use a spread can be helpful in bringing some clarity to the situation and just leaning in. If you'd like a spread for this kind of work, I'm going to link one that I've written in the show notes, but there are a ton of spreads on this phenomenon because it's a thing that happens to most people at some point in their practice and it's also a thing that can be really activating for folks. So there's a lot of requests for this type of spread.
Speaker 1:Now, you can certainly do a reading like this on your own, but I find it can be really helpful, especially if this card has been repeating over like a long period of time, or showing up really persistently. Or again, if it's like really messing with your head is have a friend do it or have a professional do it Literally let someone else weigh in on the process and pull cards for you. Sometimes, having that other perspective or a different viewpoint or just letting someone else weigh in can bring a level of objectivity and clarity that you just aren't able to find on your own, and I mean this is true for things outside of the tarot as well, but sometimes we're just so in it that we can't figure out what's going on. So bringing in someone that you trust or hiring a professional to do a reading for you around this repeating card or repeating message can be a helpful way to get some closure and move forward. I would also suggest just working with this card outside of readings.
Speaker 1:Or, again, if you've got a message that's repeating, if it's like a few cards that keep showing up doing a series of journal prompts or having a conversation or doing a meditation or doing some research, but engaging with this card in some way outside of just seeing it as an answer to your readings. Sometimes pulling more cards is just not the answer or just doesn't feel good. So pull the card out, do some research on it, look at some different versions of the card journal around it. You can find journal prompts for tarot cards all over my work in my conservatory, in my book Finding the Fool, et cetera. There's lots of journal prompts for specific cards. But I would really dive deep into the history and various meanings of the card.
Speaker 1:The correspondences of the card, how the card has historically shown up for you in the past can be really helpful and just the different ways that this message could manifest. What else might this card have to offer you that you're missing or that you're hoping it isn't saying right? I think we all do this. Sometimes.
Speaker 1:Reading the tarot can be challenging for yourself, especially if you're getting an answer that you don't like, or if you're hoping to receive other kinds of information, and so it can be helpful sometimes to use journaling or another practice to get real with yourself about if there's something that you're trying to avoid in this reading or a message that you have not quite been willing to receive. This can be a helpful way to kind of get over that hurdle and really dive in so that you can receive the message, and that often helps the card not show up quite so often anymore. Another way that a tarot reading can really mess with your head is when it feels like the answer that you're receiving is unclear or like the reading that you have done is now bringing up even more questions instead of providing any answers. Now this happens to everybody and can be really frustrating. I have done at least one card talk episode that comes to mind on confusing tarot readings already, so you can definitely check that out to dive more into this specific thing. I also have an entire lecture series called Next Level Tarot that specifically looks at multi-card readings and has a whole series of resources and journal prompts and spreads and other exercises you can do for navigating confusing or complicated tarot readings or moments when the cards aren't making sense to you. So please feel free to check out those resources If that would be helpful for you. I'm putting links to all of that in the show notes.
Speaker 1:My best advice for when it feels like your tarot reading is confusing is to spend as much time as you want to trying to untangle it. You know, looking at each individual card, thinking about how the cards connect to one another, tying those card interpretations back to the tarot spread positions. If you're using a spread, take as much time there as you want, phone a friend if you need to and talk it through with them. But when you're finished with the reading, honestly, my best advice is to walk away. But when you're finished with the reading, honestly, my best advice is to walk away.
Speaker 1:In my experience, when a reading is really confusing, it's not necessarily because the cards themselves don't make sense. It's because we're not in a place to understand it or interpret it, and so sometimes the temptation can be to pull a bunch of clarifying cards or to redo the reading or to try to ask the question in a slightly different way, and that rarely brings more clarity. I'm not generally a huge fan of clarifying cards unless the circumstances are really specific. I find that usually that can just bring up even more questions or lead to us being even more confused. So, truly, if you find that a reading simply doesn't make sense, if it feels like the cards are completely random, if it feels like the reading has nothing to do with you, or if it feels like you're getting some answers but you're just really mostly just staring at these cards, wondering why you bothered to ask at all, take a picture, write down everything you want to write down and walk away. Take a little break from the cards.
Speaker 1:Sometimes readings like this make sense in a few hours, in a few days, in a few weeks or even like a month or two from now. So make sure you have a record for yourself of what the reading is, but try to give yourself permission to just let it go. I don't think I've ever had a tarot reading that didn't eventually click into place, but sometimes it takes longer than we want it to. So this is really a moment to show yourself some compassion and give yourself permission to not understand what the cards were communicating in this particular moment. I know that sucks. I appreciate that that's probably not what you want to hear, but it truly is the best advice that I have for you If this is your particular circumstance.
Speaker 1:The last thing I want to talk about, the last way that tarot can kind of mess with your head, is when it feels like your answers keep changing, when it feels like the tarot keeps giving you different answers or pointing you in different directions and this is a particular phenomenon that can happen when you just keep pulling cards. Either when you keep pulling cards one after another on the same reading as part of the same question, or when you keep pulling cards one after another on the same reading as part of the same question, or when you keep doing readings about the same question, trying to trick the cards or hoping that if you ask each day, the answer will somehow be different. Now look, the world is really hard and I'm not here to shame you for your tarot practice, but in general, this is not a great way to approach the cards, because it rarely works out the way you want, unless things are actively changing in real time, unless you were actively making distinctive and major choices that are shifting the circumstances significantly and changing your options or changing your feelings or whatever. Pulling cards multiple times a day or every day for weeks at a time on the same situation, asking the same question, is probably not going to feel good and the more you do it, in my experience, the worse it's going to feel.
Speaker 1:Everyone's relationship with the tarot was different, but the few times that I have gotten kind of stuck in this looping pattern, my cards got mad at me, like my cards straight up got salty and they just started giving me the cards that scared me the most. They started showing me, you know, catastrophe, giving me all of these really rough, brutal, emotionally charged cards, and fortunately I wasn't so deep that I couldn't see what the cards were doing, that the cards were basically telling me to fuck off, put them down and, like, make a decision or make a change and not keep asking the same question over and over. But it can be really hard when you're stuck in this kind of cycle or loop to feel like if you just ask one more time or if you just change the language of your question a little bit or if you just use a slightly different spread on the same topic, that you're suddenly going to get a different answer. The hard truth is that you're probably not going to get a different answer, but that the cards might get mad at you, and that can be painful, especially if you're asking about something that's really vulnerable or really scary or brings up a lot of difficult feelings. Now, again to be clear, I'm not saying this to shame you. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad. We've all been there. Okay, truly, we have all been there, but you got to stop pulling cards and asking the same question over and over. It's probably not going to get better If you simply must have an answer from the cards and you've now asked the question so many times that you can't see up from down.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I would consult a professional, truly, I would hire someone. I wouldn't just ask a friend. I would literally hire someone to do a reading for you and to consider that the final reading on the topic unless it's circumstances or the situation significantly changes by the time. You've done a lot of different readings on the same topic, objectivity is gone and you might not even remember the first answer or the first answer that really resonated. So give yourself permission to hand the reins of the tarot over to someone else on this particular topic and take that answer as what it is until something shifts or changes. Now, I usually end these episodes with a tip or a trick, but since this entire episode kind of was a tip and a trick, I instead just want to wrap up by reminding you that this is very normal.
Speaker 1:The world is very hard and I think tarot can lend itself to patterns or behaviors that might sometimes support us and other times lead us into this kind of messy, opaque, confusing place. If we are already really stressed about something, a tarot reading that's not done with a lot of precision or that's repeating the same questions that we've already asked can really it really can make us feel worse, and the tarot really can fuck with your head if you're not doing it thoughtfully and carefully and intentionally. So I do just want to remind you that generally turning to the cards when you're really stressed or having trouble with clarity or feeling really desperate is not often going to give you the kind of supportive reading that you might really need right now. This is when other ways of working with the cards, like journaling or letting a friend read with you instead of just reading by yourself, or other kinds of practices, can ultimately be a lot more supportive than just sitting by yourself asking the same question over and over. I really want you to be safe and supported and encouraged, instead of having the cards feed into any sense of franticness or fear. And while I think that the cards are really well equipped to call us on our bullshit, I don't want you to get stuck in a pattern that is causing you harm. So please remember to use the cards with care, to use them with respect and to also show yourself grace and compassion.
Speaker 1:If you're finding yourself in a tarot cycle that feels really bad, please put the cards down. Please put the cards down. Take a break, get yourself focused and centered. Find a way to work with the cards that's going to be supportive for you If you can't put them down and really like. Phoning a friend or finding community to read alongside you or read for you might be a lot more helpful than doing this on your own.
Speaker 1:Please check the show notes. I've got some spreads there. I've got some resources there, both free and paid, to help support you through this. I've also got a book recommendation that might be helpful for you as well. All right, that is all I have for you today, but, as always, thank you so much for spending this time with me, sending you a lot of love and I will be back again soon with more card talk. Card talk episodes are always free for everyone to enjoy, so if you love what you hear, please consider supporting the podcast by subscribing, recommending Card Talk to a friend or donating to help with production costs. You can find episode transcripts. Learn more about me and join my signature Tarot Conservatory membership program through my website, 3amtarotcom. Thanks for listening and see you next time.
