Wow! Thanks to everyone for the fantastic responses. This is a really thought-provoking discussion, and I appreciate seeing so many different points of view.
For those who wanted to know what specific question I asked, I must confess that I did not. However, you should also be aware that I don't ask questions when doing larger, more involved readings (for myself or for other people). If someone comes to me without a specific subject in mind, then I won't stop and ask "What does X need to know right now?" or a related question; I'll just pull the cards and start looking for connections.
Similarly, even if someone comes to me with a question (a recent example was "Should I go to nursing school?"), I tend to interpret my readings topically rather than as answers to a specific question. My use of Tarot is, more often than not, as an exploration of a theme (e.g. "You have a lot of inverted Swords in your reading..."), and then I allow the querent to make a connection between that theme and her question as she sees fit. It's fair to say that using Tarot without first asking a pointed question is a misuse, but then I think we'd have to broaden that label of "misuse" to my work with Tarot as a whole.
For those who talk about recurring cards during times of emotional crisis or great change (LeFou, LindaMechele), that's a reasonable stance to take. But I would like to throw out there that the past hundred days were a period of
massive (and extremely unpleasant) change in my life, and were frankly the time in my life where I have most felt in need of guidance. True, some people may feel that the practice of a daily draw is trivial by nature, but I assure you that the way I connected these cards back to my life was not a matter of "Which bus route should I take?" but one of deep emotional significance.
Certain cards did "haunt" me over the course of the hundred days. The Sun, the Fool, and the Two of Wands showed up four times each. The King of Swords appeared three times, and was reversed each time. Flipping things around a bit, I drew every card in the suit of Cups (at one point or another) except for the Seven. And I was able to interpret all of these things and find significance in them. It's just that statistically, their appearance was not actually any different than what we would expect to see in a random draw.
(As an aside, thanks to trzes and Snaut for a stimulating discussion on the nature of randomness! Personally, I tend to stand more with trzes. Even in antiquity, the gods of Olympus were subject to the will of the Moirae (fates). But I know very little about quantum physics beyond what any high-schooler with a book report could spout, and I always appreciate listening to people who understand a subject better than I do. Really cool discussion, you guys.)
Jack, this is a rather interesting subject and deserves a lot more time than I can devote to it right now. Just one thing: You are a very good Tarot reader, a fact I can attest to because I recently had an exchange with you in the reading circles. Do you honestly believe you came into those insights randomly?
First off, thank you for the compliment. It was a pleasure exchanging with you, and, as I'm sure you already know, you are an excellent reader, yourself.
I genuinely do think that the cards I draw are random. I've really found no evidence to satisfactorily persuade me otherwise, at least not in my personal experience. As for my ability to interpret those cards with any degree of accuracy? To a certain extent, I think that the cards represent universal themes, and that any good reading of them (regardless of which cards come up) should resonate somehow with a querent's situation. Different readings (and readers, for that matter) will pick up on different threads, but any reading--any combination of cards--should have useful, thought-provoking insight to offer.
This is a good question and you may well be right. However, why would you take as a base point the assumption that an order of cards or a number of certain cards would best portray causality and verify there is something 'bigger' in play? Let me explain.
Ah, you've caught me! I have no rebuttal to offer for this. I admit that it is entirely possible that there is some larger force guiding Tarot, and that this force happens to select cards that (when looked at in a purely mathematical sense) appear to be random but that are still deeply significant and can be considered the "right" cards for each situation. It's not a view that I'm inclined to adopt (Swordsy man that I am), but because it's a matter of subjective experience, I have no way of addressing it. Well caught, Saskia.
Looking forward to seeing more of this stimulating conversation! Thanks again to everyone who has joined in thus far.