Multiple Readings on the Same Subject

Hey guys,

I've read that it's a bad idea to do the same reading multiple times (unless a respectable amount of time has passed), but what about asking different questions about the same issue?

I'm facing a big choice in my life right now and it's somewhat dependent on my relationship. Is there anything wrong with asking a general "what should I know about my relationship?" and then doing another spread about the choice itself?

If your first question was a general reading about your relationship and the succeeding ones were specific queries about different aspects of the same, then I see no roblem with it. Make sure they are different questions tho.

Some newbie readers who get inauspicious cards for a certain question just re-phrase the question to have an excuse to draw more cards - that is basically asking the same query and is not recommended. It's almost the same as people who keep drawing cards to "clarify" the "bad" card/s they previously pulled until they get a satisfactory one. Not to say that clarificatory cards are verboten per se, but they should only be resorted to if you've expended so much effort trying to decipher what the card/s meant and you still can make neither heads nor tails out of it. You pull them because you don't understand the cards before you, not because you dislike them.

A far better approach when you receive an unfortunate answer is to ask another question as to how to best deal with the situation, for example. This shows that you're not in denial about the cards you pulled, but you're still proactive enough to want to know how to most effectivelu deal with a possibly unpleasant development.

Chimerical said:

I've read that it's a bad idea to do the same reading multiple times (unless a respectable amount of time has passed)

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By the way, it's not only time that's considered an important factor in these readings tho. Even if you have just performed a comprehensive 10+ card general relationship spread the other day, if new and significant developments were just brought to light, like a life-changing diagnosis for one party for example, or if certain compromising emails were discovered, performing another reading is not a bad idea. It would be better if questions specific to the situation were asked tho.

And also, if you do self-readings and you're also one of the parties heavily affected by the situation, it is very much advised that you only perform readings when you have a clearer head or after you've let the issue sink in for a while. Drawing cards when you're overwrought or heavily emotional might affect your objectivity, and thence the quality of your reading.

You might also find that the unfolding circumstances were foreshadowed by the previous reading you had.

I believe what matters is if you're asking for more information, or if you're just looking for a specific answer. The first is fine, the second isn't going to work.

Of course, there's always a point in which there's no more information to glean, so be wary about trying to learn every little thing about a situation. Aside from that, I've done many sessions about a specific topic. Today, even! It's pretty natural for answers to begate more questions, as long as you know when to finally put the cards down.

Chimerical said:

Hey guys,

I've read that it's a bad idea to do the same reading multiple times (unless a respectable amount of time has passed), but what about asking different questions about the same issue?

I'm facing a big choice in my life right now and it's somewhat dependent on my relationship. Is there anything wrong with asking a general "what should I know about my relationship?" and then doing another spread about the choice itself?

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EmpyreanKnight gave you some great pointers. I would like to add that one of the issues with repeatedly asking the same question is that, eventually, you'll probably just get the answer you want, rather than what you need. This is obviously not helpful to you. It's like a kid constantly going to their parent in a store and asking "can I have this" over and over and over ... until the parent finally gives in.

There are times when asking the "same" question is beneficial; For example, doing a daily reading on how to deal with a personal issue for that day, is very helpful. I do this almost every day and get very good results - sometimes with a result similar to a previous reading, often times with new insights. But these are meant to be repeat readings.

I agree with EmpyreanKnight and lantana, that in the example you've given, you should be okay as you are looking at different aspects of your involvement.

There are a number of ways to approach this. Perhaps the original way was described in Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot, but he limited it to situations where he got a court card as the outcome. Since he used Significator cards, he suggested using the outcome card as the Significator in an entirely new reading to show how the original matter would be influenced by that other person. The "short-cut" method of choice these days seems to be to pull clarifying cards for any perplexing card in a spread. I've been opposed to clarifiers in most cases because I think they muddy the original answer more often than they illuminate it, and they discourage (or at least complicate) deep thought on exactly what the first card was trying to say. A third way that splits it down the middle is the one I proposed in my "Rest of the Story" spread, which branches the initial outcome into three "what if" paths: "What will happen if I actively support or oppose the outcome, or simply do nothing?"

It can also depend on your standard practice for setting the effective duration of a reading. For example, I have a rule of thumb that views the Celtic Cross as "good" for a period of a few months, after which elements of chaos (unpredictability) can start to erode or dilute the precision of the original reading. Of course, this can happen with a reading of any duration in highly fluid or volatile circumstances, and if you're chasing a rapidly moving target further readings may help to nail it down. However, it should be driven by situational factors, not merely personal anxiety over getting unfavorable cards.

In short, though, as has been said, as long as you deconstruct your original question into different "angles of attack" that explore a range of variables in the matter, I don't see any real problem with it. I might suggest that you try using different decks to ask follow-up questions, if only to get a fresh perspective from the cards themselves.

Thanks, everyone That makes a lot of sense. I wasn't sure if that taboo was a karma thing, a practicality thing, or what, so your responses were all very clarifying.

EmpyreanKnight: Yeah, I can imagine the temptation to draw new cards if you didn't like the first ones, but it doesn't make much sense, really--definitely not what I'm interested in doing.

Good point also about the emotional aspect. I've got a wide window for making up my mind here, so I'm not relaxed, exactly, but I'm not super emotional either. I'll be sure to find a quiet, unstressed moment in which to do it though--thanks!

lantana: Your point about asking for too much detail was thought-provoking. I don't think that's the case here--I just want to make sure I'm not overlooking any possible solutions or options--but I'll watch for this in the future.

Trogon: What a nifty idea to do a daily reading about handling an ongoing situation! Filing this away for later

Barleywine: I hadn't considered that there might be a time limit of sorts on the relevance of a Tarot message--but that does make sense; the future gets murkier the further out we go. Do you see other spreads (than the Celtic Cross) as having longer or shorter periods of relevance then?

Chimerical said:

I hadn't considered that there might be a time limit of sorts on the relevance of a Tarot message--but that does make sense; the future gets murkier the further out we go. Do you see other spreads (than the Celtic Cross) as having longer or shorter periods of relevance then?

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I like three-card pulls for daily readings, since a single card shows a state of being but not necessarily any kind of movement or direction. Five cards seem to work well for weekly projections. For a monthly outlook, I use my "Lunar Month Look-ahead" spread. (The final version is attached to Post #11.) For an annual forecast, I use the "Wheel of the Year" spread (kind of a pagan-based astrological spread tied to the solstices and equinoxes), or - if I'm not using the Lenormand Grand Tableau - I use the 5x5 (25-card) square spread I created for tarot, or one of my other large spreads.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=258075

Thanks for the guidance--I'll have to check those out.