When a spread doesn't make sense

[Nachtigall]

This can happen. A card in the "present", or "current feelings" position doesn't even remotely relate to what's really going on. Negative cards appear in positive positions and vice versa - sure, no card is 100% positive or negative, but something like 10 of Swords in "wishes" position is still too extreme in most of the cases. The cards in the spread just don't fit in together, contradicting one another and not giving a coherent picture.

What do you do in such cases? Read the spread anyway, trying to make sense of it? Do a new reading? Don't do a reading at all, thinking that this may be a sign to put the cards away for now? See the disharmony of a spread as a sign for overall disharmony of a situation the spread relates to? Or do you have your own techniques dealing with such situations?

 

[agent199]

May I have your permission to read my cards for the answer you seek ?

 

[Nachtigall]

May I have your permission to read my cards for the answer you seek ?

Sure, I guess? My question doesn't relate to any specific spread though, just to handling this kind of situations in general.

 

[rwcarter]

Are you reading for yourself or for someone else? If for someone else, how do you know that cards that seem contradictory or that don't seem to make sense to you won't make perfect sense to them?

If you're reading for yourself, have you been reading repeatedly on the same question in a short period of time? If so, the contradictory cards could be an indication that it's time to stop reading the cards. Or they may be a way of prompting you to look deeper into the cards to see messages that the cards have already clearly given you. (10S could be a desire for the situation to just be over so that you can move on.)

If you're reading for yourself, you may also be too close to the situation to read the cards neutrally instead of through the lens of what you're expecting to see.

 

[Nachtigall]

Are you reading for yourself or for someone else? If for someone else, how do you know that cards that seem contradictory or that don't seem to make sense to you won't make perfect sense to them?

If you're reading for yourself, have you been reading repeatedly on the same question in a short period of time? If so, the contradictory cards could be an indication that it's time to stop reading the cards. Or they may be a way of prompting you to look deeper into the cards to see messages that the cards have already clearly given you. (10S could be a desire for the situation to just be over so that you can move on.)

If you're reading for yourself, you may also be too close to the situation to read the cards neutrally instead of through the lens of what you're expecting to see.

Assume it's for myself or for someone that can confirm that the cards don't make sense. Assume also, that the question is asked for the first time.

10oS *can* indicate the desire to move on, but it still looks very extreme to me... like, "I don't care what will happen, as long as this will end"; and if the situation is *that* hopeless, I'd think that the other cards would indicate this as well. But anyway, it was just an example.

So, your answer would be to trust the cards anyway?

 

[agent199]

the under-current

1. you are not keeping still long enough to let your senses come through

what you have to do

2. when the cards are not coming together in pieces

3. release yourself from a situation of the expectations on yourself, move on from the reading

4. do not rush too quickly to the next reading or your cards will only want to resist you

 

[rwcarter]

So, your answer would be to trust the cards anyway?

Yes. If you're doing a predictive reading, the cards may only make sense in retrospect. Even if you're reading for insight, the cards may only make sense in retrospect.

If the subject involves a person other than you or the person you're reading for, that other person may be setting something in motion that you/the Querent is unaware of at the time of the reading but that will make sense once those actions have come to light.

It's also possible that the cards are answering a more pressing question than the one that was asked. If A is asking about their relationship with B but A has a terminally ill relative, the cards may be discussing the other situation even though A asked about something different.

 

[Kathy123]

I will confess, I have folded all cards in and repeated the draw on occasion

 

[dancing_moon]

This can happen. A card in the "present", or "current feelings" position doesn't even remotely relate to what's really going on. Negative cards appear in positive positions and vice versa - sure, no card is 100% positive or negative, but something like 10 of Swords in "wishes" position is still too extreme in most of the cases. The cards in the spread just don't fit in together, contradicting one another and not giving a coherent picture.

What do you do in such cases? Read the spread anyway, trying to make sense of it? Do a new reading? Don't do a reading at all, thinking that this may be a sign to put the cards away for now? See the disharmony of a spread as a sign for overall disharmony of a situation the spread relates to? Or do you have your own techniques dealing with such situations?

That happens to me at times, especially when reading for myself. When it does, I do my best to make sense of it first. Imagine you're doing a paid reading for a complete stranger, and these cards come out. How would you interpret them? This 'detached' attitude usually produces incredible insights.

If they still don't make sense, though, I have to admit to myself that I must have been distracted during shuffling and not concentrating on the question properly, so I just redo the reading, properly this time. But it only happens once in a long while.