Can Tarot Cards Be Wrong?

Can Tarot Cards Be Wrong?

Sometimes, yes, they can. And it's important to know when your reading is accurate and when it's gone off point.

When a Tarot Reading Goes Wrong

A tarot reading can go wrong because you don't really want the answer to the question. Perhaps you're scared of the answer. Perhaps it's something that can't be answered by the cards. It's too complicated, it's not a yes-no question, and you're trying to force the cards to give you a yes-no answer.

A tarot reading can go wrong because you lost focus when you were shuffling, or you got distracted at the point of cutting.

Interpretation and Framing the Question

Of course the main point a tarot cards can be wrong is when it comes to you interpreting them. In fact I would go so far as to say the cards are never wrong but sometimes we don't frame the question well enough for the cards to answer.

Sometimes we lose focus when we're shuffling or cutting and sometimes we just read them wrong...

This is why in most tarot readings that I do I start with at least one card to represent the past, because if you're reading for someone else that other person can validate that what you're picking up from the past is accurate. And if you're reading for yourself, again you can validate this point.

Once you've got that point of validation, then you go on to the cards that represent the present moment, and again these should feel right. You should be able to validate that the cards for the present moment feel on point.

If you know that your reading for the past is accurate, if you know that your reading for the present moment is accurate, then there is a very good chance that you can now continue to read for the future and be on point.

When the Prediction Seems Wrong

Let's say you know that you were calm and focused during shuffling, you're really comfortable that the spread and the question work well together, and you've sat with yourself or your client and you know that the question is one that you are comfortable to answer.

You validated the past and the present and you've come to realize maybe days or weeks later that the reading was not accurate — that the prediction was not on point. Why could it have been wrong?

It might be the very act of the reading changed the future, that it gave you a heads-up of something important, which you acted on sooner than you were going to, and you've actually improved your future.

It might be that you are judging the reading too soon. Particularly with house moves, they can be super complicated, or promotion offers. I've had clients come back and say, "oh damn, didn’t get the house or didn’t get the job promotion", and then they've come back to me a couple of weeks later and went "huh, actually I did."

So sometimes it is just that there is an early disappointment and the cards were picking up on the actual end outcome.

Remember, in a tarot reading — particularly if it's a complicated one with lots of people involved — everybody has free will. So the best tarot reader in the world will still not be able to do a reading that takes account of every algorithm and possibility, particularly if you've done a quick three-card reading for what is actually a really complicated question.

The Future Is Not Fixed

So it can be that we do a reading at the best will in the world, we're self-aware, we've checked and ticked every box we can to make the reading as accurate as possible — but the future's not fixed. And sometimes a reading just cannot pick up on every possibility, a reading picks up on the most likely possibility.

Which is why I always say with a tarot reading — if you're determined to do something, even if the cards say don't do it, maybe you should do it anyway.

Because often, if you prepare for the worst and hope for the best, using tarot to guide your future, you can create the best future that you want — which may not always be exactly as the tarot predicted.