Tarot stories

The hard part of tarot is not what a card means. It is what a card means for the thing you actually asked, and no list of keywords can show you that. So here are ten whole readings, told from the question to the last line.

Each one is a short question of the kind people really bring — should I go, should I say something, should I stay — with the card that came up, the one word under it, and the reading that followed. Go through two or three and you will have a fair idea of what Britannia Tarot gives you, and where it stops.

These are stories, not transcripts. The questions are the shapes people ask in; the people are invented. Nobody's private reading is on this site, and nothing here was taken from one.

The ten

• Should I go on the date? — Knight of Cups, upright. Yes.
• Should I take the job? — Seven of Cups, upright. No.
• Should I text him first? — Two of Swords, upright. Perhaps.
• Is he still thinking about me? — The Moon, upright. No — and the reading is mostly about why this is the wrong question.
• Should I move back home? — Six of Swords, upright. Yes.
• Should I stick with the course? — Eight of Pentacles, upright. Yes.
• Should I lend my brother the money? — Six of Pentacles, reversed. Perhaps.
• Should I tell her what I know? — Five of Swords, upright. No.
• Should I start the business? — Ace of Wands, reversed. Perhaps.
• Should we buy the house? — Ten of Pentacles, upright. Yes.

What to notice on the way through

The word is the smallest part. Four of these are a yes and three are a no, and in almost every one the interesting sentence is somewhere in the third paragraph. A verdict tells you which way the card leant. The reading tells you what it leant at.

The card does not know anything. Not what a manager is planning, not whether the flat will still be there on Friday, not what somebody else feels. Where the asker wanted one of those, the reading says so rather than inventing it — see yes or no tarot for where a one-word answer is worth nothing at all.

The same card would read differently for you. The Seven of Cups says one thing to somebody weighing a job and something else to somebody weighing a move. That is the whole reason a reading is written for your question rather than looked up. The card meanings are the starting point, never the answer.

Then ask your own

Yours will not be one of these ten, which is the point. One sentence, your own words, your own situation — should I, will I, is this. The card is drawn, the word comes back straight away, and the reading follows if you want it.