Sarah’s Musings on The Five Questions People Are Most Afraid to Ask in a Tarot Reading©

If you've ever sat down for a Tarot reading, chances are you came prepared with a question. Sometimes it's scribbled down. Maybe it’s an insight that came up during a journaling session. Perhaps it's been haunting you, lurking in the recesses of your mind for ages. The truth is, sometimes it's the question you don't ask that tells me the most.

After years of reading for people from all walks, I've deduced that the questions that carry the most potency are rarely about a windfall of dough or navigating online dating. They're the quiet, vulnerable questions people hesitate to speak into existence. The ones that catch in their throat and make their eyes well up with tears even before speaking them. The ones they often preface with, "This may sound out there..." or "I don’t think I’ve ever said this before."

My loves, those are the BEST questions. In fact, that’s the proverbial turning point in a reading. That’s when I know just how powerful and profound our time together is about to become. These are the readings that imprint on me and those I read for.

Here are five of the questions people are most afraid to ask:

1. "Am I the problem?"

This is perhaps the bravest question a person can ask.

It's much easier to focus on someone else's behaviour than it is to wonder whether we might be contributing to our own struggles. Whether it's a difficult relationship, recurring conflict at work, or a pattern that seems to repeat throughout life, people often arrive hoping the cards will confirm that someone else is to blame.

But Tarot isn't interested in assigning blame. It's interested in illuminating patterns.

Sometimes the cards reveal that we've outgrown a relationship. Sometimes they show that we've been giving too much of ourselves away. Other times they gently invite us to examine our own fears, beliefs, or behaviours with honesty and compassion.

That isn't about criticism. It's about empowerment. We can't change other people, but we can always choose how we respond.

2. "Should I leave?"

Whether it's a marriage, a career, a friendship, or a place that once felt like home, this question carries enormous weight.

People often hope the cards will give them a definitive yes or no. Instead, Tarot usually asks a different question altogether: What are you staying for? Or perhaps, What are you afraid might happen if you leave?

Rather than making the decision for you, the cards often help clarify what your spirit already senses but hasn't yet been able to acknowledge.

3. "Will I ever forgive myself?"

This question rarely begins with those exact words.

It might arrive packaged in, "Why can't I move on?" or "Why do I keep thinking about what happened?" Beneath the surface, however, many people are carrying guilt, regret, or shame that has insidiously shaped their self-perception for years.

Tarot doesn't define people by their worst moments. The cards have a therapeutic way of reminding us that we are always evolving, acquiring new skills and knowledge, and remaining capable of re-writing ourselves into new stories.

Self-forgiveness isn't forgetting. It isn't feigning amnesia. It's an intentional curation of the present not to allow what occurred in your past to emerge as the sole lens you see yourself through.

4. "Is my intuition trying to tell me something?"

This is one of my favourite questions because, more often than not, people do already possesses access to their answers. They just require a bit of coaxing.

They've sensed that something feels off. Maybe they've busied themselves with suppressing a feeling. Perhaps they've been conditioned to dismiss their instincts because they were taught to require certainty before taking the next steps.

Look...Tarot should never replace the empowerment of our own intuition. Tarot can help confirm unshakeable gut feelings. Intuition and Tarot are however, synergistic. In conjunction, they are powerful confirmation tools.

The cards are masterful at reflecting back what our inner knowing has been trying to tell us all along.

5. "Will things ever get better?"

This question carries so much longing, especially after someone has been carrying a heavy burden for a long time. It may be underscoring an experience of grief, loneliness, burnout, anxiety, or a rough patch in a relationship.

When people ask this question, they're not really seeking a future of magical improvement and an eradication of problems. More often, the subtext is whether it's irresponsible to still hope.

Life moves in cycles. Difficult seasons eventually change. Healing is less linear and more like a wrap-around experience. It changes us in ways we often cannot name.

The cards can't provide erasure of hardship, but they can assist us to find our footing while we labyrinth through it.

*Please note that questions around yours or another's mortality like "When will I die?" or "Will she die from this illness?" was not included in this list.

That does not negate the potency of those questions and the weight they hold. However, my personal code of ethics precludes me from using Tarot for that purpose. I firmly believe that any reader who will indulge in these types of questions is "playing God" and is dangerous as a spiritual guide.

The Best Tarot Readings Begin With "Optimized" Questions

One thing I've learned over the years is that the depth of a Tarot reading often depends on the profundity of the question being asked.

Questions like, "When will I meet someone?" or "Will I get the job?" certainly have their place. But the readings that people remember months, or even years, later usually begin with a different kind of question.

Instead of asking, "When will I find love?" you would benefit from the query, "What keeps me from receiving the love I deserve?"

Instead of asking, "Will I get the promotion?" you could inquire, "What strengths am I overlooking that could help me grow in my career?"

Instead of asking, "Will my ex and I get back together?" you may request, "What is this relationship here to teach me?"

The first set of questions asks the cards to predict.

The second invites the cards to reveal.

One seeks certainty. (And spoiler alert: freewill trumps set outcomes.)

The other questions, though…they seek to gain wisdom.

In my experience, wisdom has a longer shelf life.

A Final Thought

People often tell me they're trepidatious before their reading because they feel an internal pressure about what to ask. We can co-create questions together! That's why you choose an experienced, trauma-informed Tarot guide.

If the "right" questions elude you, instead do your best to arrive to the reading with curiousity. Arrive ready to open up honestly. Arrive with whatever is weighing on your heart.

Those are the readings I live for...the goosebumpy revelations that come from real depth. This is the stuff that makes a reading transformational, metamorphosis, and alchemy.

Perhaps the question you thought you needed answered turns out not to be the one that matters most. As a reading evolves between the shuffle of the cards and the moments of reflection, a better question may reveal itself.

Please give this post a heart or leave a comment. Thank you! xo

Authored by: Sarah Mayes