Tarot Yes or No: Why One Answer Isn’t Enough

Whenever I come across posts like “Send me your question, and I’ll use Tarot to tell you Yes or No,” it’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

Offers like this make me wonder about two things: does the reader have a poor understanding of the Tarot system, or do they fail to base their consultations on ethical principles?

Looking at a question through a single card — Yes or No — is an incredibly superficial approach. It’s like eating bread without butter.

On top of that, these kinds of questions are often poorly framed from the very beginning. They limit the client by taking away their sense of agency and their ability to influence how events unfold. At the same time, they shift responsibility onto someone else — in this case, the Tarot reader.

The problem isn’t that Tarot can never provide a “Yes” or “No” answer. The problem is replacing an entire exploration of the situation with that one word.

To illustrate what I mean, let’s look at two situations and how a professional Tarot reader would approach them.

Professional approach: What can the client do to improve their chances of finding a job, and how is their job search likely to unfold in the near future?

This would be appropriate if the person is currently unemployed and looking for work.

If they have already applied for a specific position, the question could be approached differently: What are their chances of getting this particular job? How can they present themselves, what strengths should they highlight, and what should they pay attention to in order to make the best possible impression?

Professional approach: Why does the client want to leave their studies? How might continuing their education affect their career and future life, and how might leaving affect them?

Here, it is important not only to explore the possible outcomes of each choice, but also the price of each one. It is equally important to understand what is actually driving the desire to quit in the first place.

By offering nothing more than a bare Yes or No, the reader deprives the client of the bigger picture. And if critical thinking is replaced by blind faith in someone else’s Yes or No, a person can end up making a real mess of their life.

Tarot is not the steering wheel of your life to be handed over to a Tarot reader. It can help you see a situation from a wider perspective — including things you may not see right now, the possibilities and risks, the consequences of your choices, and what you can do yourself.

And that, in my opinion, is where a professional Tarot consultation begins.