Someone who has recently picked up a tarot deck for the first time and is only beginning to learn the meanings of each card might not realize that he or she likely already brings to that tarot deck some assumptions about what can be asked and revealed through a reading.
Actually, anything CAN be asked, but are some questions inherently “better” than others? If so, why?
Some tarot readers prefer to do readings purely for fortune-telling purposes. In other words, they use the cards for the sole purpose of predicting the future and/or to understand those outside forces that are at work in their lives (and that presumably control their lives). I know some highly skilled readers who approach tarot in this way and who do it quite well.
The other way of reading tarot is with the goal of gaining personal insight. Rather than asking “Will I get the job?” this type of tarot reader would ask something like, “What do I need to know about my upcoming job interview to help me be successful?” or “What is helping and hindering me from getting this new job?”
Tarot readers will likely always have friendly debates about which style of reading is best, and some readers enjoy taking an eclectic approach, reading to predict the future at one sitting and for personal insight at another. My goal is not to argue that one way is always better than another, but rather to add a new dimension and perhaps some new considerations to this on-going discussion.
In the field of psychology, we use the term “locus of control” to describe how people perceive the control they have in their lives. There are two types: an external and internal locus of control. A person with an external locus of control believes that fate and external forces have the final say. By contrast, someone with an internal locus of control believes that in times of both failure and success, responsibility falls squarely on the individual rather than on outside or environmental variables. Someone with an external locus of control might say he pitched a perfect game because he was wearing his lucky socks while someone with more of an internal locus of control would explain his perfect game by saying he had been practicing more than ever in recent months, got a really good night’s sleep the night before, and felt a high degree of focus during the game. Most people are not fully one extreme or the other at all times, but they do typically lean strongly in one direction or the other.
It’s well-established that an internal locus of control is associated with positive mental health and personal empowerment. Giving credit to some lucky socks doesn’t seem that bad; then, what is so wrong with having an external locus of control? When a person consistently views the world through this lens of assuming outside factors are controlling what happens in his or her life, it can lead to feelings of powerlessness and even hopelessness when faced with life’s most difficult moments. Imagine you got a less-than-stellar review at work. You could respond to that review by a) focusing on how terrible your boss is, what a difficult year it has been, the coworker who didn’t do his part on the joint project so you ended up looking bad, and the many other environmental factors that basically set you up for failure or b) taking a good, long look in the mirror to reflect upon the degree to which the performance review is accurate so that you can make some hard changes and get a top-notch performance review next quarter. Which would you do?
So, what does this have to do with reading tarot cards? Here is the connection: If you are a person who tends to have an external locus of control, reading to predict the future and to try to get a handle on the external forces at work in your life will likely make you feel only more powerless than you already feel, particularly when reading for yourself. If you already have an external locus of control, then you are approaching the cards (or the forces at work beyond the cards) as if they have all the answers; as the reader, you hope to get a glimpse. Think about this dynamic. Where is your power?
I have observed that ironically those who have more of an internal locus of control tend to gravitate more toward insight-driven tarot reading while tarot readers who have more of an external locus of control tend to gravitate toward fortune-telling-type reading. This natural preference is easy to understand when you think about how each kind of person views the world. Someone who has an internal locus of control assumes she has some power to control or influence a situation or outcome, so she would be more likely to ask a question like, “What can I learn from this friendship that has ended?” Someone with an external locus of control would more likely ask questions that sound more like, “Why did the friendship end? Was there something I didn’t know?”
Purely from a mental health perspective, those who have an external locus of control benefit greatly from reading tarot in a way that emphasizes personal insight as opposed to environmental and external factors. The practice itself is not only reinforcing and empowering but can actually shift the individual’s perspective in a healthy way. If you tend to be the kind of person who blames the stars or bad luck for things that go sour, readings that focus on personal insight open up new areas of self-exploration that you might have not previously considered. Personal transformation is possible.
If you are fairly new to tarot and trying to figure out how to best formulate your questions, a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, “Where is my power?” If your question is worded well, you should easily be able to identify where your power lies—what you can do, not do, what you can learn, pay attention to, avoid, gain, and so forth.
Bottom line: You have power; find it, hold on to it, keep it. It’s yours.
My Luna Moth Days 