Frequently Asked Questions about The New Tarot
Angelica Green's book The New Tarot presents a comprehensive guide to a whole new world. As part of every purchase, she offers a free Tarot reading. Here are some questions often asked about such a reading:
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How accurate and clear will my reading be?
This is of course the most frequently asked question and the one which is the hardest to answer. It will be as clear as it can possibly be — as to accuracy, that depends upon the details of the interpretation. What tends to happen over the period following a reading is that the querent (the person asking for the reading) will come to his or her own conclusions about the results and will then scrutinise his or her life intensely for a day or so before becoming tangled up in daily affairs again. Then, unexpectedly, in a quiet moment, something will strike him or her regarding something that they have just seen, heard or experienced and they will recall the reading — and some parts at least of what they have been told will fall into place. Sometimes it is not until weeks or months later than a specific detail in the reading makes sense. But if the interpretation can be used as a guide to action, it is often found that things work out according to what was forecast in an unexpected way— or something better happens.
2. What’s actually happening during a reading?
What is occurring is that the archetypes within you, from Wisdom down to the Void, are manifesting themselves through the cards. It’s like a ‘spiritual MRI scan’: the reading is scanning your life and revealing what is going on beneath its surface. The interpretation is then much like a doctor’s interpretation of a medical scan: you can find out what to watch out for and the best actions to take. A tarot reading is you listening to You using the cards as tools.
3. What if the reading reveals something dreadful is about to happen? Can I act to avoid that event?
This is also a common fear among querents. A large part of the reason why many people seek tarot readings is because they have a dread of some specific or non-specific event that might occur in their lives. They hope that the reading will give them a clue as to what that event might be and how to avoid it.
It’s important to understand that there is a difference between our perceptions of normal, day-to-day life and the spiritual realities beneath it. What might appear to us to be a ‘dreadful event’ might be part of the unfolding of a larger series of events which lead to a brighter future; or the dark forecast might be the resolution that is needed for a long-term problem to finally be addressed and dealt with.
If a person enters a dark room, they are quite likely to stumble into the unseen furniture that has been laid out around them — they may hurt themselves or break something. The tarot offers a tiny amount of candlelight by which to see what is around us. Sometimes we will be able to make out clearly an obstacle in our way; at other times we will only get a vague glimpse. But the room will no longer be entirely dark to us.
If something distinctly awful is forecast, the tarot does not suggest in any way that it is inevitable — just as, by being able to see shadowy shapes in the darkened room, we may be able to avoid a collision, so the tarot gives the querent the opportunity to change course or alter something so that a particular consequence can be avoided.
4. Isn’t it better not to interfere with such matters as the future? Is a tarot reading tampering with things best left alone?
A tarot reading isn’t like using a ouija board or trying to contact the spirits of the dead — it’s an internal process of using images and symbols to read beneath the surface of the querent’s life. It could be argued that using x-rays or other scans medically are enabling a person to see that which is hidden and should therefore not be used — but, like medical scans, tarot cards offer a way of ‘diagnosing’ particular situations or areas of living so that better choices can be made.
Every human being has access to the higher archetype of Wisdom within themselves, so you could say that you already know everything that a reading will tell you. All that the tarot cards are doing is presenting what is already know in a different form, one that may be interpreted and understood by the active self in daily life.
Another way of looking at a tarot reading is as a kind of spiritual Google search: you are asking a question, and the cards are acting as a ‘search engine’ through which you might obtain some answers. Certainly, at any time you can choose not to pay heed to what is found — or you can use what comes up to inform your decisions and choices accordingly.
5. What kinds of questions work best?
Keep the analogy of a search engine in mind. Would you ask Google ‘What should I do next?’ or ‘What will happen to me?’ Probably not, because even the most powerful search engine in the universe would struggle to compute with all the variables associated with that kind of question, especially when, if you received an answer, you might immediately change your thinking or behaviour and so affect the outcome anyway.
No — instead, you ask a search engine for information or options or guidance based on what might be already known or out there. The questions given earlier are examples of this:
What do I need to know about [a particular area of my life]?
How can I better understand [a person or situation or event]?
What can you tell me about [a specific concern that you have]?
Is there a hidden opportunity in [a particular area of my life]?
What should I focus on in [a relationship, job, situation, crisis]?
What’s the best way forward in [a particular area of my life]?
In other words, ask for information. The cards will communicate back to you in images, hints, narratives, characters, symbols. That’s the language of the spirit. Don’t expect simple mechanical answers like those you get from searching the web sometimes — expect intuitive shapes, clues, insights.
6. What if I am not happy with a result from a reading?
The terms under which you enter into a tarot reading with me include that a) you understand that you are in effect listening to yourself through me and the cards and b) that you are free to dismiss the cards and any interpretation as you see fit, or even to interpret the cards yourself if you disagree.
I make no claims as to accuracy in any reading as this is an impossible claim to make — the nature of the universe is such that everything is in flux and one ‘snapshot’ of a life as seen through a single reading cannot be set in stone as ‘true’ or ‘right’. You undertake a reading out of interest and to see that snapshot, no more.
Also, think of it this way: through the tarot, your inner wisdom is communicating to you. Wisdom is wise: if there is something that should not be revealed or which it determines that should not be known or known clearly at this point in your life it simply won’t come up. So not being happy with some aspect of a reading is possibly to misunderstand what a reading is and what to expect from one.
If after a reading you are unhappy because you feel that I did not perform my part of the bargain in some way, I will of course give a full refund.
7. Can I use the tarot reading to communicate with departed friends or relatives? Can you speak with the dead using the cards?
The tarot cards themselves don’t specifically reference any difference between what we consider ‘alive’ or ‘dead’. Your answers will be determined by the questions you ask. As with a search engine, any answer could apply equally well to any area of life or death.
8. Is the tarot Christian?
Not explicitly, no. Just as medical scans or modern medicines are not mentioned in any ancient religion, though, does not mean that they are forbidden. The discerning thing here is the intention of the querent: is the person seeking to do good or evil by asking a particular question? Again, Wisdom is wise — evil is not forwarded by inner Wisdom. If a querent has an evil purpose in obtaining a reading, it is more likely that the answer will be foggy and muddled and the interpretation very unclear.
9. What if I realise after asking a question and receiving a reading that I had asked the wrong question?
You can either re-interpret the reading for yourself or obtain a further reading from me for £20.00. Numerous readings are possible in a short space of time, so if you have a number of questions you would like to put, you can purchase a number of readings. After about five consecutive readings in a short space of time, though, it’s best to leave the field for a while and give your spiritual self a rest!
10. What if I have a question that is not answered here?
Feel free to drop me a line by email and ask anything you wish, through the publisher: