Outcome Cards

One of the reasons many people do readings is to get a peek at the future. Most of us find being in limbo an uncomfortable state. We say we’d rather know, one way or the other, even it is the worst possible outcome. We say that way we can at least prepare for it and that taking action of some sort is better than doing nothing…and just waiting, wondering, imagining the worst.

We say that. But we are secretly hoping that the outcome will, at best, be what our heart desires or, at worst, not as bad as we feared.

But what if it is as bad as we feared? What do we do with that information?

Being someone who believes that tarot, like a weather forecast, shows us what is likely and not what is set in stone, I often see the outcome card not as the last card but the beginning of the next spread.

To what extent can we change the future?

Outcomes, in my opinion, do not share the same amount of fluidity. Some can be altered more than others. First, I assess the card. If it is a Major Arcana or a 8 – 10 Minor, I see the future as more set. All other cards, I see much room for taking action and changing things. Court cards are, as usual, tricky. If it is a King, I see it as someone else making a decision about the situation, someone with authority and with whom you may have little access or influence.

Once you have an idea of how much wiggle room is in your outcome, you have many options:

• Use the outcome card as the first card in a new reading.
• Pull another card asking what blessing or benefit or life-lesson you are meant to find in this situation.
• Go through the deck and find the outcome you’d rather have. Place the first outcome card on the table. Place your desired outcome a little ways over (leave enough space between them for three cards). Shuffle and pull three cards (place between the two outcome cards) to represent what you can do to move the outcome in the desired direction. Finally, pull a card to represent the new outcome, if you take the advice herein.