When to Pull Clarifying Tarot Cards & When you Shouldn't

<p>In this episode of <a href="https://www.thetarotdiagnosis.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>The Tarot Diagnosis podcast</strong></a>, I’m exploring <strong>tarot clarifiers</strong> and a question I don’t think we ask often enough: Why are we pulling clarifying cards if we already understand the card in front of us?</p><p><br></p><p>This episode came about unexpectedly after I pulled the <strong>Seven of Wands</strong> during my weekly tarot practice and immediately felt my body reaching for the deck again. But I already knew what the card meant and more importantly, I knew what it meant to me. I didn’t actually need more information. Eventually, I realized I was reaching for distance because the card made me uncomfortable and I wanted to get rid of that feeling ASAP.</p><p><br></p><p>That moment got me thinking about how often this might be happening in your practice. So, I recorded an impromptu podcast about it.</p><p><br></p><p>Throughout the episode, I explore how pulling tarot clarifiers can sometimes become a form of <strong>reassurance seeking or avoidance</strong>, especially when one clarifier becomes another and another until we finally find a card that gives us the interpretation we were hoping for. I also look at <strong>confirmation bias</strong> and how pulling more cards can give us more opportunities to find evidence for the narrative we already know/want to believe. Both things to be aware/ cautious of.</p><p><br></p><p>But this isn’t an argument <strong>against</strong> clarifiers - I promise. Clarifying cards can add valuable context to a tarot reading - especially when we’re developing our ability to read cards in relationship with one another. So I’m more interested in what our impulse to pull another card is telling us - versus the act of pulling a clarifier.</p><p><br></p><p>I also explore <strong>tolerating ambiguity and uncertainty when using tarot</strong>. Like what happens when, instead of immediately resolving the tension a card creates, we allow ourselves to sit with it for a moment? </p><p><br></p><p>Using my reaction to the <strong>Seven of Wands</strong>, I walk through how I resisted pulling a clarifier and instead explored my initial defensiveness and discomfort. That shift allowed me to practice <strong>dialectical</strong> thinking by asking what else could simultaneously be true, without bypassing the initial feelings. This then brought up a fun fact about film composition and how we can apply t