Using Tarot for Yes/No Questions - Does it Work?

Q&A
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Merry meet!

I’m opening up a space to discuss what might be an age old question - can you use tarot for yes/no questions?

There are readers out there who say a confident yes, you can ask yes/no questions to tarot. A search on the web reveals a lot of techniques and spreads to use to get a yes/no result.

EDIT: A second part of this discussion featuring tarot spreads to get yes/no answers has opened up here: Using Tarot for Yes/No Questions PART II - Tarot Spreads for a Yes/No Answer

On the other hand, there are also a lot of readers who say no - tarot is designed to be open-ended. The cards depict archetypes of the human experience and, while archetypes may take on positive or negative connotations, they cannot be squished into something as small as a “yes” or a “no”.

The Question of Fate

When exploring questions about tarot, I’ve found the path often ends up winding back to one’s personal beliefs in fate. Someone who believes that fate is prewritten and set in stone will likely interpret the cards (and the result of a yes/no reading) differently than someone who doesn’t believe in fate, or feels that the future is fluid and ever-changing.

This has been romping around like kittens on catnip in my mind for the past few days, so I’m calling on the wisdom of the coven! I’d love to hear what you think :grinning_face: :pray:

(This poll is anoynmous)

Do you use tarot for yes/no questions?
  • YES - Tarot can give an accurate yes/no answer
  • NO - Tarot is not meant to give a yes/no answer
0 voters

In the comments below, please feel free to share about your experience using tarot for yes/no questions and, if you’re comfortable doing so, about how your personal beliefs around fate influence your readings.

Thank you in advance - I’m looking forward to learning more from all of you! :pray: :flower_playing_cards:

Blessed be

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Wouldn’t that depend on the question asked? I mean if I asked if oranges would help with the individual’s case of the blues, the question is more of correspondences and physical reactions than fate. If I asked whether a spell I’d cast in anger would teach an offending party to have respect, the answer would depend on if the party were open to learning. However, If I asked if I’d be back after fulfilling the need to travel to settle a set of issues, that may be more of a question of fate… Or would it be a future choice on my part?

Hmm. It doesn’t look like I believe in fate at this moment, even though it feels like fate is part of the issue. Thank you for the question.

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Cute! :grinning_cat_with_smiling_eyes:

I’ve sometimes asked yes-no questions from the cards, making two parallel readings, asking “what would a yes look like” and the same for “no”. It’s always given me some new insight.

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Here’s a list of the Tarot cards that generally mean “yes”:

Major Arcana: The Fool, The Magician, The Empress, The Emperor, The Lovers, Strength, The Star, The Sun, The World
Suit of Wands: Ace, Three, Four, Six, Seven, Eight, Page, Knight, Queen, King
Suit of Cups: Ace, Two, Three, Six, Nine, Ten, Page, Knight, Queen, King
Suit of Swords: Ace, Six, Page
Suit of Pentacles: Ace, Three, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Page, Knight, Queen, King
Here’s a list of the Tarot cards that generally mean “no”:

Major Arcana: The Hermit, Death, The Devil, The Tower, The Moon
Suit of Wands: Five, Ten
Suit of Cups: Five, Eight
Suit of Swords: Three, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten
Suit of Pentacles: Five

I think all of the other cards are pretty hard to tell.

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Thank you @tory. Needed that.

There is a teaching deck out there with the answer printed on each card. I thought it was a nice share when I saw it in a post, but wanted more.

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Im stuck between a rock and a hard place because I have used tarot for yes and no answers, but it can also be vague.

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I didn’t vote in the poll, because for me the answer is both. It depends on the deck.

I have (maybe had) a deck, my first deck, haven’t seen it in years though, must be in some box in the basement, I hope. I used it for yes or no questions because I never learned the meanings of the cards. And this one worked, for me.

I bought a new deck, last year, to finally learn how to read the cards. This one had meanings printed on them, along with correspondences, and yes or no. And this one just didn’t work for me.

Both decks are the classic Rider Waite designs.

After having a few months to reflect on all of this. The difference I can come up with is that the first one I bought, was at a local Barnes & Noble store. I had other decks to choose from, and I touched them, and picked out this one.

I looked around locally, at two metaphysical stores, and again at Barnes & Noble. Couldn’t find a set with meanings. So I ordered one from Amazon. And in this case, someone else, probably with no connection to witchcraft, or maybe even with negative feelings toward it, just grabbed the first one off the shelf in the warehouse, and shoved it into a box.

I haven’t had the time or patience to try to cleanse it and tune to it other than what I did the first day. So this deck is just currently sitting there, to be used as a reference for future decks or for my original one in case I find it.

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When doing yes or no readings, I have one deck that works best for it. I always shuffle the cards while concentrating on my question. Then I either flip over the top card or if one flies out while shuffling I use that card.

If I pull from the top of the deck, upright is yes, reversed is no. If I use one that flies from the deck it depends on how it lands. Upright yes, reversed no. If it lands sideways the answer is a maybe. At this point I draw the top card for clarification on what would be the determining factor.

I have always gotten good results with this.

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That’s a good point, Georgia, and I think you’re right - there are some questions that don’t relate to fate/the future, especially questions about things happening here and now :+1:

As I’ve been fixatedly researching this topic, I’ve seen a few folks recommend something similar to this - to get more from the cards by rewording a yes/no question into a question that asks for more insight. It might still be a yes/no question at heart, but, at least in my eyes, it’s not asking the cards directly “yes” or “no”, it’s using them to paint a fuller picture. Perhaps this is the middle ground? :grinning_face: I like it!

The Star is actually one of the cards that threw me for a loop and sent me down this rabbit hole in the first place :sweat_smile: . In one yes/no reading, The Star popped up (upright). I took it as a very clear yes, but the situation didn’t come to be. Looking back now, I think it was meant to be a no and that was actually the better outcome that I couldn’t see at the time - my cards were telling me to keep hope and keep looking up.

All that is to say that - at least for me and that specific deck I was using - it doesn’t look like I can assign yes/no values to specific cards. Or perhaps I need to assign some as “maybes” or “it depends” :grin:

This is a very cool list - I might start my own deck-based list and record what cards mean across multiple readings. Thank you for sharing it! :pray:

I feel you! Out of curiosity, are there any specific cards in the deck that you feel give a vague answer to a yes/no question? And if so, do you feel those cards would better align with a “maybe” answer (or something else)? :grinning_face:

This is a great answer and something I didn’t think of until you mentioned it - it’s so true that different decks have their own personalities and work in different ways! It makes sense that each deck might handle yes/no questions differently too. Thanks for adding this, Ailey (and I hope you can find your first deck! :pray:)

This sounds like a helpful method - I like that it leaves room for maybes or undetermined answers. Thank you very much, Mystique! If you don’t mind, I think I might experiment with your method (as well as with different decks) :flower_playing_cards: :heart:

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I always hesitate to chime in on these discussions as people can have very strong feelings one way or the other, and I absolutely am not trying to invalidate anyone’s truth. :folded_hands:

I have gotten off track in my studies in Holistic Tarot :roll_eyes: but taking a glance there, she recommends a yes/no tarot spread from Eden Gray called The Three Aces. I like the fact that it’s not a single card pull, as I don’t find those to work well for me. I find life and therefore my question, is more nuanced and requires more explanation.

I did the spread to try out a yes/no question for a personal question and got a no. We’ll see how it pans out.

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Many of the guidebooks for my decks have a list of which cards mean Yes/No
(From MJ Cullinane’s Beyond the LWB: The Crow Tarot expanded guidebook and journal)

The Crow Tarot
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The Crow Tarot
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In general, I suppose I don’t like asking yes/no spiritual/divininatory questions as life is never that simple.

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I generally don’t like to ask yes or no questions with tarot because there are too many variables at play for me. I find that my interpretations, when I ask questions like that, tend to be too vague or difficult for me to understand and wrap my head around. I attribute this to the plethora of symbology that is available in tarot cards—the images and symbols and meanings and everything.

Now, I’m not gonna say that you can’t ask yes or no questions with tarot, but I think if you do, you need to have a very clear system set up for yourself so you’re not stuck trying to interpret cards for the reading that don’t make any sense to you because you didn’t set something up ahead of time. I have seen people do yes or no questions where they shuffle the cards and it doesn’t matter what card they pull, because what they’re looking for is the orientation of the card—so an upright card would be a yes, and a reversal would be a no.

For me, this just leaves too much to be unknown. I don’t think there are very many situations where a strict yes or no answer is gonna give me everything that I need to know. If I were to ask a yes or no question, I would choose a different method of divination, such as flipping a coin, using a pendulum, or even creating an oracle deck that is specific to yes or no questions—sort of like a Magic 8-Ball. That would probably work better for me.

I do think it’s interesting to see the different methods of answering yes or no questions with tarot and oracle. Just because it doesn’t work for me or I don’t like it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work for other people, and I would definitely be open to experimenting with it, for sure.

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By all means! Experiment away!! Let me know how it turns out for you.

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I’m not sure. So didn’t answer yes or no (excuse the pun :laughing:). Runes do yes and no so why not tarot. :person_shrugging::grin:

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Just want to say thank you again to everyone who has chimed in! It’s looking like - at least to me - that this may be another topic of magick that doesn’t have a universal right or wrong answer, but can differ depending a host of factors - including the individual reader, their beliefs, the spread, the deck used, and the card(s) that appear. It’s fascinating to explore - so thank you again very much to everyone for their input! :pray:

@Artemisia Thank you for chiming in - I appreciate hearing your perspective! :heart: It’s also interesting to see Gray’s take on a yes/no reading spread and Cullinane’s list of yes/no/maybe card correspondences. It looks like that spread gave a solid answer - I’d love to hear how it pans out (if you’re comfortable sharing!) :blush:

@MeganB That’s a good point about the symbolism (and the sheer amount of it on many cards) being tricky to categorize into just two types: “yes” or “no”. And I agree about looking to other methods of divination for questions that need a straightforward answer, there are a lot of them to use!

@Mystique Thank you so much, Mystique. I appreciate it! :pray: Haven’t had much time to enjoy with my cards the past few days, but this is on the top of my tarot to-do list. Looking forward to learning more via experimentation! :flower_playing_cards: :grinning_face:

@tracyS Always love the puns! :grin: :heart: And that’s a good point - my rune studies aren’t very advanced, so I’d love to tap into your wisdom (if you’ll let me!). When it comes to yes/no readings, do you think runes are more (or perhaps less?) straightforward with getting a yes/no answer than tarot cards? I’d love to hear your thoughts on how the two methods compare! :star_struck:

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I don’t think Tarot is useful for strict yes/no questions. First off, if you use @Artemisia 's post about what indicates yes/no then, by default, much more than half are either positive or ‘maybe’. If we are playing the odds only, then the deck is going to give positive most often. If I was going to ask just a ‘yes/no’ question, I would depend on a coin flip more than a Tarot draw (coin flipping is an ‘ology’, too.)

Having mentioned Artemisia, I should also say I think her way is my approach (she is a great card slinger IMHO - as are several who have answered this).

I don’t see Tarot as giving ‘in your face’ advice. The strength, for me, is reading the cards and determining what fits the situation and then deciding myself. The ‘intuition’ component of Tarot makes Tarot important.

The Tower (and most other cards) can be positive (‘yes’) in lots of situations. Even if Tarot is not ‘Magick’, it has a psychological component that invites you to look deep into a situation,

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Well, I can already tell that the No answer I got from The Three Aces spread was correct. shrug but that’s alright. I had asked if I would finally get back on track this week. My Monday did not go according to plan at all :laughing:, but that’s ok. Tomorrow is a brand new day and a fresh chance to try again!

:thinking: I might have to try this spread again and see how it works for me. It was fun to learn a new spread, and always fun to talk about tarot!

I find it interesting that different tarot creators have different views on which cards mean yes/no, and not all of them use maybe. :laughing: I suppose maybe that’s why I never tried a single card pull for yes/no questions. Too confusing for me.

Fun topic for sure :tarot_card: :+1: :no_entry: :woman_shrugging:

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Another really good point to add to the pile - I didn’t think about the statistics of it! Math has never been my thing, but the more I learn about numerology, the more powerful numbers and the systems of using them seem to be. Imbalanced odds to one result over another is definitely something worth considering.

With this in mind, if someone was assigning yes/no values to a particular deck, they could take care to keep the amount of yes cards consistent with the amount of no cards (and any remaining could be “maybes” or “it depends”).

I’m with you on this. Sometimes “yes” doesn’t equal “positive” and vice versa. A “no” that at first seems bad may actually yield the best possible result. In a previous yes/no reading for me, The Star upright turned out to be a no - albeit a hopeful one. The cards are wonderfully complex in that way.

Great points, Dan - thank you for sharing your thoughts! :pray: :heart:

While I’m happy the spread worked as intended, I’m sorry it’s been a bumpy start to the week for you! Still, call me an optimist, but I hope things turn around and improve for you soon. I’m seconding what you said here - may the fresh chance of a new day lead to happy things for you! :tada: :two_hearts:

Agreed wholeheartedly! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Using runes for yes/no is really simple. There are various techniques. Here’s a few.

One is to pull 3 runes, if two are reversed it’s No, if 1 reversed it’s Maybe, if all upright it’s Yes.

The other is to use 1 rune like a tossing coin.
Reversed No
Upright Yes.

I found that even though you can do this, the runes sometimes play with you and will flip sideways :laughing:, not sure if that’s the runes or Odin and Loki (both gods are tricksters!) so to avoid this, it’s best to use rune cards rather than real runes.

(And obviously do a shuffle of the cards to include reversals, something I forget regularly as I very rarely work with reversed meanings in runes :zany_face:, then I’m thinking, why is everything a Yes. :rofl:)

Skal :clinking_beer_mugs::green_heart:

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I could definitely believe the hand of a trickster god is interfering when the runes flip sideways! :laughing: :+1:

Since one possible way to interpret a tarot card that falls out of shuffling sideways is a “maybe”, do you ever read sideways runes as a “maybe”, or perhaps as a “draw again”?

It’s interesting to compare methods of reading for two different types of divination and how they might overlap! Thank you very much for sharing your runic wisdom, Tracy! :pray: :heart:

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Yes, you could read it that way, I think the key here is to tune the runes into how you think, so I’d tell the runes, upright Yes, reverse no, anything else maybe. :grin: If the runes deviate from this, then I take it they just ain’t playing ball today and it’s a polite way of Odin saying, make your own decision. :zany_face::green_heart:

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