One Card Pulls

Should you or shouldn’t you use one card pulls to do a reading? The answer is far from being black and white particularly for beginners. Most people when starting off reading tarot cards will find a spread that suits the question or situation they have and then they will pull the cards required to use it.

The trouble is that even with multiple definitions (such as the ones we have at Tarot Time) it is very difficult for learners to turn those definitions into a useful and meaningful interpretation. As a result many will resort to using a single card instead. If that sounds like you then that is when you need to ask yourself whether a single card is appropriate or not.

If all you need is a quick and dirty yes, no, or maybe type of answer then a single card may be appropriate. I say “may be” because if the question is in any way important then how you ask your question will be critical or you may as well not bother.

Take the question “Will I find true love?” A single card can be used to answer this question and if you don’t need or want detail then perhaps it may be appropriate to use one card. But as “Deep Thought” said: You have to understand the question before you can understand the answer.

If you get a nice positive “Yes” to your question then on the surface that seems good. And it is, but only on the surface. But did your card tell you when? Will you find true love this year? Or next, or perhaps the one after that? Do you still have work to do before it will happen? Will doing that work make it happen faster? Does the next love possibility to cross your path still have work to do?

You don’t know the answer to any of those questions because you didn’t ask. And even if you did ask “when” (or something else) in addition to the main question you are now asking a single tarot card to answer two different questions.

There are several really good spreads out there for that particular question that deal with all the questions a single pull won’t answer. My personal view is that one card pulls should only ever be used for simplistic and the less important questions. Otherwise you could take a wrong path with your answer because of assumptions you make based on it.

Now something like “Should I wear my brown shoes or the black ones tonight?” is much more appropriate for a one card pull. Now before you say “Nobody would ever ask that!” let me just say I have been asked exactly that by a paying client. I will agree that it sounds ridiculous but sometimes life is just that. What I am trying to say is that it may be a big mistake to use a single card to answer an important question.

However, there are times when a one card pull is appropriate. Many readers pull a daily card to see what the day will be like and for that purpose a single card will work quite well. It’s not foolproof but then nothing is.

You may have noticed that in our tarot card definitions we have an interpretation for “Message from Spirit.” If you feel that spirit is trying to tell you something and you are not experienced enough to do a full Celtic Cross or something similar then pulling a single card may be very appropriate.

Having said all that about messages from spirit I would point out that I don’t think it is appropriate to pull a card for that purpose every single day. If your intuition is tugging at your sleeve then that is a good time to pull a card and see what turns up. Otherwise once a month or possibly once a week (if you have a lot going on) is all you need to do.

There is one other aspect of tarot reading where a one card pull is not only appropriate but actually a requisite for your reading. Even with the very best of tarot definitions and even when the reader is skilled there will be times when the reading itself (or a particular card within the reading) does not make as much sense as you would like. This is when the one card pull truly comes into its own because you pull a card for clarification, and sometimes more than one.

There is nothing wrong with using a one card pull as long as it is the best tool for the job. Just be sure you don’t give it more than it can handle.

Article by Paul (Admin)

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