Recently, I did a tarot reading and the client didn’t resonate with it at all.

I’d never experienced having a reading that was completely off the mark before. I knew it was inevitable one day, but I wasn’t really ready for it.

In that instance, I offered to redo the reading after a few days had passed.

But, before I did the reading again, I decided to do a little forensic CSI on the reading and find out what went wrong.

When your tarot reading sucks (or fails) there can be a few factors that come into play.

For instance, the day that I did that reading was probably a bad week for me.

It was just after a powerful full moon and just as I was preparing for the reading and shuffling the cards, I completely forgot the name of my spirit guide that assists me with connecting with my client’s spirit guides!

In addition to that my energy levels were lower than normal.

I couldn’t maintain a higher vibration and strangely enough as the following three to four days passed, I fell more into a depression.

Since I’ve had depression in the past, I knew the early warning signs and worked to turn it around to prevent it from getting worse.

Once I realised that my energy levels were affecting the reading, which my lower energy levels were separating me from channelling, I worked on myself to slowly get back to raising my vibration again.

 

Why Does a Tarot Reading Fail?

 

There can be many reasons why a tarot reading can suck and completely fail.

 

Here a few suggestions that may lead to a reading that’s less than hoped for:

 

1. Being tired

 

If you worked all day at your day job, then come home to do a big reading, your energy levels aren’t what they should be.

Tarot readings can use up a lot of energy.

Many people assume that just throwing down cards and reading them is easy stuff.

 

It takes energy, focus and concentration to read cards.

 

Reading cards is like doing an written or verbal essay.

You have your topic or question and you have to come up with a reply and answer that relates back to the topic or question.

It takes reading symbolism, recalling knowledge and listening to your intuition.

If you’re tired, there’s more likely to be misinterpretation and mistakes being made.

 

2. Being hungry

 

“You’re not you when you’re hungry,” say the Snickers commercials.

You may think you’re not hungry, but if you haven’t eaten all day and then do a tarot reading, that can also lead to a weak reading and weak tarot reader.

Add on top of it a long day with no food, there’s no energy left to do readings.

Tarot readers have to take care of themselves first before doing readings for anyone (including themselves).

Make sure to eat something before (and after) a tarot reading if necessary.

 

3. The reading you did was meant for you or someone else

 

The tarot reading that you did that didn’t work out for your client may have been intended for you or someone else, and you may not have realized it at the time.

Sometimes Spirit has a way of trying to get your attention, but we as humans can be ignorant at times.

We’re prone to misinterpreting messages and signals, so what you’re reading and thinking is intended for your querent, the cards may be speaking to you directly.

If you deliver the reading to your querent and the querent can’t relate to it, come back to it a few days later and look at it from another perspective.

Is it relatable to you?

Is it relatable to someone you know?

If not, perhaps ask the querent to look over the reading again and see if it’s relatable to someone they know.

 

4. One keyword or card may have offset the whole reading

 

Perhaps there was one card that was tripping you up.

If this is the focal card such as card 1 or 2 in the Celtic Cross, this sets the tone for the reading as the heart of the matter with the rest of the cards surrounding it.

If this card is misinterpreted, the rest of the cards will support it (based on interpretation) or may cause more confusion if they don’t match up with the interpretation of the card, leaving the reading mismatched and jumbled.

If you have a record of the reading, try to go back to the card (or cards) that were creating a problem.

Try a different interpretation and see if the other cards support or collaborate that new meaning.

Even if you can’t or don’t want to re-do the entire reading, you can take this interpretation and lesson from this reading and keep it in mind for future reference.

 

5. Sometimes it’s just a “garbage reading”

 

This may happen there’s a lack of focus or intent when shuffling the cards and focusing on the question or topic for the reading.

Trying to make sense out of nonsense, you’ll just get more nonsense.

There’s no shame to pack up the cards and try again later. (Even Magic 8 Balls say “Ask again later.”)

If you’re doing a reading for a client by email, you can try again later after a rest or taking a break.

If you’re doing a reading for a friend or sitting client and nothing is making sense, you may have to reschedule it later.

Readers are humans and we’re all prone to good days and bad days, really accurate days and sometimes we just miss the mark.

There’s no 100% accuracy with any tarot reader or psychic.

Sometimes you just don’t feel on top of your game.

And that’s OK.

It happens.

Here’s a few suggestions to help you get back on track to feeling your “normal tarot reading self” that work for me:

 

1. Listen to some good upbeat music

 

Raise your vibration.

Sometimes we get caught up in our thoughts and in our heads, that we ignore what our intuition is trying to tell us or what spirit guides may be trying to tell us.

Since Spirit communicates at a higher frequency and vibration, we have to raise our vibration to meet up with Spirit.

There are a few ways that you can do this, which can also help to improve your mood.

Pop, dance, techno, whatever you like that gets you moving and happy.

Dance around if you want or sway to the music while sitting down.

Get super happy and into it. Music can help to raise your vibration and lift your mood.

Create a playlist with your favourite happy songs and play it before you get ready to do a reading.

Get yourself “psyched” to get psychic.

 

2. Sage everything

 

If you feel that everything around you is in a bit of a funk, get some new white sage and cleanse all your cards, home and yourself.

Do a full cleanse and maybe even a little bit of housecleaning to get rid of any messes and dust.

If you normally just do a quick cleanse of your cards and home, take extra time to cleanse them completely.

You can even place quartz crystals on top of your cards as a boost.

 

3. Visually raise your vibration

 

This is a technique that I taught myself, then later saw in an online video that James Van Praagh uses a similar technique.

Imagine a ball of energy in your solar plexus.

Pull all your energy into the centre of it. Feel it pulsate and vibrate.

Amplify it.

Now pull this energy from your solar plexus up through your heart chakra all the way up to your crown chakra and outward.

Now imagine that your body is energy.

Pull this exact image of energy of your body upward, as if it’s like a exoskeleton of yourself.

Pull this energy upward to the sky, now imagine that you’re standing on top of your shoulders and you can see all around you. This is your ethereal self.

After you’re done, you can imagine lowering yourself back into your body to complete the exercise.

These techniques I often use to connect with Spirit and to channel.

Using energy manipulation, you can raise your vibration to easily connect and communicate with Spirit.

 

4. Aromatherapy, Oils & Dusting Powders

 

Like burning sage to cleanse which can have an altering affect to put you in the mindset to get focused on spiritual work, aromatherapy can also help.

Burning incense can help create an atmosphere that can get you in the mood to do psychic, spiritual work and readings.

Sandalwood is my absolute favourite and I make sure to get the kind that I really like when I need the extra boost. My two favourites are Morningstar Sandalwood by Nippon Kodo and Sandalwood 10 pack sticks from Green Earth.

You can also use your favourite essential oils in a diffuser to help relax and calm your mind.

My favourite witchy shop, The Witchery has oils for different purposes that are handcrafted. I recently purchased their Psychic Vision oil and Psychic Vision dusting powder to use before readings and for other psychic work.

There are some studies that show the benefit of aromatherapy and oils to help the mind, while others may say it’s a placebo affect.

However it works may be left for debate, but if you find it works for you – go for it!

Whatever gets the job done!

 

5. Get outside

 

A nice walk outdoors can help revitalize the mind.

Being around people with the different energies and activities can help also.

Spend time in nature or find a local café to sit and people watch. Take your dog (or pet) for a walk or stroll outside.

Go to a park or beach and read a book (no Kindles or Kobos!) Play games outside and get active.

If you find that you’ve been indoors for too long or not getting enough time to be outside, your energy can become stifled and stagnate.

Spend time in public places to feel people’s energy and connect with people around you.

 

These are just a few tips that I’ve used to help me get back on track and to get back to doing readings again and feeling like my normal self.

 

Do you have any bounce back pointers to share after a failed tarot reading?

Feel free to share your suggestions in the comments!

 

Blessings,
Stacey & the Tarot Pugs

 

Title image deisgned in Canva.
Card images from The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans ©2016.