Reading Tarot in Pairs
When you first start learning Lenormand it’s typical to read two cards at a time. Not so with Tarot. In fact a lot of beginner books start with the 10-card Celtic Cross – an approach I’ve always thought was a bit daft.
Lately I’ve been playing with reading Tarot pairs. You’ve probably seen some of them on my Instagram account. I like reading two cards as I find it challenges me to rely on “something” outside of my general Tarot knowledge. It’s very much like telling a *very* short story.
You could assign positions to two-card spreads such as:
- Cause – Effect
- Gift – Challenge
- Do – Don’t Do
- Choice 1 – Choice 2
- Today – Tomorrow
or you could just make up a story, asking what the Ancestors (or Spirit Guides, or Angels, etc) want you to know.
So in the case of this Knight of Cups and 4 of Wands my story might be about a man who was searching for true love. However he had such specific requirements for a potential mate that he was still single.
But one day in April, two of his friends invited him over for coffee and cake in the garden. Once there, they pulled out a paper and pen and helped him work on his “perfect mate” list. Of course it was a New Moon day.
After making the list the man focused on the qualities of his future mate and, on drawing another card, we see that he found the Queen of Swords. Would she make a good mate for him? I would say yes although he would need to be a bit less sensitive and she would need to be a bit more.
As you can tell, I’m having a little fun with this – but bottom line is I like a two-card reading and yes, sometimes it’s going to expand to more cards. Like this one did.
Now you try it. Draw two cards, tell us what they were and how you’ve interpreted them. It’s a good exercise for trusting your intuition. And, for understanding when it’s important to draw clarifiers. Please also include the name of the deck you’re using and whether you used any oracle decks as clarifiers.
I asked the ancestors what I should do about information I’ve received through DNA about a half Uncle. I’m annoyed that he made contact with me but went silent when I told him how I thought we were related. All this waiting around for him to come to terms with it is getting on my nerves. I asked the Ancestors about Dos and Don’ts. I pulled Hanged Man Reverse and 4 of Cups Reverse. I feel like this message is about moving on. Stop waiting around–time to get on with things. You’ve waited around long enough waiting for something different to happen. Now, it’s time to get back with your life. That single cup being offered gives a little hope that there’s a silver lining or that I haven’t seen the last of this situation. It strikes me too that the first card feels like me–like it’s out of my hands and the 4 of Cups feels like my newly found relative who doesn’t like what he’s heard. He’s pouting and stewing and deciding whether or not he’ll accept this relationship. When I think about all the Cups that follow, the 5, 6, 7, 8, it may be a long time before he works this out. He has to deal with the loss of what he thought to be true, the past, confusion on what to do with the 7, the spiritual quest with the 8. He has to work through a lot of feelings. Maybe this is the epiphany I see with the Hanged Man in Reverse. I’m thinking about the halo around his head–like an aha moment. I have hope. Following the 8 is the 9 and 10 of Cups, so maybe this ends up being a happy story. Additionally, he’s in a Tower situation right now. These cards add up to 16. The very foundation of his family is being ripped out beneath him. What he thought to be true has been destroyed with this information. That would be a lot to deal with. Better give this some time for the dust to settle and hopefully we can work together in building something better in the future. I’m focusing on the Star card to follow.