Family Questions and Answers Using Tarot

As a professional tarot reader, clients often contact me for many different reasons, but the top two concerns I address most often are relationship and career. Tarot and oracle cards can prove surprisingly helpful when asking questions and seeking answers about your relationship and your career. This article will focus on family and how to ask the most helpful questions and get the most insightful answers.

Let’s read this Family Q&A.

The Deck

For this article, I have selected the Ostara Tarot. The Ostara Tarot was published in 2017 and I purchased my copy in 2018 while on a vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In an unusual twist, there are four artists who worked on the cards for the deck, Molly Applejohn, Eden Cooke, Krista Gibbard, and Julia Iredale. Using modern imagery and the Rider-Waite foundation, these four artists have created a beautiful deck full of rich symbolism and artistic creativity.

Asking the Questions

I know, from experience, that clients often want to know a future outcome more than the spiritual work of a situation, which is why people often sit down across from me and ask, “will my parents leave me an inheritance?” or “will my son get into the college of his choice?” Practically speaking, you should ask that question to the college admissions office. When a future outcome is in the hands of another person, if they are not drawing the cards with you, then your question is “spiritually inappropriate”.

However, there is a way to ask a question about another person that is spiritual in nature, making the cards the perfect tool to provide you with a helpful answer. If you reframe the question and ask, “what do I need to know if my parents do not leave me an inheritance?” or “what do I need to know to help my son if he does not get into the college of his choice?”, then the cards can provide you with useful insights.

A Three Card Reading about Family

One of the most basic reading spreads is a 3-card reading based on a card for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. I am going to suggest modifying this spread using a series of three questions, “What do I need to know now?”, “What is my challenge?”, and “What do I need to know going forward?”

Question 1: How can I improve my relationship with my mother?

The cards drawn are the following:

Interpretation

What you need to know is the Four of Pentacles, preservation, indicating that you need to find practical activities that you and your mother can do together. You need to keep each other occupied. Your challenge is the Nine of Swords, cruelty, reminding you that you or she, or both of you, can have sharp words with one another. Finally, the guidance going forward is the Emperor, which is telling you to assert yourself and make sure that your mother sees you as an adult and you act like one. You need to show your power in order to shift the relationship in a positive direction.

Question 2: How can I help my son become more independent?

Interpretation

The first card selected for what you need to know now is Five of Cups, disappointment, indicating that you feel disappointed about your son’s progress in life. Your challenge is the Empress, nurturing, suggesting that you must find a new way to be supportive without smothering him or indulging him. Lastly, going forward, the Knight of Wands, adventure, indicates that it would help to send him on an adventure and help him get out of the house or away from what is familiar. It would be helpful to look at programs that test young people, like Outward Bound, or consider helping him find opportunities abroad.

Question 3: If I receive a large inheritance from my parents, what should I do with it?

Interpretation

What you need to know now is the Nine of Cups, self-indulgence, which means you should take some of the money and just do something you enjoy, really indulge yourself. Your challenge card is the Queen of Pentacles, which is letting you know that you will have to make sure you have a plan to manage your new wealth; you want to hire a top-notch accountant and financial advisor to make sure you protect what you have received. Your guidance going forward is the Six of Swords, transition, indicating that you will have to move from one way of thinking about yourself and your life direction to another, entirely new way of thinking.

Question 4: Should I leave an inheritance to my children?

Interpretation

What you need to know now is the Ten of Swords, ruin, indicating that an inheritance might ruin their chance to develop successfully using their own skills and efforts. Your challenge card is the Five of Wands, competition, suggesting that you know they need to determine what they are capable of by fighting for what they earn, just like you did in your youth. Therefore, your guidance going forward is the Seven of Wands, valor, which suggests your children will have a better life if they fight their own financial battles and make their way to the top of their journey to success on their own.

Conclusions about Family

As you can see from these sample readings, each set of card combinations offers different insights around questions about family. If you add more cards, you will add more information. Always remember that you are the agent of your life story, even when others are part of the story. Use the tarot to help you be more conscious about your relationships and how to make them successful and happy.