99 Deep Questions To Ask A Tarot Deck During Your Next Reading

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November 17, 2022

mbg Spirituality & Relationships Writer

By Sarah Regan

mbg Spirituality & Relationships Writer

Sarah Regan is a Spirituality & Relationships Writer, and a registered yoga instructor. She received her bachelor’s in broadcasting and mass communication from SUNY Oswego, and lives in Buffalo, New York.

Image by Warren-Pender / iStock

November 17, 2022

There are a lot of factors that come together in a tarot reading, from your emotional state to the deck you choose and of course, the questions you ask. Here are 99 questions to ask your tarot deck (and how to ask them) for maximum insights.

Tarot began as a fun parlor game in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and has since evolved into a tool for introspection and even divination. Tarot readings involve using a tarot deck (though nowadays, oracle decks have become popular too) to ask questions and receive insight, either with the help of a tarot card reader or on your own.

Traditional decks (like the classic Rider-Waite deck) have 78 cards, all with unique meanings, and when you pull a card, the idea is that it has a message for you and your inquiry.

As tarot expert and astrologer Bess Matassa, Ph.D., explains to mbg, tarot is really about tuning inward, more than searching for answers outside yourself. She likens tarot readings to having a conversation with a less conscious part of yourself or even a conversation you would have with someone you trust.

Before we dive into how to start formulating specific questions, let’s first look at how to prepare for the reading. For one thing, it’s a good idea to find a quiet, private place where you can really drop into your own energy.

From there, Matassa says, you start to set the stage for the kind of conversation you’re available to have with your deck in that moment emotionally. “And this starts way before you even take out the deck. This starts with connecting to self in terms of what it is you actually feel you need in this moment,” she notes, adding to ask yourself what kind of conversation you need and are available for.

And once you take out your deck, she recommends being clear with the deck about what it is you’re looking for. “We take out the deck and say, ‘OK, I’m available for you to tell it to me really, really straight,’ or, ‘Right now I’m feeling like I need a little bit more nuance and a little bit more softness and sweetness,'” she explains.

Once the energetic groundwork is laid, you can start thinking about questions. Generally speaking, some readers advise against yes or no questions, such as using language like “Should I…” or “Can I…,” and here’s why: Life is not black and white. And in fact, tarot encourages us to push beyond those self-imposed limitations.

Of course, there may be times within a reading when a yes-no question feels pertinent to ask, and you can make that call yourself. But as Matassa explains, “I don’t really think that tarot is a yes-no proposition. And when we tighten around those kinds of inquiries, the tarot tightens too—it wants to give us a more expansive mode of wayfinding.”

So, she notes, think of the reading as “more of a dialogue than a call-and-response.” Try to keep questions open-ended so you can really dip into the nuances, imagery, and emotions evoked by the cards you pull.

Sometimes beginning a reading is as simple as explaining to your deck what’s going on and asking for thoughts on your situation, Matassa says. (Again, the same way you would converse with a friend.)

You can absolutely have spreads or questions prepared but, she adds, it can be beneficial to let follow-up questions naturally arise as you keep pulling cards too.

1. How is my past impacting my current situation?
2. What is something that needs to be brought to my awareness right now?
3. What is something I need to be aware of moving forward?
4. What area of my life requires more attention right now?
5. What aspect of my life is taking up too much of my attention?
6. Which lessons am I currently working through?
7. How am I standing in my own way?
8. Where am I playing small?
9. Which of my strengths can I play on in my current situation?
10. Where is fear holding me back?
11. How can I tap into more alignment with myself?
12. What does my soul need right now?
13. What requires my conscious reflection right now?
14. What shadow qualities within myself can I work with right now?
15. Which themes are continually at play in my current situation?
16. Which patterns or beliefs do I need to release?
17. Is there something obvious I’m missing in my current situation?
18. What is a step I can take toward my own well-being?
19. How can I better accept or love myself?
20. How can I be more honest with myself?

1. What needs more attention in my love life?
2. How can I better show up for my partner?
3. Which toxic relationship patterns am I unlearning or need to unlearn?
4. How can I make steps toward finding a healthy relationship?
5. What do I need to know to handle a current relationship conflict?
6. Why am I currently single?
7. What does my current relationship mean in the big picture of my life?
8. Why am I continually running up against a certain relationship problem?
9. How do my strengths serve my relationship?
10. What is something I need to know in my relationships going forward?
11. How can I overcome codependence?
12. How can I get over my ex?
13. How can I open my heart up to new love?
14. In which ways can I learn to love a little harder?
15. What about my past could be inhibiting current or future relationships?
16. What is an important relationship lesson I need to learn?
17. Where is there room for growth in my relationship?
18. What do I really require from my partner or my next relationship?
19. What went wrong with my past relationship?
20. What needs to be addressed within myself in order to find love?

1. What can I do to improve my current work or financial situation?
2. Which aspect of my career or career path could I lean into more?
3. Which aspect of my career or career path is draining me?
4. What is my true purpose in terms of my career path?
5. How can I tap into my true purpose?
6. What are my greatest strengths?
7. What are my greatest weaknesses?
8. How can I improve my work relationships?
9. How can I improve my work environment?
10. Where is this career path leading me?
11. What is a lesson around money and finances that I need to learn?
12. How can I improve my financial situation?
13. Where am I playing small in my career?
14. What would be a positive course of action to move forward in my career?
15. How can I achieve work-life balance?
16. How can I tell if I’m on the right path?
17. How can I achieve my next career or financial goal?
18. How has my past influenced my current career path?
19. How can I align my work with my life’s mission?
20. In which ways can I best serve the collective through my work?

1. How am I showing up for my friends and family?
2. In what ways can I show up better for them?
3. What kinds of patterns are surfacing in my relationships with friends or family?
4. Which person in my life could use my support right now?
5. Which person in my life could I lean on for support?
6. How can I distance myself from a toxic relationship?
7. How can I best handle a conflict with a friend or family member?
8. Why do I continuously have problems with a specific friend or family member?
9. How can I strengthen my relationship with a specific friend or family member?
10. How can I forge new connections and friendships?
11. What do I value in friendships?
12. How did my upbringing impact my childhood?
13. How is my upbringing still impacting me today?
14. How can I heal a wounded relationship with a friend or family member?
15. How am I overextending or over-giving myself with friends or family?
16. What is an ancestral wound that runs through my family?
17. How can I heal generational trauma passed on to me?
18. How is my past influencing my relationships with friends and family?
19. How can I go about reconnecting with an estranged friend or relative?
20. What do I need to know about my relationship with a particular friend or family member?

1. Which aspects of my health need more attention?
2. How am I neglecting my own health?
3. How can I address a particular health problem?
4. How can I prevent health problems going forward?
5. What can I do to feel better daily?
6. What can I do to mind my mental and emotional health?
7. Which aspects of my life are zapping my well-being?
8. Why am I experiencing a particular health problem?
9. Why do I struggle to take care of myself?
10. What am I doing right with regard to my health?
11. How is a particular person or situation impacting my health?
12. How can I make my environment more conducive to my health?
13. What kind of healthy habits can I start adopting?
14. What health issues am I ignoring or neglecting?
15. How can I improve my mindset around health?
16. Is there something I’m missing when it comes to my health?
17. How can I mitigate stress?
18. How can I feel more energized?
19. What is a limiting belief I need to release for my own health and well-being?