White or Black? Tarot Cards and Yes/No Spreads

In this article, you will learn:
 

• What characterizes the yes/no spread
• How tarot answers questions
• How to effectively use the yes/no spread, including how to formulate questions

What is the Yes/No Spread?

The yes/no spread is a spread designed to address questions to which the answer can only be yes or no. As mentioned, it is a popular and intuitive way to gain insight into the future, past, or present. The question is typically straightforward, framed within certain boundaries, and the expected outcome is even simpler and more understandable, almost beyond doubt. You could say we are compelling the cards to provide us with a binary answer—affirmative or negative.

How Does Tarot Answer Questions?

Tarot, by nature, presents the entire situation we inquire about in a rather vivid manner. Instead of providing simple answers, tarot spreads show a narrative, compiling events, human attitudes and emotions, as well as thoughts and imaginings. These snapshots must be skillfully interpreted and synthesized to draw conclusions that fill in the missing pieces of the story. While the overall result can often be summarized as a terse yes or no, it’s important to emphasize that this isn’t merely the cards’ answer but rather the outcome of the tarot reader’s interpretation of the received message.

It’s also possible to consider—and such cases of this approach are certainly not rare—that there are simply good and bad cards. Drawing a card from the good group might lead us to believe the answer to our question is positive. Conversely, drawing a bad card might suggest a negative outcome. However, this can be a rather reductive view.

How to Effectively Use the Yes/No Spread?

The very division of tarot cards into good and bad is debatable and controversial, as some cards are hard to categorize into either group—the context of the inquirer’s situation is crucial here. Thus, one card may correspond to both a yes and a no, depending on various factors. Moreover, tarot tells a story, so, having evaluated the seriousness and complexity of a given problem of course, it’s not advisable to draw conclusions based on a single card that is meant to provide an answer of 0 or 1. Lastly, certain events that may seem negative to some could be positive for others, depending on the situation and the individual. A trivial example: losing a job may be detrimental for obvious reasons—we lose our source of income and means of living—but it could also be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps we might find a job we’ve always dreamed of, which we would never have pursued without that layoff; we simply wouldn’t have had the courage to change our lives.

Considering all this, three conclusions arise that we based our yes/no spread on in the Advanced Tarot Online app.

First, when using the yes/no spread, the question should be framed such that a positive response is one we consider favorable. Questions like Is he cheating on me, Will I always be single or Is it really impossible for me to get this job contradict the idea of a yes/no spread. Tarot will indeed answer these types of questions, painting a certain vision; however, the yes/no spread requires affirmative questions: Is he faithful to me, Will I find my soulmate, Will I get a good job. This way, we signal what outcome we expect, which events we will consider good and which bad.

Second, when using a yes/no spread, one must have basic knowledge of how to read tarot messages. Naturally, experience in reading the cards is very helpful, but it’s more about preparing fairly for the session and understanding that tarot ALWAYS tells a story. In other words, if we receive a specific answer from the cards, we should still strive to expand the interpretation.

In the app, the yes/no spread consists of three cards. The first card, which provides the background of the issue, serves as a point of reference for the entire story, explaining the genesis of the problem. The second card, the result, gives a specific answer to the question, while the third card, which pertains to the distant future, adds context to the second card and essentially forms an inseparable whole with it. Expanding the interpretation in this case involves considering the message of card number 3 (Distant Future). If we receive a binary answer, we check how the topic develops in the future. Perhaps it looks promising in essence, but we may need to wait a bit longer for the effect, leading us to a current answer of no. Or we may achieve our intended goal (answer yes), but in the future, it might turn out that it’s not exactly what we expected, and over time our enthusiasm may wane. Of course, we’re talking about complex problems that we share with the cards. For a simple question like Will I pass my driving test, if we receive a yes, we can overlook card number 3 (Distant Future), as we have already received a specific answer. How we will feel about this and how our first solo driving adventures will look—something tarot can surely capture in this spread—is another story altogether.

In this way, we expand the interpretation and, despite a specific answer of yes or no, we create a narrative and a safety valve that allows the message from the cards to flow freely, unconstrained by the limitations of binary responses.

Third, a small group of cards in the app’s spread does not answer yes or no but rather maybe. In such cases, the answer should be sought in card number 3 (Distant Future).

In conclusion, the yes/no spread is an intriguing and transparent spread if we possess a basic understanding of reading tarot cards and adhere to several rules outlined in this article. It’s also worth remembering that life is generally neither black nor white, but rather composed of many shades of gray; thus, describing it in terms of zeros and ones is often simply unfeasible.

You can try the Yes/No Spread if you like. Explore tarot online and get a tarot reading.