In my Code of Ethics, I list medical questions as one of the three areas I will not throw on (the others being financial and legal). There are two main reasons for this caveat in my professional readings:

• I am not a medical professional and it would be unethical to pretend otherwise
• Any negative feedback on a medical question can exponentially increase stress – which in turn can lead to a negative health outcome.

Imagine you have an upcoming surgery. It is minor, but the doctor has warned you there is always a risk of complications. Understandably nervous, you ask your tarot cards how the surgery is going to go. But here is the problem: you are looking for a very specific answer: everything is going to be okay – what do you do when the response isn’t okay?

Tarot cards are not a tool to reassure us everything is going to be fine. If you have spent any time on tarot forums, the memes are brutal and hilarious:

I’m not going to say tarot doesn’t care about your feelings – more than once they have kindly given me reassurance in dark times – but they have never spared my feelings. Sparing my feelings is not going to change a negative outcome; only direct honesty can do that, and honesty is what the cards offer (whether we want it or not).

This is why I stress: Do not ask questions you do not want honest answers to. If you are asking the cards because you need to hear everything is going to be okay, don’t. Reassurance and comfort are what friends are for.

Now, I will admit I have thrown on medical questions for myself. These are in circumstances where I have some agency: what doctor to go to or when to schedule surgery. What I will not throw on, even for myself, is medical questions I have no agency over: an ER trip for example. And I will throw for myself but not others because I am ultimately responsible for my medical decisions – I cannot hold responsibility for other people’s medical decisions. Nor can I promise the reassurance that they deserve.

But I want to offer some alternative questions – things that can help when outcomes are uncertain and scary:

• How can I take care of myself?
• What changes can I make for a better outcome?
• What can I do to help heal?
• What do I have control of?

Notice how each question centers on what the querent can do themselves – what actions they can take to move towards their desired outcome. I believe this is where tarot is the most useful, and kindest: Not in reassuring us that we are going to get what we want, but clarity on what path is going to get us there.

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