Are Your Tarot Cards Too Negative? Here’s What To Do...

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Having a Tarot reading is exciting; decidedly so since it’s supposed to give you a peek at your potential and your effect on the world. As you look over the cards, your Tarot cards seem to be negative.

You’ve prepared yourself for the difficulty of phrasing the questions, of clearing your mind, and you’re hoping for a positive reading. But sometimes the messages can be mixed. Are your Tarot cards too negative?

Your Tarot cards may appear negative, at first glance, but each card offers a balance between the negative and positive. It’s important to look at all the cards in a spread and see how they are all interacting with each. Use your intuition to interpret what the cards are telling you.

One of the first things to realize about Tarot readings is that they are based on the present and how you feel. They’re heavily influenced by the energy you carry with you, both positive and negative.

Negative readings should not be something to be scared of; instead, they give you an idea of what you should improve upon. They also give you an insight into your current energy.

With this knowledge, you can make changes in your life to improve your energy and what you are attracting into your life.

Table of Contents

Why Are My Tarot Cards So Negative?

We all have that great fear of having a negative result when we go get a Tarot card reading, especially if the reading has been negative before (or for the past couple of times). It’s normal to be anxious but try not to let it hold so much value that you panic.

The cards are merely feeding off your energy, so if you’re anxious or worried, the cards will feel it too. For instance, what if you get a reading on a bad day? You could be feeling:

Scared
Anxious
Angry
Sad
Disappointed
Depressed

Or you could be feeling anywhere in between. All of a sudden, your reading will go south, and now you’re dealing with a negative reading, which doesn’t help with your negative feelings and tends to worsen them.

You’re now in this rut that you can’t seem to get out of; each reading you get is increasingly negative until you’re not sure if you want to go back or try doing it yourself.

It might seem intimidating to consider trying yet again, but there are a couple of methods of improving your mood and positivity to help the Tarot cards give a better reading.

It might be as simple as cleansing your Tarot cards between readings. I wrote a post about how to cleanse your Tarot cards, read it here.

How Do Tarot Readings Work?

A Tarot is a deck made up of 78 cards – 22 Major Arcana cards that represent life’s karmic and spiritual lessons, and 56 Minor Arcana cards that show the trials and tribulations we experience daily. Each card has its description, symbolism, and story.

Find more details about the Major Arcana Cards here, and about the Minor Arcana Cards here.

The cards serve as a connection to our inner thoughts. They guide us to the lessons we need to learn and master to live an inspired life. A Tarot reading is a way to access the hidden wisdom and answers that live within us.

Tarot is perfect for building a path for self-development, making the right decisions, generating goals, inspiring others, encouragement for success, and anything else in your life.

Unlike what many people believe, Tarot is not a tool to read the future or make predictions. Instead, it is for understanding intuition and manifesting your goals and how to create your ideal future.

Reading the Tarot in a More Positive Way

The best way to read the Tarot is to use the cards to try and gain access to your intuition and inner wisdom. Use it with the intention of opening a pathway to your deepest thoughts, choices, and feelings that you make without thinking, but that you may not be aware of.

Tarot cards are meant to provide imagery that coincides with what your subconscious mind is thinking and your intuition. This place allows you to discover how to make positive changes and beneficial decisions that set you on the right path, the path to success.

These changes create a mindset that manifests a goal and a plan to achieve this goal, as well as the motivation to go through with it.

How To Improve Your Tarot Reading

Improving your Tarot reading is all about improving your mindset and your mood. If you cannot bring yourself out of your negative space or thoughts, your Tarot will reflect that and give you a negative reading.

If you feel like you are not in the right mindset, don’t go through with the reading and approach it on another day. When you get a negative message, it can put you down when you need to be cheered up. It can negatively affect your work, life, and goals.

Changing your mood is not easy, and that is why it heavily influences your Tarot. Tarot is all about intuition and feeling, so if you’re feeling something so profoundly that it influences your Tarot, then you might need to approach whatever the root of the problem is.

I find that taking some time to meditate can reset my mood for the rest of the day. Try these free Meditation Sounds Tracks.

One of the biggest tips to remember is: Don’t give up. Tarot readings are fun and can bring a lot of personal realization, encouragement, and support when we need it.

A few negative readings should not prevent you from reaching your inner self and embracing your wisdom and intuition.

Another option to consider could be to try different Tarot cards. There are many different Tarot cards with different energy and imagery. For example, Mystic Mondays Tarot, The Thoth Tarot, The Light Seer’s Tarot, and more.

There are also Oracle cards that have very different imagery and energy. For example, The Wisdom of the Oracle Divination Cards, Moonology Oracle Cards, The Secret Language of Light Oracle Cards.

I wrote an article about the difference between Tarot and Oracle cards here.

I’ve recently started working with an online psychic reading company and I’ve received some great feedback. I’d love it if you could try them out and let me know your experience. Receive a 5 Minute Tarot Reading For Free, click here!

What Tarot cards are considered negative?

There are 7 Tarot cards that are considered to be negative cards:

Death
The Devil
The Tower
Three of Swords
Nine of Swords
Ten of Swords
Five of Pentacles

Let’s review these cards and how they can be interpreted, both negatively and positively.

Death

The Death card is often depicted with a skeleton figure on a horse wielding a sickle. Some of the keywords to describe this card on the negative side are:

endings
severe illness
profound change
failure
mortality
an end to something (relationship or interest)

The Death card also be interpreted on a more positive note:

a crossing of a threshold
the beginning of a new cycle
a fresh start
a transformation
a rebirth

This card can also infer an increased sense of self-awareness. It’s important to use your intuition to feel what meaning this card represents when it comes up in a spread.

The Devil

The Devil card is often depicted in a Tarot deck as an ancient goat god Dionysius, sitting above a male and female captive. The keywords used to describe this card on the negative side would include:

Addiction
Enslavement
Unhealthy Relationships
Materialism
Living in fear
Domination & Bondage
Feeling Trapped

On the more positive side of things, the Devil card could mean:

Playfulness
Enjoyment
Rebellion
Pleasure
Challenging Authority
Freedom

As you can see, if you have drawn a spread of cards that include the Devil, you have a good balance of positive and negative attributes for your intuition to draw upon.

Get more details about the Devil Card in this post.

The Tower

The tower card is depicted with a solid tower in a storm, struck by lightning and fire escaping from the windows. The negative interpretation of the Tower would include:

Disaster
Upheaval
Crisis
Unexpected Change
Catastrophe
Destruction
Damage

On the positive side, the Tower can be interpreted to represent:

A Breakthrough or Revelation
Challenging Outdated Beliefs
Destroying Illusions

The placing of this card in your reading is important. If the Tower card is placed in the future, then this could be a warning to your of danger that you have an opportunity to avoid.

The tower could warn you to act more responsibly and therefore avert a disaster. Read more about how the Tower card can be positive, here.

Three of Swords

The Three of Swords is always depicted with a heart and 3 swords. This card can have the following negative interpretation:

Grief
Suffering
Sadness, emotional pain
Heartbreak
Separation
Afraid of getting hurt
Finding it hard to trust
Betrayal by someone in a trusted position

On the positive side, the Three of Swords can be interpreted as follows:

Cutting away lies
Truth is painful
Making a logical decision
Get to the heart of the situation

Like all the other cards, the placement of this card in the reading is important. Your interpretation will depend on how this card interacts with the other cards close by and around this card.

Nine of Swords

The Nine of Swords is often depicted with a woman sitting up in her bed, she is bent over with hands up to her face. Nine swords hang behind her. The negative interpretation of this Tarot card includes:

Anxiety
Worry
Fear
Stress
Depression
Nightmares

On the positive side, the Nine of Swords can also mean:

Reality is not as dire as you imagine
Suffering is all in your head
Suffering might be unfounded
Beware of pushing away those who want to help
Have the courage to reach out for help
The difficulty might soon be over
Forgive yourself and others

Like all the previous cards, the interpretation is not isolated to this card. You must interpret all the cards that you have laid down to see how they interact with each other.

Swords, as well as Cups, Pentacles & Wands, are part of the Minor Arcana, read more about the themes and elements of all these suits of the Minor Arcana.

Ten of Swords

The Ten of Swords is often depicted with a man lying, bleeding with 10 swords in his back. This card’s negative interpretation would include:

Betrayal
Backstabbing
Victim of deceit
Final ending
The painful and inevitable ending

On the positive side, the Ten of Swords can be interpreted as follows:

No more suffering
The worst is over
The hidden is now revealed
You can act without hiding
The hour is darkest before dawn
A renewed sense of hope and opportunity
Peace and calm

The Ten of Swords is a reminder to you that the pain and hurt that you have endured was not without purpose. You can draw upon the positive energy within for wisdom and evolve into your fullest potential.

Five of Pentacles

The Five of Pentacles is often depicted by two impoverished people walking through the snow in front of a church. One man is injured with crutches and the other is barefoot with a thin blanket for cover.

Poverty
Financial loss
Hardship
Insecurity
A lack of mindset (fear you don’t have enough)

On the positive side, the Five of Pentacles could also be interpreted to mean the following:

Learning resourcefulness
Learning to find help
Help is there if we ask
learning to express the need
Reminder to focus on the positive things in our circumstances

With this card, like all the others, it’s important to see how all the cards in your spread interact with each other. There are some really good lessons and meanings coming from this card if we focus on the positive aspects.

When you are reading Tarot, try different spreads for different questions. Here are details about the Best Tarot Spread Layouts.

Embrace a Positive Mindset for Your Tarot Reading

Beginning the Tarot reading with a positive mindset can significantly influence your outcome. Approach it with the belief that it will go well and that you are in a great place in your life, even if not everything is going as planned.

Creating a nice environment can have an incredible effect on my mindset, I like to use essential oils in my Diffuser. Lavender is my favorite for readings.

A positive mindset is different from a positive mood; you can think that your future will bring amazing things and that you can accomplish anything while still being angry or sad. Creating your mindset is more about dealing with yourself rather than what the world throws at you.

It might be challenging to get into a positive mindset, and that is okay, it takes practice to think positively. If you’re ever doubting yourself and find yourself thinking negatively about your life, remember:

The situation is temporary; it will not last forever.
Focus on the goals of the day or hour; don’t get distracted by emotions.
Face your reality; do not fight or overestimate what’s happening.
Set healthy boundaries for what you will and won’t allow in your relationships.
Remember, you can control your response to situations, even if you can’t control the situation.

Develop Your Positive Mood

Our moods are heavily influenced by our emotions and can ruin or make our entire day. The trouble is that either way they go, they typically leave a lasting impression.

Dealing with outside events and problems can ruin what little bit of positive feelings that we have. It can bring us into a depressive state, make us angry, or hurt us. Having a positive mood doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t feel that way; in fact, it is just the opposite.

You need to feel each emotion, and if you don’t, you could upset your subconscious since you never truly dealt with your feelings. While it is not always easy, it will help you in the long run. In case you need a little pick-me-up, try to remember:

You need to process your emotions and deal with them as they come.
Talk to someone. Don’t bottle your emotions.
Accept your mood if you can’t fix it. Understand that you can try again tomorrow.
Breathe and relax. Do not stress over the little things. Think about what you can let go instead of trying to hold on to.

Final Thoughts

Your mindset greatly affects your Tarot cards. Depending on how you feel, you may interpret the cards more negatively when you are not open, positive, and ready to access your own emotions.

By working on how you approach your reading, you may find yourself with more positive results next time around.

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Check out Different Tarot & Oracle Deck Essentials

I love my Asakuki Diffuser, I have this going in my living room or my office with either peppermint or lavender.

The diffuser holds more water than other diffusers and lasts longer. It also has a timer so that I doesn’t run dry. The Diffuser adds a nice gentle scent to my home.

I also love having my White Sound Machine and my Asakuki Diffuser running in my living room. Sometimes I will choose the sound of rain or the ocean or even thunder. It depends on my mood.

I’ll fill the diffuser with lavender or peppermint. With the thunder in the background and the smell of peppermint, it’s like being whisked away to a faraway place!

I really love the Himalayan salt Lamp and my Crystal Tree of Life. I have them in my office and they create a “zen” feel for me while I’m working.