Tarot is rarely only “good card / bad card.” Most of the work is relative: this mood next to that one, this option beside another. A short exercise called This or That builds that muscle without a spreadsheet of fixed meanings.
Each time you run it, you and the day are different, so the results will shift. That is the point. You are practicing connection in the moment, not memorizing eternal rankings.
Warm-up prompt: on a rough “happiness” or “ease” axis for you today, how would you order Three of Cups, Ten of Cups, and Six of Wands? There is no Tarot police. Your labels are allowed to be yours.
Step 1: two cards, one scale
- Draw a line on paper and mark a scale (for example -5 to +5 or 1 to 10).
- Lay two cards.
- Ask: if one had to sit “higher” or “better” on this scale for right now, which would it be?
- Jot a few honest lines about each card: posture, faces, what the picture is doing, what it reminds you of.
- Add a few lines on why one lands above the other for you today.
Example shape (not a rule): Three of Cups might feel warmer and small-circle. Six of Wands might feel loud or performative. Your reasons can disagree with any book. - Repeat three to five times with new pairs and the same or a fresh scale name (“energy,” “patience,” “risk,” whatever fits your week).
Notes
- Bias is expected. You are mapping your values and taste, not the “universal spiritual Rider–Waite answer.”
- If a pair feels arbitrary, commit anyway for practice. You can always add “I am not sure, leaning slightly toward A because…”
Step 2: two cards, one question
Run the same comparison, but anchor it:
- Write the question clearly (hypothetical is fine: “Should this person end the relationship?”).
- Card A = first option (e.g. leave). Card B = second option (e.g. stay).
- Which option “reads better” against the question today, and why?
- Life often has no neat winner. Still ask: if you had to act on one lane, which would it be, and what in the art pushed you?
Ambiguity is data. So is discomfort.
Bonus: three positions including “other”
Lay three cards:
- option one
- option two
- other (something you are not considering, a blind spot, a wild card)
The third seat pushes you past the obvious binary. Good readings look past surface circumstances. This turn trains you to reserve a chair for “what else?”
What this tends to build
- Faster trust in first-pass gut while staying willing to revise next time
- Sense of how cards amplify or grate against each other in the same spread
- Cleaner sight into your own biases, which only hurt when they stay invisible
Keep the scale stupid-simple, keep the notes in your own words, and let Temperance’s lesson leak in without forcing it: mix and measure until today’s blend feels spoken out loud.
