Answering Yes / No questions with Tarot and Oracle Cards

Tarot and Oracle cards are typically used to answer open-ended questions. However, it is possible to use them for yes/no questions as well. This article will explore asking yes/no questions with your cards, when not to do it, and some tips for doing it effectively.

To start, let’s dive into the question.

Do Yes / No questions work with tarot and oracle decks?

Many people use Tarot and Oracle Decks for Yes / No questions to gain insight. However, many people believe yes/no questions are not the best use of divination. If done with the right intent, you can use Yes / No questions to significant effect. 

I did a poll with over 1,000 tarot readers to see their opinion on Yes / No questions. What I found was 51% of people don’t like to use Yes / No questions. It becomes fascinating when you look into why or why not people would ask Yes / No questions.

Why shouldn’t you use Yes / No questions?

When asking questions like “Is this the right decision?” using Tarot cards and oracle cards, Yes/No answers can limit the exploration of rich messages that may lie beneath.

A Tarot reading with a more open question might uncover the energies surrounding your inquiry and offer insight beyond the scope of a Yes/No response.

In short: Yes/No questions often have simple one-word responses like “yes” or “no.” They don’t allow much room for interpretation, so they’re not good if you want to explore something more deeply!

When using Tarot cards and Oracle Cards, it can be helpful to ask more open questions such as “What is my best next step?” Or “What is my best option?”

Tip: If you have a Yes / No question in mind, you can separate it into two questions. 

When is it helpful to ask Yes / No questions?

There are some situations in which Yes / No questions can be used. It’s often most helpful when you’re looking for a clear answer to validate your intuition. 

I like to think of when you want to make a decision, and you flip a coin to figure out if you should go out or not.

You flip the coin, and the second you see the coin is heads (meaning yes, go out), you know you don’t want to. So you stay in instead. Classic!

In this example, the divination helped you find clarity of what you wanted. 

Doing a Yes / No reading can be helpful in that same way. It is such a strong reflection. After you do the card pull, watch your reaction. That will tell you a lot about your deeper desires.

Using Yes / No questions for clarification

Sometimes it can be helpful to start reading with a Yes / No question. It can give you a very concrete place to work from.

If you then ask more clarifying questions, it can help add depth and openness to the reading. An example would be:

• Card one: Yes / No, should I take set up an interview for this job? (it’s a yes)
• Clarifying question: How would this job best serve me?
• Clarifying question two: What other opportunities might come up from taking this job?

I find that if you stopped at the Yes / No question, then you might not get to the deeper subtleties and allow your intuition space to speak to you.

Learn More: Using Clarifying Cards in a Tarot / Oracle Reading

Common Yes / No Questions

There are many different types of questions you can ask for Yes / no answers. Here is a list of the top three types of questions I have seen:

• Will [event] happen?
• Does [person] like/love/dislike me?
• Should I [take an action]?

Spreads for a Yes / No reading

This spread is design to work with Tarot Cards that have the number on them, like the regular Rider Waite Smith Deck. 

Start by placing five cards. Each card could count to a yes, or a no. (Odd numbers and court cards being a “no” and even cards and majors being a “yes”).

You then look at the tally. If you get 3, Yes and 2 No, it would be a “maybe” that is leaning towards a yes. If you get five straight no cards, then it’s a pretty resounding answer. 

One variation is to use the Ace card as a trump card, meaning no matter the rest of the cards your answer would be a yes.

After the tally, one way of getting a more thought-provoking insight from the reading is to try to find patterns and more profound reasons for the Yes or No answer from the five cards.

Yes / No Wheel of Fortune Spread

Another great spread for a Yes / No question is the Wheel of Fortune. 

1. If you are using a Tarot deck, go through your deck and take out the Wheel of Fortune card. If you are using a different deck, pick any card you would like as the “signifier.”
2. Pull six more cards from the deck to make a pile of 7 cards total.
3. Shuffle all seven cards well.
4. Place the cards one at a time to make three files.
   1. One on the left for yes
   2. One in the middle for maybe
   3. One on the left for no
5. Whatever pile has the Wheel of Fortune, or signifier card, is your answer.

What’s great about this spread is you could also look at the other cards in each pile. You could ask yourself what the significance of the two other cards in the same pile of the signifier means. 

Perhaps your answer was maybe, but the cards in the Yes and No pile tell you a lot more about your options. 

This spread adds just enough depth to do a better reading than a one-card pull for a Yes / No question. 

Yes / No / Maybe tarot card list

If you want to do a Yes / No card reading with Tarot, here is a list of cards. This can be helpful if you’re going to do a single card draw for a regular tarot deck.