Do your cards ever not mean what they are 'supposed' to?

[BlueStar]

I hope I'm posting this in the right section (wasn't quite sure where to put it!). I love when I see different layers of meanings or totally different meanings in cards. Does this ever happen to you, or do you usually find you see in the cards what the traditional meaning (or guidebook meaning) says?

I did a political reading yesterday - one of the cards indicated someone feeling locked out of something/left out, not able to get into where they want to go. I laid down a clarifying card from the Fountain tarot which was The Hierophant (below)

At first I couldn't understand what it meant as a clarifying card. As I focused on the image and used my intuition rather than thinking about what the card traditionally means and I then saw the picture in an alternative way - the man was outside of the box looking into it, into the light, i.e. into something he wants, but he's not part of it because he is outside. When I first got this deck and was reviewing the cards I didn't see this point of view!

What have your experiences been of this, if any?

[archimedes]

I've had this on occasion - I remember one reading in particular where I was like, 'look I know this card usually means x, but I'm getting a very strong feeling that it means y' - and I think there's some room there for images to tweak your consciousness in particular ways.

I should add - beware clarifying cards. They're mostly confusers; I think we sometimes draw them when we haven't given the original card sufficient consideration, or we don't want to hear what it has to say.

[Nona]

I've had this on occasion - I remember one reading in particular where I was like, 'look I know this card usually means x, but I'm getting a very strong feeling that it means y' - and I think there's some room there for images to tweak your consciousness in particular ways.

People tend to forget that it's the cards themselves that are supposed to speak to you, not the Little White Book. Always trust your intuition because that's the message you're meant to receive.

[Libra]

I've had this on occasion - I remember one reading in particular where I was like, 'look I know this card usually means x, but I'm getting a very strong feeling that it means y' - and I think there's some room there for images to tweak your consciousness in particular ways.

I should add - beware clarifying cards. They're mostly confusers; I think we sometimes draw them when we haven't given the original card sufficient consideration, or we don't want to hear what it has to say.

I VERY much agree with you about clarifying cards! When you understand the card you've pulled and want more details, another card can provide that, but when you don't get the card? Another isn't going to explain it for you. Now you just have 2 cards to make sense of!

As for reading intuitively, that's the main way that I read. I get the clearest reasons when I don't let preconceived notions of the card cloud what I see in them. So I'll ALWAYS take what the card imagery says to me as the first truth of the reading. This doesn't, however, mean that I'll totally discount the traditional meaning of the card! I'll usually take that as secondary details, or advice to move forward from where I read the card intuitively, is that makes sense!