The Pokémon World Journeys Tarot: Frequently Asked Questions
You could try asking the tarot these questions, too.
The following are commonly asked questions surrounding tarot.
Can tarot actually tell the future? Really?
Did You Know?™ N can see the future! …Wait, he can? According to Junichi Masuda, all those times N talks about “the future he sees” in Black and White are actually prophetic visions.1 Whoa, seriously? I think the main reason why no one ever talks about how N can see the future is because he frequently talks about shaping his future by his own hand, which goes against the typical notions surrounding fortune-telling.
Usually, people think of prophesized futures or “fate” as unchangeable, which is something you see a lot in ancient myth (think the Greek Oracle of Delphi or the Moirai). But N—and numerous other psychic characters in the Pokémon series—insist that you can in fact control the outcome of your future.
Whenever we make predictions, we are using the information at our disposal to guess at a future outcome. The information generally comes from sources directly related to the matter at hand, such as, “The last time I visited Lavender Town, I felt like I was being watched, so I may feel the same way the next time I go.” But it can sometimes come from supposedly “unrelated” or only partially-related sources, like “I tend to feel like I’m being watched when Ghost-type Pokémon are nearby, so I may feel the same way in a place like Lavender Town.”
I’m reminded of how I was taught to make predictions during read-aloud in elementary school. Our teachers would encourage us to “Think about what might happen next, and why.” The kids’ predictions sometimes came from information within the book itself (“That character is making a sad face when the other kids don’t play with him, so he may get upset at them later”), but sometimes they made the connection with patterns they recognized from outside the book (“I’ve seen a lot of movies where the bad guy becomes friends with the good guy near the end”).
We make predictions—and subsequently, choices—based on similar recognitions of patterns and details (“I didn’t like how I felt when I went to Lavender Town last time, so I won’t go again”). The problem is, we can never have all the necessary information because circumstances change. If you have to move to Lavender Town for a job and you predict you will always feel uneasy, you wouldn’t be wrong—until something changes. A few years later, when the Pokémon Tower gets replaced with a Radio Tower and the feeling of unease completely dissipates, you’ll no longer get the creeps around town. It’s for this reason that my teachers always encouraged students to change their predictions as they got further along in the story.
It may seem like a cop-out answer, but the fact of the matter is that as long as people continue to exert their free will, nothing can ever be “written in stone,” and thus nothing, including tarot, can predict outcomes (in other words, “the future”) with 100% accuracy. Because of this, many readers prefer to use tarot as a means of seeing current information from a new perspective, or to unearth information you didn’t realize was available to begin with.
What kinds of questions is tarot good at answering, and what kind of situations can it account for?
While this may seem to go against my answer to the previous question, tarot can be used for pretty much anything—you just have to determine for yourself what you think works best, or what you have the most fun with. For example, I never use tarot to answer “yes or no” questions. I don’t see how the complex images of the cards can be distilled into a “yes” or a “no.” Even cards that people think of as “negative” like Death or The Tower can be “good” depending on the circumstances, so I find it unfair to say they always mean “no.” And if you’re asking a question in which you think “no” is the better answer, would that mean a “positive” card like The Sun is “no” in this case, or is it “yes” but therefore an unideal outcome? Yet despite my personal hang-ups on this matter, some readers love to use tarot for these kinds of questions. Some deck creators even assign a “yes” or “no” meaning to each card for this very purpose!
So while I have my own preferences about what situations tarot is “best” for, take these as suggestions rather than strict rules:
- Tarot can be used for advice. When you look at the cards you get in response to your question, think about how they relate to the matter at hand, and take a deep look inward at why you feel the way you do when you see the cards.
- Always think about why you want to know the answer to the question you’re asking. Will you be able to act upon the answer you’re given? Will it make a difference? As an example, people frequently bring relationship questions to tarot. Let’s say the Top-Tier Hisui Husband Volo asks for your hand in marriage—of course you’re going to say yes! But then you go to the tarot and ask, “How will our marriage end up?” or “Will our marriage be successful?” If you have enough doubts to ask the tarot about the future of your marriage, perhaps you shouldn’t have agreed to marry him!2 A more practical, helpful question to ask would be one with an answer that you can act upon, such as, “Why do I feel doubt about my marriage to Volo?” or “How can I work through my doubts about my marriage to Volo?”3
- Don’t be afraid to use tarot creatively. Tarot can be used to hone in on a theme in your creative projects. I’ve also seen some people use tarot to help build their TTRPG characters, or to ask about the video games they’re playing and get some unique insight.
- Playing off the above idea, tarot can be used to answer rhetorical questions, too,4 like “What came first, the Arceus or the Egg?” You could even ask the tarot some of the questions in this article for fun!
Ultimately, tarot can be used for almost any situation (yes, even fortune-telling) so long as it resonates with you. And if it doesn’t resonate with you, you are free to disregard it in your own readings.
Is tarot evil?
To answer this question, we first have to define “evil.” Evil is generally thought of in one of two ways: the first is as a more extreme iteration of “badness.” The second is as something pertaining to malicious spirits.
Starting with the first option, we’d also have to define “bad.” To keep things simple, let’s say “bad” means something “harmful” or “detrimental.” There are certainly some things in life that are purely detrimental, or so harmful that no amount of upside could possibly balance it out. But most things in life are balanced by opportunities of benefit—they’re not entirely “good” or “bad.” Tarot may be harmful or detrimental if a reader gives a client problematic advice or if a person becomes too reliant upon readings to make their own decisions. But it can also offer methods of, and opportunities for, introspection along with constructive alternate perspectives.
Let’s draw a comparison to Pokémon. The game may cause frustration if you were to, say, accidentally KO a wild shiny Pokémon.5 Or you may lose a competitive match to a flinch, a critical hit, or a freeze that lasts more than five turns.6 These unfortunate happenings alone don’t make Pokémon “bad,” especially when you consider the alternate possibilities include catching a shiny Pokémon7 or winning competitive battles.8 The same applies to tarot. It’s not “bad” by nature, nor is it innately “good,” just like almost everything in our world. As the saying goes, “it’s not always black and white, but your heart always knows what’s right.”
But what about the second option? For those who believe in malicious spirits or demons, please recall how often Pokémon itself was labelled “Satanic” or “demonic” by religious extremists at the height of “Pokémania” in the late ‘90s and early 2000s.9 And the franchise isn’t free from such accusations: when Pokémon GO had a popularity surge of its own in 2016, similar assertions gained traction once again.10
So, is tarot evil? I think your answer to that question will be the same as your answer to the question, “Is Pokémon evil?” And considering you’re reading this on a Pokémon-centric website, I don’t need to read any cards to predict that your answer is “No.”
Can you play card games with tarot?
First off, we have to define what “games” really are… Just kidding! This question is actually quite easy to answer: yes, you can! Tarot decks were originally created for the purpose of playing games, and are still used for that purpose in many parts of the world. The most commonly played card game using a tarot deck is called “tarocchi” (which is the same as the Italian name for the deck itself). It’s also possible to tweak classic card game rules to accommodate for the extra cards in a tarot deck.
Is there anything else out there similar to or derived from tarot?
The two kinds of divinatory decks that are most well-known after tarot are oracle decks and Lenormand. Oracle decks do not have a specific structure the way tarot decks do. Instead, each deck is entirely unique. You might find an oracle deck that has a different herb on each card, or another with planets and constellations. It’s even possible for an oracle deck to contain affirmations, or a different poem on each card. In short, an oracle deck can be anything the creator wants it to be.
Lenormand decks are highly structured. A Lenormand deck always includes 36 cards that focus on everyday items and people, such as the Sun and Moon, a Key, and a Book. They also tend to have a more rigid method of laying the cards out for interpretation compared to the more flexible tarot spreads you may find (more on spreads in the “How can I learn to read tarot cards?” question below). Lenormand cards are typically described as having much more strict meanings compared to the interpretive nature of tarot cards, but that also makes them a practical learning tool for cartomancy beginners.
Besides these two kinds of decks, some artists choose to alter elements of the tarot decks they make, including adding new cards or altering the meanings of some cards. Sometimes, a deck creator will merge meanings across the different tarot systems,11 creating something unique without being an entirely different kind of deck. Some tarot readers may think of these kinds of decks as deviating “too much,” while others don’t mind such changes. It’s up to the individual to decide what kind of deck they like to use most.
How can I learn to read tarot cards?
The easiest way to get started learning how to read tarot cards is by getting your own deck (that’s based on the Rider-Waite Smith system so it’s “compatible” with most guides, including this one) and just using it. There are so many pieces that go into this intricate “puzzle” that, as a particular game show host frequently says, the only way to begin is by beginning.
Start simple: clear your mind as best as possible, then, while holding your deck, think (or say out loud) the question you want to ask. Continue thinking about the question while you shuffle the cards. When you’re done, draw a card. Use the card to answer your question by analyzing and interpreting the image. Then, you can get more insight by reading the little guide book that came with your deck.
As you get more comfortable reading the cards, you can move into more complex readings. These include using a spread, or a layout where each card position answers its own question-within-the-question (you can check out our Choosing Your Starter Pokémon spread for an example). Over time, you’ll also develop your own “style” of reading the cards. Personally, I always prefer drawing no fewer than three cards even for “simple” questions because I think you get a more complete picture when you have multiple cards interacting with each other—but you may find that you really like one-card draws instead. You may also find that you like fanning the cards out after shuffling the deck and picking them one by one. Or maybe you’re like me and you like to shuffle, cut the deck into three, rearrange them, and then just draw off the top. There are no strict rules when it comes to using tarot, which is a big part of their appeal, and the more you practice, the more confident you’ll feel when reading.
1 From the English blog entry “No.215” on HIDDEN POWER of masuda, September 18, 2011 (this is the same entry where Masuda confirms N’s full name is “Natural Harmonia Gropius”).
2 Although, as we all know, there is no reason to fear Volo.
3 Or even, “Why does Volo only use plates and never any bowls?”
4 If you want to get really abstract with this idea, I recommend reading A Walk Through the Forest of Souls by Rachel Pollack.
5 It was a shiny Ho-Oh that KO’d itself with Struggle : )
6 Of all the places, this had to happen at a Regional competition.
7 I reset some more and eventually got that shiny Ho-Oh!
8 I didn’t get far in that Regionals, but I won enough times to get Top 8 at a local competition once!
9 Internet legend Neil Cicierega made a funny mashup with some old clips of these claims playing over I Want You Back by the Jackson 5. Check it out if you’d like a more lighthearted look back at the weird rhetoric of that time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn7TcsT91C8.
10 YouTuber Chadtronic has some funny reaction videos to such claims, both on classic Pokémon as well as about GO. Here’s one to start you down this rabbit hole (but please come back when you’re done): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4WTjSQhFDA.
11 The three most common tarot “systems” are Marseille, Rider-Waite Smith, and Thoth. They each have some overlap, but otherwise are fairly distinct with different interpretations even for their coinciding cards. The RWS system is the most common by far, so when you look up card meanings or read tarot-related books, they’re more often than not going to focus on RWS meanings (this series will also be based on the RWS system). But always double-check to be sure, or you’ll risk muddling your interpretations.
Edited by bobandbill and Sheep. Illustrations by Rivvon.
