I’ve been thinking about this since Mercury retrograde started. Had a client yesterday who got really upset during their reading.
That Tower, Hanged Man, Death combo you found is rough. The worst readings I ever pulled were Ten of Swords, Five of Pentacles, Three of Swords, and The Devil. My client had Saturn squaring their natal sun… which made it worse. The reading basically said everything was falling apart. Relationships, money, and they were stuck in the same bad patterns.
Mercury retrograde was making communication impossible, so they couldn’t even talk to anyone about what was happening. I’ve noticed difficult cards hit harder during retrogrades or tough transits. The cosmic energy is already messy and the cards seem to reflect that. Tower during eclipse season is particularly bad. Death card when Pluto transits your eighth house means your whole life is changing whether you want it to or not. Sometimes it feels like the cards know when the planets are chaotic and just pile on more intensity.
Was this just the worst possible Tarot spread? Is there another way to read something like this?
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The combination of Mercury retrograde and those intense cards can be pretty harsh.
I went through something similar last week when a querent pulled Death, Ten of Swords, and Five of Cups together. During retrogrades, I remind myself that these cards might just be old stuff coming back to be dealt with.
I’ve started looking at the details in the cards, like the dawn in the Ten of Swords, which suggests that things might improve. It helps to handle these readings better, especially when it feels like the universe is against you.
The hard cards showing up when life is rough feels like validation.
Like the Ten of Swords, it’s the deck saying ‘yep, this is bad.’ Sometimes you need that acknowledgment when everyone else is brushing off your problems or wondering why you’re taking things so hard. The cards just… get it.
Ten of Swords hits hard. Harder than Death or Tower for me because it’s straight up betrayal and being at your lowest. I usually mention the light in the background of the card to clients. It’s a small detail but it’s there. Helps sometimes when everything else in the reading is rough.
Yeah I’ve shown some spreads to friends and family. When Death or The Tower shows up they get nervous, which is pretty normal. I just explain what the cards mean beyond the scary names.
Honestly, no card is “bad”. The cards are not trying to scare you and I hate that stupid Hollywood movie that gave people this idea.
The cards are always trying to help. Always trying to give advice and if scary “bad” cards come, they’re alongside cards that try to help you.
My grandmother had this thing about the Three of Swords, she’d tap it three times on the table whenever it came up. Said it would ‘knock the heartbreak loose.’ I know it sounds weird but I still do it. Something about the physical action does seem to help when that card shows up.
Devil reversed and Tower reversed together point to resisting necessary breakthroughs. When you add Nine of Swords, you get the full picture of the anxiety that comes with avoidance.
Seven of Swords in this spread is about self-deception. We tell ourselves stories to avoid facing difficult truths. The whole spread suggests staying in unhealthy patterns because they’re familiar, even when we know something needs to change.
Good cards for looking at shadow work and what we’re not ready to face yet.
Nine of Swords reversed with The Moon during a void-of-course moon is brutal. Everything gets so internalized that you can’t even process it properly. Saturn retrograde with a reversed sword court and The Tower is something else. All those mental structures you built up over years just crumble.
The really rough readings happen when the difficult cards line up with your natal chart, feels like getting called out by the universe for avoiding the obvious.
I hear what you’re saying about context, but I think there’s a lot to be said for trusting our first reactions to certain cards.
When someone pulls Death or The Tower and feels uneasy, that gut feeling is saying something important. Sure, these cards aren’t all bad news, but they do carry challenging vibes. The Tower is about upheaval and sudden change, and even if that’s needed, it’s still going to rock your world. Death is about change, but change means letting go, and that can be tough.
Instead of trying to put a positive spin on these cards, maybe we should just accept that they mean rough patches. Tarot mirrors life, and life has its tough moments. So, if someone draws these cards and feels worried, maybe the reading is gearing them up for a tough but necessary experience.
Your example of marriage is spot on; yes, it’s a happy time, but the Death card showing up might be highlighting the grief of an ending rather than the joy of a new start. The card focuses on what needs to be worked through.
Something I noticed about the Tower reversed, it often means you’re avoiding a disaster that’s waiting to happen. I remember this one reading where someone got it right before they were about to invest in a business partnership. Made them pause and dig deeper. The whole thing was sketchy and they would’ve lost everything.
Sometimes those “bad” cards show up at exactly the right time.
The reversed Ten of Swords has been coming up a lot in my readings lately. Such a different vibe from the upright position which basically screams ‘everything sucks right now.’ When it’s reversed, though, I read it as things slowly getting better.
Like you’re finally crawling out of whatever mess you were in. Still not fun, but at least you’re moving in the right direction. How do you guys read this reversal? I know some people don’t even use reversals, but I find they add a lot to readings.
yeah the tough cards tend to show up during retrogrades and difficult transits. they usually point to stuff we already know but don’t want to deal with. good luck with your reading.
They don’t always warn us - sometimes they just show us what we’re already going through.
Like when the Tower reversed shows up for someone in grief. The cards aren’t trying to prepare them for anything. They’re just reflecting the upheaval that’s already there. It’s interesting how the reading becomes less about forecasting and more about mirroring current reality.
The universe showing us what is, not what might be.
Have you tried just asking yes/no questions with these? I know they’re kind of controversial but sometimes when I’m drowning in a complex spread, the simple approach actually helps.
When I kept getting Tower, Death and Devil together, I was pretty spooked. It kept happening over and over. Ended up being about my job - had to basically scrap my whole approach and start fresh.
Still not sure if I’m reading it right but that’s what made sense at the time.
The Devil always gets people nervous. I remember this one reading where it came up and my client just went silent. Turns out it was hitting on some deep family issues they hadn’t talked about in years.