Stalker Cards. What are they and 5 Solutions
Added at 13:55 on 09 January 2023
Stalker cards—you may have heard the phrase or know what they are as you are being followed by one—whatever spread you do, there it is, staring at you, haunting you, and making you want to poke it with a stick to find out why or to just get it to leave you alone. I mean, how rude—just lurking there staring at you!
A stalker card is one that appears in all of your readings for a period of time, sometimes for a few weeks or even years.
One solution may be to remove it from your deck and hide it down the side of the sofa for a while. But here are some more proactive solutions that may help you.
1: Shuffling Issues.
At times, a card can keep reappearing due to the deck not being properly shuffled. The last shuffle order may be within the deck, partially if only a short shuffle has been made between readings.
Often, even if we are not consciously aware of it, we shuffle the same way each time we prepare for a reading. This means that the same cards can stay within the part of the deck we take the cards from, at times slightly moved about, but essentially still in order and in the same place within the deck.
If you have my book, Understanding Tarot, you know that putting chaos back into the deck separates all the cards and gives a fresh order to the cards by removing the last shuffle movement from the card order, the last question, and resetting them.
To put chaos back into your tarot deck, before each reading on a new topic or within the same topic if the deck feels "stale," take your deck image face up in your hand. Choose two, three, four, or more piles and sort the cards into them, righting them as you go if you have any reversed cards within the deck. If you choose four piles, for example, pop the cards down in a line 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then continue with the next four on top with card 5 onto card 1, and so on, so you end up with your tarot deck divided into four piles. Each card will be separated from the ones it was next to before, and when these four piles are put back together, you have a deck filled with lovely chaos, a tarot deck completely free from the last shuffle order. From here, you can begin a new shuffle to gain the order needed for your next reading.
If you do a fresh reading and your stalker card fails to appear, it is not a stalker but just the result of a poor or incomplete shuffle.
I do recommend this be done before any conclusions are made as to a card stalking you, to discount the practical side of the issue.
2: Study the card!
I do not mean going into a Facebook group and asking what others think about it as a sole action; what can be more effective is approaching this in terms of books and websites that have more than a few words about the card. Pick about five resources and fully digest what you find.
So, dust off all the books you have if you have them, especially if they have differing views of the card. Refresh your knowledge if you’re an old hand; learn about the card if not. See more about your card’s angles and perspectives; see it as it is, even if views differ from site to site or book to book, rather than how you may feel it to be. Get a grounding in the card; why it stalks you may seem obvious at such a time, and for others, it may pop into your mind at a later stage as you get an "aha!" moment simply from learning or remembering the nature of the card.
3: Look at the positions your stalker lands in.
Do you find that your stalker sits in the same positions in the spreads you use? And if you do not use positions, maybe try a spread with them to see what angle of the stalker card in question stands out. If you use the same spread for a month, see where it lands each time.
If it lands in the Past position, it may simply be energy leaving your life or energy that needs to be resolved so it can leave completely. If it is in any position that governs your feelings, thoughts, or wishes, it can be something purely within your mindset and something to work on, especially if it is not a reality but from your past. If it is in the future, consider it a warning; if it is a card you would rather not have, consider how to work in the present to create a different outcome, or one in which you are aware and in control. Obviously, it could land in the present, and if you are unaware of why it is there and wish to understand why it is an energy you are moving through, one of the other methods may be of use to you.
4: Meditation.
Meditating on the card is another route, especially if you find such things easy. If you are aware or unaware of why a card keeps haunting your readings, meditation can yield answers, and how to do this is written about in some detail in my book from both the perspective of getting to know a card as well as for psychic development. Sometimes they may jump out right away, and other times it may be a slow drip over a few days or even longer.
In short, be still, be relaxed, and place your cards at eye level, somewhere where you do not need to strain your neck or body. Gaze at your stalker, think about "what you mean to me," "what is your message for me," etc., and allow yourself to be taken where you are in your mind.
5: The last solution is to perform a separate spread about the stalker card.
To do this, find the card from the tarot deck and place it down in front of you on the table where you do your readings, or on any flat surface. If you do not have a spread to use, feel free to use the one pictured to help you.
Main Energy: This position shows the main energy that this card brings to your life, or even how it presents.
Foundation Energy: This position shows what underpins and anchors the card above. As a result, the foundation upon which the preceding cards rest.
Delivery Energy: What has brought this card's energy into your life. What created it.
Affecting Energy: How this card affects you in your daily life, or when it arises.
Message: What message it has for you.
Advice: Advice on the situation.
Prepare your deck however you wish, thinking of the spread and the positions you will be using. Consider how your stalker cards fit into your life. Listen to the positions within your spread and the overall, direct message, or even messages that stand out to you.
Hopefully, one or all the above ideas will help you find peace with a card which stalks you!
