Why do I keep pulling the same tarot card?
A closer look at the meaning of card recurrences.
I’m taking a brief break from fiction to delve into a topic that’s been top of mind for me lately: tarot card recurrences.
This post has been simmering for some time, and finally the pot came to a boil when, today, my birthday, I pulled the King of Swords again!
Some of you loyal readers may recall that one of my very first posts described the cards I’d pulled for my yearly spread. The King of Swords was my Energy for the Year, and since then he’s come up again 11 more times.
For reference, I average about five daily pulls per week of one card each, plus one weekly pull of three cards. Every full moon and new moon, I pull a six-card spread. Combined with my yearly 12-month spread, that’s approximately 290–300 cards so far this year. And that means the King of Swords is showing up about four percent of the time.
Once every 25 pulls or so, the King of the Air and Ideas shows his serious face.
He shows up often enough, especially on “big” days, that I feel like he must be telling me something.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am a tarot novice. Thus, any interpretation or insight I provide here should be taken with a relative grain of salt.
At the same time, I do have a vested interest in gaining a thorough understanding of the cards and their meanings. I like to think of this space as a place to learn and experiment with possible explanations and analyses. If you have any insights, definitely post them below.
But, from my research and gut instincts, I’ve narrowed down the meaning of recurring tarot cards to five potential implications.
Poor shuffling
Personal significance
A message from the Universe
A lesson that needs to be learned
An overarching theme or energy
Let’s look at each of those in a bit more detail.
Poor shuffling
This one needs to be on the list for practical reasons. Do I take the time to mix my cards up, reassemble, and shuffle thoroughly? Preferably more than once?
Interestingly, according to some mathematicians who most definitely have too much time on their hands, the ideal number of times to shuffle a deck for optimal randomness is about seven.
To be honest, I shuffle the deck eight times. Four times to represent the four suits. Then I cut the deck multiple times and turn the cards around at random. And, lastly, I shuffle four more times in honor of the four elements.
Seven or eight—I don’t think poor shuffling is a problem.
Personal significance
Okay, great. So if I’m doing a good job of randomizing my cards, we can safely assume that isn’t the issue here.
Perhaps, then, the recurring card has a meaning that is deeply personal.
Many people have a card that “speaks” to them. It’s deeper meaning resonates with their self-image, inner desires, spiritual needs, or worldview.
I certainly have one, but it isn’t the King of Swords or Judgement. I have an affinity for the Queen of Wands.
She has a creative spark, a fiery energy, and a deep inner drive to experience the world. She is optimism, confidence, and hope. In short, this Queen is fire. And her heat stands in bold contrast to the cool logic of the King of Swords.
A message from the Universe
So maybe the King isn’t my spirit card. Maybe he’s more of a message from the great beyond? Perhaps, but I feel like that honor belongs to a card I see even more often than the King.
Since I started my tarot journey on January 2, the card I’ve pulled the most often is Judgement from the Major Arcana. I’ve seen that angel blowing their horn a total of 13 times, making it slightly more likely that I’ll see Judgement than the King of Swords at any given time.
If any card is carrying a message from the Universe for me, it is certainly the seraphic harbinger of the Judgement card with their insistent call.
They are literally the herald with an announcement from on high. Change is imminent, or rather, change has already happened without my realizing it, and now there is nothing left to do but heed the call.
Recognizing this is one thing; following it is another. That’s probably why Judgement recurs for me so frequently. And seven out of the 13 times I’ve pulled it, the card was reversed, meaning I’m ignoring the call and making excuses.
I like to think that honoring my creative potential is the change the Universe recognizes in me. As I spend more time on my writing, I wonder if the Judgement card will appear less often.
Time will tell.
A lesson that needs to be learned
Right, so where does that leave us? If it’s not an error in shuffling, a personally resonant card, or a message, maybe it’s a lesson that needs to be learned.
But it doesn’t feel like the King of Swords, with his inherent authority and power, has much of a lesson to impart. He is less of a teaching type and more of a doing type.
But there’s another card that is the archetype for all the kings in the deck, and he definitely has some instructing to do: the Emperor.
As the traditional father-figure of the deck, the Emperor represents the ideal of all the king cards. His job is to impart the rules of society. He is law and order. He is stability and the status quo. He is rationality and objectivity.
He’s shown up for me eight times over the last six months, placing him third behind Judgement and the King of Swords. Half of those times, he’s been reversed.
And I think he has a lesson to teach me:
There must be a balance between the expected and the unexpected.
When it comes time to decide whether to maintain the way things have always been done or to flout expectations and norms, remember the ideal of what the Emperor stands for: a firm base from which to build your dreams.
Creativity flourishes within secure boundaries.
An overarching theme or energy
So that leaves us with the final meaning of a recurring card, and I think viewing the King of Swords as a kind of totem for my year makes the most sense.
After all, I did draw him at the dawn of 2024 as the Energy of the Year.
And so, like a particularly authoritative ghost, the King of Swords haunts my readings, appearing every once in a while to check in.
Am I tapping into the powers of the mind and using my hard-earned wisdom and knowledge to better guide me through the realities of life?
That right-leaning sword is a visual queue to action. The world of thoughts and ideas is wonderful, but abstract. When the King of Swords reappears, he wants to know if I’m turning all that mental activity into real-world results.
And most importantly, with that direct stare of his, he wants to be sure I’m living my truth—a truth that, like a sword, can be double-edged. Sometimes freeing and sometimes damning. But always worth the living of it out in the world.
I expect that, just as we all need reminders from time to time, the King of Swords will keep showing up for me and asking the hard questions.
That's quite an insight - and you clearly know yourself very well!
I'm glad you were aware of the not shuffling properly thing! I end up shuffling loads of times - probably a lot more than your eight times to be honest. I'm also quite manipulative by not randomly turning some of them upside down. I still end up with reversed cards though so there's no use trying to escape that way.
I think all of your analysis about the K-s is probably quite correct - it's all of those things. It also strikes me that perhaps the K-s represents your animus? If you resonate more with the Q-w then that kind of makes sense. It could also be seen as a positive sign because it implies balance (which may also explain these cards sometimes being reversed). The instinctive energy of the Q-w would, after all, require focus and direction (K-s). Do you know what your ascendent is in astrology? That might provide a clue. The ascendent is a measure of 'how' you do things. So, for example, I'm Aquarius with Sagittarius ascendent, meaning I do Aquarian things in a Sagittarian way (ironically, I always associate the Q-w with Sagittarius, and there's a certain amount of K-s in Aquarius). So yes, I think looking at your birth chart might provide some pointers!
I think only you can know whether it's a sign of 'not resolving the issue' (negative) or 'an energy which is accompanying you' (positive).
Of course - maybe you could take out that card, place it to the side, and then use the rest of the deck to do a reading specifically asking about all of this? That's where things get creative and fun, of course!
RE: Judgment - in my Cat People deck this card is known as 'Rejuvenation', and has an overt and direct reference to reincarnation. The classic Rider-Waite deck version 'judgement' always struck me as a little to biblical for my liking! Rejuvenation, however, is so much more positive, as it focuses on the 'rebirth' aspect, rather than the 'looking backwards' and 'being judged for what you've done (or not done)' aspect. As often, it's a question of perspective.
RE: Emperor - I think you're quite right about your interpretation. I think it's a combination of the animus thing I mentioned above, and the practicality/groundedness thing. If this was in large part about your creativity (writing, etc.), then being focused and organised about it is precisely this positive thing. I've noticed that about myself in fact since starting my Substack. Self-enforced deadlines and all that.
But yes - I'd do a specific reading about all this!