Reading the cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 14 Mar 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rocksolid	14 Mar 2002
I just got my cards, Morgan Greer. I was reading on how to do a reading and this might seem like a dumb question but after you have a person you are reading mix the cards, do you fan the cards and tell them to pick 10 cards and do you place them down face up or face down, flipping them face up one at a time as you are reading them ?

Thirteen	14 Mar 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Rocksolid do you fan the cards and tell them to pick 10 cards and do you place them down face up or face down, flipping them face up one at a time as you are reading them ? And the answer is.... Up to you :) Really. We each become comfortable with our cards in our own way, and form our own habits when we start to read them. Some of us get these habits from teachers, or books, some of us just find them on our own. It's whatever intuition and comfort tell you is right for you. That said, however, I would say that most of us flip the cards face up as we're reading them. It's faster, easier, and keeps the deck neat and ready if more cards need to be laid out for clarification.

Diana	14 Mar 2002
edited

Thirteen	14 Mar 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Diana I am still puzzled by this. I'm wondering if this is a cultural thing. Most people on these forums are from anglo-saxon countries. And I've learnt Tarot in a French culture. Either it's pure coincidence that everyone I know fans the cards, or else there is some definite cultural difference. I think you've hit on the answer. It's likely cultural. Here's "Thirteen's Theory" on the subject--mind you, it's just a Theory. I've no evidence at all for it and I'll be the first to admit that evidence might prove me entirely wrong: The "French" tradition of fanning the cards sounds like a tradition passed down from card reader to card reader. And I'm guessing, from etchings I've seen of card readings done in the 19th century, that it's very polite and "feminine." When I see pictures of card readings from the Victorian era, they usually picture conservatively dressed young ladies and *only* young ladies (with maybe one old lady reader), reading for each other, and the cards are often fanned out before them. This makes a kind of sense. Women played delicate card games in the 19th century; and they weren't encouraged to do card tricks or toss out the cards like a dealer in a Saloon. So, between being encouraged to fan cards by the reader who taught them how to read cards, and NOT being encouraged to flip cards in games, "fanning" becomes a "French" tradition. But among readers in the U.S. (I won't speak for anywhere else), card playing is...masculine, hard. Our tradition of cards really does come from dealers in saloons and on river boats--and Las Vegas! As a kid, I remember being taught to shuffle and was impressed by other kids (girls!) who could really move the cards around in their hands. Movies glorify outlaw heroes who can flip and turn and ruffle cards one-handed. And the card games we most like to play often require that the dealer flip certain cards face up on the table--as in Poker or twenty-one. So it's a matter of cultural habit. American Tarot Readers and teachers--at least every one I've met--handle the cards as they would playing cards, shuffling and flipping them out. Frankly, I don't recall any book telling me to do otherwise, but then, I don't think I read those sections all that carefully. I just made the assumption that you laid them out by flipping them off the top fast and efficent as one would in a card game, as one would naturally do with any deck of cards. Here-in ends Thirteen's brief theory of card dealing :)

Fillanzea	15 Mar 2002
A Japanese Tarot book I have (well, the only tarot book I have at the moment) tells you to fan the cards out; another book I looked at at the store told me the same thing, because "that's how it's done in Japan." I agree that it's probably a cultural thing.

Diana	15 Mar 2002
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Jewel	15 Mar 2002
Thirteen I am with you on this one. I am in the US, and I shuffle and flip the cards just like I do regular playing cards. I have refined my Tarot habit to include cutting the deck in 3 piles and then restaking them before I flip the cards, but if you did not know it was a Tarot deck you might think I was a card dealer when I start shuffling (I am a girl).

Rocksolid	15 Mar 2002
The way I look at it ( I am very new to tarot) I like the fanning idea. I have the person mix the cards and then I give them the choice to cut the deck or not, then I fan the cards and let fate choose the cards for them. By mixing and choicing the cards on top, they never have an option as to which cards they get. I rather they pick there own cards. What do you think ? I am a guy.

Thirteen	15 Mar 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Rocksolid The way I look at it ( I am very new to tarot) I like the fanning idea. I have the person mix the cards and then I give them the choice to cut the deck or not, then I fan the cards and let fate choose the cards for them. By mixing and choicing the cards on top, they never have an option as to which cards they get. I rather they pick there own cards. What do you think ? I am a guy. Dude, I never meant to imply that fanning the cards was taboo for guys (putting on my cowboy hat now and looking at ya funny: "Fanning out the cards huh?" Cuts and shuffles cards one-handed, "That thar way's for sissies!" Slamming a bottle of red-eye whiskey on the table. "Drink some o' that! Make a man of ya! Then we'll teach ya how to flip the cards!"). ;) I only meant to thorize that the cultural difference of fanning vs. flipping, between European vs. American, might trace back to which sex dominated when such traditions as card reading were passed down. But as you see, it's also a Japanese tradition, and as men and women both traditionally used fans in Japan (unlike in Europe where only women had fans), I doubt that makes it in any way a feminine tradition there. Point is, no one in the here and now is going to get on their cowboy hat and question your use of "fanning" to pick cards. Plenty of magicians have established the "pick-a-card-any-card" fanning method as legit for guys, anyway. So go for it!

Rocksolid	15 Mar 2002
I know you ment nothing by it. I was just letting you know that I was a guy, that's all.

napaisti	15 Mar 2002
My method varies depending on several factors. If I'm reading for someone else who either doesn't want to handle the cards or with a deck I'd rather they not handle (much) then I usually take the cards from the top. When reading for myself (which is most common) it depends on my mood. Sometimes I fan the cards and pull the ones I am drawn to, other times I just take the cards from the top. Also, if it is a spread that only uses a few cards (usually less than 5, but that varies too) I will sometimes cut the deck into the number of cards needed +1 piles (e.g., 3 card spread = 4 piles) and take top cards from the piles. To me, it is really just a matter of what feels right at the time.

The Reading the cards thread was originally posted on 14 Mar 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.