Those BIG decks and small hands

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 14 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

scribe	14 Oct 2004
Hey friends I'm a woman with largish hands and long piano fingers (this is not a pick up line) and... have been tempted by those oh-so-beautiful 5 star decks beautifully presented on Aeclectic, such as the Victoria Regina AND the Tarot of Paris. However! I bought them online and was a little shocked when they arrived. They are just too big to handle, for myself and my friends (I'm just a beginner reader). So what's the story? Were they ever meant to be used, or is there a shuffling technique I should deploy? My Tarot of Prague is getting tatty and it should get a rest.

Imagemaker	14 Oct 2004
I shuffle big decks by spreading them out on the table or floor and swirling them around. Adds an element of play and meditative movement, too :) Then gather them into a stack and do whatever cutting or fanning you like before picking cards.

scribe	14 Oct 2004
Thanks. I find it a little curious that the reviews never mention that some decks are virtually unshufflable by conventional methods.

Imagemaker	14 Oct 2004
As I am one of those radicals who trims the borders off decks, I cut many of mine down to a better size. (Many find this unacceptable, but I love my decks more when I've reshaped them.) The size is often given in reviews or descriptions. I'm like you, I didn't notice the sizes given until I bought one that was huge! Now I check.

HudsonGray	15 Oct 2004
There's always the '52 card pickup' done over the bedspread (78 cards with tarot decks). A toss, a swirl, then reorganizing them into a stack... Big ones look great laid out on the table but they are hard to handle.

magpie9	15 Oct 2004
I have smallish artheritic hands, and get away with it by shuffling them side-to-side, instead of end-to-end. It feels awkward at first, and creates no "accidental" reversals. I haven't met a deck yet that this dosen't work with.

Umbrae	15 Oct 2004
The Light and Shadow Tarot is huge – and lovely. Cutting, chopping, circumcising, mangling decks…borders on abuse (lol). Shuffling must be done with care. The VR is a lovely deck, but yeah – the cards are ‘loooong’, makes even an overhand shuffle difficult. But it swooshes about the table top in a wonderful manner!

RedMaple	15 Oct 2004
I find that I can shuffle large decks like the Victoria Regina or the Inner Child quite easily if I riffle them, holding the cards across the narrow diameters, rather than the usual way. In other words, split the deck in half, stand the cards on end, half in each hand, then lean them forward til they are parallel with the table. Then riffle them gently into each other. (The riffle is the usual poker shuffle that some folks don't like because it can bend the cards, although that has never been a problem for me. ) RedMaple

SongDeva	15 Oct 2004
Red Maple, I do this too. I've always been mystified by this question. I mean no criticism, Scribe, it's just never been a problem for me. I think we should get the people who have trouble, and the the people who don't, into a room together to shuffle, so we can see what the heck is going on. lol Welcome to the boards, Scribe.

Emily	15 Oct 2004
I find that I can't riffle my cards - My hands just won't do it lol - But with large cards I do the over the top shuffle. At first it took me a while to get it right without dropping the cards all over the place but once I did get it, well it means now that I don't have to worry about the size of cards. :)

September Pixie	15 Oct 2004
I have a friend who shuffles very differently with large decks.. she has a large bag (which she had made for this), she drops all the cards in.. gives a shake, and lets the Questor pull the cards for the reading. I've never tried this on my own, but it works well for her. I have VERY small hands... even the Nigel Jackson is hard for me to use (but I do! Because I LOVE it so!!), the Thoth tarot (I own the smaller size) in the large size is unshufflible for me, and so is Victoria Regina by normal methods, I will turn them on their side and just shuffle by lacing, and I usually do this about 15 times after a reading and 3 before a new.

xviiirkna	15 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by SongDeva I think we should get the people who have trouble, and the the people who don't, into a room together to shuffle, so we can see what the heck is going on. lol hee hee...this reminds me of back in the day when my friends got together to play euchre all the time. We always played double bid (2 euchre decks - still not as many cards as a tarot deck) my buddy JD's wife (at the time) could not shuffle to save her soul...we endlessly tried to teach her different methods, but she was a total klutz with cards. We finally decided it was much less trauma to just shuffle for her when it was her turn to deal...then she'd deal them out, but one at a time and really slooooow - it took her forever, which gave people a chance to get up and stretch their legs, go to the bathroom and/or get another beer. I guess dexterity is a gift which lies in the hands of the beholder. ;) When it comes to Tarot cards, I don't like the swooshing around face down on the table kind of mixing up the cards...it just doesn't feel right to me - I'd rather keep them in my hands as they are being shuffled. I'm a fairly good shuffler. I do different types of shuffling, but which method I use really depends on the deck. Some Tarot decks I 'riffle', especially if they are smaller 'playing card' size, but I never bend them as hard as I would when shuffling a deck of regular ol' Bicycle cards. The side shuffle where you kind of 'sift' the cards together works o.k. if you can keep them loose enough that you're not jamming the edges together all the time. I've had some cards start to delaminate a bit due to improper shuffling with this method. Larger decks, or handmade decks I want to take extra care with, I tend to cut and recut over and over again, every so often pulling out a few cards and arbitrarily putting them back into the deck here and there as I go - it takes longer to do it this way if you're working with a deck that is in ordered sequence to start, but as it goes, the more soothing and natural the motion becomes and the process seems to put me in good sync with the cards. Then whenever you reach the point where your mind says "o.k., I'll just pull a couple more cards out from of the lower third of the deck and put them on top, cut the deck three more times and these cards are ready to read"...then you know you're done shuffling. I always like to see how other people shuffle and handle their cards - some people are very formal with the process, some seem a bit awkward and hesitant and others look like surely they must deal Tarot full time in Vegas or something. Observationally yours, Sally Anne

SongDeva	15 Oct 2004
I sometimes buy dupes so I can roughhouse with them. Kinky, but true.

September Pixie	15 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by SongDeva I sometimes buy dupes so I can roughhouse with them. Kinky, but true. hmm whats a dupe?

HudsonGray	15 Oct 2004
I think it means duplicate.

VGimlet	15 Oct 2004
I have small hands too - short stubby fingers and all. :P I have never had a problem shuffling even with large decks - but I learned how to shuffle with the Aquarian deck, which is somewhat oversized. If I remember right, it took me a lot of practice before I figured it out. I also played the piano, which makes your fingers really strong. Maybe that's why it's easier for me...hmmm....

RedMaple	16 Oct 2004
xviirkna, I like your method of cutting and recutting the cards, I could picture it, and it seems very meditative. I will try that. I came from a card-playing family. My grandmother lived with us, and Sunday night was an early supper for us kids, usually homemade pizza or those cheese-tomato-bacon open-faced sandwiches. Then the grownups pulled the jars of pennies out and played poker around the kitchen table til 9 or 10 during the summertime, earlier during winter school months. We were allowed to watch, but not talk. When I was in about third grade, with my tiny hands, I decided to learn to riffle shuffle. I remember it taking some time, and my hands weren't strong, but when I finally mastered it, it was soooo cool. So I guess I shuffle a bit like those who deal Tarot in Vegas....I don't know if that's good or not. I don't want my querent to feel like they need to ante up. :) Or maybe that could be a good thing.....

September Pixie	16 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by HudsonGray I think it means duplicate. \ oh, duh, I should have known..

ferrous	17 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by SongDeva I sometimes buy dupes so I can roughhouse with them. Kinky, but true. Don't feel bad, September Pixie. I wondered exactly the same thing. :D

The Those BIG decks and small hands thread was originally posted on 14 Oct 2004 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.