Hands on the cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 13 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rosanne	13 Jun 2005
I had a most interesting conversation today with a guy who comes to me for a reading about every six months or so. I have not been reading for others of late and so it was a social call, but I agreed to do a reading. I started in the usual way..... "Hey Rosanne your hands are different" "Different- How?" "No rings,no nail paint and you have been gardening" I looked at my hands, they were clean, nails clipped down, cos I had been gardening lol. Now I no longer have youthful hands- a few sunspots etc, but my hands have always pleased me and they have aged along with the rest of me. So we had a discussion about my hands and their importance to him as a Questioner. He said it was a hypnotic part of the reading to watch the spread and the gestures that I did when discussing the cards. I was totally blown away. I had never ever considered my hands as a part of the ritual. When you think about it- that is where the eyes are focused through most of the event. Yes, I normally did do the hand cream, nail polish and jewellery bit- not over the top; I had not dressed my hands for the party, and he noticed. He felt it was very important and he was surprised as he knew that I treated the cards well and thought each reading event was special. I asked him if he had preconceived ideas about how I should dress- like maybe a gypsy etc. He laughed and said 'No, I would run a mile if you did a side show" I asked him if I was male what would he expect he said ' Manicured and well looked after" Hmmm I wonder? Has anyone else considered the care of their hands an important part of the ritual? Have they ever considered this aspect at all? Does it matter in the great scheme of things anyway? ~Rosanne

Little Baron	13 Jun 2005
I have never even considered this ... until now. I am looking down at my bitten nails (I have always bitten and tore at them since a kid). I suppose that as long as they are clean, it is not such a big deal. Interesting point though. LB

Astraea	13 Jun 2005
What an interesting question! Beyond everyday standards of cleanliness and grooming, I've never given it much thought -- when I've had readings for myself, I don't recall being focused in either a positive or negative way on the condition of a reader's hands. But I can see how a client might indeed consider the hand to be an important part of the process -- after all, they are extensions of the reader's psyche (ritual objects, in a sense) and a client, particularly a nervous one, might feel unusually comforted or put off by the appearance and movements of the hands. Now I'll think about this a lot!

Moonbow*	13 Jun 2005
Hi guys. :) As this is a Tarot subject, I'm moving it Talking Tarot. Moonbow*

tao51	13 Jun 2005
There is a stereotype of multiple rings and charm bracelets. I have only the ritual of washing my hands before I touch the cards.

caridwen	13 Jun 2005
It's amazing what other people notice. No, I'd never considered the hands important to a reading or thought that people took notice of them. He sounds like a very interesting person:)

PlatinumDove	13 Jun 2005
Perhaps a bottle of that antiseptic handwash would be a good thing in a tarot bag. :)

Ace	13 Jun 2005
PlatinumDove wrote: Perhaps a bottle of that antiseptic handwash would be a good thing in a tarot bag. :) I think so, especially since people have a habit of licking their figure before they pull a card! But I do think that person you mention, Rosanne, was very preceptive. Obviously, this is how HE gets into the reading, by watching your hands prepare the cards for him to do the reading. He is focusing on what is there, getting ready to listen. Entering that space that is not a space, that time that is no a time. He is a very good client, I bet! As for me, I like to wear lots of braclets with the "gypsy fortuneteller" persona I put on for parties, but if the reading is good, they don't get noticed much. When I do private readings, I avoid even the fun broaches I like to sport (I have one that is a turbaned gypsy with a large crystal ball for example) Jewerly is way too distracting. I have a bad habit of chewing my fingers up, so my nails, cuticules, etc. look very ragged, I do think it looks bad, but so far it is a habit I haven't broken. Well manicured hands say a LOT about a person, not just a psychic. Ace

Asenath	13 Jun 2005
An interesting post. I try to wash my hands before I touch the cards, too. At first I was thinking, Wow! This guy is into hands. But then it occurred to me that he may just in fact be very perceptive of people's hands, in general. I know for some people, myself included, when I'm checking someone out, I look to see what his hands are like. (So cute, but darn. A nail biter.) :( But the fact that he could tell that you were gardening, Rosanne, did you ask him to read your cards? ;) (Edited to fix HTML.)

jumptothemoonyea	13 Jun 2005
I've read somewhere that in our hands very strong energy centers (chakras) are located. They are the energy flows applied during healing, laying hands...These centers are powerful transmitters of the ... whatever you transmit ...:) Rosanne's client is likely sensitive to the hands energy and it was different that day.

feticeira	13 Jun 2005
Interesting that your querent was so sensitive to this... But you know, body language is something so strong that we tend to overlook it rationally ( we don´t tend to consciously think of it) however we respond to it with our own body language. Clothing and accesories we react to as well. Colors and shapes are triggers, your querent said he´d run if you dressed like the steoreotype of fortune teller. These days, I´m very aware of these things, as I´m taking a course in anthropoly of the body. You have no idea how much you learn about society and people when you give your body a little attention.

Emeraldgirl	14 Jun 2005
I had never considered this before. I understand why it's good to have nicely manicured and pretty looking hands. Perhaps he sees it as when you start to shuffle the reading is starting and so that draws his attention. I think that it is definately something to consider. I had not thought about how people looked at a reader's hands.

Jelly	14 Jun 2005
What an interesting topic. I take off my ring and watch before I read - I played the violin for many years and used to remove all my jewellry before I played as I found it offputting, and I have been doing the same with the tarot. Never really thought about it before...

Jeanette	14 Jun 2005
When I was in high school (many moons ago) my secretarial training teacher advised all of us girls to pay special care to our hands. She wasn't necessarily saying we had to paint our nails, but that we should have clean, very nicely maintained nails and to use hand cream religiously! She pointed out how so many people would notice our hands during the course of the day. And that advice has always stayed with me (almost 30 years now). So every day I pay a few minutes of care to my hands, filing, trimming, etc. And I definitely believe hand/nail care plays an important part in tarot card reading, whether you go for the "gypsy" look or not! Plus, it's just gross to look at hands that have dirt embedded under the ragged, jagged torn up nails/cuticles. It makes you start to wonder, what is that dirt, how did it get there, why hasn't it been removed, where have these hands been, when was the last time they were thoroughly cleaned.... YUCK. Can you tell I'm a little paranoid about hand care! Especially with food handlers...

Rosanne	14 Jun 2005
I don't feel so alone with my surprise now. I think we all accept 'clean' as a must when using our Cards. I also had never considered that other people might lick their fingers either :D I was most interested that the friend and client said Hands were hypnotic with the spread and gestures etc and that was the part I had never considered- and I always will now. Maybe He is into 'body language' more than other people, but now I consider it all, I think more people are aware of hands than I ever thought.~Rosanne

Phoenix Rising	15 Jun 2005
what a interesting observation. Gosh i'll have to be more conscious of hands, next time??? I think people do have a pre-conceived idea, and they only go by their first impression when meeting a reader for the first time. I know i do.

The Hands on the cards thread was originally posted on 13 Jun 2005 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.