flipped or flying cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 Sep 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

deso	16 Sep 2001
I soooooo often get a card that will fly right out of the deck or a card that flips right over when I shuffle. I always pick those cards as my card of the day - and that seems to work for me - it always ends up having some significance. I was wondering how you all use these flip/fly cards for yourselves.

joya250	16 Sep 2001
hi deso, I seem to have a "flying" card everytime I shuffle ... and the only thing I take it to mean is that I'm just not a very careful or skilled shuffler! I think quite a few people here practice, as you do, using the "flying" card(s) as their card of the day, or recognize it to be of high significance - which is fine, if your comfortable with that. I have a rule with my deck though - I will NOT accept stray cards. If any fly out they go right back in until they can behave!

MeeWah	16 Sep 2001
I always use a card or cards that draw my attention that way! I see them as being anxious to talk. If this occurs during shuffling for a spread for a personal reading or for someone else, I use the card or cards that jump or fly out as the first cards of the spread. Some readers do not use such cards, which is fine if it is preferred not to & that is the usual practice. Being consistent in the approach is important.

EveAnna	16 Sep 2001
Hi deso, Everytime I shuffle I get cards throwing themselves out of the deck :) So I always read them, just in case they are trying to tell me something :)

luna	16 Sep 2001
I definately take note of flying cards, as was said before, anxious to talk. I end up putting the card back into the deck and continue the shuffle and spread.

Rhiannon	16 Sep 2001
I do the same... use the cards. Once I was shuffling my cards and they completely reversed themselves in mid-shuffle. You'd really have to see it to understand what I mean. But I just thought, wow, now there's something that doesn't happen every day! Rhiannon :)

deso	16 Sep 2001
Hi Joya250 - I'm curious as to why you simply return the card and keep shuffling - and I'm not the least bit suggesting that is wrong of you - I'm just incredibly curious.

StarShine	16 Sep 2001
I read flying cards in addition to a reading or my daily cards. I feel that this card has something to tell me that may not be related to the question that was asked. If it deals with the question at hand, or a different issue that warranted a full reading (sometime my cards overrule my question and the entire spread will be about a more important issue), then it would just wait to come up in the reading. I don't usually see them as more important, just in addition to, my reading.

Major Tom	17 Sep 2001
(singing): Pay attention Pay attention I'm talking to you and I hope you're concentrating... I'm with MeeWah on this one }> Cards that vie for your attention - outside your concious will - are definitely worth paying attention to. How you pay attention is of course entirely up to you and how you choose.

joya250	17 Sep 2001
good morning Deso, Every time I shuffle, or almost every time, I get a flying card - or a card slips out, or I drop a few. I find it hard to accept that EVERY time I shuffle, there is a card that is so eager for my attention that it jumps out. I know things happen for a reason, but sometimes, well, a stray card is just that - a stray card. So, like I said, I made a rule for myself that I will not accept them. If it is SO important, then it will make an appearance when I draw a card "the proper way." As it's been said before on this forum, the cards are just cardboard (or 200# gloss stock - whatever!) and ink. I am the reader - the cards are just the tools.... and I choose to use those tools on my own terms. I have not been practicing for that long, so maybe my opinon on flying cards will change, but this is where I'm at right now. later gator ;)

Mojo	17 Sep 2001
Whenever this happens to me, I always look at the errant cards immediately to see if maybe they scream out an answer to the question that was asked. Often times this is the case. For example, one recent client asked why her mother-in-law seemed to be cold towards her. She said there were never any words exchanged, but she always got this feeling that the woman didn't like her. When she was shuffling the deck, the Queen of Wands and the Page of Swords popped out. I asked her if perhaps she used sex to manipulate her husband and also if she was perhaps critical of him in a smartass sort of way. She blushed a bright crimson color and after initially trying to deny it, she admitted that I was right. Suddenly, she didn't need me to tell her why her mother-in-law was acting that way. Other times, the cards aren't so obvious. In that case, I set the flipped cards aside and use them for clarification of the reading if necessary. An example of this is another recent reading I did. This was a "directions" spread for a newly married couple and the card that came out during the shuffle was the 10 of Pentacles. As I read the cards, it seemed that there was a lot of delay and misdirection going on in the future for them. Often times, the 10 of Pentacles gives me the feeling of being incomplete. All of the elements are there that should make for a happy family scene, but the people in the card just don't seem happy to me. In this case, it told me that one of them (I got a strong sense of the husband because of the other cards) was trying to force the relationship into following some sort of role model which in reality wasn't working for them. The wife agreed that the husband would probably like her to be the more traditional wife/mother rather than pursuing a high visibility career.

Hoonoki	17 Sep 2001
Damn i love giving a good shuffle every now and then. It's kind of a bad habit of mine. I shuffle normal playing cards though. Anyway with tarot cards, i hardly get any cards flying out at me ... unless i shuffle it in a different way rather than how i usually do it. There were a few times when a card or two did pop out, so i considered their meanings after i laid out a spread. I believe it will have something to do with my approach or reaction to whatever was described by the cards.

tiger lily	17 Sep 2001
Quote: Mojo (18 Sep, 2001 03:03): For example, one recent client asked why her mother-in-law seemed to be cold towards her. She said there were never any words exchanged, but she always got this feeling that the woman didn't like her. When she was shuffling the deck, the Queen of Wands and the Page of Swords popped out. I asked her if perhaps she used sex to manipulate her husband and also if she was perhaps critical of him in a smartass sort of way. She blushed a bright crimson color and after initially trying to deny it, she admitted that I was right. Suddenly, she didn't need me to tell her why her mother-in-law was acting that way. Eh, were you reading for my sister-in-law? ;p :D Clumsy fingers - thatīs *my* reaction to "flying" cards. I take a look and only if the same card turns up in the proper reading, I pay extra attention. If not, I donīt take it as a message.

Melvis	17 Sep 2001
LOL, joya250, I'd say your deck knows who's in charge, don't they? ;D I LOVE that attitude! I do as Mojo does and set the card aside to use as a clarifier, if needed. I also think that, if a card 'leaps' out of the deck before I lay the spread, well then, it was being antisocial and just didn't want to participate in that reading! Perhaps we might see this as a reaction to the question asked...is it really the right one? Could the 'leaper' be saying, "THAT's not what you really want to know about is it? You want to know about ME!" The cards can be feisty that way. ;P Peace, and may your cards always fly with the wind, Melvis

Talisman	20 Sep 2001
Melvis, "May your cards always fly with the wind"? This may be literally true. Sorry, I laughed when deso started this thread because I have a new deck, the World Spirit. These cards, which are a little wider than normal, are slippery as a buttered pig and I have to concentrate to keep them from flying like the wind. How many cards in a regular playing deck? Fifty-four? So, little kids will ask, "Wanna play 54 card pickup?" and then throw the entire deck in the air. Fun game. Kids that age are a riot, if you can remember being one or know one. So far, I haven't had to play 78-card pickup. But I think Mojo is right. The cards are trying to tell me something. And, when I pick half of 'em up from the floor, what I think they are trying to tell me is that I am clumsy. I need Joy to smack my deck and make it behave. Talisman

The flipped or flying cards thread was originally posted on 16 Sep 2001 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.