Choosing the cards. I'm perplexed.

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 Mar 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Diana	07 Mar 2002
edited

Major Tom	07 Mar 2002
Diana - Good question! I'm practically positive that chosing cards is as individual as the people that do it. :D I tend to shuffle the cards then cut them and deal them out from the top. I'm sure you could pick them out as you say without fanning them. I think the key here is to chose your cards in the manner that you feel comfortable with.

Kiama	07 Mar 2002
I usually prefer to shuffle the deck, then deal the card off the top. I do this mainly cuz I don't have the space on my table to fan them out in front of me or the querent! But for a particular spread, which I call the 'Spheres Of Life' spread, I fan the cards out in my hand, and let the querent choose five random cards, giving each card a 'sphere' of life to tell him/her about beforehand. For instance, they may say, 'Love' is the first sphere, and they'd pick a card. That card would tell them about their love life. And so on with other spheres! Its a great one for reading at fairs, esp. if its breezy, cuz the querent can hold the cards, instead of you having to spread it on the table in a formation.... (Did this once. Had to weigh the cards down with Runes!) Kiama

amyel	07 Mar 2002
I shuffle, then cut into three piles. Then I hover my hand over the piles until i "feel" which has the most energy. That's the pile I deal from, straight off the top. I've tried the "fan" method, but it doesn't work for me. Sometimes, though, I let my querent do this. So, like Major Tom said, whatever works for you is the way to do it!

Diana	08 Mar 2002
edited

Emily	08 Mar 2002
I sometimes do it both ways, if I'm reading for myself (which usually I am lol), I think it depends on how I feel at the time. My deck always has a good shuffle so I can either take the cards from the top or spread them out in a line and take which cards I seem to be drawn to. I don't actually think there is a right or wrong way to do it, just be comfortable with the method you use :)

Thirteen	08 Mar 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Kiama But for a particular spread, which I call the 'Spheres Of Life' spread, I fan the cards out in my hand, and let the querent choose five random cards, giving each card a 'sphere' of life to tell him/her about beforehand. For instance, they may say, 'Love' is the first sphere, and they'd pick a card. That card would tell them about their love life. What a cool spread! Let me see if I understand this though--you shuffle and then fan the cards in your hands like a stage magician. Pick a card any card, right? Do they get to see the cards, or are the cards face down? And do they get to decide on the 5 spheres of life are or do you tell them what the 5 spheres are, and then they decide, as they pick, which is which?

Kiama	08 Mar 2002
You shuffle the cards, then fan them out face down, so the querent doesn't see the pictures. Then, like you said, it is a case of 'pick a card, any card'. But before the querent picks a card, they decide what sphere it is going to be. They do this card by card, til you have 5. Kiama

Pollux	08 Mar 2002
I'll try to guess the spheres... 1 - Air: intellect, social life, beginnings, partner... east 2 - Fire: competition, passion (=Love), affirmation... south 3 - Water: psycho-physic nalance, emotion, para-powers... 4 - Earth: money, luck, everyday life... north 5 - Ether/Akasha: Spiritual self, Fool's Journey, root cause... center Will you help me, Kiama? I'm having this just off my imagination... :) P.S. The Above correspondences are no Bible or whatever :D !!!

Kimon	08 Mar 2002
Hello, I shuffle them and for most of the spreads I just start laying them right away as they are in my hand; for other spreads (the ones with different piles or times or sides or persons) I let the querent make the piles and tell me which pile is who or what, then I lay them out as before. Or, to choose which pile is what, when I do it alone, I hold my hand over the piles and then know which one is what, dont ask me how, please. :-) Greetings, Kimon

Lion-O	14 Mar 2002
I always shuffle the cards by "dumping" them on a huge circular pile which I stirr up a bit. Then, after I got all cards back to a single deck, I simply spread them out (face down) in an arc shape. The actual card choosing is something I usually do with my eyes closed. I simply follow the curve of the cards and at some point I get the urge to pick one.

Original Destiny	14 Mar 2002
sometimes i let the cards show themselves. I shuffle them then go thru the deck, backs upwards, until i find a card that "sticks" . A card that wants to be seen. Its an intuative thing..the card , in a way , tells me to select it...I do this until I have the number required... This might take some time and I often have to go thru the deck several times because as each card is selected it alters the dynamics of the pack

rainwolf	24 Jan 2005
I shuffle until i feel comfortable, then i cut the deck into 6 piles (my friend made it up) adn then i stack them up in whatever order (i reason in the name of carl jung and his synchrocity) I do the cutting and stacking with my receptive hand. Then i deal. It used to be really difficult for me, but i just stopped thinking about it, and now im getting much better readings. ~good luck! rainwolf

tarotbear	24 Jan 2005
I have seen people fan them out, but always face down. The divining process whereby you 'chose' the correct card works face down too! I would say it's a matter of taste, space, and showmanship. I always shuffled the cards with a 'casino shuffle' long before I started working in one! Blackjack dealers shuffle eight decks of cards to fill a Blackjack 'shoe'; I was always fascinated by their technique since they have to do it as quickly as possible to get a new shoe back into the game. (No, I am not a card dealer, I'm a banker.)

Fudugazi	24 Jan 2005
I shuffle - then hand to the querent who also shuffles (or not if I'm the querent) - I don't cut unless I've seen the card at the bottom - I fan out - I pick. I don't hover, I choose fast, and sometimes the cards I go for don't come but others barge in. I say whatever my question is as I pick the cards. I might have a general question divided into subquestions, or a sentence with cards corresponding to various parts of the sentence, or a spread with positions, but I'm experimenting with other methods than classic spreads at the moment - or else I make up a spread on the spot based on the kind of information I am after or the dialogue I wish for with the cards. In any case, the cards say what they want to say, no more, no less.

Diana	24 Jan 2005
This thread was begun by me nearly three years ago!!! It's a ghost thread. EEEEEEK!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: (I still fan my cards. I tried the Poker style a couple of times, but it doesn't suit me AT ALL.) (Soon after this ghost-thread was started, I did a Statistics thread, and the results showed that most Americans chose the cards Poker style, Continentals fanned mostly, and other Anglo-Saxons both fanned and mixed. It's a cultural thing.)

TemperanceAngel	24 Jan 2005
Ghost threads are always interesting ;) The way I do it is this (and this came from my mother-in-law): shuffle and cut the deck into three stacks and then choose a stack to be read. All the cards need not be used of course ;) With a client I would shuffle, them the client and then they would split into three etc.... There is the fanning method for choosing 1-3 cards, with the cards face down which I like. Personally for myself, I go with flippers if there are any!

Phoenix Rising	24 Jan 2005
Shuffle, cut deck in 3 read the split, and then put back in any order, deal off the top. The other way I cut the deck again in 3 read the split, and then fan them out and randomly pick them. My other friend always splits the deck or randomly picks them, she says that they might not get a good shuffle when you deal them off the top. But if it works hey, carry on with however one feels i reckon.

caridwen	28 Jan 2005
I use a variety if I am reading for myself. I shuffle, split the deck into three, put them back into a pile and lay my hand on the deck. I compose myself with my question running through my mind. I thank my goddess and the cards - then deal. Sometimes I lay out the cards into a fan from left to right. I close my eyes and hover over the cards until I get a 'feeling'. I then take the card and continue until the spread is finished. I find this uses a lot of energy and always feel exhausted afterwards. I don't use it often. Another one I do is shuffle, cut and put all the cards face down on a table but individually, so each card is entirely visible. I then use the same method as above - hover over until I 'feel' the card. For querents: I ask them to shuffle whilst thinking of the question. They cut the deck into three and restack. I then deal the cards of the top. However, if they wanted to, they could do it any way they liked. I only touch the cards to deal the spread.:)

catti	28 Jan 2005
the size of the card can determine the method: i have a miniature universal waite that fits well in my purse. either you reach in the little silk bag and choose or we put them on the table face down and you can mix and choose most decks i riffle shuffle and cut 3 ways reading for others i let them do the most comfortable way for them - the key is they may not look at the deck once the mixing process has begun. I believe that the best way to concentrate on your question is not to worry about shuffling correctly.... the fan method is superior for those big hard to handle card or when your querent is petite or a child its all good !!

WalesWoman	28 Jan 2005
Guess I'm in the American league...shuffle, cut and deal off the top, unless it feels really, really important (isn't that wierd?)...like it has to be what ever guides my hand...then I'll fan them out and pick cards. In fact when it's like that I stir my cards up willie nillie and pull them randomly from the pile. I did find a " new" way to shuffle that I do like and seems to mix up the cards without as many falling out. It's more like dealing the cards into three piles, putting them back together and doing the same thing again, three times. I got that from the Guide to the Sacred Rose Tarot, by Johanna Gargiulo-Sherman , she thinks that 9 is the number of consciousness. LOL after re-reading I've been doing it "wrong", she cuts the deck into three, then makes 3 from 1, does the same with the other two, always going left (feminine, intuition) until there are 9 stacks of cards, then restack it,from right to left, one on top of the other. LOL...I've still been doing it "wrong", since I've been picking up which ever in any order. But whatever!!! I have come to the conclusion the right cards will come up no matter which way I shuffle, cut or deal them out or hand pick them.

The Choosing the cards. I'm perplexed. thread was originally posted on 07 Mar 2002 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.