tarotbear

I might as well start this thread.

Please describe your method of shuffling the cards. Describe how you hold the cards, position of your hands, how you 'flip' the cards, etc. Be concise and definitive; try not to be vague.

Tell us why you feel this (your) method works for you.

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Thirteen

Er. Shuffle them the way most folk shuffle cards. Cut, shuffle together. I like to start with nine shuffles because I think this really mixes the cards. 9's also a nice, magical number. I do ask that querents shuffle the cards by holding them in one hand and slipping cards back or forth in that hand--but only because I don't do reversals and that keeps the cards going in one direction. I also have them cut the deck once with the hand opposite their "handiness" (I'll have a right-hander cut with the left). Other than that, nothing special.

orczy

I shuffle the cards 22 times, one for each trump. (I only use trumps). I also name each card in order whilst I shuffle. It seems to work, and it has an internal logic to it, and the reciting of the names has the great advantage of keeping the mind from any issue in particular, it becomes a sort of mantra I suppose.

Mystick Dragon

My little tradition is: shuffle 3 times regularly, and one or two reversal shuffles. Then I cut them several times. After a reading, I shuffle once or twice to expell the question.

--Dragon

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Ok, that is SO NOT COOL! I can't name them all! Mythical creatures do exist. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't. -- The Mistress of Dragons: Mystick Dragon aka Obsidian Dragon

faunabay

I shuffle them as many times as feels right. Sometimes it's once sometimes it goes on for awhile. When they're done shuffling it's almost like they stop my hands. Like I'd be shuffling through glue or something if I continued.
And I usually keep them straight with no reversals but every once in awhile one appears. I pay close attention when that happens and read it reversed then.

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The future is a mystery.
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faunabay

Oh and I cut the deck once with the non-dominant hand. Use the left if you're right handed - right if you're left handed.

__________________
The past is history.
The future is a mystery.
Right now is a gift............
that's why we call it the present!
.....Kung Fu Panda

cj

Hi All,

I'm not an expert, but I (or the person I read for) riffles the cards until they are comfortable then cuts the cards into 3 piles (left to right) pick up the piles (left to right).

If I am reading for someone they hand me the cards from their left hand to my left hand and a I lay them down and flip them (my thinking is this way the cards would be facing the same way for me as they were for them)

cj

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fairyhedgehog

As a beginner - I use my right (dominant) hand to lift cards from my left hand in blocks. I start by just lifting a clump of cards, and they go in clumps into my left hand, nearer to me than the cards already in my left hand.

Then I realise that many cards are staying next to their neighbour, and I loosen my left hand and use my right hand to gently work the cards I hold in my right hand into the other cards so that they are interleaved. I never feel happy that I do this satisfactorily.

After a bit I go back to shifting clumps of cards, then I cut the pack into three and pick up the third part first, to use for the reading.

If it sounds clumsy - it is But I am getting better at it.

I hope this answers what you were asking,

bec

I shuffle the cards like a regular amateur cardplayer - with the only difference that I rotate two parts of the deck whenever ? I just do it - when I sence the spread I stop and do the layout. When I shuffle afterwards I do the same, until I´ve got the reading out of my system again. I´m lefthanded - holds the deck in right hand and shuffles to the left (figures)

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bec. You can do it - simply because you dare try