Sara

What, if any, rituals do you use in association with the cards? Who uses them for nondivinitory uses? Do you use anything in association? Music? Incense?

This is my secons question for my thesis project. I know some of you already answered these to some extent in the first question I asked, and thank you.

Um, I also have a second question for people in general. Should I make a specific, separate thread for information about the project, what it's about and to answer any direct questions people might have? It is mostly in my intro thread right now, but I was just wondering if anyone would want me to do that, and what would be the best forum to put it in.

Looking foreward to hearing from everyone.
Sara

Trish

Well, I like to read the cards when nobody else is in the house. I also do not keep the television or anything on, so my mind can stay focused and clear.

I concentrate on shuffling the cards (and the question if I have one). I don't shuffle Tarot cards the way one would a standard playing deck, because 1) I'm not good at it (LOL!), and 2) a lot of my decks are on the larger side, and it seems cumbersome in my opinion.

So I just take a few cards at a time and move them around the deck. It's very relaxing to me, actually.

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Peace!

- Trish

wavebreaker

When I first started, I thought you had to use all sorts of rituals, because that's what I read everywhere... So I put on special, relaxing music, burned incense, only spread out the cards on a special cloth and stuff like that. But... that just isn't me!
These days, I just take the cards out of their bag, shuffle them will thinking about the question and the person the reading is for, and then I lay out the cards. I don't bother about music or incense or anything like that. As for where I spread out the cards: as long as it's clean and there's enough room to lay out the spread...

I think a new thread would be good, so that people can ask you about it and, if you want to, you can post updates about the project. I think the Talking Tarot forum would be the best place for that.

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Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
~Voltaire~

Damien X

I like to do my readings in peace and quiet, finding most rituals - if not all, to be just superfluous. Why complicate stuff?

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Gnothi Sauton

Shadow Wolf

I agree with DamienX. Keeping it simple is best, and too much
ritual can actually detract from a reading.

Trogon

Like others, I had started out trying to do Tarot readings with much more ritual than I do now. I also have found that if I try to make things more complicated, with a lot of meditation, or trying to make things too "mysterious" (for want of a better word), it just distracts me from the cards and the reading. I guess I worry too much about making sure the ritual is correct.

Now I find that simply saying a brief prayer before a reading asking for guidance and clarity, then concentrating on the querrent (or my question if it's just me) while I shuffle, seems to work quite well. I just try to keep it simple. Life in general, and sometimes the information in a reading, is complicated enough without cluttering it with rituals or superstitions.

Hope this answers the question...

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Trogon

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time ... but, if you don't teach them to read, you can fool them whenever you like!"
[Max Headroom] (And if you know who that is, you're as old as me!)

allibee

Have to agree with the K.I.S.S approach too, especially as I'm not into wicca or anything like that.

I have actually found that as my rate of online work has superceeded my physical in - person readings of late, this has become even more simplified.
I still do my little prayer whilst doing my first shuffle, then concentrate on why I'm doing the reading on the second shuffle - question and focus on the sitter (wherever they may be), and then just use any available space near my compter to lay out the throw.
What I AM fussy about, is not being interrupted when I'm typing up the actual reading of the cards.
Sadly in my house I barely have a couple of hours alone so I have got used to reading with three teenagers fighting and messing about in the background. One's on the playstation nearby...click, click, click, click, music, gun shots, speeding cars, one has got MTV on good and loud, but enjoys flicking through the other music channels too, hip hop, metal, dance, hip hop, dance, metal... the other is learning his guitar....badly LOL!. But this is a background I'm used to, and I'm fine with it. But if I'm interrupted whilst I'm trying to type up a reading, THEN it is the end of the world as they know it!
That is my only 'condition' I find important to reading over the net, so the cards are somewhat secondary, if you will.
So if the cards end up on the floor, that's ok as long as the message and story they speak of is interpreted correctly - and well.
The cards are the cards - the tool, and I am the workman, and a good workman never blames his tools.

allibee

HudsonGray

I wait till I can have quiet time alone so I can concentrate. I make sure the table surface is wiped off (no grease, it's usually the kitchen table), that my hands are clean & the cats are on the floor. Then shuffle like a regular deck of cards while thinking the question without trying to influence it for the reading, then 'chunk' sections into each other by hand till it feels right to stop. By then one of the cats is on the table again, sitting & watching, purring up a storm (they love the energies, the louder the purr, the more 'dead on' the reading will be, I've found). Then I lay out the spread.

After reading it, or writing it all down if it's for someone online, I randomly put the cards back in, shuffle a little to mix them up again, then put the cards back into the box & thank them silently for giving me the reading.

No music, incense, other rituals, candles, etc. Usually I do it at night when things are quiet, but I've done it just about anytime--the key is to be able to concentrate.

Phoenyx

The only real "ritual" I have with the cards is that right after I get a new deck, I sleep with the deck close to my body so they can absorb my energies.

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"You can observe alot by watching."