"This isn't right..."

I had that feeling very strongly on one recent occasion.

I was doing a series of readings, allowing each person to do their own shuffling. I got a little way into a woman's reading, flicked down a couple of cards and said right out to her, "This is wrong. These aren't your cards." I nodded to the gentleman for whom I had previously read, and said "These are his cards I'm seeing."

I had the strongest feeling that she hadn't shuffled enough, not just in the sense of seeing the same physical cards again, but in the sense that the deck didn't feel like *her*. I cut the deck myself (with the intent of clearing it a bit), asked her to shuffle again and it went fine after that.

I've also had readings that didn't seem right and then re-shuffled the cards. However, I've become more careful about doing this recently.

I've had some readings where the cards didn't seem to make sense but then decided to study them more closely and take note and then see what happens and it actually turned out that the cards were right on!

I think it's important to shuffle them thoroughly; I've heard others say that this gives better readings and I tend to agree. It is also possible that the cards are trying to give a message about something else so I think one should always be open and take note.

Flaminica said:

I got a little way into a woman's reading, flicked down a couple of cards and said right out to her, "This is wrong. These aren't your cards."

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I actually do this all the time. If doing a f2f reading, I usually let people shuffle the cards for their own reading. However, I nearly always shuffle a few times myself until I feel the deck is right for them.

Even for myself, even before I lay down the cards, I will shuffle until I feel they are "right"-- sometimes shuffling and picking cards from the middle of the deck since that feels more "right" than the top.

At first I really questioned it, but not anymore. If a person asks me why I shuffled the deck after they've shuffled it, I have no problem telling them that I don't think the deck is arranged how it should be!

Libra8ca said:

I've had some readings where the cards didn't seem to make sense but then decided to study them more closely and take note and then see what happens and it actually turned out that the cards were right on!

I think it's important to shuffle them thoroughly; I've heard others say that this gives better readings and I tend to agree. It is also possible that the cards are trying to give a message about something else so I think one should always be open and take note.

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That's exactly the way I feel about it.

If I threw down some cards and said "Oh, that's not right" and re-shuffled and started all over again, THAT would be the reading I wouldn't trust.

I've done readings for people focusing on a specific issue they asked me to address, and the reading came out totally different than what I expected. But I would never feel comfortable trashing that reading and doing another one, at least not without giving it to the person who requested the reading first and giving them the opportunity to give their input on it.

Every time this has happened, they were amazed and responded that this was really something they had wanted to ask about more, but didn't know how to phrase it or were hesitant to put it out there.

Then, if they want me to redirect another reading in the original direction, I'll be glad to do it, but most of the time I find they want to explore the results of the 'surprise' reading more, which leads me to believe it is of great importance to them.

I'm big on choice in my set-ups prior to a reading. I always do my own shuffling and I shuffle until I feel the cards are "reset," so to speak. I let the client cut the deck and pull the cards for the spread from a deck fanned face-down. If I see someone hesitating over a choice, I offer him or her the option of chosing another card so long as no cards have been turned over. And I do the same thing if I'm reading for myself. My readings are relatively analytical; the initial choices are the intuitive part of the process for me.

Once in a great while, I find I must begin again from the beginning. I've been reading cards for many years and I've only had to do so five times, maybe. Maybe those initial cards were the intended ones, but I couldn't read them for the client in front of me.

Sometimes I re-shuffle and sometimes I just wait clear my mind and come back to the cards. Sometimes they feel really silent and like others have said "start creating meanings" or watering them down. I think sometimes it could be the wrong spread or maybe the question wasn't quite clear. It's amazing how a number of things can really mess up a reading, though sometimes there are no excuses the cards are what they are.