Fanning Cards - Traditional but Necessary?

tarotbear said:

Probably 99% of readers do this.

Fancy-schmancy handing of the cards - hand fans, wrist-rolling, accordian-flipping the deck - all of that is ARTIFICE - 'an hour of Pomp & Show'. The important part of reading Tarot is Card Interpretation - not making the Page of Cups pop up out of the pack and squirt apple cider in the Querent's eye.

If, perchance, what you want to do is make the Page of Cups pop up out of the pack and squirt apple cider in the Querent's eye - you'll find it gets really tiring when you have to do it for 8-10 readings at a party.

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<applause>

I would file all of that under "Apocrypha" along with "jumpers," "shadow cards," "qualifiers," "base cards," "quintessances" and the rest of the effluvia I came back to after a number of years away from the scene. To the post-New Age writers who foisted this stuff on an unsuspecting public: What were you thinking (besides selling books, that is)?

tarotbear said:

Probably 99% of readers do this.

Fancy-schmancy handing of the cards - hand fans, wrist-rolling, accordian-flipping the deck - all of that is ARTIFICE - 'an hour of Pomp & Show'. The important part of reading Tarot is Card Interpretation - not making the Page of Cups pop up out of the pack and squirt apple cider in the Querent's eye.

If, perchance, what you want to do is make the Page of Cups pop up out of the pack and squirt apple cider in the Querent's eye - you'll find it gets really tiring when you have to do it for 8-10 readings at a party.

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Have you any idea of how hard it is to produce a fancy-schmancy fan with some decks!?

I've always just dealt off the top.

The only person I know who fans cards only does it for one particular layout with playing cards, and that is for the querent to pick from. All other layouts, she deals off the top, just like most everyone.

(And that layout is a pretty powerful one at that--says the voice of experience! )

I'm with Barleywine about the "quint", "shadow" and all that other "stuff". I shuffle, cut, deal off the top and read the cards,. I don't know why all the bells and whistles got added. Someone somewhere wrote them in a book, most likely, to throw something unique into a Tarot book that otherwise they were afraid would be run-of-the-mill and dull.

Sometimes, though, I do draw extra cards if the sitter wants more information on a certain area of the spread. But that's something different than all the "stuff".

Don't get me wrong---I've tried the "stuff" but the way I do it, keeping it simple, always works better for me.

Thank you all very much for your responses! I really appreciate the input... And it's interesting to hear the variety of ways in which different readers choose to deal the cards.

The reader who told me I needed to fan the deck said it was tradition, and being new I assumed she was right. Maybe it's *her* tradition, or the tradition in which she was trained. I will politely ask her if that's what he meant. I could have taken it the wrong way...

It's comforting to know I'm in good company in dealing from the top of the deck, and following my intuition!

Lycanthropos said:

The reader who told me I needed to fan the deck said it was tradition, and being new I assumed she was right. Maybe it's *her* tradition, or the tradition in which she was trained. I will politely ask her if that's what he meant. I could have taken it the wrong way...

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It COULD be a tradition - not saying that it is not ... but it is NOT a PREREQUISITE for reading cards. If it is her tradition to read with her left big toe stuck in her right ear - and you cannot 'assume the position' - will that mean that you will NEVER be able to read the cards? Hardly.

There is a really funny book on Amazon titled "No Reading on Sundays - and Other Tarot Rules" - perhaps you should pick up a copy ... ? {I wrote it}

Farzon said:

Have you any idea of how hard it is to produce a fancy-schmancy fan with some decks!?

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yes. I've been known to (blush) fan, now and again. And yes, I can do tricks with a real fan, too. Sometimes fancy - schmancy is a hellavalotta fun!

tarotbear said:

There is a really funny book on Amazon titled "No Reading on Sundays - and Other Tarot Rules" - perhaps you should pick up a copy ... ? {I wrote it}

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Oh cool, thank you for telling me that! I definitely need new books for my library!!
**edit: Got it on my Kindle!

Lycanthropos said:

Oh cool, thank you for telling me that! I definitely need new books for my library!!
**edit: Got it on my Kindle!

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Thank you!

I don't know about anyone else, but one reason I don't like the fanning and pick-a-card thing is you're supposed to pick the cards you're "drawn to" - and I'm not "drawn" to any of them - I'm just picking at random. "Pick the card you're drawn to" feels foolish to me. Just deal 'em off the top of the deck.