Touching the cards!
Hi Funkpuss!
Personally, I ALWAYS have the querent shuffle and cut the cards themselves. I want to get the querent talking about their situation. Regardless, of what I can glean from the cards, i can always glean more if they are more willing to talk about their issue(s). After all, to me this is about helping them ,not impressing them. I even encourage people to ask questions out loud. Granted, I can guess what they're asking about at least 75% of the time, but I'd rather them tell me, so I can save time and use the cards to look for advice rather than figure out a problem when they can just spill it straight. However, sometimes people are embarassed about asking something aloud (usually a sex question), and if they are more comfortable remaining silent then okay.
Since, I try to be interactive with them in reading, I want to increase the interaction by allowing them to shuffle and cut themselves. My only stipulation is that I insist they cut left-handed, regardless of their handedness.
I also have about 15 deck and let the querent pick which one, but if they go "Oh I dunno" then I'll pick for them. However, if they want to look at the cards before picking a deck them I'll let them.
Recently, I've been letting people pick their own signifier by looking through the cards. I find this give great additional insight into their situation.
Well, that's just me. Take it as you will.
Matt