How do you shuffle?

punkangelgcm437

Hmm...shuffleing...

Lets comment on Diana first. Anger Control...oh you mean Anger Management. Saw that movie and didn't find it to be one of Adam Sanlder's best...(Big Daddy is his best by far). As for your son, his phone analogy is really cool. I like his way of thinking...sounds like he's smart. I wish I could simplify things better like he does. He's a bright crayon in the box...like me. (I always thought I was a bright orange myself heehee :))

How I shuffle? Well..usually...I shuffle on my bed. I spread the cards out and using both hands I just move them around in a big circle and when I get done I just grap the huge pile and align them straight. I like doing it in one big pile tho...people think I'm weird cuz I don't pick up like 10 or 15 at a time, but instead all 78. But see...if you did that, you'd be picking the top cards up and putting them on the bottom. Thus the reading is at the bottom..and not in order from very bottom card up, but from some point a few cards up. Yall see what I mean?? Is it just me?? My way of shuffleing allows for reversals...cuz there is hardly ever a spread I do that doesn't have a reversal.

As for flipping cards...I like, put my thumb on the left side and turn it over so..yeahs. So it doesn't get reversed in the turning of the card...cuz that can totally mess up a reading too.

Do yall ask your question out loud or do yall just think about it??
 

jmd

Isn't it amazing how a question which seems to have been discussed so many times - judging by that virtual table of links - may take on new coats (we're heading into winter here, so talk of coats is appropriate).

As Trogon points out, my post was reflecting on aspects deeper than the 'mere' mechanics of the shuffle - though here too are deep aspects one may divine.

Allibee's 'I am guilty of becoming a religious person as I shuffle', Diana's comment to 'take the time to tap into the Universal Web', and HudsonGray's 'the act of shuffling almost turns into a zen kind of thing' are precisely the kind of reflection I hinted at - though not as clearly as the quoted posts did.

Though each of us may have difference in the mechanics or in the procedures or even ritual means, the act of shuffling itself hints at the state of mind one enters in preparation for the later parts of a spread and reading. Here, then, it is not the 'how' of the shuffling itself, but becomes the 'how'- the internal state - of the shuffler.
 

Inana

Shuffling the cards

Shuffling the cards is in last instance the moment that helps to get the concentration needed. Is while we put in order the questions and think about the subject at hand, and at the same time the moment when we try to reach inner calm. Guess is like any other ritual.
Like a lot how Diana's son described it. :)
 

Ivy Rhiannon

It's the very beginning of the reading, so important, why, when and where did it all began, and why is it an unspoken certainty that all readers must do so beforehand?

WHY THE SHUFFLE?

To mix the cards? To tap into the Universal life energy?

Food for thought indeed…
 

Strange2

I find an integrating ecstasy in those moments I am shuffling the cards, letting the energies of the individual cards interact/intersect into new and familiar relationships. As the images of a Tarot deck represent 78 views of the universe, the interaction of these views in the act of shuffling is a way to touch the mind and spirit of the creation/Creator.

In this way, Tarot reflects the play of life, and indeed is an interactive tool to create incidents ("an event that interrupts normal procedure", "to happen or befall", "occupying the same place, position, or time"). Shuffling Tarot is a both a recreation and a re-creation.

Side note: interesting closeness for the Latin root words for incident (cadere - to fall) and incandescent (candescere - to become bright)!
 

Shalott

Ahhh...

Concentrating for me is a monumental feat, so shuffling is actually one part of Tarot that is, for me, bordering on a pain in the rear, I write the question down and try to stare at that while I'm shuffling, repeating it to myself, or saying it out loud, depending on how well the whole concentration thing goes. I put a lot into this phase, possibly even more than the reading itself, becuz, once the cards are laid out, I figure that I got the answer, so if my mind wanders and I have to stop for a little bit, I can take my time figuring it out.
 

tao51

When I began

working with the tarot cards--y'know they were stone tablets and very difficult to shuffle... Seriously, I agree with jmd, shuffling is spiritual in movement. I have watched Las Vegas shufflers look like they are at a competition. Tarot cards deserve the respect of a rhythmic shuffle. I do not dovetail cards. I prefer overhand shuffle. I also do a 4-cut representing the four elements of the cards. I speak quietly to my cards ask that they help me in this reading. They may not know my words but they understand my feelings. My first deck is aged but it still is good condition. I feel like it has gone through a good workout over the years. Yet, it still is helpful.--Tao
 

ronin

shuffling...

hmm, I shuffle my way, although i read in a book about how to go about doing a reading. When i sit down to do reading, first of all i take the deck into my hands and close my eyes and concentrate on the issue and all the aspects related to it. and then ask my inner guide (which i visualise to be some figure. You can choose whome ever you like to be your inner guide.) to help me with issue, and then i start shuffling, eyes still closed and meditating on the issue and continue untill i feel to stop. I feel it works for me. :+)