Do you use special rituals, etc before starting a reading?

Lion-O

I'm not sure if I responded to this thread yet but since I'm sure not to be repeating too much here I'm having another shot :)

Basicly I prepare myself when carefully shuffleing the deck, I sometimes also take the deck in both of my hands while I basicly try to clear my mind. Whatever I do I try to keep my focus on the tarot and don't let my thoughts dwell on something else.

Now, this is probably going to sound odd but as of late I've done some readings on a friday evening. This isn't uncommon but for the fact that I usually have a beer in the weekend, this time I actually tried to do a reading after one glass of beer. I'm not a heavy drinker but also not someone who is heavily influenced with one glass. Still (not trying to influence people into drinking and reading) I did encounter a few moments where a reading left me with a more intense perception of the reading itself while still trying to keep my focus where it was needed.

So, silly as it may sound, sometimes I repeat this process in the weekend and do a reading in the evening after a glass of beer.
 

heatherjade

My ritual is really simple.

Ground.
Center.
Shuffle.
Tap the cards three times with my right index finger.
Lay the cards.
Read.

Lately I've been thinking about being more ritualized though. Maybe saying a short prayer, light a candle, some incense, etc. I don't really know what I need to do yet so I'm not really tripping about it. I figure when I need a ritual I'll just know what I need to do. Thats the way it usually works with me at least.
 

NightQueen

hi before i begin my readings i light 7 white candles and 7 incense sticks i like alomt of smoke and also cleanse my cards through the smoke of the incense to lift off previous energies, then i call upon my spirit guide to give me guidance and knowledge to read my card then my reading begins:)
 

Persephone37

I started reading without Rituals, then I tried reading with differen Rituals and found no change at all. The only thing might be, that I dearly hesitate to sort my cards like I had to yesterday for getting the right numbers of the major Arcana (since the Book I got 25 years ago has the wrong numbers and I wanted to figure out my personal, soul and year cards). In fact, I shuffle them, read, put the cards I read on top, shuffle again and put them away till the next reading and have the feeling they are much more in tune with me over the months. But thats and the black fabric with the card positions printed on - which I have also since 25 years, are my basic rituals. And of course some habits develope after so many years of reading. I am a bad gambler, card shuffling is my nemesis, so I cut the big deck into 5 smaller staples and shuffle them distinct from each other and draw always two cards (celtic cross) from each. In Moment I don't cut them but shuffle the whole deck. Doesn't matter for the reading, is just a question of how fit I am feeling in shuffling.

Regards
Petra
 

wheeloffortune

For me, I just start reading, without a ritual.

However, there are times in which I feel the need to ritualise my readings just to make myself comfortable. I would ask God's energy to let my soul be mirrored into the cards, and before every single reading, I ask God to guide me and to let my soul into the reading (or in a querent's case, his or her soul) so that he/she/I can use that subconscious answers that always "click" to seek an answer.

Sometimes, I cast a circle and cleanse the circle with incense (using an invocation prayer on each of the four corners and making a sign of the Pentacle [think Christian Wicca]), but that's only when the moon is full. The circle is more a representation of invoking the elemental representations of the different energies of God than any "spirit" or 'psychic energy" or hoo-haa that I am forbidden to believe in as a Baha'i.

To me, God is sufficient to make the cards effective. ^__^
 

anonymous_artist

shuffle shuffle shuffle

"From above to below give me guidence through these hands through these cards"

shuffle shuffle shuffle
 

rebecca-smiles

I've been told by a fellow reader (kindly) that i 'should' go slow, mediatively, and place the cards face down, reading one at a time. but i get so exited about reading i just dive in there, not even placing the cards face down. I find this works for me because my character is like this. Ritual doesn't produce better, but worse readings because i am not being natural. Working in a quick and lively way seems to make my reading more inspired and immidate, reading all cards together makes them more relational and contextual for me.

I just cant cope with ritual. I find it distracting and separating anything in my spiritual life, ie tarot, from the mundane and everyday quite uncomfortable, if not a little distressing.

anyone else experience this about ritual?
 

Sakura Murasaki

To rebecca-smiles question: I am not completely comfortable with rituals before a Tarot reading, either. Well, not comfortable with formal rituals. They feel a bit silly to me. Simply shuffling, cutting the deck, and laying down the cards feels right to me at times, especially when I am reading for someone other than myself and I have gotten really accurate readings that way.

However, being the superstitious creature that I am, I do have a couple of things that I like to do regularly.

At least once a month (not necessarily during the full moon, but most often), I cleanse my deck by holding it over my favorite incense smoke. Then I usually pray to the Powers That Be, asking for protection for my deck and to use my readings for the greater good.

I have a special stone, rose quartz, that I carry around with me every day. I will usually hold it over the deck before I do a reading or hold it in my left hand while I pick my cards (which are facedown and spread out). Somehow it helps me focus on my question. Sometimes I'll ring this bell that I have, to awaken the "spirit" of the deck. Other than that, I add a prayer, and it doesn't get more ritualized than that.
 

akadafool

Ritual... well I didn't notice I did this till just recently, I like to wash my hands really well with soap before I start reading... It kind of cleanses things so whatever happened throughout the day doesn't influence the outcome of the cards. (Personal belief, don't know if this is true or not.) Then after shuffling, I have the person I'm reading for cut the cards with their left hand. (I've heard that the left is powered by the right side of the brain therefore the spiritual side.) When I pick up the cards after this, I usually sense that something is different....This could just be just a habit but this usually works for me. Hope this helps...


AKADAFOOL
 

SunChariot

rebecca-smiles said:
I've been told by a fellow reader (kindly) that i 'should' go slow, mediatively, and place the cards face down, reading one at a time. but i get so exited about reading i just dive in there, not even placing the cards face down. I find this works for me because my character is like this. Ritual doesn't produce better, but worse readings because i am not being natural. Working in a quick and lively way seems to make my reading more inspired and immidate, reading all cards together makes them more relational and contextual for me.

I just cant cope with ritual. I find it distracting and separating anything in my spiritual life, ie tarot, from the mundane and everyday quite uncomfortable, if not a little distressing.

anyone else experience this about ritual?

Well, I don't find my little rituals distract me from anything spiritual. I need my candles burning to feel comfortable. But I think that comfort is the main thing. If you're not comfortable doing something, if it's not you, it won't work for you. I would very much agree with that. And that's why it's so hard to tell others how they should read. You can't really because what works for one person and makes them comfortable, may not be the same as for the next

Babs