How do you pick your cards?

Lillie

Shuffle

Cut

Take top card and put it out the way face down.

Fan out remaining cards

pick with left hand and place in a pile, one at a time.

Count them, to make sure enough have been picked, and to reverse the order of the pile back to picking order

Lay out.

Right at the end, I take the single card from the cut and see what that was.

I thought this was simple till I started to write it down.

Really it is simple when I do it!
 

Chubby Mummy

I used to shuffle for ages, cut, and then select the first cards from the deck... But Ive found that sometimes, no matter how much I shuffle, sometimes its just not good enough... sooo now i shuffle, not as much as before, cut, fan out the cards, take the top card (like Lillie) and then select the rest of the cards at random. I also like to turn the deck upside down to see the base card, ive been told its good to see underlying factors of a reading this way.

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huredriel

Shuffle ...... fan out ....... randomly pick out the ones that seem to be sticking out/call out. Also use the quint and the base card.
 

sunflowr

Lillie said:
Shuffle

Cut

Take top card and put it out the way face down.

Fan out remaining cards

pick with left hand and place in a pile, one at a time.

Count them, to make sure enough have been picked, and to reverse the order of the pile back to picking order

Lay out.

Right at the end, I take the single card from the cut and see what that was.

I thought this was simple till I started to write it down.

Really it is simple when I do it!

That's what I do most of the time. That and I also like to see what card is on the very bottom of the deck.
 

a_shikhs

I shuffle the cards, lay them out in a fan shape. Then i choose any four or how many ever cards i feel like and then read.. Simple.. ;)
 

Purple Myst

When I received my Rider Waite deck, taking cards from the top just didn't feel right to me. Now I shuffle them thoroughly untill I feel that they are shuffled fine, and then I spread them out in front of me and take the card that appeals to me (still a beginner and in the process of drawing one card a day and grasping the meaning of each card).

Funny thing is, after making a pile of the cards again, I always check the bottom card as somehow that one makes sense to me as well. It's always a card I've drawn before and holds a meaning for me at that moment in time.

It really doesn't matter how other pick the cards, just do whatever feels right for you and the deck you're using.
 

zannamarie

I take from within the deck

It has just never felt right to me to just take from the top of the deck (I don't know why).

I hold the deck in the palm of one hand and hold the other hand over the top so the deck is sandwiched between my hands. I then get a sense from where within the deck (including the top or bottom cards) I should select the next card. I select the cards one by one using this method until I have all I need for the spread.

I also sometimes fan the cards out on the table and then run my hand just above them until one feels right. But it seems like it takes me longer to do it this way.