How do you shuffle/pull cards?

[Aset]

It seems like tarot books always say to shuffle cards, cut, etc., then draw from the top one at a time. I've found that I get much more accurate readings if I intuitively feel where to draw from anywhere throughout the deck, one at a time. I also almost never use spreads, because I will start asking one question, which will often lead to more. Sometimes I want more details (clarity) on something I've already drawn, sometimes the answer leads to more questions. When I'm deciding which card to draw, I hold the deck side ways, facing slightly away so I can't see any of the cards. With my eyes open and gazing away from the cards, I will ask the question and if it's a "good" question (no ambiguity, the cards know exactly what I'm asking), I will usually immediately get a sense of where to start probing the deck. Sometimes it's a color, and these will range the whole spectrum. Sometimes it's an image, like the face of a person I'm asking about, or another object relevant to the query. Sometimes I get what I refer to in my mind as "pointers" - a finger pointing exactly to the card I should draw, a plant growing from one of them, a sword, etc. With the pointers it's often very easy to know exactly which card to pull. With symbols and colors, I often will separate the deck near where I feel I'm being pulled too, and continue doing small separations until I get to "the one". Sometimes I will have two cards from separate parts of the deck indicate that they should be drawn together. For example, I once had I believe the 3 of cups and the 9 of cups (I can't remember the exact two but I remember they were very "lovey" cards that complemented each other) "grow" two beautiful vines from their separate places in the deck that then intertwined together. I'm guessing this may be an unconventional method. Part of the problem is that I physically cannot shuffle the cards; I just don't have the finesse for it LOL. When I do do a shuffle, it's often just cutting the deck in half, putting the other half over top of the other, and kind of smooshing them together (gently, of course). With the Thoth deck that I've been using pretty exclusively since I got it, this is sufficient, though with other decks I've had to lay them out and mess up the cards all over the place and then recollect them randomly. How I think of it is, if I can't do a good shuffle, how could I possible get the cards where they need to be to be drawn in order from the top? So I don't.

Anyway, I'm curious what other techniques and quirks people have when shuffling/drawing etc. Hopefully I don't sound like a crazy person with mine LOL.

 

[Egypt]

different ways to use spreads

Well there are many ways but each person has a special way they like to do for there clients. Some clients are more of non believers and , for those people i would say the shuffle , where you fan your cards out works best as when you put your spread together, they are astonished because they picked the cards out. For regulars the way i do the spread is i ,shuffle the deck,then i have them split the deck into two them pick which half they want to put on top, so i draw from that section of cards. Another way to do it,is to have the person , just shuffle the tarot deck and take any three cards they want out at random. So as you can see there are many ways that you can use your tarot deck. It is all up to you , there is not wrong way to use them.Some people do not like the user touching their cards and other people do Again it is not wrong way.

 

[cardlady22]

For decks that give me trouble due to size, I mix the cards by dealing out into piles. My favorite is visualizing the 2 triangles that make up the 6-pointed Star of David. I vary the directions that I lay them down and then pick them back up.

I don't ever choose from the top of the deck, nor do I look at the bottom card.

Many times I lay them in a semi-circle along the bed and run my hand over them until I feel the card that should be pulled. It can be a warmth or a cold/sharpness.

Counting cards works well for me too. A number will pop into my head and I'll grab that # card repeatedly until it feels done.

 

[Aset]

Counting cards works well for me too. A number will pop into my head and I'll grab that # card repeatedly until it feels done.

I just had an "AHA!" moment! The other day "8" popped into my head as I was pulling cards and I had no idea what it meant. I'm going to try your technique next time that happens.

 

[jaj]

I guess I could be viewed as a heretic. My hands are sensitive to the energy coming from the cards, and I used to choose the cards according to how they felt. Then my fears would get in the way, and this choosing process started taking longer and longer. Finally, my solution was to enter my deck and custom spreads into Orphalese software and let the software select the cards. I'm happier this way. Kind of like ripping a Band-Aid off quickly to get passed the pain?!

 

[Carla]

I like to alternate riffle shuffling and hand over hand shuffling for as long as I want. That is usually 3 or 4 repeats of each. (Although if I do 4, I usually go ahead and do 6, because I like things in 3s. ) Then I cut the deck into 3 and put the first pile on top. I draw from the deck for the original number of card I intended. If I then ask for clarifiers, I shuffle again.

 

[aranarose]

I riffle shuffle 7 times, hand over hand shuffle 7 times, then pull from the top. It's my own personal quirk with shuffling and dealing. Though I also pay attention to if my mind wanders and I end up shuffling more than 7. I'm mildly OCD, and tend to count everything, so if I start shuffling, and suddenly find myself at 9, I look at that in the context of the question asked.

 

[Aset]

I guess I could be viewed as a heretic. My hands are sensitive to the energy coming from the cards, and I used to choose the cards according to how they felt. Then my fears would get in the way, and this choosing process started taking longer and longer. Finally, my solution was to enter my deck and custom spreads into Orphalese software and let the software select the cards. I'm happier this way. Kind of like ripping a Band-Aid off quickly to get passed the pain?!

I'm actually hoping to develop my own tarot reading program sometime. I'm planning on incorporating all the ways that a person could shuffle, pulling from the "top", and also pulling from anywhere in the deck. I want to have it two ways for the latter - either you enter a number (so if a number does come to mind, you can get the card indexed at that location), or click on a visual representation of the deck, right where you want to draw from. And now after reading yours, I think I would allow the program to pick random cards as well. I never heard of Orphalese before this, but looking at it now mine would be similar to what I think that is. Except I'd just be doing it for me.

 

[peaceandkarma]

I stop shuffling when I feel its time to stop and I select tarot cards from the top of the deck.

 

[jaj]

I'm actually hoping to develop my own tarot reading program sometime. I'm planning on incorporating all the ways that a person could shuffle, pulling from the "top", and also pulling from anywhere in the deck. I want to have it two ways for the latter - either you enter a number (so if a number does come to mind, you can get the card indexed at that location), or click on a visual representation of the deck, right where you want to draw from. And now after reading yours, I think I would allow the program to pick random cards as well. I never heard of Orphalese before this, but looking at it now mine would be similar to what I think that is. Except I'd just be doing it for me.

I don't want to get off-topic here, but I want to say enough to let you know that Orphalese may already do all that you want, including clicking on the deck right where you want to draw from, using your own personal card meanings, etc. I would suggest having a go at the almost fully functional free trial, or the purchase right now is quite reasonable at $29.11 USD. My best to you.