Jumpers and how do I read them?

[lethalcupcakes]

I'm pretty new to reading and normally I just ask a question and go with one card to find my answer. I was reading on here that when cards fall out (jumpers) that is something that is meant for us to see. But what happens when more then one card jumps out...I just had 4 cards fall out together...how do I read them? Since its not a spread how do I know what Im supposed to be looking at? Just the first card or all of them?..I was asking for advice since Im going through a had time in life w depression and a break up. It was stuck together in this order the Ace of Wands, Ten of Cups, Three of Pentacles, and last was Two of Swords. I can look up each meaning but how do I relate them all to each other to understand this message. I am not use to using more than one card with each other and if I do I normally know what each card will mean because I go by the spread? Im really confused so any help would mean alot. Thank you

 

[rwcarter]

Moderator Note

Welcome to Aeclectic, lethalcupcake!

Here in Using Tarot Cards you may list and/or discuss up to half of the cards from a reading. But this is the forum in which to discuss jumpers. In this particular case the jumpers sound like they were the complete reading, so to discuss the individual cards you would need to start a thread in Your Readings. In both forums when asking for help with card interpretations you are required to provide your own interpretations first before others may help you.

So all we can do with this post in UTC is to give you some suggestions on how to read multiple jumpers. Other posters, please do not interpret the individual cards while this thread is in UTC.

rwcarter, co-Moderator of Using Tarot Cards

 

[rwcarter]

I once had 14-16 cards jump out of the deck while I was shuffling to do a reading on a work situation. I'm far from a clumsy shuffler as I can easily shuffle 4 decks of playing cards. So I took all those cards as the whole reading. And each card spoke to a different aspect of the situation that I had been thinking about. So I would suggest looking at each of the cards in relation to what they tell you about the situation you were thinking about when you were shuffling. They may or may not give you conflicting interpretations about the situation. But even conflicting information might be useful to you.

Rodney

 

[SunChariot]

I'm pretty new to reading and normally I just ask a question and go with one card to find my answer. I was reading on here that when cards fall out (jumpers) that is something that is meant for us to see. But what happens when more then one card jumps out...I just had 4 cards fall out together...how do I read them? Since its not a spread how do I know what Im supposed to be looking at? Just the first card or all of them?..I was asking for advice since Im going through a had time in life w depression and a break up. It was stuck together in this order the Ace of Wands, Ten of Cups, Three of Pentacles, and last was Two of Swords. I can look up each meaning but how do I relate them all to each other to understand this message. I am not use to using more than one card with each other and if I do I normally know what each card will mean because I go by the spread? Im really confused so any help would mean alot. Thank you

As a general rule when jumpers come up (for some reason I always call them "flipped cards") they have special meanings. When they come up, to me they are standing out from the other cards. When the come up they are saying that there is something deep to the meaning they have to tell, that the querent may not get in all it's depth at first glance. They ask the querent to really LOOK at the meaning and try to see hidden layers to it underneath.

But, in the example you gave, IF 4 cards come out together I don't read them. My limit is 3. More than 3 and I consider it a sloppy shuffle and ignore them. I only read them if 3 or less come up.

If just one alone comes up, I just read it as is. Tack it on at the end of the question and an additional piece of info the querent is meant to have.

If 2 jumpers come out together, I consider them a card duo. That means, for me, that the meaning of the 2 cards are very closely interconnected and intertwined. In effect it means that the 2 cards meanings have combined as one. The 2 cards are working together to give a common message.

If 3 jumpers come up together, it's a card trio. Same theory exaclty as above. All 3 are working together as one.

If 4 or more come up, I put them back in the deck and ignore them. And just call it a sloppy shuffle.

Also, something that happens.., sometimes after you do a reading you find that one or two cards were left in the box or pouch and had not been included in the shuffle of the reading. When that happens, I consider that a personal message for myself that the universe wants to tell me. A message for me personally that had nothing to do with the reading for the querent at all.

Babs

 

[Enlightenment23]

I read jumpers as sort of the "root" or the "causation" of the problem at hand.

For example, if you were to ask several questions about a love interest who seems to be stagnating in terms of relationship progression, and the 9 of Wands jumps out of the deck like a thief in the night, I'd read that as, "Oh wow - the cards really want me to know that this love interest in question is super guarded and this cautiousness is the root of all the issues I'm having with him/her."

It's definitely a card that you need to pay attention to since it's so pressing, the deck's gotta send you reaching for the floor to pick up this super important piece of information.

 

[nisaba]

I'm pretty new to reading and normally I just ask a question and go with one card to find my answer. I was reading on here that when cards fall out (jumpers) that is something that is meant for us to see. But what happens when more then one card jumps out...I just had 4 cards fall out together...how do I read them?

Sometimes it's not significant, sometimes it's merely a function of poor shuffling technique. I know the past couple of years I haven't had any "jumpers" at all, simply because over the years I've become better at handling cards. My readings are as good as ever, if not better.

Grizabella has a theory that they are cards that are trying to get as far away from the spread as possible so that you won't consider them.

When I still used to drop the odd card, I was slightly different: I'd glance at them and put them back into the deck. If (and ONLY if) they came out in the final spread, I'd take special notice of them then.

But now, I just think they happen because we could improve our card-handling skills.

 

[Grizabella]

I've had the "sloppy shuffling" come back to bite me. I always say that I don't think they're really "jumpers", they're just a result of fumbling when shuffling and it seldom happened to me. Once I'd said that, THEN all I seemed to do was fumble cards out of the deck and even drop whole decks so I think the Universe just wanted me to have a comeuppance of sorts.

Then, I also spoke up and said I sometimes wondered if the deck trimmers were taking a sort of scrap-booking approach to Tarot, where the point of getting a deck was to trim it and gild the edges and bling it and make it "pretty". Once I got tired of fumbling the cards and dropping decks all over the floor I decided to trim as many of my decks as I could into a manageable size for overhand shuffling since arthritis is making my fingers less nimble than they used to be. Sigh. Believe me, with every snip, I remembered what I'd said about the "scrap-booking".

So I won't be making stupid comments along those lines anymore. Just thought I'd share that.

I do still think the cards that fall are taking themselves out of the running so they can't be chosen for a reading, though. And by noting which ones fall out, you can learn a lot about what your spread means to tell you if you look at which cards they are and just set them aside, taking into account what they didn't want to convey.

 

[lethalcupcakes]

Oh thats really interesting. I have done that b4 where I forgot a card or two in the box. I'll be sure to pay attention that that if it happens again!!!

 

[geoxena]

FWIW, if a card falls out of a deck while I'm shuffling, I put it back in and keep shuffling. Personally, I don't anthropomorphize tarot cards, so I don't subscribe to the belief that any that fall out are trying to do or tell me anything. Just adding my two cents to let you know you don't have to read "jumpers" at all if you don't want to. If you want to attach some sort of significance to a card that falls out, that's okay, too, but it should make sense to you. Since it doesn't make sense to me, I don't do it. It's up to you how you do readings, so don't get too caught up in trying to "do it right" according to other people's standards. Do what feels right for you. If you see a pattern developing as you go along, I suppose that would be a good way to figure out how to read "jumpers."