Novice Q: Drawing a Card

[csdude]

Hi all! I used to read cards a long time ago, but came back to it last December due to needing some personal insights.

I've gotten back in to the habit of drawing a card daily for general advise for the upcoming day, but I have a rather novice question.

My routine is usually to ask the question, close my eyes and visualize the subject of the question, then overhand shuffle 7 times.

It's quite often that I'll have a card flip over in the shuffle, or even fall to the floor, which I take to be the drawn card.

Here's the question: what happens when 2 or more cards flip or fall out? I've had up to 5 cards fall out before; does their order tell a story (eg, first A is true, and then B, and then C, and so on)? Or should I only look at the first 1 or 2 cards? Or should I consider it a bad reading and start over?

 

[dancing_moon]

Welcome to AT!

For me, the only thing that really matters is making some rules beforehand and then sticking to them. You can tell yourself, e.g., that 1 or 2 jumpers will be your reading, but 3 or more ones falling out will mean 'bad reading, start over' (because there's always a chance a dozen cards will fall out ). Or you could ignore the jumpers altogether and only read the cards you actually get after cutting the deck yourself (that's what I do). Like I said, consistency is the key.

 

[Marcus R]

I think it would depend on what you wanted. If only 1 card for the day, read only the first card in the pile of jumped cards, or as you said, perhaps the 5 May tell a story for that day. It would be up to you to act on this how you feel should be appropriate at that instant. I quite often read the jumpers but generally no more than 3 at one time and then only face up cards.
Sometimes jumpers just look too random and inappropriate for the spread you are casting and other times (usually) they seem to tell you exactly what you need to know or knew.

Whatever feels right to you at that point may well be the right thing. Relax and do whatever comes.

 

[Atlas]

Hi csdude

It is an interesting topic you bring up about the jumping cards. I am actualy doing a little experiment on this issue. I do a one-card daily draw (almost daily anyway ), and I have found that when a card jumps out of the deck during shuffling, it often point in the same way as the card that I actually draw after shuffling.

The way I do it is that when a card jumps out, I just note what card it was, stick it back into the deck and continue shuffling, then cut the deck (I cut it only once) and then draw my daily card. Then I go back and find the card that popped out, and put it beside the one that I drew.

Like I said, so far, the cards appear to point in the same general direction. So at least for me, it seems that a jumping card actually do mean something, but usually something similar to the one that I intentionally drew.

If however, a bunch of cards fly out of the deck, or a few times it feels like the entire deck just explodes in my hands and cards fly everywhere, I cancel the reading, and start over again

I would also like to add one thing regarding shuffling the deck. I see that you shuffle seven times. I used to shuffle not a specific number of times, but usually I shuffled for 15-20 seconds. Again, for me, I have found that shuffling for 60-90 seconds yields a more accurate response from the Tarot, especially when doing spreads involving 3-4 cards or more. I am fairly sure this is not an imaginary effect. It seems like if the cards are shuffled over a longer period of time, they have a better chance of falling into the correct place. But like I said, this is what I have found to work best for me.

I would say that experimenting with various techniques has the potential of discovering ways that will improve your readings

Atlas

 

[rwcarter]

As others have said, we refer to those as "jumpers" and whether or not you pay attention to them is up to you. If you are generally a good shuffler and don't frequently have cards jump out of the deck, then you might want to keep/use those cards. If you're a clumsy shuffler, then you might want to ignore those cards.

If you keep them, then you should experiment as to whether that card gives the you answer (kind of the card's way of saying, "Why bother to pull cards? I'm your answer right here!) or gives you special insight into the answer. Pull/pick/deal your card as normal and use the jumper for additional information.

If 5 cards jump out, either you were clumsy (it happens to the best of us ) or your deck has a lot to say to you. I once had a pile of 20-30 Transparent Tarot cards fall out of the deck while I was shuffling (I always use two decks together). Being transparent, they overlay in such a way that you can see through them. The pile visually addressed the question I was thinking about. I think I put the reading up in Your Readings.

For me the order of the cards is important, so I would interpret them as they fell. I might go from left to right or if I were using elemental dignities, I would start in the middle and work my way out. You could also use the direction in which the people in the cards face and whether folks are facing each other, facing away, one looking at the others back or looking out of the card at you to help interpret such a large number of cards.

As with many things tarot, there is no one correct answer. You have to figure out what works for you.

Rodney

 

[csdude]

Thanks for all of the insight! I'm learning a lot just from being here for a day

I think that my reason for questioning this is because I've been reading for myself lately over an important (romantic) issue, and I worry that I may be making snap decisions on the jumpers based on what I want to see.

I usually accept the jumpers as the important answer, but there have been times when I have a jumper that doesn't seem to make sense (eg, a financial answer to a romantic question), so I start over and assume it was a mistake on my part. But the concern is that I'm starting over because I (maybe subconsciously) don't like the answer.

Knowing these answers now, though, I think I'll stick to using the jumpers as they occur, excluding those that are face down or too many to feasibly read for the question. It just makes the most sense for my system.

I would also like to add one thing regarding shuffling the deck. I see that you shuffle seven times. I used to shuffle not a specific number of times, but usually I shuffled for 15-20 seconds. Again, for me, I have found that shuffling for 60-90 seconds yields a more accurate response from the Tarot, especially when doing spreads involving 3-4 cards or more. I am fairly sure this is not an imaginary effect. It seems like if the cards are shuffled over a longer period of time, they have a better chance of falling into the correct place. But like I said, this is what I have found to work best for me.

When I'm just drawing a single card (my daily draw), I first ask the question, then lean back in my chair, relax, and concentrate on the subject of the question. It's almost meditative, so I like for it to be quiet and no chance of being disturbed. After a short period of time (10-30 seconds), I'll begin shuffling, but don't put any real thought in to the shuffling process other than keeping a count in the back of my mind.

When I'm not relaxed like this, I'm a good shuffler that rarely drops a card. But in this state, I almost always have at least one jumper before I reach 7 shuffles. Because of this, I've always felt that I've let my Higher Self take control better than when I have a regular shuffle and cut.

Shuffling 7 times is a recent rule for me, based on the numerology behind the number 7, and the fact that I've always held a personal fondness for the number (no real reason for that, though). In retrospect, though, using a short shuffle each time could lead to several cards ALWAYS being grouped together in a spread... making it seem like the Universe is telling me something, when really the cards just aren't shuffled enough.

Knowing that, I can think of two potential solutions:

1. Shuffle for longer at each drawing, like Atlas described; or

2. Stick to the 7 shuffles, but at the beginning (or end) of the day, make a habit of shuffling for a minute or two to "cleanse" the cards.

What do you guys think?