A reading done with a missing card

Kurenai

I was shuffling cards last night (I am traveling, but have decided to bring my Lenormand cards with me) and wondered about this specific question. I suppose it can pertain to tarot and other card divination tools too.

For example, let's suppose that I am doing a reading for someone. I have already laid out the cards/spread. But before I start interpreting the cards, I realize that there has been one card that remained in the box by mistake. It was somehow left in the box when I was taking out the deck.

In this case, what do you do? I am curious to know how others approach this problem. Should one take out the card from the box, reshuffle the deck, and do the reading all over again, or should one assume that there are enough cards in the deck for the Lenormand (or tarot) to say whatever message it wants to convey?

I read the Russian gypsy fortune telling cards too on the side, and with the Russian gypsy I certainly would reshuffle the cards and set it down all over again but only because the cards require putting the pictures together to form a message.
 

Ace

I wouldn't read without a full deck. I have done it and it hurts. Once I did a whole party and it turns out the High Priestess was in the box. I kept missing it and wishing it would turn up. I was totally exhausted at the end of the evening. You KNOW what you need is missing and you can't find it.

If you are missing a card, use a blank if you have one, reminding yourself of the card that is missing if the blank comes up in a reading. But try to avoid reading with a short deck, it will make you crazy.

(and I always tell a joke: Do you know what it is like to be a few cards short of a full deck?! --Kind of like being a few beers short of a six pack or a few sandwiches short of a picnic, in other words a bit nuts!)

Barb
 

Chitrani

For a single reading with a card left in the deck, I would wait until the end of the reading and then say something like, " Oh, you are missing this !", and read it as something the Client is missing, but that has nothing to do with the topic the reading was about.

For example, If the reading was a pet reading for a rescue, and the Dog card was left in the deck, I Might suggest, the client was Missing a friend, or a sense of loyalty that came with close friendships.

Then I'd likely try to turn it into a blessing, "May you find whatever you are looking for" , "May your keys never go missing" ect. Something light hearted and prolly a bit silly.

If it was in the box for more than one reading, I'd read it as something *I* was missing Or that I wasn't playing with a full deck and might need an extra nap :p

YMMV


Chitrani
 

MandMaud

I've done this a few times, not in any serious situation, only reading for myself. In complete contrast to Barb :) I tend to conclude that for some reason that card didn't want to be included. It's a bit like a card leaping out as you shuffle - sometimes I feel it wants to make its presence felt, other times that it wants nothing to do with this reading. I let my intuition tell me which. So it may be that the card (and what it means) are irrelevant; or perhaps dangerous in the situation you asked about, to be avoided. Maybe ask that card how it feels, how it intended you to take its absence? Was it staying away out of tact, or sulking, or feeling left out? :)

(I don't believe the cards are more than bits of thick paper with printing on - but I read by using my imagination to open up the intuition. Like talking to your teddy bear.)

This whole reply is based on tarot, because I haven't enough experience with Lenormand to say anything about it at all :D and also, this hasn't ever happened to me with Lenormand. But I agree that the same probably applies to the spectrum of divination tools. (Especially since my answer isn't just one, same, answer in all cases!)
 

Kurenai

Ace said:
I wouldn't read without a full deck. I have done it and it hurts. Once I did a whole party and it turns out the High Priestess was in the box. I kept missing it and wishing it would turn up. I was totally exhausted at the end of the evening. You KNOW what you need is missing and you can't find it.

If you are missing a card, use a blank if you have one, reminding yourself of the card that is missing if the blank comes up in a reading. But try to avoid reading with a short deck, it will make you crazy.

(and I always tell a joke: Do you know what it is like to be a few cards short of a full deck?! --Kind of like being a few beers short of a six pack or a few sandwiches short of a picnic, in other words a bit nuts!)

Barb
Click to expand...

Hey Barb,
So you think you were extra exhausted because there was a card missing from the deck?
 

Kurenai

MandMaud said:
I've done this a few times, not in any serious situation, only reading for myself. In complete contrast to Barb :) I tend to conclude that for some reason that card didn't want to be included. It's a bit like a card leaping out as you shuffle - sometimes I feel it wants to make its presence felt, other times that it wants nothing to do with this reading. I let my intuition tell me which. So it may be that the card (and what it means) are irrelevant; or perhaps dangerous in the situation you asked about, to be avoided. Maybe ask that card how it feels, how it intended you to take its absence? Was it staying away out of tact, or sulking, or feeling left out? :)

(I don't believe the cards are more than bits of thick paper with printing on - but I read by using my imagination to open up the intuition. Like talking to your teddy bear.)

This whole reply is based on tarot, because I haven't enough experience with Lenormand to say anything about it at all :D and also, this hasn't ever happened to me with Lenormand. But I agree that the same probably applies to the spectrum of divination tools. (Especially since my answer isn't just one, same, answer in all cases!)
Click to expand...

This is a very different approach to how I've dealt with such situations -- and I like your approach! Before when a card was accidentally left in a box, I would blame my carelessness. But it also does make sense that the specific card did not want to be a part of the reading.
 

Ace

Kurenai said:
Hey Barb,
So you think you were extra exhausted because there was a card missing from the deck?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. It was like when your phone runs down because it is still on, doing something in the background (I can't think of an example right now, but I have heard of things that wear out your battery fast....) This group NEEDED the High Priestess and she wasn't there. It was EXTREMELY exhausting. Maybe at other times it wouldn't hurt so much, but I still would never consciously work with a short deck.

barb
 

1Eleven

Ace said:
I wouldn't read without a full deck. I have done it and it hurts. Once I did a whole party and it turns out the High Priestess was in the box. I kept missing it and wishing it would turn up. I was totally exhausted at the end of the evening. You KNOW what you need is missing and you can't find it.



If you are missing a card, use a blank if you have one, reminding yourself of the card that is missing if the blank comes up in a reading. But try to avoid reading with a short deck, it will make you crazy.



(and I always tell a joke: Do you know what it is like to be a few cards short of a full deck?! --Kind of like being a few beers short of a six pack or a few sandwiches short of a picnic, in other words a bit nuts!)



Barb
Click to expand...


If you're wishing for a card to turn up then the issue is not with the missing card it's with not remaining centered and neutral. That does sound exhausting.
 

1Eleven

As for the missing card left in the box, it would be business as usual for me. That card was left out for a reason.

I also do Plum Blossom Yi Jing castings and, at times, have miscalculated. It doesn't matter - the answer was still spot on.

If you'd like to include that card when you notice (not predetermined) then you could treat it as a shadow card or surprise.
 

Kurenai

Ace said:
Absolutely. It was like when your phone runs down because it is still on, doing something in the background (I can't think of an example right now, but I have heard of things that wear out your battery fast....) This group NEEDED the High Priestess and she wasn't there. It was EXTREMELY exhausting. Maybe at other times it wouldn't hurt so much, but I still would never consciously work with a short deck.

barb
Click to expand...

That makes a lot of sense actually, although I have never been in a situation when a card was missing while doing a reading for someone else. For some odd reason, when a card is missing from the deck by mistake, it's always readings I do for myself!
 
Flonz-ites....Who is still using their Flonz deck a lot? The lily card