Base cards???

Hello guys...

I was looking to gain further understanding of 'Base Cards'. When I pull my cards for a spread I'm now in a habit of checking which card sits on the bottom/ base as I've had readings before where people have mentioned what the base card is. However, I'm not certain of the real relevance of this card or how it can guide a reading. What's it all about and why do people put focus on base cards?

I use three base cards.

After the querant shuffles, I have them cut the deck into three piles for past, present, and future.

I turn the piles over to see which cards are on the bottom. Then I have the querant reassemble the piles.

I note how the cards are cut and reassembled for some extra information about the question as well.

All that happens before I lay out the cards in the spread.

Obviously this technique is only useful for face-to-face readings, since there's no way for the querant to cut the deck in any web or app based tarot deck that I've run across so far

The only thing I do that remotely approaches the "base card" idea is, with the first operation of the Opening of the Key spread where the deck is cut into four stacks, I turn over the top card of each stack to see if a more potent card shows up that might reflect the significator being found in that stack. If it's there, I give increased emphasis to the relevance of the element assigned to that stack. It works only about half the time, so no better than random.

I don't use any kind of adjunct methods (base cards, shadow cards, jumpers) other than the quintessence in very narrowly-defined circumstances. I find them neither necessary nor especially revealing. If I get an ambiguous series of cards, I take a deep breath, take two steps back, get a running start and dive back in with renewed persistence until I coax them into yielding their meaning. At that point, it's more "scalpel work" than "sledgehammer work."

I use them a lot with all my divination methods. I glance at the card on the bottom of the deck to give me a theme or overview of the situation of the reading. I quite often do general readings and it's so useful for working out the message or actual topic of the reading when it's open. It's quite accurate. But you have to be careful to not take the card and put too much weight on it, I have done readings on AT and it's not the whole reading, giving it too much importance can give a bad reading. A base card is just the theme of what is coming up. The readings in the actual spread are more important than it. So it's literally just a quick summary or overview, a short cut.

Some people use the bottom card as a shadow side of the person or reading, "the shadow card". I have used it for that as well sometimes but you need to be clear with your intentions when you are shuffling. Use it for the intention you plan and don't change from that or it gets confusing I think.

I can see where it might function on the front end of a reading the same way a quintessence works on the back end. It's most likely a generational preference based on the books we learned from. I'm probably older than most of you here (even older than any two of you put together, or maybe even three! ), and I learned to read back in the early '70s when none of this stuff existed. "Old dog likes his old tricks," I guess. What I'm saying is that I haven't needed it up to now so I haven't felt compelled to use it. There are few surprises left in reading the cards for me beyond the things I learn from querent interaction every time I read for someone face-to-face.

Wow thanks guy! This is insightful... VERY insightful. It's interesting to see how some people have never used them. I noticed that the base card of the deck had some relevance before I realised people were actually using these in the reading. Then it clicked and I thought 'oh, no wonder it always make sense'. It's almost like it's highlighting the main 'topic' so to speak. So since then I have always paid attention to them but never known how to really integrate them or what purpose they have. Thanks guys this really helps.

To me the base card is what the readings "based" on.....its good to use, if someone wants a general reading, then the base card will tell you whats really on there mind.

Example: querent asks for a general forecast for the month, but the base card is king cups, so really they want to know about this guy.

Ive also started looking at the top card too, not sure what the top card could mean yet, but 9/10 it means something in regards to the overall reading.

I dislike looking at the base card; I purposely avoid it, don’t want to know what it is. I feel that it distracts me from feeling the cards that are dealt. I think I have felt this way ever since one time when the base card was Death.

russell said:

I dislike looking at the base card; I purposely avoid it, don’t want to know what it is. I feel that it distracts me from feeling the cards that are dealt. I think I have felt this way ever since one time when the base card was Death.

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To be honest, I read without it for over four decades and never knew it was a "thing." For me, the spread is the thing, everything else is just window dressing.

nimblypimblycat said:

I was looking to gain further understanding of 'Base Cards'. When I pull my cards for a spread I'm now in a habit of checking which card sits on the bottom/ base as I've had readings before where people have mentioned what the base card is. However, I'm not certain of the real relevance of this card or how it can guide a reading. What's it all about and why do people put focus on base cards?

Click to expand...

You'll get all kinds of answers on this one, but here's my take: the "shadow card" (as a lot of people call it) is right at the bottom of the deck. I have an agreement with all my decks that after I or my clients have shuffled and cut the deck, all the cards I need for the reading, including any supplementary cards, are on top of the deck in the correct order. So the shadow card is the card that has made the most effort to NOT be a part of the reading. It tells me what is definitely NOT going on here.