What makes us choose the cards we choose in readings ?

barefootlife

I'm a bit of a funny duck. There's a lot of energy out there in the universe, and it influences everything, from why my headphones always seem to get tangled in my pocket even when I've secured them really well to the fact I always lose something whenever I stay in a new place to shuffling some illustrated pieces of paper. We're all a bunch of energy with other bits of energy constantly flying through and from us. Maybe it's all connected somehow.

But for me, the important part is finding the story. People share their readings on here because they haven't found the story, or want to hear someone else's version of the story. I could pull the exact same three cards for two different readings and they might tell entirely different stories. Anyone can shuffle and throw cards, but the putting them together the right way is where intuition or connection with the universe or whatever comes in.
 

Barleywine

This is really the fundamental "How does tarot work?" question. I believe it operates on the principle of subconscious induction by the person shuffling and cutting the deck. In other words, the interaction of the sitter's subconscious mind with the cards through tactile manipulation of the deck puts them in just the right order to deliver the message the sitter needs to hear. (This is also the main reason I don't do on-line readings; it would engage my subconscious in organizing the cards, not my client's.) I've posted it before, but I'll add the last part of Joseph Maxwell's observations on the nature of the subconscious as the source (or at least the channel) for predictive insights.

"Coming events cast a shadow before them; each individual has a presentiment about his own destiny, which may remain latent: the normal processes of consciousness do not include such presentiments.

To understand the presence in each individual of a detailed record of personal consciousness it is necessary to take into account the fact that an individual being exists, as it were, on several planes simultaneously, or is capable of so doing. What is loosely termed the subconscious is actively interleaved with the astral levels; the mental and intellectual processes, emanating from the intelligence, link themselves in a living web to the spiritual levels."
 

G6

The Tarot Faery picks them for us.
 

TheSeaWitch

I get a kind of feeling from the cards, I guess it a energy of sorts?
I run my right hand over the cards fanned out and held with my left hand, I will get a tingling sensation at the base of my skull that will run down my right arm and hand (giving me goosebumps) when my hand hovers over the "right" card.
 

Grizabella

So going on your answer, what do you think allows us to tap into the persons energy ?

I believe in the One Mind that I've been reading about. The whole universe is connected---all of us and the One Mind. That's pretty simplified, but I do believe that's what brings us the cards we choose as well as the ability to perceive what the cards are saying.

For me personally, Tarot is nothing more than a type of communication that occurs between the ego mind and the higher 5th dimensional self. Those who can close off their ego minds to the point where information from the higher realms can be heard have what is called psychic intuition and can allow the flow of information to occur, in this case through the images of a Tarot deck. Of course the higher self, what some might call a soul, is tapped into the All That Is and can give information pertaining to a person on the other side of the globe.

With the exception of the reference to a higher self, which I'm not sure any of us can judge objectively about ourselves, (whole nuther discussion there, I suppose.) I agree that the closing off of the ego mind, is essential to being able to read for someone else. By ego mind, I think of it more as a judgmental, personal opinion that we can inadvertently allow to skew our readings for others. For instance, if we're doing a reading for a friend and we think their partner is a jerk and they should ditch that person, we can maneuver the cards to say that she should dump him/her. But the cards/Universe's message from those same cards, minus the judgmental attitude we might have, is the real message for the sitter. I'm not saying we necessarily purposely maneuver the card meanings, I'm saying that without realizing it a lot of the time, we can read into the cards what our judgmental attitude reflects.

Thought this thread would have brought more attention, i thought many people would have at some point wondered this, who read cards

That's because the threads on this topic usually ask "How does Tarot Work?" or "what makes Tarot work?" :) That question has been asked thousands of times here.

But Tanga this is my theory too now, i used to think it was my guide or whoever/ whatever... i'd never been too sure.

But recently i've been doing some studying into energy, and have now come to the conclusion that we are all connected by energy no matter how far apart we are. Theres energy all around us, and so when we read for someone the Q they type out (on here) their energy is attached to it, which we then pick up and end up choosing the cards from the persons energy they are transmitting out when asking the Q.

I watched a 4hr video on youtube the other day and what he talked about made a lot of sense, this is the video for anyone interested.....its Gregg Braden for anyone who's heard of him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbCLEDVC_FY

So i don't believe its "our guide/s" making us choose the cards we choose, its the filaments of energy that connect all around us that we connect to.

I'm not familiar with this guy, but I do agree that we're connected to everything else that exists in the Universe by energy. All matter is energy, for one thing---us and rocks and water and everything else---and I also believe as Native Americans do that we're connected with everything else.
 

nisaba

I've been meaning to ask this Q for a while now....

SHARLA! <jumps on her and hugs her> Haven't seen you around for AGES! I haven't forgotten that when The Frankendeck was doing the rounds, you sent me my Anna K to keep it company on the trip. :)

im interested to know what other people think is the reason as to what enables us to choose the cards we choose....

Well, with me it's simple. I have a deal with all my decks (incuding her) that once the client has finished shuffling and cutting (or I have), all the cards I need for the reading will be on top of the deck in the right order. I just peel them off, and they work. :)

I don't consciously choose cards. I just *know* that my decks will interact with the subconscious or intuition of the client (in how long they shuffle and how evenly/unevenly they cut) to put all the cards where I need them - on top of the deck - in the right order. Simple.
 

Smiling

Tapping into Spirit combined with faith.
Imho :D
 

wheelie

Perhaps sortilege (the random sorting process) mimics life itself. Some call it divine appointment or destiny and some call it natural selection or scientific determinism.

Sentient beings can read this process by applying mind/will/emotions. Some call it illumination or synchronicity and some call it pattern recognition and storytelling.
 

EmpyreanKnight

Like wheelie said - synchronicity, in all its wondrous, jaw-dropping implications.
 

DJP

Lately I've thought it might have something to do with the "strange attractors" of chaos theory.

A strange attractor is a pattern that pulls chaotic, seemingly random, systems towards ideal outcomes. This concept is mostly used for modelling weather, fluid dynamics and other such things that shoot waaay over my head. But I do like the idea of an attractor drawing random systems towards coherent outcomes. And then I think, what if consciousness (ours, the querant's, the universe's) could act as a strange attractor during the process of shuffling cards?

Maybe this comment could do with its own strange attractor.... it might help it achieve some coherence. :)