Touch Not the Deck

Village Witch

I hope this an okay subject to ask about.

When I first started reading Lenormand for others, I would shuffle the deck and let the client cut the deck and draw their own cards. These days, no one touches my decks. I don't know why that changed for me.

At first I thought the client's energy would activate and pick the cards, but now I know the powers-that-be speak through me on behalf of my client.

You?

AnemoneRosie

I don't like when people touch any of my decks (other than the ones that I've deemed to be "touchable" - these tend to be knockoffs or otherwise decks that I don't much care for). I don't like when they get sticky, or dog-eared, or bent, or sweaty, or whatever, and I can't guarantee that folks will handle my cards with kid gloves. So I just don't let the people touch them.
They're my decks, and they're my property. I wouldn't want someone going through my day planner, either, for the same reasons.

Barleywine

I expect clients to handle, shuffle and cut my decks, since I believe that the process works by "subconscious induction" of the querent's fore-knowledge of the message into the cards (call it a "communion" between the two). Some believe in "divine intervention," others in communication from "spirit," still others from "reader's intuition" (basically substituting the reader's subconscious impressions for those of the querent), and finally from purely psychic mentalism. I happen to think that the more interaction there is between the querent and the reader, making the reading a dialogue instead of a monologue, the better the results. I want the experience of the deck to be shared to the fullest, not simply as reader and spectator. That said, I only offer decks to a sitter that I can easily replace, nothing precious that I'm afraid they might damage through awkward shuffling.

Astraea

I am the only one who handles my decks, as well. That feels right to me, at the same time that I understand other views on the subject.

Village Witch

Barleywine said:
I expect clients to handle, shuffle and cut my decks, since I believe that the process works by "subconscious induction" of the querent's fore-knowledge of the message into the cards (call it a "communion" between the two). Some believe in "divine intervention," others in communication from "spirit," still others from "reader's intuition" (basically substituting the reader's subconscious impressions for those of the querent), and finally from purely psychic mentalism. I happen to think that the more interaction there is between the querent and the reader, making the reading a dialogue instead of a monologue, the better the results. I want the experience of the deck to be shared to the fullest, not simply as reader and spectator. That said, I only offer decks to a sitter that I can easily replace, nothing precious that I'm afraid they might damage through awkward shuffling.

I certainly understand that thought process. Makes a lot of sense.

Personally, I am uncomfortable when my tarot reading friends ask me to shuffle and cut the deck when they read for me. I'm scared I'll bend a card and they'll be pissed at me. I read only with my best decks and don't want anyone handling my decks for the same reason as that they may damage my decks.

In the end, of course, we all gotta do what works for us.

Barleywine

Village Witch said:
I certainly understand that thought process. Makes a lot of sense.

Personally, I am uncomfortable when my tarot reading friends ask me to shuffle and cut the deck when they read for me. I'm scared I'll bend a card and they'll be pissed at me. I read only with my best decks and don't want anyone handling my decks for the same reason as that they may damage my decks.

In the end, of course, we all gotta do what works for us.

I don't riffle-shuffle myself, so the possibility of bending or creasing a card is fairly remote. But many people attempt to riffle tarot cards the same way they do with thinner, more flexible playing cards, with varying degrees of incompetence. They're the reason I read in public only with more generic, easily replaceable decks. I save the rarer or more expensive ones for myself and family members. I don't see my decks as "sacred," just valuable to a greater or lesser extent.

Marli

personally I use to let others shuffle my decks, but with the cost of importing them, plus the lack of care from others.. I no longer have anyone touching any of my decks, especially now that I no longer keep duplicate decks. And honestly, for me personally it doesn't seem to matter whether or not they handle the cards from an accuracy stand point

Village Witch

Barleywine said:
I expect clients to handle, shuffle and cut my decks, since I believe that the process works by "subconscious induction" of the querent's fore-knowledge of the message into the cards (call it a "communion" between the two)...

Do you cleanse your cards after every read?

Barleywine

Village Witch said:
Do you cleanse your cards after every read?

No, I got over that phase a long time ago. I do go through a complete randomizing sequence when time permits (thanks for that idea, Griz!), but the "magic" isn't in the cards themselves, it's in the vision that guides their use, and that is (or should be) relatively incorruptible. That's what protective measures are for (mantras, prayers, etc.), if one believes in any kind of vulnerability in that regard.

Madame Squee

I don't let other people handle my cards, because I would have to ask them to wash their hands first. I am very careful to wash thoroughly to cleanse any lotion or oil from my hands before I read. I've discovered over the years that some skin emollients can be very detrimental to cards. They can erode the finish and cause peeling, which I suppose is okay if a person is going for that ancient, destroyed look. :bugeyed:

Touch Not the Deck

Village Witch

AnemoneRosie

Barleywine

Astraea

Village Witch

Barleywine

Marli

Village Witch

Barleywine

Madame Squee