Your own quirks, peculiarities, and habits...

I know for certain that I was taught (and picked up) some tarot habits that are probably unique . One that stands out for myself is that I never shuffle the cards for a reading with all 78 cards, I always have the significator, or another card removed so that the deck is reduced to 77 cards... taught to me by the older female relatives that taught me originally. I'm sure they believed that the "magic" only happened when 77 cards were used. I have no idea where they may have picked it up. Regardless, I've kept the practice.

How about you guys ? You do anything that you feel may be your own creation or twist on something ?

Michael

Well, when I cut the deck, instead of putting the cards down on a surface, I keep them in my hand and just pull out a portion of the cards with my left hand and put it on the top of the deck. I can't think of anything else that would really be unique to me.

When laying out the cards, I take the first two off the top of the deck, the third off the bottom, and I cut for each subsequent card.

Calcifer said:

I know for certain that I was taught (and picked up) some tarot habits that are probably unique . One that stands out for myself is that I never shuffle the cards for a reading with all 78 cards, I always have the significator, or another card removed so that the deck is reduced to 77 cards... taught to me by the older female relatives that taught me originally. I'm sure they believed that the "magic" only happened when 77 cards were used. I have no idea where they may have picked it up. Regardless, I've kept the practice.

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I think thats because some systems say to CHOOSE a significator for the person concerned. Anyone that first chooses a sig is going to be using a 77 card deck. I always used the first card drawn ... never chose the sig and always played with a full deck. I either watch for where it comes out in a deal, or find it in the shuffled deck and use the cards before and after it.

I often don't decide which spread I'm going to use until after I've (or they have) finished shuffling. The cards still manage to come out in the right order.

When using one of the Fool's Dog apps, I "wash" shuffle exactly three times and then draw from a fan of cards. Yet when I use paper decks, I riffle or overhand shuffle until I feel done, then draw from the top of the deck--sometimes cutting first, sometimes not.

And I couldn't tell you why I don't use them both the same way. I have no idea. How odd. LOL

At the end of each session, I nearly always give in to the urge to go through and re-order my entire deck - turning all the cards upright again, and sorting them numerically/by suit.

I've tried to break this habit, since the sensible part of my brain points out what a 'waste of time' it is; but if I don't do it upon putting the cards away, I'll almost certainly do it next time I take them out. If not, I'm left with this nagging feeling of wrongness the whole time, and that distraction itself just detracts from the reading. (I think half the problem is that I don't trust myself to shuffle thoroughly unless I've 'reset' the deck - no matter how little sense this makes when examined.)

When reading for myself, instead of cutting the deck or fanning it to choose a card, I hold all the deck in one hand and let part of it slide off into the other. Whatever card is left on top is the one I choose.

I have the habit of always reading in groups of three cards. So, I lay out 3 cards and read these and continue on throwing out 3 cards to read till the reading feels 'done'. At the end of each set of three, I also like to add the numbers of the cards together and reduce it to a number of a major arcana, unless it also comes out as a Master Number. If it is a Master Number, I will read that into the reading and then reduce it to a master number as well and read that major arcana into the reading too. It seems to always make sense with the readings.

It's so interesting to read all these ways of doing things.

I don't ever put the cards back in order. It takes quite a bit of shuffling to truly randomize them again. I can understand going through and turning the cards back right side up between readings. I'd probably do that myself if I used reversals. I don't use them but it might make sense to me if I did.

Sometimes if I've done a reading for someone but only get as far as drawing the cards and then have to get up and do something else before actually reading them, I'll put them back in the deck facing the opposite direction of all the other cards so I know which ones I was reading. Like---I take the drawn cards and put them facing the other cards, you know?