Getting in "touch" with your cards

No apps for me. I haven't thought about it. Shuffling by yourself or just touch cards - I believe they get nice amount of my energy and I feel they're mine.

No apps for me either.

I do a " deck clearing " rital before I read for someone, so I need a physical deck.

One of the reasons why the tactile sensation of using the cards, and the gut-feelings that we get through connecting with them affects or readings, may (or may not) have to do with what has been called the Second Brain. This is not a new idea to certain mystical schools, but even publications as august as Scientific American have reported on it in recent years;


If you want to go further, Google "Penrose-Hameroff 'Orch OR' Model of Consciousness" which can be summarised in a nutshell as a controversial theory based on an idea by Sir Roger Penrose GLE*, that everything in the brain is connected to everything else in the Universe at the quantum level of reality.

(*GLE = Greatest Living Englishman)

Two paths

I absolutely love the tactile aspect of the cards. I love denser stock, the resistance of the gilded edges as I slide my fingers over them, the slickery sound certain decks make that have a nice coating, the riffle of a shuffle. I even enjoy the smell of the ink and paper.

I use apps as well, but in this way:

For the Touchstone app, I have saved the card images from it, so when I do a reading and add it to a digital iPad journal, I can place the digital version of the cards in their spread position in the journal entry. It's wonderful for going back and seeing readings with the cards intact and is crisper than a photo of an entire spread.

I also use the apps to see the cards up closer. Touchstone can be a dark deck, so having backlit, larger images helps me see new things.

In public work places or on the train, I can fiddle with the cards on my phone discreetly and safely (meaning a jostling commute won't risk damaging the precious cards). I don't really read them via spreads. I usually meditate or remind myself of one suggested meaning. But I have been known to do a one card draw digitally when at wits end at work and wanting advice.

So I think both paths have their place and strengths, but tactile is definitely my preference. I even lug a deck around in my purse to and from work though it seldom comes out of it's shelter during the day. I just love the heft and knowing my friends are with me.

Mycroft said:

One of the reasons why the tactile sensation of using the cards, and the gut-feelings that we get through connecting with them affects or readings, may (or may not) have to do with what has been called the Second Brain. This is not a new idea to certain mystical schools, but even publications as august as Scientific American have reported on it in recent years;

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-second-brain/​

If you want to go further, Google "Penrose-Hameroff 'Orch OR' Model of Consciousness" which can be summarised in a nutshell as a controversial theory based on an idea by Sir Roger Penrose GLE*, that everything in the brain is connected to everything else in the Universe at the quantum level of reality.

(*GLE = Greatest Living Englishman)

Click to expand...

I've read a few about this topic which i find fascinating. It would be interesting to develop some protocoles to apply such researchs on tarot and on its use.

Imagine a deck of cards with a lot of tiny tactile receptors in them that would calculate the way the cards are touched, shuffled, pushed, etc, and some other receptors that would collect data from the central brain, second brain and how the nervous impulse works in between thanks to some good algorithms.

I know that sounds a bit technical but it would (partly) explain why some of us are more tactile than others, in particular about tarot.