How do you use the cards??

[moonthorns]

Hello, I was wondering how other people chose cards during a reading. Do you pick cards with your eyes open or closed? Do you have your hands hover over them until you feel a certain sensation? If so what is the sensation like?
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I'm new to tarot, and in my readings(only for myself at the moment) I close my eyes so I can focus on any sensations I feel in my hand when it goes over a card.
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What way is correct to shuffle the cards? My cards are rather large and i'm terrified of shuffling incorrectly and damaging them.
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What spreads should I use as a beginner?
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What questions do you normally ask your cards? And how do you feel about your relationship with each other?
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My first deck is the DRAGONS TAROT, it's most of the time patient with my inexperience but definitely has a fiery personality! Do you feel your deck is more female or male? Or do you just see it as having no gender at all? THANK YOU!

 

[PAMUYA]

Hello, I was wondering how other people chose cards during a reading. Do you pick cards with your eyes open or closed? Do you have your hands hover over them until you feel a certain sensation? If so what is the sensation like?
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I'm new to tarot, and in my readings(only for myself at the moment) I close my eyes so I can focus on any sensations I feel in my hand when it goes over a card.
-----
What way is correct to shuffle the cards? My cards are rather large and i'm terrified of shuffling incorrectly and damaging them.
-----
What spreads should I use as a beginner?
-----
What questions do you normally ask your cards? And how do you feel about your relationship with each other?
-----
My first deck is the DRAGONS TAROT, it's most of the time patient with my inexperience but definitely has a fiery personality! Do you feel your deck is more female or male? Or do you just see it as having no gender at all? THANK YOU!

I can tell you how I do a card reading, what is right or wrong...well that depends on who you ask.
As a beginner use a 3 card spread. You can use:
past, current, future: or beginning , middle, end: or person 1, relationship, person 2: situation, advice, outcome: or problem/issue, what hinders, what helps. (You can come up with your own)
At first stick to small spreads, the more cards thr more complex. Stay aways from pulling extra cards as a beginner, it will get more complex and confusing.

This is how I personally do a reading for a client.
I mix the cards, I put the cards face down on my cloth and mix them on the table, I do not shuffle (do to my hands), wile mixing the cards the client asks their question, I do not allow yes/no questions, I will help them phrase suitable question if need be. I pull the cards together and make 3 piles. My client will touch the pile that I will draw from, some of my clients do close their eyes and when picking their pile. I pull the cards one by one from the top of the pile.

For me there is no female or male in my deck, only human attributes. Personally I do not read for myself, which is a personal decision, there is no right or wrong.

 

[LindaMechele]

I agree with everything Pamuya said, especially that whatever you feel is right, IS right. Also three card spreads are great for beginners - not too involved, but more than just one card. With one card, there's nothing to relate it to so you can learn how the cards interact, though maybe a one-card daily draw and three card spread in the evening would let you learn each card individually as well as together. Do a search for "spreads" to find the spread listing here, organized by type and number of cards - lots of three card spreads there.

I ask my cards all sorts of things. I talk to them like I would a friend and turn some cards to let them have their say, then say something back and/or ask a question, and turn more cards for it to answer. I talk about it in the deck interview spread thread here in this forum. It's a lot of fun and really allows you to get to know your deck. Because of doing this, I feel towards two of my decks especially that I have intimate, wise friends that won't ever lie to me.

I riffle shuffle my regular sized cards (though the big Golden Tarot I still haven't figured out how to shuffle well.). I don't worry much about damaging them as most modern decks can take it. Regardless, I'd love them to get a little worn - I love the look of a "well loved" deck.

Once shuffled, I deal from the top. I either have a spread picked out, or if I'm having a conversation with a deck I'll just keep turning cards til it feels like it's enough - the deck tells me when to stop.

 

[violetdaisy]

Let's see, if I shuffle the cards it's overhand because I have small hands but if I have the space I spread them out face down go-fish style and pick cards from the pool based on what I feel from individual cards. If I'm shuffling overhand then I do so until the deck feels done and then I cut, stack and draw. I talk to myself quite a bit so at least when I'm talking things out while reading cards I don't look quite as crazy...

I usually draw three cards pertaining to different aspects of the same question or have a 3 card spread pre-chosen. I leave the big spreads for special occasions mostly because they take time that I don't normally have.

As for drawing with eyes open or closed I usually have my eyes open but if I'm doing things go-fish style and there's an area that is drawing my attention but not a specific card i'll close them to narrow it down.

The more I read with a deck the better understanding I have with that deck so I have varied relationships with each of them.

Each person develops their own style at their own pace, take your time to discover your unique style.

 

[Grizabella]

I shuffle, cut and draw from the top. It's that simple. It works for me so that's what I do.

 

[AnemoneRosie]

I shuffle, overhand, because my hands are small. Then I cut and draw off the top. Like Grizabella I value simplicity. Others can have rituals if they find it helpful for calmness or centring themselves, but I don't feel the need to do so. I find that shuffling provides that for me. I don't tend to like being ornate, flowery, or showy just for the sake of those things. I find them a turn-off and they make me resentful of the process.

 

[Morwenna]

I overhand shuffle the cards and deal from the top. (I have been known to lightly riffle, but not often.) True, I have long fingers; but a really large deck can be shuffled overhand by holding it at the sides rather than the top & bottom.

The three-card spread is definitely the easiest. Past-present-future; body-mind-spirit; thesis-antithesis-synthesis; there are so many ways to do it.

 

[nisaba]

Hello, I was wondering how other people chose cards during a reading. Do you pick cards with your eyes open or closed?

Open. I'm clumsy - I'd probably drop the deck if I closed my eyes.

Do you have your hands hover over them until you feel a certain sensation? If so what is the sensation like?

I hold the deck in one hand and peel cards off the top with the other hand. I occasionally pause for half a second, but usually I must admit that's theatrical. Clients seem to like it.

What way is correct to shuffle the cards?

Any way you like. I don't approve of riffle-shuffling: in my opinion it bends cards and wears them out too quickly. Decades of use will wear your decks out anyway - there's no need to speed up the process.

My cards are rather large and i'm terrified of shuffling incorrectly and damaging them.

You can be too precious about decks: to me, a mint-condition deck looks unused and therefore unloved. However, I have stubby little hands. I overhand-shuffle, and I can't hold most decks by their ends as most people do when I do that, so I hold them by the sides instead, and use a longer, slower arm-motion to shuffle.

What spreads should I use as a beginner?

The Celtic Cross is presented in most LWBs, but IMO it's really complicated and hard to understand for many experienced readers, never mind beginners. Try one-card pulls, and perhaps three-card spreads until you gain confidence that the cards in front of you stitch together to make stories. A good three-carder is this one:

Card one: What are you running away from?
Card two: what are you running towards?
Card three: why are you running?

What questions do you normally ask your cards?

Normally? Usually? Most frequently? Usually something like "please can I read well for this client" or "what does this client need to know?" For myself ... I hardly ever read for me any more. It's like dream interpretation: the more you work with someone else's, the less you need to work with your own, for some strange reason. I think I used to just ask "What does my deck want to tell me right now".

And how do you feel about your relationship with each other?

With my cards? I don't worry about it. It's my relationship with *myself* that is important to my effectiveness as a reader, both for other clients and for myself.

 

[seedcake]

Card one: What are you running away from?
Card two: what are you running towards?
Card three: why are you running?

Lovely simple spread

Normally? Usually? Most frequently? Usually something like "please can I read well for this client" or "what does this client need to know?" For myself ... I hardly ever read for me any more. It's like dream interpretation: the more you work with someone else's, the less you need to work with your own, for some strange reason. I think I used to just ask "What does my deck want to tell me right now".

That's really interesting 'cause I have the same. If I get a personal reading, it must be something "big" - from dream interpretation (but later I ask for help anyway) to some spiritual questions. So I'm not doing this frequently. Mostly, I read for the clients.

Moonthorns, always do as you feel is right for you. Don't let anyone to force you for using some technique which you consider not comfortable. There's no right or wrong - we handle decks as we please and need. Of course, asking others is always good, I'm always checking such threads 'cause even when you have your own quirks, you can have an urge for a little change.

 

[Farzon]

I draw with open eyes from a fan. No pauses, nearly no thinking. Just one card after the other. Our I draw them from the top, but then I'd do a pile shuffle at the beginning, reordering the whole deck card by card.

For a daily draw I'd use a five card, cross shaped layout. Me at the center, main influences around. Or six cards like a five pointed star wroth a card in the middle - the feet for what connects me with my surroundings, the head for my ideals, the arms for ways to behave towards my surroundings and finally the heart for feelings, subconscious etc. These spreads don't require questions.

Especially as a beginner: do what you want. I'm pretty alone here with that opinion but I think you should try every spread you want to, even the most hard ones! Push it to the limit! Don't restrict yourself to boring readings of three card - and judging from myself here, I'd say as a beginner you will feel the desire to get better as fast as possible, do the most difficult spreads immediately. Because these fancy layouts simply look much more meaningful.

Having said that, three cards are ideal. Three cards capture the essence of Tarot, single meanings and various interactions stripped down to the core. If you learn reading three cards, your understanding of complicated spreads like the cc or even the Opening of the Key will increase heavily. But I was ready to perceive the elegance of three cards only after I tried every other spread I wanted to.