Shadow Card

[Giana222]

Do you typically look at the card at the bottom of the deck while reading? I tend to look at this card like an overall theme or something working in the background when completing a reading but would love to get your thoughts 🙂 

[gregory]

Well I won't be much help, but for what it's worth, I never look. The cards I lay out are my reading and have all the information I need.

[Esclarmonde]

Same here. I lay out the cards I drew and read them; I never look at what card is at the bottom of the rest of the deck. 

[Ix Chel]

I always look at it, it can give extra insight. I always call this card the Bottum card.

[DanielJUK]

yes agree with @Ix Chel, I call it the bottom card or base card in my readings. I take a peak at it to give me a quick overview about how the reader has come to the situation or the foundation of the question. I've found it really useful in the past to set the scene but it's not more important than the rest of the reading.

 

Some people call it a shadow card and use it in a more Jungian way, like representing our shadow side of ourselves, it represents our innermost emotions and fears in the reading.

 

I wouldn't give the card on the bottom more weight than the rest of the reading you have dealt though in balancing it all up 🙂

[Raggydoll]

I rarely look, only if I feel that the specific reading calls for it. For instance, if I feel that there are a lot of undercurrents. Though ideally, you want to phrase your initial questions so those things are already taken into consideration and become part of the reading/spread. 

[Eric13]

I've never looked, or even thought of looking. However it seems like it could be interesting to experiment with.

[Ctgirl33]

I always look at the shadow card. It’s interesting. Some people say it represent the querent’s  state of mind or mind in this case. But I’ve also see it be predicting. So, when I get an 8 of wands, I usually get a quick message regarding what I was reading on. 

[Grandma]

I call it the base card. It represents the underlying theme of the reading. I decide when choosing or designing my spread whether I will include the base card. 

[Ctgirl33]

Grandma S, I love your answer. I’ll try doing that next time. Thank you. 

[Grandma]

You're welcome @Ctgirl33. I love having a varying repertoire of ways to read, even if I usually rely on old favorites!

[Jewel]

I never do this, never even thought of it LOL.  I sometimes like to pick an Oracle Card as an overall influence.  Especially if I am doing a Lunar reading I woop out my Queen of the Moon Oracle and select the appropriate card for the Moon Cylce.  But otherwise I do sometimes like to have that extra overall influence card.  Not always, just if the spirit moves me.

[Grandma]

On 4/10/2022 at 3:52 PM, gregory said:

The cards I lay out are my reading and have all the information I need.

Reading back through this happily revitalized thread I came across the above comment. It reminded me that I had left out an important point above. If I edit, anyone who has read it already won't see the edit.

 

Here's the original comment from four days ago  - "I call it the base card. It represents the underlying theme of the reading. I decide when choosing or designing my spread whether I will include the base card". 

 

What I need to add is that when I choose to use the base card, I agree with gregory completely that the cards I lay out are my reading and have all the information I need. The way I use the base card, and I've never seen it used this way anywhere else, is that it actually becomes the last card in the reading, equal to every other card, with the position of "underlying theme of this reading". I've just started doing this. It occurred to me to try it and it really ties the reading together sometimes in ways that I might have missed. 

 

Edited to change "overall" to "underlying" - not the same!

Edited April 2, 2023 by Grandma

[Guest]

I do look sometimes. But unless I deliberately sought it before I shuffled the deck, I do not consider it at all in my card interpretations.

[Tarotcrazy]

On 4/11/2022 at 4:03 AM, Giana222 said:

Do you typically look at the card at the bottom of the deck while reading? I tend to look at this card like an overall theme or something working in the background when completing a reading but would love to get your thoughts 🙂 

I always tend to look at the bottom card just as an extra insight into the situation I am doing the reading for.