TarotCeline Posted July 27 Posted July 27 On 6/18/2025 at 10:07 AM, Chariot said: @TarotCeline At some point, after riffle shuffling, I, too, put the deck face down and smear the cards around till it feels 'done.' I riffle shuffle because I always re-order the cards in their original default position after every reading, and I found that the riffle PLUS the smear (to achieve reversals) seems to result in a better-shuffled reading. I have tried to do the random pick-a-card method you use, but it has never really worked for me. I find myself 'thinking' about which card I'm picking ...as in 'oh, I should probably pick one from the middle and one from each side,' or 'there's a bunch of them over there, I should probably break up that bunch,' etc. In other words, I'm controlling the pick for the wrong reasons. And interestingly, the readings I get using this method are usually all over the place and not relevant. I still occasionally try doing this, but overall it doesn't work for me. Instead, I gather up the smeared cards face down, probably riffle shuffle a couple more times, then deal from the topmost card on down. I have also never mastered the hand to hand shuffle. The cards never end up being all that well mixed, for some reason. I'm probably doing it wrong! I'm not sure what you meant by, "Please note that I use "upright and reversed" with the major arcana only." Do you mean you use both major and minor arcana in a reading, but only reverse the majors? Hi Chariot, I ONLY perform readings with the 22 major arcana, upright and reversed, so 44 basic meanings. But if I were to read both the majors and the minors together, yes, I would probably only give myself the option of upright or reverse for the majors, as it is my understanding - please let me know if I am wrong to say this - that the minors have positive or negative cards already. But since each one of the majors represents "a powerful energy", which is fully mastered in the upright position, and uncontrolled in the reverse position, I could not deprive myself of both options for their interpretation. I am curious to know more about how you read the cards yourself.
Chariot Posted July 28 Posted July 28 20 hours ago, TarotCeline said: Hi Chariot, I ONLY perform readings with the 22 major arcana, upright and reversed, so 44 basic meanings. But if I were to read both the majors and the minors together, yes, I would probably only give myself the option of upright or reverse for the majors, as it is my understanding - please let me know if I am wrong to say this - that the minors have positive or negative cards already. But since each one of the majors represents "a powerful energy", which is fully mastered in the upright position, and uncontrolled in the reverse position, I could not deprive myself of both options for their interpretation. I am curious to know more about how you read the cards yourself. Thanks for the clarification. Makes sense. 🙂 You just don't read with the minor arcana, at least most of the time.
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