Why doesn't it matter how you shuffle or select cards?

[Anouk]

I'm perplexed why and how it doesn't matter how you shuffle or select cards for a spread.

 

If you choose cards randomly from the fanned out deck, or simply deal from the top or bottom of the deck, you're going to select wildly different cards.

 

So how can it not matter?

 

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[stephanelli]

It always feels to me like the right cards will come to you whatever.  However, I found that this site here was particularly helping in explain the "randomness" of picking tarot cards.  http://learntarot.com/less1.htm

 

Its quite far down the page so I've copied the important text below, but I'd recommend reading the rest of that lesson at the link above.  I hope its helpful!

 

When we do a tarot reading, we select certain cards by shuffling, cutting and dealing the deck. Although this process seems random, we still assume the cards we pick are special. This is the point of a tarot reading after all - to choose the cards we are meant to see. Now, common sense tells us that cards chosen by chance can't hold any special meaning, or can they?

 

To answer this question, let's look at randomness more closely. Usually we say that an event is random when it appears to be the result of the chance interaction of mechanical forces. From a set of possible outcomes - all equally likely - one occurs, but for no particular reason.

 

This definition includes two key assumptions about random events: they are the result of mechanical forces, and they have no meaning. First, no tarot reading is solely the product of mechanical forces. It is the result of a long series of conscious actions. We decide to study the tarot. We buy a deck and learn how to use it. We shuffle and cut the cards in a certain way at a certain point. Finally, we use our perceptions to interpret the cards.

 

At every step, we are actively involved. Why then are we tempted to say a reading is "the chance interaction of mechanical forces?" Because we can't explain just how our consciousness is involved. We know our card choices aren't deliberate, so we call them random. In fact, could there be a deeper mechanism at work, one connected to the power of our unconscious? Could our inner states be tied to outer events in a way that we don't yet fully understand? I hold this possibility out to you.

[DarkElectric]

I agree with Stephanelli on this.

 

The right cards always come no matter how they get there. When I read for clients,  I ask them to hold the cards, and think about what they need to know from the reading. Sometimes they are there just for a general reading, sometimes there is a problem they need help with, but I ask them to concentrate on getting the correct information. Then I ask them to hand the cards back to me. I shuffle them three times more, then return them  to the client. I ask them to cut the cards into three piles, and choose the pile which "speaks" to them. Invariably, the information they are seeking is revealed.

 

I am not one who is reticent about other people interacting with my cards. I find that it helps the readings, and  I keep a salt bowl  under the table to clear them out between readings if they get "loaded".

 

I read for myself the same way: whichever cards seem to "want" to be read are the ones I choose.  So in my experience, the right cards come to you.  Random might not be all that random after all.

[joy]

I totally agree with stephanelli[/member] too, that the right cards find their way.

Before I shuffle/draw the cards I make it clear to myself and the cards how I will select the cards.

[Anouk]

It always feels to me like the right cards will come to you whatever.  However, I found that this site here was particularly helping in explain the "randomness" of picking tarot cards.  http://learntarot.com/less1.htm

 

Its quite far down the page so I've copied the important text below, but I'd recommend reading the rest of that lesson at the link above.  I hope its helpful!

 

When we do a tarot reading, we select certain cards by shuffling, cutting and dealing the deck. Although this process seems random, we still assume the cards we pick are special. This is the point of a tarot reading after all - to choose the cards we are meant to see. Now, common sense tells us that cards chosen by chance can't hold any special meaning, or can they?

 

To answer this question, let's look at randomness more closely. Usually we say that an event is random when it appears to be the result of the chance interaction of mechanical forces. From a set of possible outcomes - all equally likely - one occurs, but for no particular reason.

 

This definition includes two key assumptions about random events: they are the result of mechanical forces, and they have no meaning. First, no tarot reading is solely the product of mechanical forces. It is the result of a long series of conscious actions. We decide to study the tarot. We buy a deck and learn how to use it. We shuffle and cut the cards in a certain way at a certain point. Finally, we use our perceptions to interpret the cards.

 

At every step, we are actively involved. Why then are we tempted to say a reading is "the chance interaction of mechanical forces?" Because we can't explain just how our consciousness is involved. We know our card choices aren't deliberate, so we call them random. In fact, could there be a deeper mechanism at work, one connected to the power of our unconscious? Could our inner states be tied to outer events in a way that we don't yet fully understand? I hold this possibility out to you.

Ah yes I can see exactly how every action leads to a certain set of chosen cards and in that there is no randomness.

 

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