How do You Draw Cards?

[Aldor44]

So... up until now I used to fan the cards on the table and go over them and pick the cards that "call" to me.

 

However, at times I kinda deliberate and unsure picking one then putting it back for another- so while it seems to be rather accurate I would love to find a more convenient but still accurate method.

 

So, How do you shuffle/pick the cards when reading?

 

Any ideas are appreciated!

 

Cheers!!

[Lady Butterfly]

I overhand shuffle (Feel like the riffle is hard on my cards) then, I cut into three piles, and collect back into a stack.

Then, I also spread the cards across the table and then pick cards that 'feel' right while thinking about the position. So far it seems to work for me. I prefer it over just dealing off the top like I did when I first started out.

 

That said, my deck and I have an iffy relationship, and at times I would draw a few cards and just 'know' these aren't the cards I was supposed to get. Then I put them back, clear the energy and start all over again.

[Wanderer]

I used to always fan the crds out like you, Aldor, but usually now I just shuffle gentle until I get the same feeling of one of them calling to me. Sometimes this involves hunting through the middle of a wodge of cards before I find it, but it's much more convenient than the full fan array! 

[Rupicapra]

it depends on my mood and the spread. If they are small or timeline kinda spreads I shuffle, cut and draw from the top in order. If I feel uninspired or use bigger spreads, or everytime if I read for other people (so far I only ever did online readings for others) I use a pendulum to pick the cards. I fan them out and then move my hand with the pendulum over until it swings back and forth above one of the cards. (I like to think that the guardian spirits or whatever you want to call them of the person I read for have a bit more input that way 😄 )

[Guest]

Depending on the deck in question, I either  riffle the cards (preference) or use the overhand method. Then I cut the cards. This process is done a total of three times. 
 

If I’m just using three cards I count out the seventh, fourteenth and twenty-first cards (tarot trumps). The fifth, tenth and fifteenth cards for everything else. Otherwise the cards are fanned out and drawn randomly.

 

When shuffling, I prefer to keep my mind clear. I don’t shuffle until the question is known/context set. So there is no need - for me - to concentrate on it. 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Guest

[Saturn Celeste]

9 hours ago, Aldor44 said:

So, How do you shuffle/pick the cards when reading?

I riffle shuffle, sorry. But I love to have the air blow through my cards.  The whole time I shuffle I repeat the sitter's name, zodiac sign and question over and over.  I do this for as long as I need to, until I feel the cards are ready.  Then I deal them off the top of the deck.  If I am doing a past life reading that has many questions (8 - 10), I will reshuffle the cards once or twice for each question.  I prefer to not do it that way but past life readings are a little different.  When I am doing a smaller reading I will just say all of the questions I'm going to ask in the order I'm going to ask them and do it the normal way of shuffling with intent and dealing off the top of the deck.

[Albadawn]

I mostly overhand shuffle and occasionally riffle if I feel like the cards are ‘clumping’. Then deal from the top. 
 

With oracle cards though I will fan them and pick from the fan. Don’t ask me why, I just know that one way works for one and not the other 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Grizabella]

I overhand shuffle now, but originally I was a riffle-r. It was part of my getting "into the zone". Arthritis in my hands pretty much stopped that, though. Now I overhand and use either trimmed cards or ones in tins that are small.  Bonefire is my working deck, though, and the mass market edition I like to use is way huge to overhand but I do it anyway.  I also love the Everyday Enchantment but that deck, as much as I love it, is just way, way too big for my small, painful old hands.

 

To randomize the deck well before doing a reading, though, since even the riffle done a bunch of times doesn't completely randomize the cards from the last reading, I deal the deck out into several piles and then scoop them back into a full deck. Then I overhand a few times---not necessary, but it feels like it's good to do.

 

Then I pull out a center section and add it onto the top of the deck. That's my version of cutting the deck.  Then I just deal off the top. No quint or shadow or any of that stuff, but I've tried both of those along the way once I joined AT and saw them mentioned. They're just not helpful so I don't use them.

 

I don't use clarifiers, but I do sometimes draw extra cards, except they're "added information" about a card or two that the sitter or I would like more information on. Those who consider them clarifiers aren't wrong, though, they're just making different connections with their cards and if that works for them to say "clarifier", then it's the right thing for them but I need to see them as "added information". 

 

I used to agonize over what the "right" way was and try to do it "just so" but once I got to be more experienced, I learned it really doesn't matter. What matters is what's between my ears and---in my solar plexus----I guess you could say. 

 

So there's the whole magilla for me. I can't ever just give a simple answer for some reason. I've always gotta spill the beans about everything under the sun.  😄

Edited October 24, 2019 by Grizabella

[Jewel]

I riffle shuffle until I feel like I am done, cut in three piles (towards the left), restack in whatever order the spirit moves me and then draw the cards from the top of the deck.   The only variation I have to this is when I do 3 card spreads, then I take one card off each of the cut piles.

[DejaVoo]

I usually will overhand shuffle, riffle and shuffle from top of cards and then cut into 3 stacks.  I shuffle the cards a lot...OCD 🙂

 

I will turn over one card from each stack for a 3 card reading or celtic cross reading.

[Barleywine]

I've always pulled from the top after shuffling, cutting and recombining the deck. No particular reason for it other than it was customary back when I learned and I've always been consistent until recently. But lately I've been experimenting with what I call "mixed media" readings where I deal the cards face-down on the table and use some other method (dice, dominoes, board-game spinners) to see which path I should follow. And then there is this one, which is REALLY out of left field: I throw the cards up in the air from about waist high and see how they clump when they land in a proscribed area. I look for a main grouping as the focus of the reading and side-groups or singletons as supplemental information. It's basically pattern-reading so I call it "Rorschach tarot." I got the idea from lithomancy/sortilege.

 

https://parsifalswheeldivination.com/2019/10/04/rorschach-tarot/

Edited March 4, 2020 by Barleywine

[geoxena]

I've tried s few different ways, but my favorite is to riffle shuffle and then spread the cards out into a fan on the table, close my eyes and hover my hand over the cards til I feel like stopping and pulling a card out.

[Verite]

I usually overhand shuffle, cut the deck, overhand shuffle again, and then fan out and pick whichever cards feel right. I don’t tend to riffle shuffle because I try not to bend the cards as much as possible.

[katrinka]

On 10/24/2019 at 8:22 AM, leroidetrèfle said:

When shuffling, I prefer to keep my mind clear. I don’t shuffle until the question is known/context set. So there is no need - for me - to concentrate on it. 

Same here. I often make a conscious effort to not think of ANYTHING while shuffling. 
Rationally, it doesn't make any difference - if I don't believe in some psychokinetic power pushing the question into the cards while shuffling, I shouldn't believe that blanking my mind would make any difference, either. 
But it works for me, so there it is. 

As for shuffling and drawing, like many, I generally riffle a few times, cut (the old "three piles to the left, with the left hand" standard, lol), and simply draw off the top. I can see the appeal of fanning the cards out and letting the sitter pick - it's theatrical, and it sets a relaxed, leisurely tone - but I seldom do that. It's a perfectly legit way of drawing, though. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by katrinka

[Rodney]

I riffle (and bridge) and draw cards from the top of the deck. My shuffling process is to shuffle 7 times then cut into three piles to the left with the left (non-dominant in my case) hand. With closed eyes, I then place my hand over each pile to see which one's energy draws my hand. I select that pile and from right to left place the remaining piles under that. I repeat the process two more times for a total of 21 shuffles.

[zedekiel]

This thread is so interesting, reading everyone's different methods! It really feels like it's whatever works best for you, which seems to apply to almost all of Tarot really aha

I shuffle continuously while focusing on the broader question. I only stop when either A. I just get this "pang" of sense, like "Stop!", or B. The way I shuffle, I take the middle of the deck out then give one part of it to the top of the deck and one part to the bottom, I alternate doing this until I run out of cards, then grab from the middle again. If, when doing this, I pull from the middle, then go back and forth bottom to top leaving cards, and one card remains on the next jump from bottom to top, I stop. It's weird, but I always took that as the sign that the deck is ready. Then that card, the last one from bottom to top, becomes the first card in the deck. Then I close my eyes and concentrate on each question for the placement of the cards. I brush my hands up and down the deck (from the side) or sometimes spread the deck out. When my fingers start to tingle over a section of the deck, I know the right card is there.

This takes a lot of energy to do, although when I do my readings are always incredibly clear. If I'm too tired I'll just set the intention before hand, then do the shuffle process, but once I stop, draw all the cards from the top, or sometimes do the cut deck technique. Either way, as long as I know what I'm doing before I get into focus mode, the end result feels right.