Shuffling and drawing cards

[RayOfSunshine]

Hi all!

 

I hope everyone is well, in these uncertain times. Thank you for taking a look at my topic.

 

As I explained in 'Introductions', I am a Tarot newbie. I just started learning and reading Tarot in November 2019. Ever since I started, I have been wondering about the different techniques of shuffling and drawing cards for a spread, and what is the 'best' way to do this. 

 

The way I shuffle my deck is by using the casino shuffle (or riffle shuffle) a few times. The number of times depends om my feeling, sometimes I will ruffle them only once, sometimes way more times. After that I will shuffle a few more times by using the overhand shuffle. Once I feel like I have done this enough times, I will start my reading. I will focus on the question, sometimes even speaking it out loud, while doing the overhand shuffle. The card that pops out or sticks out, I will take for the reading. 

However, it sometimes takes a really long time for a card to pop out. It's not as if the readings are inaccurate, but i'm sometimes wondering if i'm using the 'right' method for this (even though I know there is really no wrong or right in Tarot). I just feel like there should be another way to shuffle and draw, that suits me as well. For example, I have read about shuffling and then splitting the deck in three stacks, and take the top card of every stack for your reading. Or just fanning out all the cards and hovering your hand over them, sensing the energy of the cards and drawing them on feeling.

 

That's why I'm wondering, how do you all shuffle and most importantly draw your cards? 

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this 🙂 

[Grace]

Hi @RayOfSunshine! 

 

I personally like to do quite a few overhand shuffles, but mostly because my current deck is on the smaller pocketable size, and more difficult to riffle. I'm bit precious with my deck and don't want to damage them too quickly, so I'm avoiding the riffle. I then fan out the cards and select those that call to me into a pile, before laying them out in the spread. 

 

If I'm reading for someone in person, I ask them to cut the deck, before fanning the deck for them to select the appropriate number of cards before handing them back to me to lay out and reveal.

 

The riffle is a mathematically superior shuffle technique, so I do shuffle longer overhand to make up for this. Because I'm selecting cards with divine guidance anyway, I have come to terms with there never being enough randomness to sufficiently 'trick' the universe to my satisfaction anyway.🤣Overhand is good enough for me. 

[RayOfSunshine]

2 hours ago, Grace said:

Hi @RayOfSunshine! 

 

I personally like to do quite a few overhand shuffles, but mostly because my current deck is on the smaller pocketable size, and more difficult to riffle. I'm bit precious with my deck and don't want to damage them too quickly, so I'm avoiding the riffle. I then fan out the cards and select those that call to me into a pile, before laying them out in the spread. 

 

If I'm reading for someone in person, I ask them to cut the deck, before fanning the deck for them to select the appropriate number of cards before handing them back to me to lay out and reveal.

 

The riffle is a mathematically superior shuffle technique, so I do shuffle longer overhand to make up for this. Because I'm selecting cards with divine guidance anyway, I have come to terms with there never being enough randomness to sufficiently 'trick' the universe to my satisfaction anyway.🤣Overhand is good enough for me. 

Thank you so much for your reply!

 

I really want to give your method a try as well, with the fanning technique. Part of me is 'scared' that I will not get an accurate reading because the cards did not pop up by themselves that way, but that's just my own insecurity I think. I'll keep you updated 🙂 

[Thoughtful]

When l shuffle l use the overhand method and l keep shuffling until l get a block where the cards stop me.  Then l lay the cards out taking one by one from the top.  This is my own method which has never let me down.

[RayOfSunshine]

1 hour ago, Thoughtful said:

When l shuffle l use the overhand method and l keep shuffling until l get a block where the cards stop me.  Then l lay the cards out taking one by one from the top.  This is my own method which has never let me down.

 

Thank you for your input! Could you describe what you mean by 'block'? Do you mean like the card physically blocks you from shuffling? Or do you mean an 'intuitive' block? And after you stopped shuffling, you just take all the cards you need from the top?

[53rdspirit]

1 hour ago, Thoughtful said:

....l keep shuffling until l get a block where the cards stop me.  

I've never heard of this one before --I like it. 

[Thoughtful]

By block l mean the cards do not easily shuffle back into  the pack and it causes me to stop,   And yes l take my cards from the top.

l hope that is clearer for you, when l get that block l know its time to stop.

 

Edited to add:  l hold the deck in my hand horizontally forgot to say this!  Hope you have not been struggling with the deck vertically should you have tried this shuffle.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Thoughtful

[geoxena]

I can't imagine shuffling until a card "pops out." That could take forever.  I've never heard of readers waiting for cards to pop out before they stop shuffling!  Why?  The cards in the deck are inanimate objects - they can't choose themselves.  A card popping out is just an accident.  You need to choose the cards at some point, to involve the human factor and your subconscious!

 

I riffle shuffle mostly and then do a few times the kind of shuffle where I lift the deck and let a few cards fall into my other palm again and again until shuffled (is that the "overhand" people are talking about?), then I either fan the deck and pull out whatever cards feel right to me or thumb the stack and pull one out of the pile.

 

I don't worry about whether I'm pulling the "right" card or not.  You have to trust that whatever cards you pull are the ones your subconscious knew needed to be pulled.  Technique isn't all that important. 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by geoxena

[gregory]

 I riffle till I'm done (you have to do it 7 times to be SURE they are random)  and than I cut and draw.

 

I have no mystique about it.

[Barleywine]

7 hours ago, geoxena said:

I can't imagine shuffling until a card "pops out." That could take forever.  I've never heard of readers waiting for cards to pop out before they stop shuffling!  Why?  The cards in the deck are inanimate objects - they can't choose themselves.  A card popping out is just an accident.  You need to choose the cards at some point, to involve the human factor and your subconscious!

 

 

 

I'm glad you brought this up because I've been seeing similar sentiments in other online tarot venues. There are people out there who read only jumpers and never pull cards from the deck. They say that Spirit guides them to drop the cards, so they keep doing it until they've dropped what they see as enough for the reading. Who is teaching people this stuff?

[geoxena]

9 hours ago, Barleywine said:

Who is teaching people this stuff?

People who only want followers on YouTube or their blogs more than they want to teach with integrity, maybe? If this is becoming a thing, it must be on the internet somewhere!

Edited April 6, 2020 by geoxena

[Lady Butterfly]

I only overhand shuffle... I remain unconvinced that riffle shuffling does not damage my cards.

I shuffle until I feel (It's less about mixing the cards, and more about setting my intentions) like I have done enough then I fan the cards out (Actually it's more of a spread them across the table thing) and then I will draw cards at random by moving my hand over the row until I feel (Again, it's about the focusing on the position the card will go into and choosing the right one) right. It's very much a feeling thing for me. I don't feel like shuffling is that big of a deal for randomising, since I don't deal off the top of the stack only.

 

When I read for my husband, he shuffles and draws his own cards. He overhand shuffles and then he has this way of 'wiggling' the deck and draws the cards that feel like they 'stick'. He will concentrate on each spread position as he does this wiggle/stick maneuver.

[Wheel of Fantastic]

I never riffle shuffle, a) because I can't - if I try I just end up sending cards flying everywhere; b) I use a variety of vintage or expensive decks and riffle shuffling definitely shortens the lifespan of decks.

 

What I have pretty much always done is deal the cards into 6 equally sized piles and then gather them all up and complete an overhand shuffle. If I want to use reversals, after completing the previous process, I split the deck into 3 piles, turn the middle pile around, gather the cards into one pile, overhand shuffle, and complete this 3 times. I find this process gives a very thorough shuffle. As a bonus, this process can be used with large and small cards - it's usable regardless of whether you use large or pocket size decks.

 

If I get a card popping out while shuffling I make a note of it but put it back in while continuing to shuffle - through experience I do firmly believe that EVERYTHING that happens during a reading is important. If that card appears during the actual reading then I pay extra attention to it - this happens fairly often and those readings have turned out to be especially powerful.

 

When I'm reading for someone else I complete the shuffling as above but ask the client to either draw the cards from a fan on the table (before drawing I ask them to focus on what they want to know as well as selecting the cards carefully using their intuition) or ask them to cut the deck into a number of piles equal to the number of positions in the spread and use the top card of each pile. Either technique ensures the client is putting their energy into the reading and appears to make for particularly powerful readings.

 

Hope that was helpful. I find my whole shuffling and reading technique evolves over time and I incorporate new ideas from other readers and discard what doesn't work. You always learn with tarot.

[Alistair]

Hi there, I've decided for now to not use reversals, as I got too caught up in the logical process of how I would create some reversals in the process of shuffling, and whether the deck should be reset to all be upright before starting the process the next time, etc.  So for now, I riffle shuffle a few times as I focus and continue however many times feels right, followed by some hand over hand to give the opportunity for "jumpers", then I cut the deck and deal from the top.   I always take a look at the card at the bottom of the deck for underlying, and will sometimes quickly pass through the bottom for or five cards to tell myself a quick little narrative.  Then after I've dealt the spread, if I need to I will clarify an individual card in the layout by shuffling a few times hand over hand to get 1-3 jumpers.

[Guest]

I am very new at this, but I’ve had many years off and on thinking about astrology and the synchronicity involved with anything like this. I tend to see it as both scientific and spiritual in more of a zen way or doing an IChing reading with sticks. I, also, feel good overhanding, cutting into three piles and reversing the middle. It seems this would assure that some of the previously reversed cards might be returned to upright and new reversals created all on line with the moment. 

[Barleywine]

12 minutes ago, Geo6900 said:

I am very new at this, but I’ve had many years off and on thinking about astrology and the synchronicity involved with anything like this. I tend to see it as both scientific and spiritual in more of a zen way or doing an IChing reading with sticks. I, also, feel good overhanding, cutting into three piles and reversing the middle. It seems this would assure that some of the previously reversed cards might be returned to upright and new reversals created all on line with the moment. 

When I don't do my full randomizing between readings, I will also "re-layer" the deck a couple of times while overhand shuffling for this purpose. It's a quick and easy way to "refresh" the reversals.

[Guest]

I agree that using jumpers only could take a long time. I worry too that relying on too many ‘middlemen’ in the form of spirit guides allows so much variation in reading tarot that it might become ‘anything goes’. But I have learned to take even my own beliefs less seriously. I’ve changed much from the pure rationalist (Western science etc. ) I was,to joining a tarot forum. Funny, though, I still feel I’m being rational and scientific as I always was. Only, my search took me where I thought reason wasn’t allowed to go. 

[Barleywine]

1 hour ago, Geo6900 said:

I agree that using jumpers only could take a long time. I worry too that relying on too many ‘middlemen’ in the form of spirit guides allows so much variation in reading tarot that it might become ‘anything goes’. But I have learned to take even my own beliefs less seriously. I’ve changed much from the pure rationalist (Western science etc. ) I was,to joining a tarot forum. Funny, though, I still feel I’m being rational and scientific as I always was. Only, my search took me where I thought reason wasn’t allowed to go. 

I was reading a Paul Huson book recently, and I believe it's where I saw tarot reading described as a fundamentally "irrational" act (or it might have been Jodorowsky). For my own part, I tend to see it as "supra-rational." The form of rationality we practice is what I call the "SWAG" (scientific wild-ass guess) method. It's really just inspired guesswork with prompts. Regarding spirits, my concern is that on the astral plane you never know for sure whom you're talking to, even with all the proper wards in place. You can tell yourself you're connected to the Divine, but it may just be subjective self-hypnosis.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Barleywine

[Lupa]

I do your standard shuffle (I have little hands and it's hard for me to do anything fancier than that with a standard tarot deck!) I just shuffle until it "feels right", and then draw from the top. I'm big on using my own intuition in divination, so sometimes I only need to shuffle a few times, other time I may be shuffling a while before the deck says "yes, this is it!"

 

However, occasionally I feel like the deck isn't well-shuffled enough; maybe I haven't been reading enough lately, or maybe we're just at an impasse. That's when I do what I call the "going nuclear" shuffle, where I put all the cards on the floor and mix them all up with my hands, then bring them back into deck configuration and shuffle a few more times. That's usually enough to hit the reset button.

[TheFeeLion]

I'm one of those odd folk that generally use only "jumper" cards. I'm also a messy shuffler. Cards drop out all the time. When I do a reading I swoosh them all around in a big pool in front of me to give the deck a good mix up and then overhand shuffle until I have enough "jumpers" for the spread. I've learned that for me these cards give me the best readings. I'm fully aware this isn't true for a lot of other people though. 

 

I do have some rules for "jumpers":

If more than a few cards "jump" together (especially if it's more than the spread needs) they go back in the deck and I keep shuffling. 

If they "jump" before I'm ready they go back in the deck. 

If I've overhand shuffled three times (ish) and nothing "jumps" I change decks or, 

If I'm having a particularly good shuffle day and nothing "jumps" I shuffle until I feel like I need to stop then split the deck and take from the top. 

 

Before I started using "jumper" cards I had always felt like there was something missing from my readings. Now I don't feel like that and my readings seems to be much better. Each to their own I guess 🙂

 

[MysticMonkey]

I mainly riffle shuffle because it truly randomises the deck.  I sometimes do a few overhand shuffles while I try to focus on the real essence of my question, just a way of settling myself down to concentrate but ultimately I riffle shuffle until it feels right, cut the deck into three piles and choose whichever pile I feel drawn to, re-stack the deck and then pull the number of cards I need for the reading from the top of the deck.  I do look at "jumpers" while overhand shuffling and note if they appear again in the reading but if I'm tired I'm more likely to mess up my shuffle so that's just more me being sloppy than of any significance.  I can't imagine waiting until I have enough jumpers for a reading because I feel like I'm potentially damaging my cards when I mess up a shuffle resulting in a "jumper".  But then some people wouldn't dream of riffle shuffling for the same reason.