How do you shuffle Tarot cards properly?
Jan replies:
This might seem like a very simple matter... but since the shuffle is what gives you the reading, it’s a bit more complicated than it at first appears. For one thing, not everybody is very good at card-shuffling!! And for another, people are often quite nervous when they have a reading done, so the deck can quite frequently go up in the air or onto the floor!
I have a personal (and surprisingly violent) aversion to the ‘riffle’ shuffle technique where somebody splits the deck in two and then goes snapping the corners together, thereby breaking the edges of the cards - this can lead to constantly needing to replace decks... this is not at all a good idea, since decks pick up a certain amount of ‘personal vibration’ and become progressively easier to work with (see Charging up your deck, and keeping it safe).
When shuffling for a reading, if you have a particular question in mind try to focus on this - don’t put too much effort into this process... just think around the subject as you shuffle. And stop when you feel you’ve ‘finished’. If you’re reading for somebody else, ask them to do the same thing. The reason I say don’t concentrate too hard is that it is possible to input your own desires into the shuffle, rather than the actual likely outcome.
If you are reading for somebody who cannot shuffle particularly well, invite them to spread the cards around and then just mix them up with their hands - this usually works best on a flat surface like a table. One thing to bear in mind here, though, is that they will have inadvertently reversed several cards - this is one time to ignore reverse meanings!!
Another method of selecting cards, without shuffling is to spread the cards out and allow your intuition to guide you (or your querent) to the appropriate cards for the reading. One thing to keep your eye open for here is making sure you keep the cards in the same order as they were selected, so that when you deal, you ensure you put down the 1st card drawn into position 1 and so on - otherwise you’ll get a reading that gives you real problems!!!
Whilst somebody is shuffling, always keep an eye open for cards that get dropped - make a mental note of what they are, and then watch for whether they come up in the reading - they will probably have additional importance if they do.
Loadsalove
Jan
