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Discussion
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I’ve been reading tarot for about 12 years and I’ve always wondered, how do the cards “know”, so to speak, what spread you’re about to use as you’re shuffling them? Since the spread and position of the cards has an impact on how they’re interpreted. Every time I do a reading I just focus my intent on whichever spread I’m doing, but I’m curious what other people’s thoughts are on it
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how do the cards “know” what spread you’re about to use
updated 2 years, 6 months ago
2 Members
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My thoughts on this come from my own bias that the cards are just cards and your intuition is the important element in the reading. If you disagree with that bias, you can take this with a grain of salt.
Anyway, I think the cards don’t really know what kind of spread you’re using. They’re truly just cards, nothing magical. But you do. And that is why your intuition can shine through — you know the situation and the meanings of the cards, and how those interact makes something magical happen.
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A more mystical way to think about this is that the possibilities are multidimensional and the different spreads reflect different dimensions of the same problem/answer. If you really want to see this, take the same cards in the same order and lay them out in 3 or 4 different spreads, it’s like seeing the answers as a crystal or like 3-dimensional chess.
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I focus on the spread along with the question as I’m shuffling. So they would “know” the card placements beforehand the same way they would “know” the topic of conversation.
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sometimes I’ll say to my guides let’s do a 5 card pull or 3 card pull haha. I think since we work with the cards so much it’s a mutual understanding of energy
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They don’t know the spread, you do.
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They don’t know. They’re cards. It’s the human element that makes tarot work, the cards are not sentient. It’s all you.
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I think about what each each position will mean while I shuffle. I try to mingle my energy with the cards too but I think this usually just effects how I interpret them rather than what cards I pull.
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I don’t even use spreads. It’s hard for me to remember and it feels awkward. The cards are an extension of your psyche and “know” what you know consciously and unconsciously IMO.
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Oracles (cards, books) are mirrors rather than windows. The body/mind/soul is the computational engine and library of knowledge. The Oracle is the lattice where this intuition can become qualified, and easier to interpret than the feelings of instinct that exist as intuition.
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It’s hard to imagine they do, nor can I imagine how the various shuffling practices arrange the cards in any precise order, let alone reverse some as required.
If you really think a spooky process should inform your card choices for each position in any given spread, it might be a good idea to spread all the cards face down on the table in a random manner and then let the universe guide you to the right cards for each position.
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I get to know the spread myself and understand the position meanings.
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I’m really new to it (less than 1 yr) and I tend to shuffle between pulling cards in a spread. I tend to feel a slight pull of when to stop. So I think it’s less the card know and my body knows. Like maybe we meet somewhere in the middle.
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i think of it like probabilities
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The cards are not sentient, they don’t know anything. It’s what/whomever you believe you’re communicating with. For me, it’s my higher self following what energy is at play. You know, so your higher self or guides or the current energies, or whatever it is, knows and allows you to shuffle, cut, and draw at the time that would give you the most relevant cards for your question.
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Perhaps the card layout you choose if fated ✨
