What do you do before 'Reading the Cards'?

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

First things first, I wash the table, then my hands.

I get my cards out and lay out my cloth. Then, I take a minute or two to meditate, just to center and focus myself. I like a candle and ask for clarity in my insights and thoughts. All this is just to help open up my intuitiveness; it's preparing me to interpret.

I pick out the Significator card if I'm using one, then I shuffle the deck a couple times. If I am trying to read for someone, I hand the deck to them and tell them what they need to do. If it's for me, I just shuffle the cards, cut them and begin the magical journey.

So tell me what do you do....or what will you plan on doing?

[Silver Venus]

Hiya, Good Idea to cover this!

I havent been doing but will try to remember to wash my hands as I realised last night my deck is getting pretty gruby now too! :)

I always light a candle or two (two if I am reading for a friend to represent them) and some sweet incense to set the mood and relax. It also allows me to focus my energies and say a quick little prayer to my goddess and to thank them for the day.
I then take my cards out of the wooden box which I keep them in and start to speak to them in my mind.. I tell them what I am about to do - which spread and introduce my friend to them ..I guess I just mentally connect and concetrate on them letting all my other thoughts go gently away and my energy go into them while I am taking them out and unwrapping them from their silk scarf.
Then once they are unwrapped I hand them to my friend (same goes if I am doing a reading for me) and ask her to shuffle, cut then shuffle again. I ask them to think about her/his life, her/his love, her/his work, her/his health, or just to clear their heads and relax while shuffling. Then when the are happy, I take the cards from them and spread them in a half circle. I then ask them to take 3/4/5/6/7/10/13 cards - how ever many we need for the spread. All the remainding cards get put in pile to one side. Once all cards are in there positions, I turn them over and read what I feel the cards to represent and also tell them the story/meaning/imagery behind each card.
Sometimes if I feel an answer has not come up or they are unsure on a few matters I ask them to pick three more cards.
Once the reading has ended I ask them to tell me their feeling s on each card and we talk about each one again.
Then I wrap the cards back up, again speaking to them in my mind - just whatever come sinto my mind - and put them back in their box.
I keep the box on my altar inbetween two white candles.
So thats what I do :)

Dagda, what is a Significator card? and do you just pick it out from the pack blindly or do you chose it?
Ive also heard that you can annoint your cards with oil, but Im not really sure how I would do this and if they would ever dry out!?

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

You can do either to choose it! You can draw it randomly out of the deck, or you can pick it out from among the Court Cards. Kings - Mature males, Queens Mature females, Knights young men, Pages young women and children. You can also go by their coloring compared to that of the Querant (these I'm sure will be posted when we get into the Court Cards).....or you can pick from the court cards according to the Querants Sun Sign.

Wands-(Fire) Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Swords-(Air) Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

Cups-(Water) Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Pentacles-(Earth) Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

For example: I (virgo)would be a Queen of Pentacles, my son (gemini) would be a page of swords.

If the subject is about love, I typically use the Lovers for a Significator. This is a card that would typically be placed under the #1 card in the Celtic Cross spread. Many spreads don't use significators though.

:D

[Silver Venus]

Hi,
Thanks alot I will pick out a significator next time I do a reading! Ive been getting the Queen of Pentacles alot recently - and Im a Capricorn so the relevance to the star signs really helped too - I will make a note of them ~ Thank you :sunny:
Walk in Light and Love

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

How great! :D

[Amora]

I use the typical Celtic Cross and Past, Present, Future spreads in my readings. When at home I like to burn incense during but when I read at the shop I work at they burn their own which is not as effective for me! I always do a long meditation before doing any readings. I found that the reference to Astrology and the signs making up Pentacles, Wands, etc.. has helped me greatly when I do my readings. I was doing one the other day and being the nervous type I tuned out my intuition a little until I was almost yelled at by my guides to ask the birthdate of this womans husband. It turns out the King of Wands who was surrounding her was not her husband who I so wrongly assumed it was...It saved the whole reading! Now it is a critical part of all my readings!

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

Wow! That's really fascinating! If I'm reading it correctly, you associate the sun sign with the card to help figure out who the court cards represents?? That is absolutely great~! I would have just used it to identify the Significator! there are so many aspects that come into play that can help you interpret!

I'm glad that reading turned out well for you!!

[Amora]

I've found that using the signs to determine who a person is (or isn't) has always worked for me! I'm glad you started this topic I think we can all learn from each others unique ways. I know I'm going to try the Significator method too (if I spelled it correctly). Thanks for the tips!!!

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

I agree! I've learned more here than I have from most all the books and sites that I've been to!!

Thanks! And good luck with the Significator!!

[Rainbow Chaser]

I sit down, take a good deep breath, make sure my feet are on the ground so I can feel the energy flowing.
And that's it!

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

Simple, yet effective enough! I tend to have lack of vict...uh...clients. So, it's a family member or two and a friend or two. My co-workers are starting to volunteer now! ...so we'll see how that goes. I want to feel more confident before I read for them though! ...and I'm sure they won't let me light a candle at work! :D So, I'll have to revise my 'ritual'!

[Rainbow Chaser]

Well, if it's more vict... uh volunteers you want, you might want to try offering free readings through the internet. I did and that was quite insightful. After a while I had to stop it because I got way too many requests (through referrals). I don't mind doing the odd reading, but several a day, I don't think so!

[Star]

I always ask the God and Goddess to guide me through the cards....it never fails!
Blessings,
Star

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

RC,

After we learn the cards here, we will more than likely read for each other and then possibly those who frequent the site. I'm not sure what Semele has in mind yet. :)

[PaganBoyNC]

My pre-reading ritual is generally to make sure that my hands and the area I will be reading on are clean, to spend a couple of minutes meditating (and energizing my chakras, in particular the brow and crown) and saying a short mental prayer to either Apollon or Hermes (depending on the nature of my question) and to Athena.

I personally do not like to use a significator card because I find that those cards which seem most associated with the person I am reading often come up in the reading itself in the spread, I like having a full deck and letting the deck speak for itself (besides, most spreads have at least one card that represents the questioner and I have found that when I try to use a significator I get more information from that card than from the significator card).

I do think there is a lot to be said for understanding connections and associations though--between the cards and the elements, numbers, signs, etc... this is one of the things about Paganism that hints at the higher lessons to be learned that trasncend all physical symbols and human traditions and yet are contained within each of them...not to mention that by knowing the associations you can understand the cards a lot better too :).

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

i like to use a significator when the querant can't be present. I also use one to do a clarity reading. (love, money etc) clarifying a previous layout.

:D