How Many Cards Should I Use in a Reading? 

How Many Cards Should I Use in a Reading? 

A Tarot reading can be used for problem-solving, decision-making, brainstorming, character analysis, gaining insight into the past, present, and future, career obstacles, relationship struggles, inspiration, or counselling. Some people prefer to work or play with cards based on their mood. The benefit of this method is its spontaneity. The steps in a tarot reading include shuffling the deck, pulling the cards, placing them in a specific pattern or spread, and interpreting the significance of the entire symbolic picture in relation to your question or the current influences in your life. 

The Tarot, among other things, is an extraordinary guide to the workings of consciousness. Furthermore, it can help us realize our full potential. What exactly can we learn from this? The Tarot reader is cordially invited to join us on a guided tour of the mind, which, it has been suggested, reflects the structure of the Universe. The more we learn about ourselves, the more we learn about the universe around us. For this, let's talk about a few basic things that we think you should know at the beginning:

How to ask questions

Before learning how many cards to pull, it would be better to learn how to ask questions. It is not always easy to ask specific questions in a tarot reading. But the more specific you are in your question, the more specific the answer will be. Vague questions result in even more vague answers. Spend as much time as you need to clarify your question, considering its various aspects and determining what you really need to know to solve it. It's also critical that a tarot question not make any false assumptions. Otherwise, the cards will be unable to respond, and you will most likely receive a nonsense outcome. Write down any details you need to be aware of regarding the topic of the question that you ask. You can use who, what, where, why, and how questions to add a multitude of permutations. So, what questions can you actually ask tarot cards? Here are some of them:

- What do I need to know about my current relationship? 

- What does this dream mean?

- What are the challenges I must overcome to find love?

- What skills should I use to help advance my career?

- What are their intentions?

Knowing how many cards to pull

There are no hard and fast rules regarding the number of cards that must be pulled. When using a spread with defined positions and positional meanings, you pull as many cards as there are positions in the spread. Some readers will start with one card, interpret it, pull another, interpret that one, and so on until they get a card that either makes no sense or appears to be a pretty definitive end to the reading. If the information from the clarifier cards is helpful to you, I would say that your method is working and you should stick with it, regardless of what other people may say. But if it's not providing you with useful information, stop doing it. 

The more cards you pull, the more detailed your answer will be, but other than that, as with anything else in Tarot, just do what feels right to you. The rule is to listen to your heart and intuition rather than people who try to tell you what to do. The truth is that we are all individuals, and what works for one person may not work as well for another, and in reality, no one knows what is too much for you or not. 

Pulling the Cards  #Exercise

You can try author Mary K. Greer's technique on pulling cards. Rub your hands together rapidly until they generate heat and feel tingly. With your palm down, move your left hand over the three stacks and intuitively decide which one is your body, which is your mind, and which is your spirit. The body stack is usually the easiest to find. It tends to have a “magnetic” pull, is warmer or more “tingly,” and is somewhat denser. Then decide which stack is your mind and which is your spirit. I find the spirit stack to be the easier to determine. It tends to be the lightest and most “ephemeral.” Your hand may seem to float above it. The feeling is extremely subtle and expansive. The mind stack may be electric and cool. 

Observe what you feel, try to describe it, and most of all, trust that whatever you do is appropriate! Place your stacks in the following order, left to right: body, mind, spirit. The simplest and most direct methods are to either cut the deck three times, as described above, and turn over the top card in each stack, or to restack the cards after the cut, fan them out, and choose three cards from anywhere in the deck. Before you turn the cards over, note any impressions that come to mind regarding suit, color, or image. The cards whose emanations are so strong that you feel them might be especially significant to you. You should also note any cards that fall from the deck while you shuffle. If they reappear during the reading, give them extra consideration in your interpretation. 

Post Scriptum

Tarot readings are a wonderful method for introspection that you can use privately. You can ask the tarot as many questions as you want and pull an unlimited number of cards. Always go with what feels right to you. Tarot is more about intuition than numbers and what you see when looking at cards. For this reason, trusting your own experiences, feelings, and intuition will make you a much better tarot reader. As you grow and evolve, so will your ability to read tarot. BUT! To create magic, you must combine your personal experience and in-depth knowledge of tarot cards. 

Learning Tarot is a wonderful journey of discovery, and basic principles must always guide you. Over time, you can find your own style. 

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