You’re shuffling cards. Mindful of the question. Then mid shuffle, a card falls out. Do you use it? Put it back in the deck? Was it significant? Should you use it in your reading? Maybe the card was a sign that it shouldn’t be even in the reading and you should leave it out of the reading altogether?!
A lot of this will come down to personal preferences and the scenarios that occur;
- If you’ve just taken the deck out of the box and haven’t even begun to settle the mind or consider the question, put it back in the deck.
- If you feel it was a sign, use it in the reading in the order in which it fell out. For example, if it was the first card to be drawn, use it for that position. If it was the second card, use it for the second and so on.
- If the client was shuffling, use it.
- If a whole bundle of cards fell out, the amount of which is inappropriate to the reading, put them back and reshuffle.
- If you just feel you were clumsy, then put it back in the deck.
If you decide to use the card, be mindful how you pick it up. I often flip cards horizontally. That way, whether the card is upright or reversed, the position is maintained. If you flip them vertically, you may reverse a card that was originally upright and vice-versa.
A card that falls out of the deck can have special significance. It may refer to the client or hold special meaning for them. The context in which it fell out is important – I would never discard a single card that fell out if the reading had started. You could also use the card as an adjacent to the reading. Place the card to the side, draw the cards like you were going to, but refer to the card that fell out as providing context to the other cards.
Pic from u_bwnedbuxc1 on pixabay
It’s surprisingly common how often a card will fall out, be put back into the deck, only to show up in the reading anyway.
Ideally, you should have a set routine of how you deal with the cards. By that I mean you follow the same format when you begin to read cards – from settling the mind, to the environment, to how you shuffle, deal and interpret. If you always use a card that pops out, then use the card always. If you always put it back in the deck, then always put it back in the deck.
The more you use the cards, the more you will know whether the card that pops out was significant or just due to an accident.
There’s no hard and fast rule in dealing with cards that fall out of the deck. Trust your gut and intuition. The cards are always a way to put form on what you already know. They are powerful archetypes that allow us to place a structure on what we may not be consciously aware of. Much like whether you should buy your first deck or wait until someone gifts one to you, nobody can tell you what is right for you. The card will speak for itself.