Cult of Tarot Forum

Do you ever use your cards in ways they weren't intended, or contrary to popular 'convention' ?

I bought some Kipper cards last year and tried working with them in the 'conventional' way and this just didn't work well for me, and I found them very frustrating when used in that way. So I started using them instead along with my tarot cards, usually as clarifiers, and I've been getting some great results with them by doing that. I still retain the traditional meanings along with some of my own that have developed through using them. I'm of the opinion that the cards are just tools, and you can use them how they best suit you if the conventional way doesn't work as well for you.

So I was wondering if anyone else does this kind of thing. Do you use your Lenormand, Kipper, Oracle, playing cards, or Tarot decks in different ways than they were perhaps intended? If so what do you do? Or is this a big no-no for you? (I've also attached a poll)

We'd have to define what you mean by "unconventionally." Some people would say that reading in a way that deviates from what they perceive to be the right way to read cards is unconventional. Others might think that using them as doorstoppers is the most normal thing to do

One example from me: There's a small deck (the Complete Kit by Dennis Fairchild) that I used to use quite a bit. It lent itself well to just throwing the cards up in the air and then reading the first x-number of face-up cards in whatever constellation they fell - sort of tea leaf fashion, I guess.

Curious what other do/have done.

jaq wrote: ↑10 Apr 2019, 14:33 Some people would say that reading in a way that deviates from what they perceive to be the right way to read cards is unconventional.

I'm going to be curmudgeonly and suggest that reading cards the right way is what's unconventional these days.

Charlie Brown wrote: ↑10 Apr 2019, 15:37 I'm going to be curmudgeonly and suggest that reading cards the right way is what's unconventional these days.

Lol, I like that:)

I selected 'No, I've considered it but never tried'. I like to stick to a fairly conventional method of reading, at least according to my definition - because I think if I did something drastically different I would only feel I was fooling myself, like cheating at a video game or something. Then again, as jaq said, people are bound to have different ideas of what's considered conventional and unconventional. I don't incorporate anything to do with the Kabbalah into my readings, but some people may disagree with that and consider it 'wrong', so...

Still, the 'rules' aren't written in stone, and it's also important to remember IMO that most older pre-Golden Dawn decks weren't intended to be 'read with' anyway! It's good to experiment. But for me, I like there to be an element of consistency. And as I said before, this is all about reading for oneself.

I have this cute little deck that defies a category - as far as I know, the only one of its kind, “Wizard’s School of Magic Cards” - that I sometimes use for clarification or as a stand alone deck. Isn’t it adorable? Sorta like a minors only deck.

I used to think I was being unconventional.
Not so long ago, before all these smartphones and apps, we had to schlep a little deck around with us. There's obviously not always a table handy, or even a clean, dry surface to lay the cards. So when reading on the fly, I would read cuts. Nobody ever talked about reading cuts, and I never saw anybody else doing it. But I eventually read on Cat Yronwode's Lucky Mojo site that it used to be common - it's just considered old-fashioned now. Utterly conventional!