The Cards
It is essential that you feel completely at ease with your chosen deck of cards and it may take some time before you finally discover your 'special' pack. Tarot decks offers a wide range of themes and images are available at most esoteric shops and stores and often samples of the various decks may be examined before choices are made. Never choose your deck hurriedly, or when you are feeeling insufficiently 'centered' to make the right choice. Spend time to contemplate the ones which hold instant appeal for you. Those that 'sing out' are in tune with you inner self and will ultimately enable you to give vibrant intuitive readings.Caring for your cards
Diviners generally keep their cards wrapped in a square of silk when not in use. Black silk is often used since this color is said to repel evil influences. However, color is a personal choice and most people have a favorite hue - one which gives them a sence of vibrancy and joy. If you are at ease with your choice, so too will be your cards. When not in use, place your deck in a particular drawer, or a 'special' wooden box or container which holds instant appeal for you. Centre your thoughts and you will intuitively know which 'home' is best for your cards.Preparing to divine
Reading the tarot is easer to do when you are in a state of relaxed concentration. This way you can interpret the cards more intuitively and with greater sensitivity. Prior to a reading or readings, the use of a simple relazation exercise may be helpful. You may wish to develop your own method, but merely by breathing deeply and consciously dispelling negative, mundane influences for several minutes, an appropriate sense of calm can be induced.Centre you psychic energy
With a state of calm achieved, slowly sift throught the cards, looking at the face of each one, letting your imagination and inner consciousness dwell briefly on each, allowing a rapport to form between yourself and the cards. This exercise will stimulate your imaginative and psychic powers and the tarot's exotic imagery will produce a kind of autohypnosis, at the same time enlivening our intuitive responses. The burning of a favorite incense or perfumed candle, or providing a background of appropriate music, may also assist you to achieve the right mood.Shuffling the cards
Each Diviner has his or her own way of shuffling the cards. Briskly, using two hands simultaneously is one of the more positive ways of keeping energies alive and flowing. It is better than, for instance, holding the deck in the left hand and loosely dropping the cards in with the right, thereby allowing the deck's energy to disperse. This method is also inadvisable because the Enuirer can see the face of the cards. It is better that this does not happen until the Diviner turns them over, so that the Enquirer does not impose his or her own energy onto the cards thereby allowing the esoteric element to be retained until the actual reading. By developing and preserving a special ritual when shuffling and turning up the cards, you will preserve your own unique approach to your readings.Mystic Mood
In order to maintain your concentration, it is best not to make conversation with the Enquirer before the reading, exept to ask them to cut the deck or to select a significator, if necessary. Thereafter, keep your flow of energy sharp and clear, answer the questions of the Enquirer as you will, but try not to encourage chatty, mundane conversation.The Significator
A significator represents a person or object implying or expressing a special or hidden meaning. It required in a spread , the significator may be selected by the Diviner and will generally represent the Enquirer. The four suits symbolize the following: Clubs, a fair person with blue eyes; Cups, light brown hair and pale eyes; Swords, brown hair and brown eyes; Coins, black hair and dark eyes. For a man, the King of the appropriate suit is selected and for a woman, the Queen. For a young man, the Knight and for a young girl or child, the Page. The Enquirer may also be asked to select a significator simply by cutting the deck or by choosing a card from a selection proffered by the Diviner.