1. Overhand shuffle (the easiest)
Hold the deck in one hand, peel small chunks off the top with the other, and drop them on top of the remaining cards. Repeat until the deck feels mixed (usually 30-60 seconds). This is the easiest shuffle and the one most beginners default to. Drawback: it almost never produces reversals, so if you read with reversals you need an extra step.
2. Riffle shuffle (the casino shuffle)
Split the deck into two halves, hold one in each hand with thumbs along one edge, and interleave them by releasing thumbs simultaneously. This is the fastest randomiser, but tarot cards are larger and more delicate than playing cards — repeated riffle shuffling can bend or damage them. Use sparingly, and only if you do not mind a slightly bent deck.
3. The push-together shuffle
Split the deck into two halves face-down on the table. Push the two halves together side-by-side so they interleave, then square the deck. This is gentler than a riffle and works well for most decks. It is the shuffle professional readers most often use.
4. The "shuffle and cut" with reversals
For readers who use reversals: standard overhand shuffle, then cut the deck in half and flip one half (rotate 180 degrees) before reshuffling. This guarantees reversals naturally enter the deck without you forcing them. The single-flip-and-mix is the canonical reversal method.
5. The intuitive scatter (advanced)
Spread the deck face-down across a table or cloth, mix the cards by gently moving them in circles for thirty seconds, then gather them back into a deck. The most thorough randomiser, but messy and slow. Use for big readings (Celtic Cross, major life-question pulls) where you want to be sure the deck is fully reset.
How long to shuffle
Long enough that you have focused on the question, short enough that the focus does not turn into anxiety. For most readings, 30-60 seconds is right. For a single-card pull, fifteen seconds is plenty. For a Celtic Cross or major life question, sometimes two minutes feels right. Trust your hands — when the deck feels "ready," it usually is.
When to cut the deck
After shuffling, cut the deck into 2-3 piles with your non-dominant hand, then reassemble them in any order you like. The cut is the final randomisation and the moment of commitment — once you have cut, do not reshuffle. Some readers cut after every shuffle; most cut once at the end.