Cut

To cut, you lift part of the shuffled deck, set it down, and put the piles back together in a different order. Many readers ask the querent to cut so that they take part in the reading; others cut the cards themselves. Customs vary: some cut into three piles with the left hand, a habit inherited from playing-card fortune-telling, and some read the card at the bottom of each pile. None of this is a fixed rule. The cut also has a plain practical use, as in card games, since it makes it harder to stack the deck. See how to shuffle tarot cards.