The “Slice of Life” Structured Pull

AUTHOR’S NOTE: A question frequently posed by beginners to more seasoned tarot readers is “How do you pull the cards for a reading?” It’s a legitimate request since the method of delivery determines which cards appear in the spread. I have always followed the advice of Eden Gray in her 1960 book T he Tarot Revealed: shuffle and cut the deck, then pull and lay the cards in order from the top. This works well enough as long as we are consistent in our approach, but I know that many modern diviners use alternate techniques.

Although my own belief is that the shuffle-and-cut steps bring the cards to the top of the deck that are necessary to tell the seeker’s story, I sometimes think the process excludes too many of them from the target population and ultimately leaves them “off the table.” Here is a strategy that delves deeper into the pack while still following an orderly routine. The idea is to shuffle the deck (cut if you want) and then deal all 78 cards into six stacks of thirteen cards, in any order you choose as long as the stacks are equal. These sub-packs describe the potential “themes” or general range-of-focus for the upcoming reading, the “slices of life” of the title. I’ve given them conceptual labels as shown in the photograph, but you are free to change them to anything that works better for your present context. (All images are from the Waite-Smith Centennial Edition, copyright of US Games Systems Inc, Stamford, CT.)

Once the cards are dealt, roll a single six-sided die to chose one of the sub-packs to convey the scope of the narrative. Then turn over the top card of that group and interpret it as the overarching message of the reading-to-come.

Turn that card face-down and shuffle the thirteen cards of the sub-pack while concentrating on how the specifics of that theme and message might play out in concrete terms. Pull five cards from the shuffled set to form a five-card line. The original “message” card may or may not show up in the final five, which is not significant either way. (You can use more or less cards as you see fit, and draw them in any way you like.) Although I won’t read the cards below in detail, I’ve added some notes to each one hinting at how they could apply to the overall message of “unstable change.”

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.org on January 29, 2025.