The Blank Card
a Tarot deck is printed as a single page, which is later cut into separate cards. the full page contains 80 cards (8×10), which allows for the standard 78 cards plus 2. as most other printers do, i used one of the extra cards as a “logo card” with the deck name and description. the other one i decided to use as a “blank card” – an empty frame with nothing except the white background. i thought it would be interesting to release it without too many instructions, and see what people do with it. i also did my own experiments.
from feedbacks and by my own experience, the blank card can be used in two ways: either as a separate focusing tool, or as an additional card shuffled with the deck.
as a focusing tool, i keep the blank card separate from the deck. at the beginning of the reading session i put it right in front of the querent and ask him to focus his gaze at the center of the card. then i instruct him to say whatever comes to his mind without moving his gaze.
the results are very impressive. after a minute or two, people enter a mild trance-like state. they may start to see shapes and colors in the card. sometimes they see a specific card appearing in the frame in a skeletal way. once or twice people even experienced the card’s becoming transparent, so that they could see the surface under it.
when i feel that we had enough, i kind of “swipe” above the card surface with the palm of my hand to disconnect the querent from the effect. then i proceed with the reading as usual. but first, i ask him about his feelings. quite a few times, it happened that the querent has realized during the exercise that in fact, it is another question or issue which he really wants to raise in the session.
the second option is to shuffle the blank card into the deck and let it show up in the spread like any other one. here i follow an idea of a friend of mine. he tried this and realized that he could treat the blank card literally as a “carte blanche” – meaning, the universe is giving you an open card, anything is possible for you now. whatever you ask for, you will get.
i further thought that if this is so, i can let the querent choose another card to cover the blank one – not at random, but with a deliberate choice. what card would you like to see in this place? put it on the blank. this is a psychomagical act affirming your will and desire. now look at the card combination, and see how things will look like if you get what you want. consider what you see: is this realy your wish? maybe you would prefer something else?
i am sure there are more ways to use the blank card which can be interesting. you are welcome to try and explore them – and if you stumble upon something interesting, please tell me about it..