Last Updated on January 26, 2020
You love to whip out your tarot cards when you have a question about your relationship or you’re wondering how to handle a situation at work. Sometimes you may even do mini readings for friends. But what do you do with your tarot cards when you’re not using them? Without a plan to care for your tarot cards, you may eventually stop getting the results from the cards that you want.
Why tarot care is important
If you regularly read tarot cards, I’m sure you can appreciate the bond you develop with your cards over time. I personally believe that we develop an energetic connection to our cards. If you walk into a metaphysical store or a bookstore that has plenty of tarot and oracle cards for sale, you’re going to be drawn to some and not to others. If you work with multiple decks, you’ll notice that at different times you feel inspired to work with one deck over the others. Those are signs that there is an energetic connection that plays a role in our ability to get the answers we need.
Along the same lines, the more you work with a particular deck, the better you’re likely to understand how it communicates with you. Sure you may have started off memorizing meanings from a book, but over time, certain cards will develop new and unique meanings just for you. This shows that the energetic connection between you and your cards is strengthening.
Some families where tarot cards have been used for generations find that when tarot cards are passed down they are often more powerful as they have the energy of the family members who used to use them, as well as the energy of the new owner of the deck.
Your success using tarot cards depends on keeping that energetic connection pure and strong. Here’s how caring for your tarot cards can do that.
Don’t let others do readings with your cards
Just as I wouldn’t recommend that you let someone hold your crystals, I am wary about allowing others to hold your tarot cards. One thing I would never recommend is letting someone else do a reading with your cards. Some people choose to let the person they are doing a reading for shuffle the cards so the cards can pick up on their energy. That’s fine, but don’t allow others to use your cards to do a reading, as that could influence your own energetic connection with the cards moving forward.
Keep your cards in a private location
I get it. You’re proud of your tarot deck collection and you love your cards. You have nothing to hide and, in fact, you’d like to show the world how much you adore your divination tools.
While that may be true, keeping your tarot cards out in the open can be problematic particularly if you live with other people. We already discussed why others shouldn’t handle your cards so if you can’t control who touches your cards, how do you know that they are free from another person’s energy? Plus another person may not have the respect you have for the cards and could unintentionally do damage to them.
Keep your tarot cards wrapped up
You may leave a deck of playing cards lying around in case you get enough company for a Spades tournament, but your tarot cards aren’t for play. When they’re not in use, you want to keep them wrapped in a way where they are protected from the shifting energy of your environment. There are a number of things you can use:
Silk. A silk scarf is an excellent substance to wrap your tarot cards in because silk is believed to keep negative energy away.
Tarot card bag or pouch. There are plenty of pouches made of such substances as satin and velvet that can be used to hold your cards. Some of them have drawstrings that allow you to keep your cards completely covered and make them easy to transport if you travel with them.
Wooden box. If you plan to keep your tarot cards at home, a wooden box can keep them away from outside energy. You might even want to decorate the box so that it makes you feel good every time you look at it.
So what if you’ve already let someone handle your cards…
After reading this, you may realize you’ve already committed all of these no-nos, but, don’t worry! It’s ok! It doesn’t mean you have to throw your tarot cards out. When we know better, we do better!
Instead, simply cleanse them. There are many ways to do that and you can pick the one that vibes the best with you.
Smudge the cards. You can burn sage or allow the smoke of your favorite incense to pass over the cards and the negative energy will waft away with the smoke.
Use the power of the moon. If you’re a moon baby, meaning you love, love, love the moon, wait until the next Full Moon and sit your deck in the moonlight. You can track the moon’s phases with an app like Moon.
Cleanse them in sea salt. Simply bury the cards in a bowl of salt. This isn’t my favorite method, but if you choose to do this make sure you shake the cards to get all of the salt out of them when you’re finished.
Use crystals to cleanse the cards. Certain crystals will absorb negative energy. I like the idea of using Amethyst to cleanse my cards because it’s a stone that is designed enhance spiritual activities. Other crystals good for cleansing cards include Clear Quartz and Black Tourmaline. Simply place the crystal on top of the deck.
Knock on the deck three times. This is probably the easiest thing to do and it’s also pretty cool. When you knock on the deck three times (as you would knock on a door), it is believed that you are releasing stuck or negative energy and awakening the new energy that the deck will work with moving forward.
Reordering the deck. Another of my favorite ways to cleanse my decks is to reorder the decks starting with the major arcana (From the Fool to the World), and then going to the minor arcana with each suit going from the Ace to the King. Once I’ve reordered the deck, I then shuffle and voila, I’m starting with a new energetic connection.
