A necessity when buying a second hand deck?
Many of the Tarot decks I have were bought second hand and, just as there are always new styles of deck coming in, many Tarot decks are long out of print and only available second hand.
Of course, on some of the internet auction sites you can from time to time find new and sealed OOP decks available to buy but what if the particular deck you want to use is out of print and only available second hand?
All you need to do is learn how to cleanse the deck of previous influences and this is not at all difficult.
I hope this lens helps you.
Cleansing and Charging Your Tarot Cards by Katherine Carington Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 UK: Scotland License.
Based on a work at www.squidoo.com.
Making a start
When you receive your second hand Tarot deck, the very first thing to do is to count the cards to make sure all are present.This is also a good opportunity to sort the cards into order.
There are 78 cards in a normal Tarot deck, comprising of 22 Major Arcana cards, numbered 0 to 21, and 56 Minor Arcana cards, divided into four suits of fourteen cards each, ace to ten and four court cards.
Some decks, such as the Modiano Tarot containing 64, have fewer cards and there are some decks with more than 78 in total.
As well as the Tarot cards, if you are lucky there will also be the original small instruction booklet and (usually) two additional cards which tell you about the deck, the artist or the manufacturer.
At this point, having satisfied yourself that all the cards are present which should be, arrange the Minor Arcana into their suits in stacks with the Ace on top running in order to the ten with finally Page, Knight, Queen and King on the bottom, then sort the Major Arcana into numerical order, with the 0 Fool card on top of that stack.
Gather the stacks up, Major arcana at the top, Cups next followed by Pentacles, Wands and Swords.
Congratulations, you have just taken the first step in cleansing your Tarot.
By the way, the actual order of the suits of cards is neither here nor there, as long as the cards are ordered within the suits, you can gather them up in whatever order please you.
Cleansing procedures
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Arranging the cards in order is the first step in cleansing your deck and preparing it for use, the rest very much depends on the deck you have received.If the deck has never been used then simply shuffling them (I know you just sorted them out) and then re-arranging them once more into the order given above will probably be all the cleansing they need.
Similar to some of the Feng Shui space cleansing exercises, the rattling about, spreading them around, stacking and restacking, handling each card individually as you do so, then I bet you tapped the stacks on the table to make them neat and tidy - there you go, most decks are fine at that.
Even better if you happened to have some of your favourite incense burning nearby while you did that - this would be the equivalent of light smudging ;-)
The intention to cleanse the deck has been in your mind while performing these simple steps and that is enough.
Even a brand new Tarot, fresh out of the wrapper, should still be cleansed in this way.
How do I know it's done?
Trust me, you'll know.
There is no doubt that if your Tarot needs more cleansing than given above, you will get a strange feeling from it.
If not immediately on handling the cards then you will know it after the first night you spend with them.
The next stage in cleansing and preparing your deck is to find or make a suitable cloth, drawstring bag and a box to keep it in and prepare that by smudging with incense or smoke from sage sticks.
If you choose a box, nomatter what the material the box is made of, you should still have your Tarot cards wrapped in a cloth. Choose the colour to suit you best. You may also use the cloth you will lay your Tarot spreads on - more later on this.
'Smudging' is wafting the smoke deliberately over the surfaces and inside the box and bag or cloth you will be storing your Tarot deck in.
There is no doubt that if your Tarot needs more cleansing than given above, you will get a strange feeling from it.
If not immediately on handling the cards then you will know it after the first night you spend with them.
The next stage in cleansing and preparing your deck is to find or make a suitable cloth, drawstring bag and a box to keep it in and prepare that by smudging with incense or smoke from sage sticks.
If you choose a box, nomatter what the material the box is made of, you should still have your Tarot cards wrapped in a cloth. Choose the colour to suit you best. You may also use the cloth you will lay your Tarot spreads on - more later on this.
'Smudging' is wafting the smoke deliberately over the surfaces and inside the box and bag or cloth you will be storing your Tarot deck in.
Preparing your deck for use.
You have your cleansed deck of cards, you have your cloth, what now?Charging the cards with your own influence has already begun as you undertook the process of cleansing them.
To reinforce this I recommend strongly that you sleep with your new Tarot under your pillow. If not under your pillow, then under the bed directly below the pillow.
If you have a disturbing dream then your Tarot needs further cleansing - yes, it's that simple to know.
Mostly though you'll find no problem at all having a Tarot deck under your pillow, in fact, if you set aside some time (as much as you can manage) at a regular time each day to simply look at the cards, noting the impressions you get from them (a Tarot journal is useful here), taking plenty of time for each card, you should begin to find inspirational dreams coming in the night.
This doesn't always happen straight away, so don't worry if it seems elusive.
Try to set aside a regular time of day, just as you would for meditation. You should also try to make this the time of day when you plan to do your readings once you get started.
If your Tarot needs further cleansing
There are a number of methods you can choose to further cleanse your Tarot deck.Depending on the feeling or dream you have had from the cards, you should choose one or more of these to finish clearing the deck of previous influences and then return the cards under your pillow as previously suggested.
These two methods are my recommendations for simple cleansing which can be carried out by any beginner.
Quartz Crystal A quartz crystal is a wonderful absorber of energies and it is no bad thing to keep one with your Tarot whenever you store it away. Leaving a quartz crystal in with your Tarot in a dark place (inside box for example) will see any remaining influences in the cards drawn out. It will be a matter of judgement for how long you leave them together, a week should do in most cases.
After using your chosen crystal to cleanse the deck, you can leave it where it will get moonlight or sunlight to allow it to discharge the energies harmlessly.
Salt First wrap your Tarot in a plastic bag as tightly as you can. A sandwich bag is ideal for this as the plastic is very thin indeed. Leave as little air inside the bag as possible.
Now fill an airtight container somewhat larger than the Tarot pack to completely surround your wrapped Tarot with salt on all sides, above and below. It is imperative that this is an airtight container as salt not only gathers the energies from a Tarot deck well, it also gathers any moisture and you may find your deck swimming in very salty liquid if you are not careful.
Again, you will assess the time the deck needs to remain under salt according to the strength of the dream. I recommend at least a week before you take the deck out and place it under your pillow again.
Do not be tempted to save the salt, it should be thrown away.
In the unusual event that you find the deck needs further cleansing, repeat the process with fresh salt or a freshly discharged crystal.
I also found a very nice description of a salt cleansing 'cure' for room spaces in this lens
A cloth on which to spread your cards
Strictly speaking, this is a Magickal Object.
Just as it is part of any magic ritual to cleanse your hands or your whole self, there are practical reasons why you should also perform this "ritual" (although just for the hands is fine) before taking out your Tarot and there are practical reasons for having a special cloth to lay your spreads on. It will help to keep them clean.
It is also practical to make it yourself as you can then ensure it is the right size for whatever spread you undertake.
On my left when reading is the same wording which appears on one of my cards, Tomorrow is the child of today, born from the seed of yesterday, where I put the 13th stack and on my right is the full spread I do, with the twelve houses in a circle.
It doesn't need to be elaborate, you can choose any cloth and any colour which suits you, but it should be kept with the deck ... that box is getting larger, you're thinking, but here is a picture of my drawstring pouch in which I keep not only my Tarot cards but also a pendulum, the cloth above and a crystal.
Just as it is part of any magic ritual to cleanse your hands or your whole self, there are practical reasons why you should also perform this "ritual" (although just for the hands is fine) before taking out your Tarot and there are practical reasons for having a special cloth to lay your spreads on. It will help to keep them clean.
It is also practical to make it yourself as you can then ensure it is the right size for whatever spread you undertake.
This is a picture of mine, which I hand painted in gold acrylic.
On my left when reading is the same wording which appears on one of my cards, Tomorrow is the child of today, born from the seed of yesterday, where I put the 13th stack and on my right is the full spread I do, with the twelve houses in a circle.
It doesn't need to be elaborate, you can choose any cloth and any colour which suits you, but it should be kept with the deck ... that box is getting larger, you're thinking, but here is a picture of my drawstring pouch in which I keep not only my Tarot cards but also a pendulum, the cloth above and a crystal.
It measures 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches by 2.25 inches, so not very big.
Cleaning as opposed to cleansing
Cleaning and cleansing are not the same thing.
From time to time, through regular use and handling, you may find your Tarot cards become a little sticky. Cleansing as described above will do nothing for this.
It is possible to clean your Tarot cards. The safest method is to gently rub each card with talcum powder.
Talc is a great absorber of the greasiness which tends to be picked up from hands. Of course, it helps if you always ensure your hands are clean before using the cards but this will still not prevent them from picking up deposits from your skin.
I used to work with embroidery, mainly whitework, and you very soon learn that even if you did wash your hands before you started, half an hour into the project they needed another wash.
Your Tarot should not need cleaned in this way very often but you'll be surprised at the difference it makes.
From time to time, through regular use and handling, you may find your Tarot cards become a little sticky. Cleansing as described above will do nothing for this.
It is possible to clean your Tarot cards. The safest method is to gently rub each card with talcum powder.
Talc is a great absorber of the greasiness which tends to be picked up from hands. Of course, it helps if you always ensure your hands are clean before using the cards but this will still not prevent them from picking up deposits from your skin.
I used to work with embroidery, mainly whitework, and you very soon learn that even if you did wash your hands before you started, half an hour into the project they needed another wash.
Your Tarot should not need cleaned in this way very often but you'll be surprised at the difference it makes.
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0ctavias Tarot and Spiritual Lenses
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Spirituality is a very personal thing, we all come to our own understanding sooner or later. It doesn't matter if your understanding fits in with an established religion or not, developing the spiritual side of your nature will improve your life...
How do you cleanse yours?
If you have any advice to pass on to others or if you want to comment on this lens, please feel free to leave a message.
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Reply
- Pryzym Pryzym Dec 23, 2009 @ 12:38 pm
- Very nice lens!
I learned a lot.
Thank you for sharing.
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Reply
- newbizmau newbizmau Dec 15, 2009 @ 10:21 pm
- Nice lens. 5*
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- 0ctavias0fferings 0ctavias0fferings Oct 7, 2009 @ 4:45 am
- You can wrap the cards in silk before placing them in a bag but it isn't altogether necessary. I believe that silk was the fabric of choice because it was finer and less likely to damage the cards than other fabrics, for the same reasons it was always likely to keep the cards cleaner as well.
In modern times, with the variety of fabrics we have readily available in fine weave and at relatively low cost, I think it is less crucial to wrap a deck in silk. What I would advise, however, is that you only use natural fabrics to wrap your deck. Man made fibres such as polyester mimic silks very well but conduct electricity rather better than natural fibres. I'm sure you've taken off a blouse or similar to hear the crackle of static electricity, this sort of conductivity would not be desirable around your cards.[in reply to Laniann]
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- Laniann Laniann Oct 4, 2009 @ 10:15 am
- A Very informative and well explained lens.Your bag looks like velvet. Should the Tarot Cards be wrapped in silk before placing them in the bag or box? 5*
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Reply
- GhostWalker GhostWalker Jun 23, 2009 @ 11:38 am
- Great info rated it a 5
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