Hello Travelers!
And welcome to the December 2022. We have arrived at the end of another year and find ourselves quickly moving into a new one.
I know there are many of you who read this newsletter that read cards - either for others or yourselves but I find that many new tarot card “readers” are completely inexperienced and some completely just don’t know what they’re doing. That’s no dig on folks who wish to learn The Craft - just a statement of observation.
Learning and reading tarot cards is not just a skill - it’s an art. But it also involves the sacred. While the tarot is supposed to be used for self development, it became a way for those with the “gift” to assist others in their self-development; providing them insight and answers to the life questions they ponder.
Most times when a newbie purchases a deck of tarot cards, they immediately take them out of the box, peruse them, look over the white book (the little book that oftentimes comes with the deck) - then they attempt to throw a reading.
The entire sequence right there is setting yourself up for trouble later on down the road. There’s a proper way to handle a new deck and in the years I’ve been doing this work and speaking with other tarot readers, many of them are clueless about how to handle a new deck. I’m going to share a bit of what I know on what I call:
TAROT HYGIENE
First thing you should do when opening a new deck of cards is clean them. Why? Well, you’ve no idea what energetic mindset the person who put them in the box, or placed them in the envelope for mailing or put them on the shelf in a store. You’ve no idea what mood the postman was in when he delivered the cards to you - so you should CLEAN the deck first.
You don’t need fancy stuff like sage bundles or crystals - a simple mix of salt and water in a small spray bottle will do the trick. You’ll need to charge the salt though - and this simply means that you should say a prayer over the salt. Salt is a mineral and will do anything you ask it, so you want to ask that it helps to clean and clear any and all negative energies from your deck. Once you’ve done that, put a pinch of salt in (preferrably distilled water) into your spray bottle shake up real good and then get to cleaning. Lightly spray both sides of each card and with a soft cloth, wipe off each card. If you don’t believe me that this works, check the energy of the deck before you clean it, then check again after you clean it.
BECOMING ONE WITH YOUR DECK - The art of Imprinting
The next step is to IMPRINT with your deck. This takes about a week, but is well worth the time and effort. Take your newly cleaned deck and place it in a black cloth - again - nothing fancy. Traditionally the cloth is supposed to be black silk, but I don’t like silk so don’t own any. I use a black cotton sock. Place your deck inside your black cloth and then place the deck under your pillow and sleep on it. When you get up in the morning, take the deck in your cloth and put in your purse or bag and throughout the day, touch it. Don’t take it out of your cloth, but just touch it through the cloth.
When you get home at the end of the day and right before bed, take the deck out of the cloth and look over it. Look at each card. This is where a tarot journal becomes very important - because as you look at each card, you might start to get impressions and you want to write those down so you don’t forget. This is the deck speaking to you in it’s own voice. Repeat those steps: sleep with deck under pillow, touch it throughout the day, before bed take the deck out, look over each card, write down your impressions. Do this for 7 days. On the eighth day, do your first card throw. You should see a marked improvement in the messages they provide.
KEEP IT CLEAN - Your Reading Space
Many of you who watch me over on YouTube know that my office is a hot mess. My house was built in 1942 and well - old houses have no storage. But if you saw my actual reading table - I keep it clean. I don’t leave decks lying all over it when I’m not working and I dust it off once a week and wash the reading cloths. I also use that salt spray I mentioned earlier to spray and wipe down the surfaces. Clean off any items you keep on your reading table - candle holders, photos, incense holders - etc. You want everything on the table to be free of residual energies from previous readings.
BUY TWO DECKS - Keeping the Cards Fresh
After many readings, the cards can get tired. Think of how you would feel if people kept asking your questions over and over and over again - you’d be pretty danged tired too. The cards are no different. They only have a finite amount energy to expend for a certain amount of time and then they go “limp”.
Because I read cards professionally, I have about 80 decks of cards - and I admit that perhaps half of them don’t even speak to me. I see decks that look interesting online, contemplate it a while before purchasing and then I will buy, only to get them and find that they are as silent as the grave. But my stalwart cards, my always dependable cards - I buy those decks in twos or fours. Mainly because sometimes, they may be in short supply, but most importantly - I’ll have a backup deck when my main deck needs a bit of a rest. You can put one deck away (after cleaning it, of course) and use the other.
BE DISCIPLINED - Remember to Do You
I was talking to another YouTube reader the other day and she was complaining about how tired she was, so I asked her how many readings she did a day. She responded that she does probably 30 readings a day - but she couldn’t figure out WHY she was SO tired.
Here’s a tip: NOT ALL MONEY IS GOOD MONEY.
Just because your clients are clamoring for a reading or telling you that it’s an “emergency”, doesn’t mean that you have to do the reading. I’m an HSP (highly sensitive person) and I can feel the energy coming off people through the booking emails that they send. If the energy is too chaotic or negative - I don’t read for those people.
In this work, you absolutely, positively have to keep your own energy balanced. This means eating right, drinking plenty of water and getting enough sleep. I have office hours so don’t do readings after 9pm. Why? Because I have to be able to decompress, cleanse myself and energy field and prepare to get some sleep. If not, I won’t be any good to anyone - not even myself.
And don’t feel guilty about turning a client down. I’ve seen readers that do lots of readings a day, and by the end of the month they look haggard and run down. Pretty soon, if your own energy is bad, your clients will just disappear because they too can see the difference in the quality of your work.
Remember to do some self-care and take care of your own spiritual, mental and physical needs first. Then and only then can you get the most milage out your deck and your practice.
Tune in for the Full Moon reading on Tuesday, 6 December over on my YouTube Channel!
Until then….
Tara, xx
Hello Tara, thank you for sharing your process on owning, taking possession, and keeping the tarot cards clean. I just got a beautiful set created by an Indigenous Cherokee Nation woman, and they are beautiful. I will follow your process with these oracle cards. Have a great Holiday Season!
Yolanda
Hey Tara
Very interesting! Just bought my first deck ever, a Waite-Smith, from Amazon and have only tried it a few times. Don’t know what energy Amazon puts off, but I have noticed a correlation between what comes with my own attempts and then what I’ll pull from Jessica’s website.
For example in answer to a question I’ve gotten the card Magician from both Jessica and my own attempt. Could you explain a bit about him? With Jessica it’s just a one card pull, of course with a Celtic cross it’s got cards before it but is the end result.
So thank you and I’ll get cleansing today!
Hope you’re feeling well.