15 Ways to Prepare Your New Tarot Deck
So, you got your brand new Tarot deck, and you have no idea what to do with it. Tarot readings are powerful tools that can really bring you clarity about all the crazy stuff happening in your life.
You can even use tarot decks or oracle decks for yes or no readings and get quick answers within seconds like you would with a pendulum or a coin.
When we bring home a set of Tarot Cards from the store, there is nothing magical about them. It takes a bit of work for a traditional deck to become one of our own decks, but any true tarot lover will tell you that it’s totally worth it.
They need to be cleared or cleansed, or prepared so we can impart our energy in them.
Once we do that, then the cards are ready to receive energy from us, so we can use them in Tarot divination.
Most serious readers want to ensure the cards are spiritually cleansed of any outside influences and have their own spiritual imprint on them.
You don’t know who has touched them in the warehouse, picked them up and looked at them in the store, etc. You need to give the cards your energy in order for them to work.
This is why we prepare them before we use them first. When people clear or cleanse their Tarot cards, they are asking assistance from positive energy to come to the aid of the reading and cards while banishing any bad energy or blockage at the same time.
This ensures that a reading will be clear, clean and as accurate as possible.
The good or positive energy that the reader imparts on his Tarot deck of cards is any good energy that the reader believes in.
Oh, and by the way, there’s a big myth out there that you can’t buy your first deck of tarot cards for yourself, but that just isn’t true. If you feel called, you don’t have to wait for someone to notice that. Choose your own destiny.
Table of Contents
15 Ways – How To Cleanse A Tarot Deck:
1. Invocations, Vigils and Prayers
2. Singing, Chanting or Music
3. Ritual Silence
4. Creating an alter, placing statues, flowers, pictures, a glass of water, material
5. Using A Power Name
6. Incense or Smoke (Don’t burn your cards, though!)
7. Special Gestures and Offerings, moving within or outside a circle, exchanging gifts
8. Lighting candles or burning a fire (Again, don’t burn your cards!)
9. Fasting or Feasting on special foods such as eating a special thing or drinking a specific herb or tea
10. Using power objects such as crystals or putting on any ritual amulets
11. Burying and Unburying
12. Tying or Untying
13. Washing your hands
14. Breathing techniques
15. Shuffling
By doing a little preparation, you’re invoking the good energy to come in and assist you in your readings.
You’re giving the cards a little positive charge before you begin.
Many readers also clear the space and any objects they use before they read also.
The whole purpose of cleansing and clearing is to make sure your tarot cards are spiritually clean and free of any negative energy.
It’s like breathing fresh air spiritually on your Tarot Cards to ensure the best reading you can give.
How Many Cards In a Tarot Deck:
There are 78 cards in a tarot deck. The Rider-Waite deck is has 22 Major arcana cards and 56 minor arcana. The Waite-Smith tarot is one of the most widely used ways of reading tarot, and also the easiest deck of tarot cards to learn first.
There are four suits in a tarot deck. Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles.
Each card has a meaning you can research in any beginner’s guide to tarot.
Oracle decks are a not the same thing as an deck of tarot cards. They both can be read with the same kinds of card spreads, but oracle cards usually come with a little guide to teach you what all the meanings of each card are.
Most complete decks do come with a guide explaining the meanings of each card, so really the best tarot deck is the one you feel drawn to. The tarot reader is all about using their intuition, after all.
