Fixing my cards

Hello everyone. I am new to the community and new to being a Tarot deck owner. I have a new Divine Tarot deck and just love the imagery, I was drawn to it instantly. But I notice a problem when I shuffle them. Several times I have shuffled while letting my mind empty and when I look at the cards I notice that some of them seem slightly bent. When I look, it is because the upper coin cards, nine through king, are all slightly bowed. This is a problem because whenever I shuffle the cards for any length of time, which I sometimes do for stress-relief, the upper coins all bunch together. If I am doing a reading, them being bunched together because of their shape would cause an unbalanced reading. But if I make a conscious effort to separate them, that would cause imbalance too, no? Does anyone know of anything I can do to fix the cards other than simply bending them the opposite way every now and then? I've tried that but it hasn't worked and I am scared of making the problem worse in the opposite direction! Any advice would be great, thanks!

If I understood you correctly, I think you can just separate them and stick them into different parts of the deck, then shuffle. The other cards should straighten them out. If this doesn't work, you can try stacking a few textbooks on top of your deck for awhile.

Keep shuffling, they will straighten out.

Welcome stormbreach!

In my experience, this is a problem that cannot really be fixed... I have had decks that seemed to 'bulge' when laying on a flat surface, instead of laying flat. And I tried everything - bending them the opposite way, leaving them under heavy books etc. - and nothing made de cards go flat.

I honestly think it's a small factory problem, from when the cards are painted or receive lamination... if it's not done 100% correctly, one part of the card becomes havier than the rest, making the paper bend a bit.

The best you can do it keep shuffling the deck and using it. When the deck is new, the cardstock tends to be very stiff, so if you try to forcefully change it's shape you may damage it. But as you use it it, the lamination and the cardstock soften and the cards adapt more easily to other shapes. They may never straighten out, but at least they'll have the same shape.

You can also try to riffle shuffle the cards in the oppositve direction to the bent, but first check if the deck is not way too flimsy. Riffle shuffle is a good way to soften the cards but in flimsy decks it can leave marks.

Good luck!

stormbreach said:

Hello everyone. I am new to the community and new to being a Tarot deck owner. I have a new Divine Tarot deck and just love the imagery, I was drawn to it instantly. But I notice a problem when I shuffle them. Several times I have shuffled while letting my mind empty and when I look at the cards I notice that some of them seem slightly bent. When I look, it is because the upper coin cards, nine through king, are all slightly bowed. This is a problem because whenever I shuffle the cards for any length of time, which I sometimes do for stress-relief, the upper coins all bunch together. If I am doing a reading, them being bunched together because of their shape would cause an unbalanced reading. But if I make a conscious effort to separate them, that would cause imbalance too, no? Does anyone know of anything I can do to fix the cards other than simply bending them the opposite way every now and then? I've tried that but it hasn't worked and I am scared of making the problem worse in the opposite direction! Any advice would be great, thanks!

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Hi stormbreach! Welcome to AT!!!

I don't really know how to fix that once it's happened, but my first idea was that this is happeneing because of the way you are shuffling. Preventing something from occuring seems easiwer than trying to fix it afterwards. To me if you are having this problem in the first place, that must the be cause.

I am not sure how you are shuffling, although I can guess if this is cropping up. But there are many methods. The way I use has never caused me that problem. I have decks over 7 years old and i have never had that problem. Just thought I would say...

I use the second method here....taking alternately froim the top and the bottom..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmWqwAq1sy8

Babs

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I use the overhand shuffle as well, I have never riffle-shuffled them. The cards were like this when I got them. I guess what I have to do is before a reading check to see if these cards have collected together again, separate them and distribute them by hand throughout the deck and then shuffle, but not long enough for them to gather.