New deck - bad vibes

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 May 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Emily	09 May 2002
I thought I'd post this question just to get a little advice lol I've not had my Robin Wood tarot deck for very long, a few weeks at most, I liked the cards as soon as I opened the plastic, spent a few days getting to know them, reading the LWB, shuffling the cards, just looking through them. I did my first spread just a normal three card present spread and that was fine, did a couple more over a week they were fine but now something has changed. All the readings I'm doing now are very negative - I drew the Tower for the first ever time, never had it before in the year I've been learning tarot, the devil, death, 3 swords, many swords - I put the deck away and got my Spiral out, asked for a present reading and it was a good reading. I'm not sure what has gone wrong with the Robin Wood or how to put it right but I don't like all these negative readings I'm getting especially as its not happening with my Spiral or Celtic Dragon. So any ideas??

Logiatrix	09 May 2002
emily, that's happened to me, too. you might need to mix the cards more, spend more time getting your essence into them, before you do more personal readings. i've come to take quite a while to get to know a deck before i ask it anything about me. i let try to keep the focus on the deck, only asking things like, "what will you teach me?" or "why have our paths crossed?" decks like to talk mostly about themselves at first, 'cuz i think they know that eventually, they'll have to get down to the business of...well, everybody else's business! it's like any other new relationship, it takes a lot of time, care and focus to get comfortable and get to know each other. you don't have a "bad" deck, just a "new" deck that still has to get comfy with you. also, it could be that it's just not time for you to use THAT deck. you may have to put it up on a shelf for a while. it's amazing how that same deck, after numerous bad readings, will suddenly work for you after months and months in the box. unfortunately, though, there are those few decks we run into that just NEVER click, but i don't think that's your situation here. i think it's just still too new. another technique you can try: write a short blessing, and say it out loud as you hold each card. yes, all 78 cards individually! an easier ritual is one i've read in at least a couple of different resources: take one of the decks you use often and cover the new cards with it. just lay all of the new cards out, scattered and face-up, then scatter the old deck on top of them. i think that's just supposed to send the good energy from the old deck into the new deck. any-hoo, i hope this helps...

Violet Gargoyle	09 May 2002
Ye Olde "Tooth Fairy" Method. Literally, putting the card in a sachet of pleasant things (like something smelling of lavender or vanilla as an example) under your pillow while you sleep for a night or two. Don't "count" it unless you have had a good night's sleep. If you slept restlessly, do it again on another night. If you are afraid of the cards falling off the bed, stick the the pouch in the pillowcase underneath. (I have done this, being a kung fu sleeper.) Just one suggestion, Im sure there is a method that will work for you best. I think that any bad vibe that might be in cards are easily nipped out when you put your mind to it early. Mind over matter, that kind of stuff.

ABlkcat	09 May 2002
I also suggest 'cleansing' it , (like blessing it) I had problems with a couple of my decks until I purged their energy and started new... (You never really know where they've been, who touched them, where they were stored etc...) A very basic cleansing technique I have used is placing them in a wooden bowl with salt and allowing them to sit in the sun for a few hours......

Geenius at Wrok	09 May 2002
Did it occur to you that maybe you were getting negative readings because, oh, I don't know . . . something negative is going on? Instead of freaking out that your sweet cuddly teddy-deck is giving you gloomy doomy readings, why not actually pay attention to them? Not everything in life is nice! If you respect your deck, you'll listen to it when it talks to you.

Logiatrix	09 May 2002
geenius, i hope you you meant all that in a nice way... i HAVE gotten plenty of readings where the cards revealed unpleasantries that i heeded with very little doubt of validity. however, there are also those readings where i hit "walls" for whatever reason, and i just KNOW i am not getting an accurate or even sensical picture. there's a certain balance that may not even tangibly be there, but it can be felt if the reading is "good"--especially if i am comfortable with my cards. this has been my experience, and that's also what i thought our lady emily was speaking of.

truthsayer	09 May 2002
i think doing validation spreads w/ the celtic dragon and spiral decks was a very good idea. i know spiral is not a "tea and empathy" deck. in fact, when i start using a new deck i do this against a seasoned deck or 2 to see if we're all playing on the same sheet of music. when a deck is ready, it'll run a common thread as the other decks. if the seasoned decks agree and the newbie doesn't, i give newbie more time. i go w/ this whether newbie's reading is either overly optimistic or pessimistic. sleeping w/ it inside a pillow works well. so does smudging and blessing. doing something mindless like watching tv is a good time to spend hours shuffling, gazing into, and infusing yourself into a new deck. this also makes sure the deck is good and shuffled. i have found that if i'm pulling cards like the tower or death then it's generally consistent w/ every seasoned deck i use.

Geenius at Wrok	10 May 2002
Quote: Originally posted by metaz i hope you you meant all that in a nice way... Well, I didn't mean it in a cruel way. I just think it's foolish to ditch a deck simply because it tells you something you don't want to hear. It's like, say you went to the doctor, and he said you were showing early signs of having cancer. And you went back to him a week or so later, and he ran his tests again and said, yep, you're definitely showing signs of cancer. So you went and saw another doctor and said, please tell me I don't have cancer, and he said, OK, you don't, and then you went online and started asking your friends how you might go about brainwashing your first doctor so that he wouldn't tell you that you've got cancer anymore. If I had cancer, dammit, I'd want someone to tell me!

Umbrae	10 May 2002
I agree with all of you. Perhaps the cards need to bond better, perhaps you need to bond with the cards. Perhaps they need to be cleansed (and all of the above). However…just a reminder (and nothing so sever)… The last time I had a deck that went wacko negative on me was just a few days before I got sent to the World Trade Center…on September 11th… So… It could be a heads a heads up to reality…

Jewel	10 May 2002
Great opinions all. Another possiblity could be putting the cards into context. Death, the Tower and the Devil are not necessarily "bad" cards. I have had many pleasant experiences with endings/new beggingings and with drastic change for example.

MeeWah	10 May 2002
Emily: There are no inherently negative or "bad" cards. The cards you mention appearing for you do not necessarily have to mean doom & gloom. If you are unaccustomed to seeing particular cards, there may be a message within that occurrence or occurrences--such as a warning or an attempt to bring something to your attention. Tarot cards speak like the language of dreams. They cull information from sources one may not immediately relate to or recognize. Have you tried to keep a record of those throws to see what relevance they could have? If you know you have shuffled thoroughly, I would not dismiss unfamilar results or parameters so quickly. Give the deck a chance & see if you can understand something of what it may be speaking of & let us know.

Violet Gargoyle	10 May 2002
I agree with you there. I am not a firm believer of "bad cards". Just conflicting interpretations, particularly when getting used to a new deck and its symbols. I think of it like this: Sometimes a person you just meet may have a strange way of going about things, and you don't know if they are trying to be helpful or jerk your chain. So you somehow have to try to get to know them to see how their mind works. How you get to know them may vary, hanging out with them, watching tv. (I just realized when re-reading my previous post that I have inadvertantly condoned getting to know someone by sleeping with them!) **Cough Cough** Anyhow, Everyone has different ideas of breaking the ice. After time, the bad vibes you may have gotten from someone before you got closer to them may disappear once you understand more about them and why they do the things they do.

Umbrae	10 May 2002
...likewise, I was not implying they were going to blow up your house... But yeah...sometimes different decks speak different languages. Although sometimes, if you are not listening, and reading in what you want as opposed to listening to what they are saying, they may become a little forceful. But I love sleeping with my decks…

Emily	10 May 2002
Thanks for your comments ppl :) I've kept the deck close to me since last night and all today, shuffling and looking through it and then late this afternoon I decided to do the New Deck Spread and this is what I got:- 1) What will you teach me? - 10 Cups 2) What must I do? - 8 Cups 3) What will our relationship be like? - 2 Wands and also a clarifier - The Magician Not quite sure what to make of this spread but at least its not full of swords and negativity. Geenius, thanks for your comments but none of the decks I use are full of sweetness and light, except the Hanson Roberts, The Spiral can be quite brutal - What was confusing me was the negative quality of the readings I'm having with the Robin Wood when its not happening with the other decks, nothing is happening in my life at the moment - even if there was my Spiral would pick up on it. I might not be very experienced with tarot but negative reading don't scare me lol But I feel like I'm hitting a brick wall with the Robin Wood. But I will take on board what has been said here and keep trying with it :)

The New deck - bad vibes thread was originally posted on 09 May 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.