Curious smells

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 May 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

little_redfox	16 May 2005
Hiyas, odd question ( although im slowly learning there is no such thing :) ) Ive wanted the Golden Tarot for a while and finally got the dosh together to buy it, it came super quick, arriving today, and there something really hooky about i cant seem to put it down - lovely deck. But ive noticed a funny smell in my room now since ive been working with it today, i know sometimes with a new deck you can get a kinda inkie chemical smell and i get that faint normal smell of a new deck ( paper and ink ) from them, but i can smell a weird slightly spicey/sweet incence smell in my room now - i dont use incence because it makes me sneeze, so i know its not anything ive put in the room. Any ideas or am i just imagining it all ? :) Thanks for any ideas guys :) LRF x

HudsonGray	16 May 2005
It might be part of the production process, the protective surface coating on my Animal Lords stunk to high heaven of acetate, it took 2 weeks for the smell to go away. Can you put the box on one side of the room & the deck on the other, and after an hour go sniff each one? It might be the box (I'm thinking it's glue) instead of the cards. But you wouldn't be able to tell if they're together.

bladeraven	16 May 2005
sniffing cards...hmmm...that would be a hard one to explain if caught...was there any special packaging with the deck?

SunChariot	16 May 2005
sounds like a psychic reaction. I can't say I have ever had that but I have to admit that the more I do Tarot, I have had some psychic/intuitive moments. Maybe something smelled like that near where the cards were made. My idea is that if you were thinking of the smell before you smelt it, it could be the power of your imagination. But if you were just sitting there occupied, thinking of something else when you smell it, there could be another explanation. Bar

similia	16 May 2005
Well my Golden just smells like cardboard. I'd offer to swap you if you weren't so far away :D Where did you buy it from? I thought maybe it was stored near incense etc... but then again it is plasic wrapped, so it should be fairly protected. I'd be looking outside the window for new flowers blooming :)

Rogan	17 May 2005
Perhaps you're clairscentiant? I experience it sometimes and it's what my mentor calls it - Smells with visions - It may just be part of your intuition... Sometimes when Im reading for someone, I can smell the cologne of the guy they're thinking of, or the purfume of the girl, or once, I even smelt watermelon (a querants past relatives favourite dessert...) Interesting huh? J.

little_redfox	17 May 2005
When the odd smell came - i checked arround, even outside and couldnt locate the source, thats what was so weird i had a good sniff of the deck and deck box ( lol bladeraven - i hope im not developing a fetish! ) and they smelt different to the room smell if that makes sence rofl - i feel so silly watching myself writing this. The smell has totally gone to day tho, which could be my nose getting used to it i guess, it just was a real curious smell tho, really incensey. I know what you mean about the gluey, ascetatey smell tho - my light and shadow deck smelt almost 'evil' when it arrived hehe ( another nice deck tho ), but this was different. I bought it from amazon, so probably no incense smells near it. Btw before the smell i'd been doing a few practise readings with it, asking about solutions and ideas for solving problems with my health and past experiances. Ive never had any 'psychic' moments before so im not sure if its that, i dont think i am, or could be psychic tho tbh ( i dont think im built that way, unfortunately ) - i have been working on trying to develop my intuition tho. Thanks for your ideas guys, ill see what happens when i start using the deck more regularly - perhaps its just a stinky deck, but perhaps its something else, or both :) LRF x

Vadella	17 May 2005
I've never had a strange smelling deck. The book I bought last week smelled massively bad though. I ended up having to spray perfume throughout the pages... I couldn't take it anymore.

Cerulean	17 May 2005
even though my nose has allergic reactions to stronger smells, it catches the 'fresh' ink smell similar to when I visited some printing shops with something just in production. I believe you are right about some flowery after-scents from soy-based inks, as I have found that smell in just-printed tarots. That is my guess--I've noticed smells like that in books, cards and I identify the scent as pleasant...by the way, I had a distinct trail of glitter when first using the Golden, so I tried to shake the loose gilt off in the trash can from the box and deck. When people notice a 'new-car' smell, it is distinct. I don't know if is the cleaner used on upholstry...or a laminate used on new plastics for interiors, but there are distinctive smells for freshly made products. It goes away soon--you can air the deck out if you like. Some people have headaches from such scents, but I don't have a bad reaction at all. Did you also have powdery pixie dust from the gilt? Best regards, Cerulean P.S. If one smells a yucky smell in an old book--such as old smoke or moldy--try airing it on a cool porch in a half-covered cardboard or plastic container with baking soda to absorb the order. Some people add dried rosemary, pine or lavendar sprigs...I don't know if the pine needles have an oily residue, though.

little_redfox	17 May 2005
Thanks for the interesting tips :) I was lucky with my golden i got virtually no pixie dust from the cards, maybe a tiny weeny amount when i first shuffled on my fingers, but cor what a lovely deck !! LRF x

mythos	17 May 2005
Thanks for the tip about how to get that musty, mouldy smell out of old books. Makes me feel sick as a dog when I'm reading a book. I've tried 'smoking' the books over incense or those bundles of dried herbs that you can make or buy and set alight to smoke things with ... she says, having completely forgotten the name of them ......Is this early on-set Altzheimer's or do I just need my afternoon nap? Silly attack on the way ... watch out! Good to have a solution btw, which was the whole point of this post .... arrrrgggghhh! mythos

Necromancer	18 May 2005
mine smelled like ink when it came...maybe there was some spice spilled on it on the way lol never know tho *cheesy humen sung vertion of the twilight zone theam song* du du du du du du du du....o.0......^^

The Curious smells thread was originally posted on 16 May 2005 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.