Tarot cards must not touch wood???

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 14 May 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

aeonx	14 May 2002
Greetings all.. I read the paper this morning, and I read an interesting article. We have this murder-case that's been going on for ages now, and the latest witness was a 'fortune telling' lady using tarot cards. She told the jury that Gry (the deceased victim) had called her three days in advance of the murder, and then she got the Death card (Rider Waite). She said that she should have seen the tragedy coming. However, she also said that this card seldom means physical death, but an end to something. Other cards also 'pointed out' the place Gry was found. The interesting part is that the newspaper stated that: "tarot is a deck of 78 cards, that must not come in contact with wood" etc.. Must not touch wood?? I've never heard of this before! Who has? Hands up please. :) ~aeonx~

Aerin	14 May 2002
Since they are made of paper which has kind of woody origins then they are in contact with essence of wood all the time. My hand is firmly in the 'down' position. Aerin

Liliana	14 May 2002
All the less reputable tarot books say they must be stored in a wooden box hands down for me too :THP

Diana	14 May 2002
edited

aeonx	14 May 2002
Diana: *lol* You said it! :D By the way, I got the impression from the article that this was something the woman had said! That's the worst part of it. No wonder we are frowned upon... ~aeonx~

Umbrae	14 May 2002
There is a logical reason for this. I have attached a picture of the King and Queen of Wands at home.

Rhiannon	14 May 2002
Very cute, Umbrae! LOL I have all my cards stored in a wooden recipe box. I guess I'm in trouble then.... Rhiannon :)

Nightwalker	14 May 2002
Sounds like the newspaper needed filler and put in something that sounded good. This can also apply to those books that have a big list of do's and don'ts. I have one of these and after reading the lists I've had a big problem going back to the book even though it seems to be a good one. It even said you should sit a certain way facing a certain direction. aeonx - Could you possibly post the pertinent part of the newspaper article? I would really like to read it. Nightwalker

jade	14 May 2002
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha hee hee hee hee *giggle* hahahahahahahahaha jade

jade	14 May 2002
now that i got that out of my system. definitely disagree with that statement! the table i read on is wood!!!!!!!

lunalafey	14 May 2002
how could you keep your cards from touching wood, they are made from wood, they are still wood, just not the original form. HOW COULD YOU KEEP THEM FROM TOUCHING WOOD ? this is funny... ok everyone, now... DON'T BE HUMAN....

Scorpion	14 May 2002
Nope - not heard that one, but then there's so many people ready to tell me categorically what the "do's" and "don'ts" are with Tarot that I don't take much notice! I have no problem with people's idiosynchrises (sp?) and I'm sure I've got a few, but I just don't want to have to behave the same! I was recently talking to someone who said they'd been a reader in the past and she came out with a whole string of how I HAD to look after my cards - of course, like everyone else I'm amenable to "suggestions" and ideas but excuse me, I won't be told what I MUST do! I'm sure my cards will let me know if they're unhappy with my rather slap-dash and disorganised approach!

Thirteen	14 May 2002
Shades of the old Green Lantern here. Orignally, his weakness was "wood"--he couldn't use his ring on anything made of it. Hmmm. Kinda cool. "I am using the Golden-Age Green Lantern Deck! No wood can touch it!" Quote: Originally posted by jade the table i read on is wood!!!!!!! I was thinking the exact same thing. Going back in time, how could anyone have read tarot cards? On the floor--well floors were usually made of wood. Table? Tables are usually wood. Prior to formica, you'd have to carry around a stone stab with you to read on. Or...maybe this has to do with laying out a silk scarf to read on? I suspect that's where the article got it wrong. It probably is all about reading cards on a square of fabric. As if that's enough to keep the cards from touching wood....

Mystick Dragon	14 May 2002
My cards read better if they ARE on some natural thing, marble, granite, WOOD, any thing!!!! --Dragon

Morgeinne	14 May 2002
LOL. I read anywhere that is clean. I don't even use a cloth half the time. Wood, formica, marble, stone, you name it, I've probably read on it. I've only had two readings in my life that I know of that went pretty bad...hm. *hugs* Morgeinne

Violet Gargoyle	14 May 2002
How much confusion would it cause if your Robin Wood Deck is on a particle board desk?

aeonx	15 May 2002
*lol* I thought so... :D I'm trying to find the news article, and if I find it, it's in Norwegian... :P

aeonx	15 May 2002
OK, for you people who understand my language...: http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=3331251 Here's the article. And here's another one: http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2002/05/13/330669.html

Phoenix	15 May 2002
Isn't wood supposed to help preserve the psychis vibrations??

Jenny-Li	16 May 2002
Personally I prefer wood - it's pure, simple and very, very beautiful - without taking too much of my attention for itself! We have a huge dining table made from a very light kind of wood (it's called "bok" in Swedish, but I have no dictionary with me here...!), and that's where I do my readings, sitting like a queen at the high seat of this beautiful dining table, with my cards placed in various spread patterns before me. Even my "hubby" seems to look a wee bit impressed by this, and he is probably the least interested of all the Aeclectic hubbies....! :D So I can't see where this "no wood"-idea would be coming from either...! Light and love, Jenny :)

SharonElizabeth	20 May 2002
I think I have an idea where this superstition might have come from, and it really does seem like a superstition to me. I've read that for long term storage of tarot cards, wood should not be used because some woods (like cedar) take the humidity out of the air and keeping your cards in a wooden box for an extended period of time can cause them to get dry and brittle. This fact probobly became warped over time to mean that cards should never touch wood. Just a thought. :) Sharon

The Tarot cards must not touch wood??? thread was originally posted on 14 May 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.