Bad Luck With Tarot??

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 22 Sep 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Astaemie	22 Sep 2003
Hey, what an informative forum! I was just wondering, is it bad luck/practice/immoral to read someone elses tarot cards, because I bought my pack un boxed or labelled from a market. Should I read with them or not?

wavebreaker	22 Sep 2003
Hi Astaemie, welcome! :) Tarot cards are just pieces of paper or cardboard with pictures on them, they are just a tool, so they can't bring you bad luck. If you like the deck you bought and you are able to read with it, then go ahead and use it! ;)

Astaemie	22 Sep 2003
Thanx, I just wondered if it was taboo or something, this forum has been so much help, I've been reading heaps!

wavebreaker	22 Sep 2003
There are a lot of myths and misconceptions around tarot, but I think the best rule is: do whatever feels right for you! ;)

Wildchild	23 Sep 2003
While I do agree that tarot decks are pieces of cardboard with beautiful pictures, I believe that the cards can hold the energies of the person who owned them. When I get a new deck, whether a new-new deck or an old-new deck, I like to do a cleansing on them to clear away any unwanted energies. I find this little ritual helps to connect me closer to the deck

nexyjo	23 Sep 2003
i'll also clean a used deck. i'll either smudge it, or set it in moonlight for a while, or leave it on my altar, or even just handle it for a time. i guess it all depends on whether you believe that inanimate objects can hold on to the energies of people or events.

krysia322	23 Sep 2003
Definitely in agreement with cleansing the deck; I usually smudge mine. Of course, I do that for both old and new decks... You never know what kind of mood the person operating the deck-packing machine was in. ;)

Diana	23 Sep 2003
I never cleanse my decks. I don't believe that Tarot can bring bad luck, or that it can carry negativity. It can only bring Enlightenment when used with wisdom.

zorya	23 Sep 2003
i don't feel it is necessary to cleanse used decks, but i do it anyway. i put mine out under a full moon with a clear quartz crystal point on it. diana: i find it curious that you believe that the memory/energy of a flower remains in water that it floated in, or an herb can be diluted 1000 times and the 'energy' remain.... yet you do not believe the energy of a human can remain on an object that they handled frequently.... curious. })

Diana	23 Sep 2003
Ah zorya! The Tarot is so pure, that nothing can pollute it. It is beyond all that.... it is in the realm of the Supreme. Two and two make four. They will never make five.... Divine law cannot be misguided. It is omniscient.

Dexter	23 Sep 2003
I do cleanse my cards but to be honest I'm not sure if it is to erase any previous enery or to just make them my own. It's funny I never thought of it before but I always cleanse my cards after a reading by moving my crystal pendulum along the fanned out cards to draw out any remaining energy but then I immediately shuffle them myself before putting them away. Again I guess to make them my own. I never really thought about what I was doing before, it just feels right to me and I guess thats what matters.

Diana	23 Sep 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Dexter I never really thought about what I was doing before, it just feels right to me and I guess thats what matters. Indeed.... the High Priestess within us tells us what we "need" to do. :)

Aun	23 Sep 2003
Just shuffle the cards 2 or 3 times and that should do it ;-) Kidding... I agree with Diana. Peace, Aun

pentunen	23 Sep 2003
If you use a method of shuffling that includes a lot of contact with cards (the push-put method works really well for this) then pretty soon the cards will be attuned to your energies. So no worries about buying decks that have been handled by someone else :) - pentu

Red Emma	23 Sep 2003
While I agree that tarot cards are just cardboard covered with paper and pictures, each of these elements is made from millions and billions (loosely speaking) of atoms. Quantuam physicists now know that the core of each atom is pure energy, instead of matter which they had expected to find at this level. Further, all the atoms of the Universe are connected each to the other. This includes you and me and the cards and the Andes and the English Channel. While little is known beyond and below this at this time (although I've not kept up on the field recently), my suspicion is that the cards pull out information which travels this intricate highway and presents it to us per our request. I also suspect that energies from one handler to another linger behind. All the methods mentioned above should work to dissipate them and make it safe for you to imbue the field with your own energies and those of your querants. Goddess Bless

wavebreaker	24 Sep 2003
Although I, too, believe that everything is energy, including inanimate objects, and that everything is connected, I do not believe that inanimate objects can be the source of negative energy. People can be the source of negative energy, and they can radiate that to their environment, including other people and objects. But I don't believe that the negative energy can cling to an object and thus be transmitted to someone else. However, that is just my view. If people feel better cleansing their decks, who am I to say they shouldn't? ;). Like I said: do whatever feels right for you!

Red Emma	24 Sep 2003
Quote: Originally posted by tarotlady Although I, too, believe that everything is energy, including inanimate objects, and that everything is connected, I do not believe that inanimate objects can be the source of negative energy. People can be the source of negative energy, and they can radiate that to their environment, including other people and objects. But I don't believe that the negative energy can cling to an object and thus be transmitted to someone else. Tarot Lady, I can only reply with an anecdote. Some friends and I learned that you can receive psychic impressions from inanimate objects. We would take one another's jewelry -- rings, earrings, etc. -- tune into it, and receive impressions of recent owners. For instance when I tuned into one friend's earring, I received an impression of children playing on a beach. It turned out that she had bought the earrings when she was 16 at a store in the beach-front city where her family had spent their summers. I have a silver ring with a coral setting. After a few times none of them would read it. Before they rebelled, at each session the one who had it would say, "BLOOD!" and throw it on the floor. I should have tuned into it myself to find out what had happened before I bought it. However, my psychic skills are minimal and I never tried. I love the thing myself, and have never received any negative vibes from it. Also there are psychics who work with the police to find missing people. One of the techniques they use is to get some personal possession from the missing person's family. I, myself, an not familiar with this method, but it seems to be an accepted way of scrying in these situations. Goddess Bless

wavebreaker	24 Sep 2003
Yes, I know those anecdotes. But I don't think that's the same as objects carrying negative energy. The way I see it: psychics use the ring (or any other object) as a tool to tune in to a person (whether they already know who that is or not), and that's when they pick up things related to that person, including negative energy, if it's present. If you don't tune in, you don't feel the negative energy, because it's not with the object, but with the person. But again, that is just my view. ;)

MattDouglas	24 Sep 2003
There's a phenomenon known as contagen magic, which basically implies that whenever two things (objects, people, ideas) meet, they influence each other. While if such is true this would be a "permanent" process in this sense that the two things are forever different then they were before. Howevr, one contagen does not fully prevent future contagens. Nor does a permanent influence necessarily have any power over one's free will. I'm trying to apply this idea to the thread. While I would agree that cards carry energies hat does not mean I can't read with another's cards. However, I would think that my energies and the querents energies (yes, I have the querent touch the cards) would be more influential in the here and now as that's when the reading is taking place. Also, while some may be "negative", a) I can transform that energy and still learn from it, and b) my feeling that energy won't coorupt me (unless I let it) whether or not I receive that energy consciously. Yes, I buy used decks and read with them without any cleansing ritual. I try to look at it as that there was a reason for the cards to have been used by another before me. Well, that's my idea. Now feel free to pick it apart. Love,understanding, and compassion Matt

krysia322	25 Sep 2003
Thinking along the lines of "CSI" for a moment as well as people leaving energy... What about something as basic as leaving fingerprints/skin oil on the cards... Essential oils are used for all kinds of things, including helping mental influence (for example, assisting with meditation, providing soothing smells to calm oneself)... Do you suppose those skin oils left on the cards, positive or negative, leave an impact of sorts?

firemaiden	26 Sep 2003
It is rather a large leap to make between seeing energy imprints on cards and seeing those energy imprints as effecting the reading in any way. And yet, perhaps if we feel a certain way about the person who last handled the cards, that feeling might affect how we read with them. :)

Gaidheal	04 Oct 2003
I believe that you can certainly read effectively with any cards you choose be they yours or someone else's or a deck of playing cards you picked up at WalMart! However, I do think that the Tarot has a lot to do with a person's energy and inner self, and, while you can get an accurate reading with simply infusing the deck with your energy as you shuffle, I do think it helps if the deck has been in your posession for sometime and is attuned to your energy. As for cleansing the deck, my philosophy is, if it works for you, do it. If not, don't. Simple as that. Bad luck? No way. The Tarot is the Tarot, forget about the deck.

Dark_angel	04 Oct 2003
I think Gaidheal said it pretty well! I think that if you feel a connection to a deck, then it doesn't matter if it's second hand or brand new, from the local store or imported from halfway round the world, all that matters is that you and it can "speak" to each other. Personally, I don't use a ritual to cleanse my cards, though I don't know if that's to do with lack of opportunity; if I had the chance to leave my cards in the moonlight, I might well do so (we have major light pollution). What I do, is play with them for a while, randomly drawing cards and looking at them, not trying to read them, just looking at the pictures and making up stories about the people in them. I often take a deck with me when I go out and shuffle it. Not to do any readings or advertise the fact that I have them (I'll do it in a corner where no one's looking) but to just feel the cards. I'd not really thought about quantum energy and its applications to tarot, which is a bit daft of me as I'm a scientist (well, medic with an addiction to physics), but it does make a lot of sense, particularly when you consider recent research into energy transfer. But at the end of the day, if a deck is right for you, does it matter if it's belonged to someone else? It's perfectly possible for a deck halfway round the world to still be yours, even if you've never touched it or seen it, simply through energy. xxx P.S. If this doesn't make much sense, that's coz it's 4am over here!

Astaemie	05 Oct 2003
This has all been so interesting! whe i first got my cards, I didn't connect with them, but my first reading proved it so very wrong. they are my advisors now, like a friend or a pet. i do not believe them to be just paper and colours. when I touch them and try to figure out who had them last, a rush of people come into my mind and I think they were not used more than twice. The water prince (or knight of cups, which ever you perfer) keeps coming up when I shuffle them and I think this has something to do with the previous owner as he was the top card on the deck when I got them. Since I have had the cards, the prince has bent and formed a crease down near his knees. He is reminding me of something, yet I don't know what and it erks me.

Red Emma	05 Oct 2003
Dark Angel, I'm an ordinary person who's schooling is in the humanities. I've picked up my extremely scant knowledge of quantum physics from various Quantum-Physics-for-Dummies-style sources. Your posting is the first I've heard of energy transfer. Can you give me a hint or two, or tell me of some pre-kindergarten-style book, or web site maybe, where I can find out about it? As with the Quantum Physics, all I need is a sense of how it works. This stuff fascinates me.

Mystic Zyl	07 Oct 2003
Sure I would use someones cards if they willingly parted with them. Cleanse the cards and charge them with your energy. Cards are just a tool and it all depends with what intent you use them on how well you bond with them.

The Bad Luck With Tarot?? thread was originally posted on 22 Sep 2003 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.