putting cards under the pillow

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 05 Mar 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

SilentBreeze	05 Mar 2005
I heard that if you sleep with a specific card undser your pillow it will transfer the energy of the card to you. Is that true? Does that actually work?

Tsuzuki	05 Mar 2005
I sometimes put them next to my pillow. Not under it, though. I wouldn't want to crush them. I think it also works if you carry them with you during the day.

prudence	05 Mar 2005
hi, there is a recent thread aboutthis in the Thoth study group (I think that's where it is) I do this all of the time and feel there is a noticable effect. My dreams are ususally more intense and or seriuosly trippy. I really can't find the right words to describe it. But it is indeed powerful. astrid PS I am carrying some in my pocket right now, I find they don't get so crushed if you use more than 3 cards. One card under the pillow is a goner.

SilentBreeze	05 Mar 2005
Wouldn't they get crushed if you put them in your pocket. I tried putting a card under the pillow didn't have an effect or maybe i didn't notice one. Do you have to do it many nights in a row to notice an effect?

Tsuzuki	06 Mar 2005
Well, not my pants pocket, of course, but the inside pockets of my trench coat are pretty safe.

prudence	06 Mar 2005
I only put them in my pants pocket if the pocket is big and the pants are loose, otherwise crushing may occur. As for how long it takes to feel the effect of the cards under the pillow, I am not sure. It may depend on how much one believes it will have an effect, or perhaps the level of connectedness to the deck or its images. The deck I use for this is one I use as a magickal "tool" so it is really infused with a certain kind of energy.

Tsuzuki	06 Mar 2005
This would be a good book to get on the subject. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/books/tarot-magic/

Elven	08 Mar 2005
If I have a feeling about a card I cant deciepher - regardless of how I feel, I will usually put the card inside my pillow case and maybe do a meditation to try and connect with it. Then I will sleep with the card in the pillow case or if I use two pillows put it in the one that I am resting my head upon - but on the underside of the pillow. I will leave it there until I feel that I no longer need it to be there. That maybe sometimes 1 night or up to seven. The attraction for the card seems to dwindle off slowly and I will place it in amongst the deck again after a cleansing. I might leave it in the sun or smudge the card for a cleansing. Once I forgot I put 3 cards in my pillow case and was hunting for days trying to find my missing cards. I found them when I went to change the bedding to wash them - lucky save but relevant at the time also. I have also put them under the matress if I thought they were too close to my head - (dreams can be quite vivid), or I really was concerned that they may get damaged during a bad nights sleep! My connection to just knowing that they are there seems to clarify alot for me when I eventually return to putting them back in the deck. Happy dreams of clarity... Elven x

Majecot	08 Mar 2005
They only cards that I have slept with were my Faeries, and that was the whole deck. Not a single card. I would be afraid that I would ruin a single card under my pillow( I sleep rough). I have proppd cards up next to my bed on the table when I have wanted to give it one last thought before I fall asleep.

Michelle	08 Mar 2005
When I get a new deck - I sleep with the entire deck under my pillow. I've never tried just one card, I would be afraid of bending it. However, if I do a daily draw at night for the following day - I put that card on my nightstand next to the bed. I have noticed that when I sleep with a deck under my pillow my dreams seem to be a bit more vivid than usual.

Tsuzuki	12 Mar 2005
Try making a color copy of the card you want to use. That way you won't have to worry about damaging it. I recently did that with one of my cards, and I'm carrying it in my wallet.

smokey	10 Jun 2005
I have ~Always!...~(AlWays)... put my 1st and 2nd faves under my pillow,&/or inside my pillowcase, as mentioned!... ( I use two very ample, and fluffy pillows, and so there is No problem of being uncomfortable _ at All, LOL!) ...I KNOW I experienced 'MORE' than a dream once, (PRobably from doing this!) and although I really can't tell any 'huge' benefit of energy 'rise'/level;_ ... I 'FEEL' as if it has the power/suggestion to 'INCrease' this for me, and THIS! LOL, makes me just feel BETTER!...(all the way 'ROund!!!) I AM Sure though, that it Is entirely Possible, and that one's chances SHould impove with time, patience, and a *bit-of- faith, (or at Least some *belief that it's going to Work!... for the *BEST!..LOL

Moonbow*	10 Jun 2005
This seems such an odd thing to do to me. I'm sure you could get the same affect, or infact a better one, if you looked at a card before sleep and perhaps meditated on it for while, it's the mind that is magical not the card in my opinion.

Fudugazi	10 Jun 2005
I have vivid enough dreams as it is without adding tarot decks!! I did have an odd experience once. I had a very powerful and detailed nightmare, and when I woke up I found right next to my pillow, three inches from my head, one of the Faery cards from Froud's Faeries - Epona's Wild Daughter - whose main task in life is to bring nightmares and difficult visions that teach us something. How she ended there I've no idea! I had looked at the Faeries before going to sleep and drawn one, then put the deck on the night-table. She must have been at the bottom of the pack and got left there...but it did shake me, this association. I hadn't even seen her the evening before!

Osher	10 Jun 2005
Moonbow* wrote: I'm sure you could get the same affect, or infact a better one, if you looked at a card before sleep and perhaps meditated on it for while, it's the mind that is magical not the card in my opinion. I agree. However, we also transfer energy all the time. As for putting the cards under the pillow, I haven't, but I do keep my cards in the bedside cabinet near me (I have a thing about keeping everything hidden away in my home, everything inside a cabinet, nothing visible, not sure why I do this). I have though slept with Tarot, on the bed, next to me.

HearthCricket	10 Jun 2005
I have never had any desire to sleep with my cards under my pillow. To me, they are a tool for divining, and that the art comes from within..how you read the cards that are brought before you. When you think of the fact that they are cardboard rectangles with pretty pictures on them, glossed over and stuffed in a box, and the mass market of it all, I don't find them to be "magical", just a tool, and a fun one, at that. I'm Catholic, so I guess it would be like a Holy Card. I have a bunch of them, too, with prayers on the back, but I don't sleep with them. I will prop one up on my night table, if so inclined, so maybe it is more about one's particular beliefs that lead to certain practices, and that is fine! I know lots of people who sleep with their rosary beads under their pillow!

Ace	13 Jun 2005
I don't sleep with cards under my pillow, but I have been incubating dreams lately to gain insight into a problem. I try to concentrate on the question I have just before sleep, then I wake up in the night and write my dreams down as carefully as possible in a notebook beside my bed. If putting a card that symbolizes what you are trying to find out about would help, try it. But I think, like Helvetica, just having them beside your bed would do just fine-and be easier on the cards! Ace

Emeraldgirl	14 Jun 2005
If I want to get a further unerstanding of a particular card I will pro it up on my bedside table where I can focus on it just before I turn out the light. I usually find I dream of the card or in the card and that helps a lot but I would be too afraid of damaging a card to put it under the pillow.

Al Si'ra	14 Jun 2005
Hi!! I've tried this yesterday; i've put the Judgement card besides my bed 'cause i just feel very connected to the angel in the card and i wanted guidance about some issue.. I've had two intense dreams 1) An earthquake happens 2) My ex-boyfriend passes away Kind of a nightmare night...

Ace	14 Jun 2005
So.... did those dreams bring insight into your question??? don't stop now, Al Si'ra, inquiring minds want to know! Ace

light2000	14 Jun 2005
Sometimes i put cards under my pillow. Sometimes when i´m doing these i´ve dreams whith the card, and whith situations. Sometimes the dream isnt very clear, but give me goos insights of the card. I rather do meditation than sleep whith the card under my pillow, but my best knowledge of a card was when i dreamed whith it.

Al Si'ra	14 Jun 2005
Well..I am not sure ...For a while now i didnt hear from my ex...and my question was: How is he doing;are we really over..i just needed guidance i am so confused about my relationships nowadays with so many people..friends lovers etc they are all in my mind.. And i saw him dead in my dream and when i woke up i looked at my dream interpretation book of course it meant that death was the finality of some issue.. so i thought ok it's over i see that..and the judgement card also deals with issues such as endings & beginnings..so i thought that this was a clear message indicating an end.. And after i woke up 3 hours later he called me! And told me that he was ok and asked if i was doing fine..very interesting..as if he sensed that i was going insane and getting ready to move on..he just stopped me from moving on..i was indeed going to make a fresh beginning that morning and just forget all about him..he really sensed it i guess..so my "moving on" is delayed for now. I'm so surprised...So him being dead; a new beginning maybe along with the judgement card..tonite i'll just go on with the process! But with a different card..the judgement card was too strong-powerful for me..

tao51	14 Jun 2005
I have heard that putting a certain carn against your forhead while meditating on its meaning is powerful. Or doing this before you go to sleep helps deepen insight.

Marina	15 Jun 2005
I've heard that some professional card readers (all cards, not just tarot), make the querent buy a new deck and sleep with it two or three days. Only after that, they'll do the reading. Apparently the deck gets more energy from the querent, and therefore will answer the question better. I wouldn't put any deck under my pillow...i always think i'll ruin them ;). But i think that sleeping close to your deck (like, putting them by your pillow or on the bedside table) makes you get in better 'touch' with it. Personally, when i want to get the energy from a card, i like to put it in my small altar (i have one in my bedroom) too. It's my 'power place', and the cards stay safer than if i sleep with them :p Yuko

Cobra333	15 Jun 2005
SilentBreeze wrote: I heard that if you sleep with a specific card undser your pillow it will transfer the energy of the card to you. Is that true? Does that actually work? Speaking for the point of view that we all have a bit of the psychometric ability within us, sleeping with the card under the pillow can often time help to learn more about a card. As someone else mentioned, when you feel like you can't wrap your head around a certain card, or if a card doesn't "feel" right to you, you might want to experiment with this. In your sleep, your unconscious will seek out the hidden reasons for uneasiness with a specific card or reveal a hidden meaning. At least, that has been my experience in the past. Hades, I can't sleep with anything under my pillow without being effected! Cobra333

Tabby	30 Jun 2005
I tried doing putting one of my tarot decks underneath my pillow one time to see what would happen. Because I read this thread or another thread similar to it. I really didn't experience any dreams from it. But, I also wondered if the cards were also protecting me from my dreams like a dream catcher. I don't know if that's possible. Just something I wondered. I don't remember my dreams that much and when I do remember my dreams they are very vivid. So, I don't know.

bladeraven	30 Jun 2005
hmmmmm........I'm going to put my deck under my bed (can't with my pillow...i move around like a flopping fish) and see what happen....

LuckyFox	30 Jun 2005
Just the subject I was looking for!! I DO sleep with my Fey Very close to me.. Like, almost under my pillow.. right on the edge.. I feel like it helps.. So, the other day I went and got the New Vision Tarot and slept with that under the right edge of my pillow and the Fey under the left edge. Before I went to sleep I was thinking, "Wouldn't that be strange if I happened to have a nightmare on the night I slept with 2 decks surrounding me?" I laughed off my stupidity and went to sleep. I HAD THE WORST NIGHTMARE THAT NIGHT!! I woke up about 4 times and tried to stay awake for a few minutes to clear my dream memory box.. But it didn't work.. All night I dreampt of the same thing.. Of course, I was too tired to remember what I had done before I had gone to sleep so I didn't think to take out the New Vision and put it across the room or something. In the morning, I felt like CRAP! I felt so sick, I couldn't even pull a single card :( That nightmare was serious.. I don't think I will ever attempt to sleep with 2 decks on my bed ever again! ..Unless I want to wake up totally miserable! As for a single card, I think it's great to put it in the back of the pillow case, prefferably in an area where you obviously won't crush it! ..I tend to put mine more on the right side because I don't sleep there Sweet Dreams! <3LuckyFox

The putting cards under the pillow thread was originally posted on 05 Mar 2005 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.