Charging cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 May 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Josh	02 May 2005
Is there nay other wyas u can charge cards without using the moon????? -Josh

tarotbear	02 May 2005
What are you 'charging' them to do? Are you looking to 'cleanse' your cards of energy or for another purpose?

Josh	02 May 2005
i just got the deck and i want to charge it for first time use... i have cleansed them with sage but do u have to wait for a full moon or new moon to charge them????????? -Josh

WolfyJames	02 May 2005
Well, you can use the full moon, as the moon is perfect for divination, but some do use the sun. You can also put your deck in a small box filled with sands or salt and keep it there for three days. I want to mention that you don't need to cleanse and charge your deck in order to use it.

tarotbear	02 May 2005
Dear Josh~ "Charging your deck" is one of those things that gets discussed a lot, but is not absolutely necessary. You can crack open a new deck you just bought off the shelf and use it to do a reading immediately. You will find there are all these 'rituals' that people will tell you 'you must do this' or 'you musn't do that' as though a good reading will matter what color candle you burn or if you slept with the deck under your pillow for only one night instead of three. We all have done these rituals at some point or another during our time as beginners. Some things you will do because they make you feel better; some you will do because you sense they help you 'connect better' with your cards. Whether you charge them in the sunlight, the moonlight, resting them on a clear quartz cluster, wrapping them and burying them in sea salt, in the ground, passing them through sage smoke, incense smoke, sweetgrass smoke, or even cigarette smoke is only done for you to 'make a connection' with your cards. Do what you feel is best. There are a couple of threads: one on 'Tarot beliefs,' and one on 'Tarot superstitions.' You might find them helpful.

HudsonGray	03 May 2005
Just a warning, salt can be bad for the surface coating on the cards, I wouldn't use that. Some people just set a quartz crystal on top the deck & leave it there. But I agree with the others, you don't need to do any of those things--most of us just take it out of the box, pull off the cellophane & start riffling through the deck! (Some say the act of shuffling moves enough energy around to keep everything clean). Don't get bogged down in mythology that may not fit you or your situation, there's enough false stuff going around about tarot as it is. If you can't think of a really good reason for the myth to be there & useful, don't do it. The deck will work fine for you, don't worry.

full deck	03 May 2005
Car battery? . . . I hate static cling though.

Fudugazi	03 May 2005
Plug it into the wall socket - but only those on proper cardstock, the others get bent out of shape. And don't put your fingers in the socket.

cybercat	03 May 2005
Warning putting your cards in the sun can warp them. I put mine on a window shelf to getclean up some mold on a old deckand had them warp real fast. You can take the warp out but just watch them. Cat

tarotbear	03 May 2005
cybercat wrote: Warning putting your cards in the sun can warp them. I put mine on a window shelf to getclean up some mold on a old deckand had them warp real fast. You can take the warp out but just watch them. Cat Wow! You mean the possibly when someone posts about 'how do you straighten a warped deck?' that the real culprit is that the plastic coating probably shrunk from being exposed to high heat? One would think the heat necessary for the laminating process used on the cards would be hotter than cards left exposed in direct sunlight ... but maybe not. :confused:

The Charging cards thread was originally posted on 02 May 2005 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.