I know this question has been answered before...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

calligirl	09 Jun 2005
but I have done search after search and can't find the thread for it that I know must be here somewhere so forgive me for being redundant. My question is: What do you do when you first receive a new deck? What is your ritual? Do you bless the cards before you open them? Do you clear your mind and find a quiet place to meditate first? Do you go through them one by one to see if they are all there? Or do you tear all the packaging off and spread them out like candy after Halloween trick-or-treat? Do you shuffle immediately and do a reading? The reason I'm asking is that I'm waiting (impatiently!) for the...gasp...Druidcraft to get here and I would like to know the 'proper' way to greet the cards. If I remember correctly, with the Gilded, I tore off all the wrappings and just stared at them. Which is what I still do, actually... So what do YOU do?

Osher	09 Jun 2005
I tend to look at each card, and also to put them into order, to make sure they're all there. Nothing special, but I do try and bond with the cards, by looking at each one.

ros	09 Jun 2005
I open my new deck up and look at The Hermit, The Star & The Moon cards first. Those are my favorites. I make sure the cards are all there. Put the deck away until I'm ready to read with it. Then re-open it & do some fancy shuffling & spread them on the table! LOL

Emeraldgirl	10 Jun 2005
I jump up and down giving off little shreiks of happiness (most of my decks come mail order so it's really exciting when they arrive) Open up all the packaging etc and go through them all ohhhing and ahhhhing over the cards then they get put in a box I have with some nice smelling incense and some crystals and then I use themor put them with the rest of the decks.

Emily	10 Jun 2005
First for me its getting the actual deck - Our postie is a nightmare and sometimes doesn't knock my door or even bring the packages with him - I've had a card pushed through to say they've tried to deliver but didn't even have the package with them. So once I have the deck, I find a quiet place to open them, first I count to make sure they are all there, not looking at the card fronts just the backs, lets me check too that all the backs are the same and not marked in anyway. Then I count again, face up and separate the Majors and Minors - lay the Minors out into their suits, again to make sure I have all the cards. Once all this is over, then comes the time to really look at the cards - Keeping them in suit order, I play around laying all the numbers together, all the Aces, two's, three's etc to compare them. I don't try any readings until I've shuffled and really get the feel for the deck. If its a straight RWS clone then I'll be doing readings with it within the first day or so but decks that need a little more thought, like Vargo's Gothic, I won't read with it until I've got a firm idea of the artwork. The DruidCraft was one of the decks that I was able to read with straight out of the box but be prepared to get lost in the artwork the first time you see it - I just kept shuffling and looking through them, its such a beautiful deck it seems to overwhelm, very much like an over-enthusiastic friend, until you get to know it. :D

Moonbow*	10 Jun 2005
I always check that all the cards are present and correct.. :) Then I lay them all out on a table, in order and look at them, looking at colours, and any connections that I might make. sometimes I move them around and put all of the courts together to compare the messages they give me. Or all of the Aces... twos....threes... etc together and look at them with an eye for seeing the differences in them. They may stay on the table all day, and I keep going back to them with a fresh eye. Then I try a quickie three card reading... it goes from there......

raeanne	10 Jun 2005
Hi all, No one else is mentioning this but I.....well, I......gee, I smell them. There is something about the smell of paper and ink that I love! An office supply store or a library smells great to me. After I float on the smell, I look through the deck and make sure no cards are missing. I add a page to my "deck notebook" where I will keep notes about this deck. I list which suit goes with each of the four elements and also the names of the four court cards. I write down any differences to the names of the majors, the name of any additional cards, the 8/11 order for this deck, and any other first look points of interest. Then I go back and look at each card to see what symbols I see and how it is similar or different from my other decks. I shuffle the deck and do a new deck reading. For several days after that I go through the deck again and again.

NightWing	10 Jun 2005
I guess I'm a casual "sniffer" too, though some recent decks are pretty bad, and smell strongly of something resembling acetone. I have no initial special ritual, beyond tearing off the cellophane wrappers on the box and then the deck itself as fast as possible, and doing a quick count. I've been "burned" twice by cards missing from decks. BUT I've developed the habit of laying out all the cards on a big flat surface (table or carpet), arranged in rows of Majors and then each of the four suits. I leave them like that for at least several days, to get acquainted. They also get to air out. Often my first shuffling and reading is not until weeks after the acquisition; it very much depends on the particular deck and how it "speaks" to me. I have some decks I very much like that I have never read with. I don't believe ritual is important at this stage, except to always treat the cards with respect.

SunChariot	16 Jun 2005
Can't say I have a ritual much either,but I need to be alone when I open them, usually lying on my bed. I feel such a sense of awe and reverence the every time I look at my decks. The feeling is even stronger the first time. Excitement at the beauty of the images yes, but also just a wonder at the wisdom of this new set of imagers and all the amazing things we will learn together. Underneath I know that the answers and wisdom come from inside me somewhere and my connection to the universe, still each deck is such a deep amazing spirtual tool. Just AweSome! If I have any ritual, it is to always wash my hands before touching any of my decks of spiritual tools, even if they are not dirty. Then I look through the deck once, or a few times) with the proper amount of awe for their wisdom, and put them away in their new pouch. I always have a pouch waiting for them before I open a deck, and I always have lavendar petals in all my pouches to keep the decks smelling pleasant. Bar

Thirteen	17 Jun 2005
ros wrote: I open my new deck up and look at The Hermit, The Star & The Moon cards first. Those are my favorites. Heh. I do the same only with the High Priestess, Hanged Man, Moon and Devil cards. Then I go through the cards from the Fool on to that final court card. I give each a good look and try to see that intersection between what I think of as that card's meaning and what the deck's artist/creator has focused on. The differences not only give me a feel for the deck, but often a new way of seeing that card. Like Connolly's Deck where the 6/Swords is a woman running over a bridge rather than a boat traveling across a river. A much more solid interpetation of that card meaning there. And then, if there's a book (not the little white book, but a REAL book written by the creator), I eagerly read through that while working through the deck yet again. I find this useful because often there are little things that I miss that the artist put in--like, in the Sacred Circle Tarot where the plants depicted in some of the cards reflect meaning (symbolic flowers and such). Or the Ancient Egyptian Tarot where it helped to know why the deck's creator picked certain Egyptian dieties for certain Major Arcana. What can I say? When I decide to get to know a deck, I really get to know it. I love to get underneath and behind the story. Love listening to writer/director commentaries on DVD's come to that :)

Kiama	17 Jun 2005
I buy most of my decks online, so I am often woken up by the postman with new decks... As such, I jump back into bed with the deck and open it whilst snuggled up in all my covers... I sniff the deck, look through every single card (sometimes twice if I really like the deck), read the book (or some of the book), and if the deck is amazing I'll nudge the other half til he's awake to tell him all about it! }) Then I'll fall back to sleep. And start the process all over again when I wake up! :D I don't do any rituals for a new deck, though if a deck has really taken my fancy it may be allowed into whatever ritual I do next. Kiama

SunChariot	17 Jun 2005
Thirteen wrote: And then, if there's a book (not the little white book, but a REAL book written by the creator), I eagerly read through that while working through the deck yet again. I find this useful because often there are little things that I miss that the artist put in--like, in the Sacred Circle Tarot where the plants depicted in some of the cards reflect meaning (symbolic flowers and such). Or the Ancient Egyptian Tarot where it helped to know why the deck's creator picked certain Egyptian dieties for certain Major Arcana. What can I say? When I decide to get to know a deck, I really get to know it. I love to get underneath and behind the story. Love listening to writer/director commentaries on DVD's come to that :) I always read through the deck's book too in its entirety before I use a deck. I don't depend on it, but it helps understand the philosophy the creator put into the deck. Bar

sagitarian	17 Jun 2005
I tend to take them all out, and regardless of which order I do the following, I do these two things first. Count the cards, making sure they are all there, and go through the cards, looking at each one, but usually not spending more then a few seconds looking at each one, with the exception of those that REALLY captivate me for whatever reason. Then without further due, I begin to shuffle them up, and begin a new deck reading. I usually ask what our relationship will be together. 1. Uniting 2. Developement 3. Outcome Ok, this is probably more detailed then what you wanted to know, but there it is. Then either I continue to do a few other readings, like a daily draw, or I put them away.

The I know this question has been answered before... thread was originally posted on 09 Jun 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.