smudging

morticia monroe

I have read in many of my tarot study books and online posts about people "smudging" or cleansing their decks. I am curious as to how many of you do it, HOW you do it, WHY you do it, and HOW OFTEN.
I have read from some that they do this if others handle the deck, or upon recieving a previously owned deck. I have also heard of others who put the cards back into order after every reading.
As for myself, Upon first receiving a deck, I look at the cards, and then I begin to slowly shuffle the deck as I close my eyes and momentarily meditate. I ask the deck to accept my energies, and to always show me what IT wants me to know and see, regardless of what I may want. I have different oils and scents that I sometimes use when I handle a particular deck. Some decks I have scented, others seemed better left as is. I just sort of go with what feels right.
But as far as doing any kind of a cleansing ritual, that is it. And once my cards are shuffled, they stay shuffled. To me, putting a deck back in order is almost like taking a human being and erasing their memory. We gain wisdom through our experiences, and all the energies we interact with, and the more we interact, the more we learn so that we grow stronger and more capable in our lives, knowing what to do and how to do it BECAUSE OF our experiences. I feel as though cleansing my cards would be almost like taking them back to square one, erasing any knowledge and wisdom they have aquired, leaving them weaker than they once were.
I must say that I have been getting fantastic readings from most of my decks, and I am wondering if there are others out there who also do not clease or purify their cards.
 

Durant Hapke

and butter...

Mad Cap Morticia Monroe,

Bring it, and share your funky perspective -- your most fine action.

Not sure about the whole "big smudging" scene, but am digging on your thoughts regarding card "development."

morticia monroe said:
To me, putting a deck back in order is almost like taking a human being and erasing their memory. We gain wisdom through our experiences, and all the energies we interact with, and the more we interact, the more we learn so that we grow stronger and more capable in our lives, knowing what to do and how to do it BECAUSE OF our experiences.
Right on.

I think the director Orson Wells, said something along these lines.

Your on it.

Durant "better get me a popcorn" Hapke
 

morticia monroe

Choice post, Durant. Thanks for your thoughts,,, and please pass the popcorn. :)
 

Neely75

I think it's one of those personal, do what feels right, things.

Myself. I did nothing with my first deck. I still can't read with it. I just don't enjoy the deck at all.

My second deck, I've only just bought recently. Before I put them out of order I sat and passed each card through incense. It just felt nice to spend that time with them.

I also don't believe in putting the cards back in order after using them. I never thought of it the way you do, Morticia, but it makes perfect sense when I read it like that.
 

willowfox

I never ever purify the cards, as I get them, so I use them, and it works out fine.
As for putting the cards back into order, to me that is a really silly idea, like stripping a car and putting all the bits back on the shelf.
 

Disa

Well, putting cards back in order is something I do with decks I'm probably not going to use anymore. I don't know why, but when I put them away I feel like they just need to be in order. It's also something I do if I'm studying a deck and I need to find all the Swords now or all the Wands.

Smudging was something I did even before I read tarot cards. I sometimes smudge my special room, the entire house, and sometimes furniture that has been brought in, sometimes I smudge myself. It's something about focusing the intention, and the scent of sage, that makes me feel calm, peaceful, and puts me in a state of feeling like I am connected again. The negativity seems to dissipate and I feel renewed, refreshed, re-energized.

As far as decks go, I don't mind people touching them. I don't feel they necessarily need cleansing after anyone touches them, but, like anything else around me, if I came in contact with someone who gave me bad vibes that I just couldn't shake, and they had handled the cards- I might smudge the cards. Sometimes it's just a feeling of reconnecting, I can look at each one and focus my intent on it as I pass it through the smoke. The negativity dissipates, but the positive stuff stays. That's just my perception, of course.

Disa
 

balenciaga

Reorder

M.M.,
My friend just gave me her Gendron deck last night (she hated it) and the first thing i did was to put it back in order. Lixipixi from here at AT gave me this advice.:love:
The deck read fine after that and I felt better. You are right about "erasing the memory". I felt it helped to dispel any negative vibe or energy.
 

Demon Goddess

I don't smudge.

I don't "cleanse"

Occasionally, I might upright all of my cards.

The only deck I have ever had any real trouble reading was an ordinary deck of playing cards and truly, I doubt smudging, or cleansing would have done anything to change that.

I am of the do what feels right school. If you are listening to what the cards are saying and hearing the message, then you're doing it right.

T
 

ninashita

The only time I put my cards in order was when someone wanted to see them all as a sequence, but I mixed them right on the table before pilling them up again. I don't think I've ever purified my deck, purifying is one of those things I'm amazingly good at procrastinating. A friend of mine, who also reads the tarot and practices wicca, is constantly lecturing me because every time I buy a new deck or crystal I don't take the "proper measures." It just doesn't feel right to me, it sounds weird but I like to have the feel of all different kind of energies available in case I need them. Of course, be there a negative energy or something that doesn't work, I'd do the corresponding purifying, but other than that I limit myself to a small prayer as I shuffle before a reading, asking the cards to show me what it's necessary for me to see. I also shuffle a lot after I do readings for quite an amount of people at the same time, to dispel the energies yet not completely erase them.
 

Demon Goddess

ninashita said:
The only time I put my cards in order was when someone wanted to see them all as a sequence, but I mixed them right on the table before pilling them up again. I don't think I've ever purified my deck, purifying is one of those things I'm amazingly good at procrastinating. A friend of mine, who also reads the tarot and practices wicca, is constantly lecturing me because every time I buy a new deck or crystal I don't take the "proper measures." It just doesn't feel right to me, it sounds weird but I like to have the feel of all different kind of energies available in case I need them. Of course, be there a negative energy or something that doesn't work, I'd do the corresponding purifying, but other than that I limit myself to a small prayer as I shuffle before a reading, asking the cards to show me what it's necessary for me to see. I also shuffle a lot after I do readings for quite an amount of people at the same time, to dispel the energies yet not completely erase them.

Oh I think you verbalized why I don't bother to do any of those things... It's like walking barefoot. If I put on shoes, I can't feel the energies flowing up through me from the earth. I think that the more energies that flow, the more energies that can influence the readings... boy it sounds hokey when you put it down on paper, though, doesn't it?

T