Centaur

They pull, and slam, and pick, and bend. Argh! It does my head in! It is as though they are taking out their sexual frustrations on the cards!

A friend of mine damaged one of my Giovanni Casseli cards with her mean and rough handling of the deck. I was like 'Please.... be gentle'; TO NO AVAIL! The King of Swords is now all sort of raggedy. I know that card automatically when I turn the cards over. She was like, 'i'll get some glue'. Please don't bother. I'll have a new tarot deck instead you careless wench!

Arghhhhhhhh!

Anyway, I will be breaking the fingers of the next person who damages my preeeeeeeeeeeeecious decks...

C

Kiama

I've been here before... It was SUmmer 2000, and a new-found best friend decided to shuffle my Robin Wood deck like you would in a casino type place... Thereby bending the cards beyond all repair. (This friend also became a very active member of the forum for a while. )

I was very upset at the time, but now I am fine with it. My deck has what I owuld call 'character' and whenever I see it's battered condition, I remember all the good times I had which gave it that condition! I remember the friend who bent it and the friend who spilt his lager all over it, and the friend who smoked too much cannabis whilst I was reading for him thereby making the deck smell like cannabis... And of course I remember the little sister who's biro accidentally slipped into one of the cards... (NOt too much, just enough to notice, but it doesn't detract from the pictures.)

The only reason I tolerate damage to my deck though is cuz it is my only reading deck. If anybody did the same to my other decks, I would have something bad to say, cuz they're collecting decks, and I never use them... Some are also rare and expensive...

Kiama

__________________
"I believe the Goddess exists in our humanity, and not anywhere else." - Merlin, Mists of Avalon (TV series)

Trogon

Oh Centaur... that's a real shame! Very sorry to hear about this. Have you considered doing the shuffling yourself? Most of the time I do the shuffle myself, then the querrent can cut the deck however many times they want, then hand it back to me. Right now, I've only got one querrent who gets to shuffle the deck herself, but she does it by multiple cuts anyway, so no harm is done to the deck. Just something to think about I guess... Has she picked up that replacement deck yet?

__________________
Trogon

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time ... but, if you don't teach them to read, you can fool them whenever you like!"
[Max Headroom] (And if you know who that is, you're as old as me!)

Aerin

I introduced some people to my cards with 'anyone who does riffle shuffling can buy me a new, expensive deck'. That worked! Also it helped that I only allowed them to handle decks I didn't have much of an attachment to.

I have bought myself a second Fey so I can show it around without fear- I would be so cross if anyone hurt it, wouldn't be fair on the person.

Actually, I'd be cross if someone treated my playing cards like that never mind my Tarot cards.

Aerin

Khatruman

I am also one who does the shuffling of the decks, while asking the querent to casually ruminate on the query and small talk with him or her. Then I fan out the cards and have the querent choose. I mean, I guess the whole point of having them shuffle is to put the energy of the query into it, but if the person does the choosing from anywhere in the deck, I think it serves the same purpose. Of course it doesn't solve the lager problem or the biro???? forgive me, don't know what that is and how it can get IN a card.

Peace!

__________________
"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed."--C.S. Lewis

Umbrae

I always let the sitter shuffle. However I know that none of them are ‘used’ to shuffling a Tarot deck, so I watch them carefully.

If they are ‘aggressive’ (usually compensating for insecurities) I simply say, “Perfect!” and reach across the table for the deck, “Let’s meld our energies on your question…”

Have them cut and proceed with the reading.

It’s simple and direct.

__________________
"Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business." Tom Robbins

Kiama

A biro is a pen. Don't know if you have htem in the US, but w have htem over here in the UK for sure... And litle sisters, Tarot decks, and biros do NOT mix.

I solved the lager problem by laying the cards to dry over a radiator, then using lots of incense to make them smell nice again. Tip: Don't do readings for drunk people!

Kiama

__________________
"I believe the Goddess exists in our humanity, and not anywhere else." - Merlin, Mists of Avalon (TV series)

Diana

A biro is a ball-point pen. It's one of the most common makes of ball-point pens you can buy in shops. The cheap kind of ball-point pen - not the Dupont kind. You have them in the States, but they must be marketed under another name.

Aerin

That reminds me. DON'T let my brother anywhere near my cards. Ever. He's 36 now, yet I still don't trust him with my stuff since over the years he has (in error and with well meaning):

Ruined my favourite book 'Books, books, books' that I got when I was 2 and kept PERFECT I tell you until he got his sticky mitts on it (me age 9, him 3) and put indelible biro marks, sticky finger prints and general yuck all over it. And he tore the dust cover and broke the spine as well;

Nicked my coloured pencils out of my room and lost/ gave away about half of them

Made my favourite Piatnik Patience pack all sticky

Took my records and sold them while I was at college

Broke my water jug

Pulled my coat hanging rack off the wall

Broke a kitchen drawer

etc etc etc.

Younger siblings X decks = 3 of Swords

Aerin