Allowing others to touch cards
Some personal thoughts on this:
For me, the main issue is to show respect for the cards because of what they represent and the purpose for which they are used, and humility toward their mystery (which is really the mystery of the relationships between consciousness, reality and the Divine). It doesn't have anything to do with bits of paper and ink.
Therefore, like any important tool of value, they should preferably be handled carefully and with respect. This means using clean hands, storing the cards in a nice manner eg in silk with lavender etc as some advocate, and trying not to handle them gratuitously and not for the purpose for which they were intended. This respect is for the benefit of both reader and sitter and is part of a positive attitude toward the reading and its power.
Personally, though, for me I do not think this should be extended to an overly obsessive attitude toward the cards. The workings of the cards are inside the reader, the sitter and the Divine or whatever you want to call it, and not in the cards themselves. Therefore anything that surrenders the power of either reader and sitter 'to the cards' is, for me, inadvisable.
Refusing to allow a sitter to touch the cards would (for me) be saying that the cards (paper, ink and symbols) are more powerful or worthy than the sitter. Also, there is undeniable conveyed meaning in allowing the sitter to at least touch the cards. After all, the reading is about them and from them through me. Lastly, surely the essence of Tarot lies in the idea that what we regard as 'random' can in fact be impinged by consciousness and the Divine and can have interpretable meaning. If the reading is about the sitter then it seems reasonable (perhaps not essential) that the sitter should be involved either in the 'randomization' (shuffling, cutting) of the cards or in picking them.
For similar reasons I think it is wrong to feel the cards to be contaminated or weakened by someone touching them should that situation arise. This is especially true if the person has 'bad vibes' because this in effect would be to say that their 'vibes' have more power than the connection with universal consciousness that the cards, for me, represent. Also, in trying to love this person we must fight our fear. Easier said than done, I know. Nonetheless, I do not feel comfortable allowing people to idly sift through the cards or use them for another purpose, simply because this would not respect the process. Also, I do not want to find myself doing accidental, unintentional readings on, say, just dropped cards. The process should probably be intentional and focussed.
I hope never to refuse a reading only because someone has 'bad vibes' (as opposed to declining to read because they intend to seriously mock the process - that takes more strength again than I have right now).
Disclaimer: note that I'm a novice so my practice may well change. We'll see.
FlipTarot