Others touching my cards

Le Fanu

It's all psycological. Doesn't make it less valid. Just psychological.

I don't worry about others' vibes - like nisaba said - good, bad, nice people, embittered people - they all touch my cards.

However, the chances are it's a deck which I have a 2nd copy of. Not because of any fear of vibes or pollution of my cards, just because most people can't shuffle (heck, I even creased my own Special Edition Tarot of Dreams this week because I wasn't thinking and I was shuffling too quickly...)...
 

Flaminica

The way I was taught, it's neither here nor there if others touch the cards because paper is an ephemeral material and doesn't absorb energy the way other substances do. So, if cards pick up negative vibes from being handled or just being in a bad environment, the energy will tend to disperse naturally or can be cleansed easily by laying a crystal on the deck.

I encourage people to shuffle the deck if I'm reading for them, and at the tarot circle I attended everyone passed around their decks for comparison. If someone told me they didn't want their deck handled however, I'd respect that and wouldn't take it badly.

Now on the other hand I would never (and never have) allowed anyone to handle my rune stones. Stone isn't as forgetful as paper.
 

Ange

I've never had anyone else touch my cards.....although having said that, my beloved Fenestra were second hand to me, I got them from a member on here...:)

Ang x
 

Asbestos Mango

I don't like to let sitters shuffle my cards, for a very practical reason. I generally don't use reversed cards (although I'm starting to "experiment" with them in my personal reading, to see if there's any additional insight).

I would hand the sitter the deck and tell them to shuffle, "be very careful not to reverse any of the cards" and invariably I would end up with reversed cards in the spread. This in spite of the fact that I would mark my decks at one end and show the sitter the mark so they could keep the cards all pointed in one direction. They would not only disregard my instructions, they would disregard the mark that I showed them to make my instructions easy to follow.

Doing a reading when you're annoyed at the sitter for not being able to follow simple instructions is not a good thing. So, I'll stick to shuffling myself if I'm doing a face to face reading.
 

irisa

Apart from one deck (my first) everyone and anyone is welcome to touch, shuffle, play and generally mess with my cards. When reading for others the more they are and feel included and involved the better.

irisa :)
 

thinbuddha

I'm rolling my eyes at anyone who thinks that bad vibes will contaminate your decks. Seriously..... No, really.

I can see the point of anyone with an expensive deck that is reluctant to let others handle the deck. People do tend to be rough on cards- especially if they aren't used to the idea that these decks aren't exactly cheap like a normal deck of playing cards.
 

WingspreadPhoenix

I don't care about "mixing energies" and "vibes" and whatnot. The reason why I don't let others touch my deck is...well, some of them, I just don't trust (people can be so immature sometimes!) and others I do trust, but accidents do happen... (I'd rather hate myself for accidentally harming my deck than a friend, yes it was an accident but it still happened) :\ Basically, what thinbuddha said xD
 

Queen Hippolyta

Touching the tarot cards

For most people who read for others, it is best to let that person scuffle the deck. Now if one does not want them "touching" your deck then buy two! One personal deck and one that others may touch. (Or just buy a deck that others can touch and that you don't use for personal use)

I know a lady who reads tarot as a business. She buys (I think anyway) her tarot cards in bulk. She uses several for doing readings and when the cards get "too much energy from others" she just uses a new pack, and gives away the old, used ones to people who are beginners. The great thing about this is that the new cards she buys (save the receipt) is a tax wright-off because it is for her business and it helps newbies learn how to do it when they get the old decks.
 

Grizabella

Asbestos Mango said:
I don't like to let sitters shuffle my cards, for a very practical reason. I generally don't use reversed cards (although I'm starting to "experiment" with them in my personal reading, to see if there's any additional insight).

I would hand the sitter the deck and tell them to shuffle, "be very careful not to reverse any of the cards" and invariably I would end up with reversed cards in the spread. This in spite of the fact that I would mark my decks at one end and show the sitter the mark so they could keep the cards all pointed in one direction. They would not only disregard my instructions, they would disregard the mark that I showed them to make my instructions easy to follow.

Doing a reading when you're annoyed at the sitter for not being able to follow simple instructions is not a good thing. So, I'll stick to shuffling myself if I'm doing a face to face reading.

I just turn the cards back around as I read. It's not an annoyance to me. It doesn't take much energy to turn the card over if they happen to reverse. I take the reversal into account if I want to and just go on from there.
 

Aedrielle

Grizabella said:
I just turn the cards back around as I read. It's not an annoyance to me. It doesn't take much energy to turn the card over if they happen to reverse. I take the reversal into account if I want to and just go on from there.

I also do this - I don't use reversals ever and I shuffle like normal cards. I just turn the cards around as they come up and it's so habit that I don't really notice when they come up reversed.

As far as people touching my cards... well, only my husband has seen them and I'm fine with him touching them. I don't think I'd mind other people handling them, but if I was a professional reader, I think I'd shuffle them myself and just have the client pick the cards. Simply for the matter of keeping the cards clean and tidy.