smudging

Darkmage

I don't, basically.

I keep most of my decks in cedar boxes, though. This makes them smell nice and keeps them protected away from heat and light. There's no larger meaning behind this.

I will reorder my cards if I've been reading for other people, though. This isn't a cleansing thing. Instead, it's to make sure cards haven't dropped out under the table, fallen under the seats, or otherwise wind up missing. This is also why I take my mass market decks out for public readings but rare decks, like my Sola Busca and Hoi Polloi, always stay at home. I lose a card from one of those and I'm SOL. I lose my mini RWS, oh well, $15 and a trip to Changing Hands will score me a new copy.
 

spiritsofthewolf

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.

I have yet to smudge my deck, but I do smudge my area when reading sometimes. Just to keep negative energies away, plus the smell helps me to relax some. Btw, I am also from Southern Louisiana. :)
 

Grizabella

Yes, it is a Native American tradition, typically it's sage, sweet grass and tobacco. We pretty much smudge everything as well as before and at the end of any get together's, so for me it's natural and I wouldn't expect anyone not of my type of heritage to take up the practice just because. :)

For me it would be white sage, sweetgrass and cedar, using tobacco sprinkled as an offering to "give back" when I take cedar fronds from the tree.

Enven so, though, I don't smudge my decks, put them back in order or anything else like that. I've been reading for about 15 years now and have just never felt the need. I'm just not superstitious.
 

nisaba

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.
How: Well, I don't. Not with smoke. I shuffle.

Why: Why I don't? Well, put it this way. My decks are touched most often by me. They feel like me. As long as I keep my own energy positive, what's the problem?

I shuffle every time I finish a reading. I smudge ... never. I think I may have, back in the 1980s once or twice - I really don't remember.

or upon recieving a previously owned deck.
I just shuffle a lot, until they feel like me.

I have a very good friend who lives at a distance so we see each other only occasionally. He loves Tarot too, so whenever either of us visits, decks get pulled out and scattered around. Last time he came here a few months ago, he was intrigued by a particular deck. He held it and used it for quite a while. When I picked it up later, it felt like him. I shuffled it, it started feeling like me. Problem solved. :)
 

seedcake

Shuffling is enough for. I don't make any kind of ritual or something. I don't feel it's necessary.