A Beginner's question about charging/care.

Good day all!

I am newly returned from a short past with tarot and new to the boards, please forgive my simply question and possibly posting on the wrong board.

I have searched the forums of care of my cards and see that it is as personal as the decks we choose, but I'm hoping to get a feel (from your replies) how to take care of my deck when not in use.

Do you carefully put the deck back in order each after each reading? I hesitate to do this because shuffling may leave many unshuffled for a reading. Is it okay to not put them back in order? It sounds funny but I want to show my respect and appreciation, not that the deck would get "mad" at my treatment but rather to feel I've shown that appreciation.

Any reply is welcome.

I always reorder my decks, but you don't have to. Whatever feels right and respectful to you should work. I have a bit of OCD and I like them ordered, but if it does not bother you to not have them ordered, then don't.

Easy!

I like to leave them un-ordered. It just seems to me that having all my "shuffles" in there adds to the eloquence of the deck.

I believe I treat my decks with respect by just making sure I don't leave them lying around where they could get damaged and by handling them in such a way that they won't get bent or spilled on or dog-chewed or whatever.

I don't put them in order after each reading, I just put them somewhere back in the middle. I only re-order Decks, that I haven't used in a while, or that I got somewhere used. Then it makes sense to me ,to have touched them all again, and that they are all there..LOL

There are no rules in tarot, for anything. Do whatever feels comfortable for you. If you feel you need a ritual then make it your own.

The magic is in you, not the cards. I don't agree with respecting the cards. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to go bending them up. But they are just cards. Some are pieces of art. Care for them however you wish, I'm sure they won't mind.

Thanks Manda, Grizabella, Seeker and Sinduction.

I am very structured and organized at work, to the annoyance of those around me, but at home I let loose and chaos reigns, in a comforting let-life-happen kinda way. Perhaps another deck will seem more right to me to be re-ordered after use. I agree it depends more on me than the deck, I was wondering if there is something I was missing with re-ordering, an aspect I wouldn't have though of because, again, at home I'm messy by nature. The silly fluffy side of me envisions them mingling and playing with perhaps a few squabbles, but no all out fist-a-cuffs.

I agree Sinduction, they are just paper and art. I guess though how I "feel" about how I treat them ultimately affects the magic within me. I didn't want to question my treatment of them and flow that to my readings.

Thanks so much! I appreciate all your thoughts and replies.

I never reordered my cards, unless I am doing a specific study of them that makes reordering more practical. Too much hard work . I care for my cards by shuffling them gently and keeping them in a dry place, wrapped in a solid bag, or placed in a good box (its own or a custom-made one). Also - I make sure my hands or my querents' hands are clean before I use them.

As others have said - you'll find your own way. My own way is to make them as familiar and cosy as I can. They are my intimate divination tools.

SakuraFae said:

I agree Sinduction, they are just paper and art. I guess though how I "feel" about how I treat them ultimately affects the magic within me.

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I agree with everyone/nobody.

Yup. You buy them from a store, bring them home, they are just paper and ink. Media and carrier.

Let them sit on the shelf and paper and ink they remain.

But take them out into the world, folks touch them, strangers are read for, friends look oogle giggle and squint, somewhere along the line something happens. They take on a ‘feel’ that is more than the sum of the parts.

They begin to feel – different.

I believe that although ultimately the magic resides in you, and really magical things occur when you gaze at an image which passes along the optic nerve into the depths of the brain where real magic lives…the deck begins to take on bits and pieces. Over the years a deck may (it certainly feels like it) a bit of magic of its own.

Now I don’t believe IT cares what ‘bag’ its in, I certainly do – and may project that upon the deck – which then seems happier in bag A than bag B. But it’s no longer paper and ink.

I was at a fair a few weeks back, and had my very battered Thoth…other readers wanted to come and ‘feel’ it. Cuz yeah. It’s way more than paper and ink now – its got spirit.

So I always recommend that when you get a new deck, bring it home and hook it up to the 220 to give it a good charge. Sleep with it (don’t do poop for the deck, but your subconscious which knows there’s a deck beneath yer pillow will gladly affect yer dreams), shuffle it, get it out in public as soon as possible.

And don’t’ worry about respecting your deck – make sure your deck respects you.

And no - I have never put a deck back into order unless it is for study purposes. Then I arrange by numbers and not suits.

After I finish each reading, I get the energy of that reading off the deck not by re-ordering, but by shuffling briefly. Otherwise yo uhave to spend an exorbitant length of time shuffling for the next read. DEcks seem to be happy with that, and with being wrapped in a nice silk as their place to "live".

My friends in my tarot study group used to make fun of my slightly OCD habit of putting the decks back into order. What broke me of the habit was too many readings where I simply had not shuffled the deck enough before attempting to do the reading and all of the cards in one suit, for example, appear. That spoils the reading.

But every once in awhile I will pick up a deck and re-order it as a form of therapy. Just gotta be prepared to shuffle it back out really well before I read!

I like putting my cards into tarot bags or wrapping them in silk. Sometimes I even throw in a crystal with them. I do what makes me happy. I also like to sage new decks.