Controlling the tarot vibrations

oddtarot

I have a deck that I really like, and I feel I should avoid taking it to places that I feel negative vibes, in case the cards absorb those vibrations and I may not be able to use it normally after that.

I wondered if anyone ever avoided taking your cards to certain places that you know are negative. If you take your cards everywhere with you, how do you fix it when it comes in contact with bad energies?

I also wonder if I should get another deck just for taking it to places with negative energy.
 

Barleywine

The debate about the relative sensitivity of the physical cards to energy contamination has gone back and forth many times on this forum. Some people don't believe that they can absorb negative energy, just as some don't sleep with them under their pillow when they first get them. There are numerous ways to cleanse a deck of suspected negativity, some physical, some entirely ritualistic. As I don't use them, I can't say anything authoritative about them. About all I do is a simple, silent "white light" affirmation or prayer of protection (kind of a short ritual recital I learned from my Spiritualist cousin years ago) before I start shuffling, but it's to protect the act of reading from astral corruption, not the deck itself. (Full disclosure: I'm not a religious person in any conventional sense, so this is more a ceremonial deterrent than an orthodox "prayer" as such.)
 

oddtarot

Barleywine said:
The debate about the relative sensitivity of the physical cards to energy contamination has gone back and forth many times on this forum. Some people don't believe that they can absorb negative energy, just as some don't sleep with them under their pillow when they first get them. There are numerous ways to cleanse a deck of suspected negativity, some physical, some entirely ritualistic. As I don't use them, I can't say anything authoritative about them. About all I do is a simple, silent "white light" affirmation or prayer of protection (kind of a short ritual recital I learned from my Spiritualist cousin years ago) before I start shuffling, but it's to protect the act of reading from astral corruption, not the deck itself. (Full disclosure: I'm not a religious person in any conventional sense, so this is more a ceremonial deterrent than an orthodox "prayer" as such.)
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Could you lead me to the threads in which they have been discussed? I would like to read up on that.
 

Alamaris

I'm a firm believer that decks aren't effected by contamination and don't absorb negative energy. If this was the case, all of my decks would be completely unusable! They've lived in a household with a senile alcoholic, been battered by multiple divorce proceedings, surivived my overly traumatic teenage years; they've come with me to mental institutions, emergency rooms, and the bad parts of town. I don't feel that there's any psychic "gunk" on any of these decks, and if there's anything on them at all, it's experience. I'm a better reader, and a better person, because I've lived fully -- through both good times and bad, and I didn't hesitate to bring my tools with me through either phase. To stop using one of my beloved decks simply because it was around during hard times would be like throwing away a pet because it slept on my bed when I was sick and miserable.

The only thing that will effect our decks in this manner are our own projections and fears.
 

Grizabella

Very well said, Alamaris. I'm in complete agreement. Treating a deck with respect insofar as shuffling so you don't bend cards, not leaving them outside all night, not spilling stuff all over them, etc. is one thing. But they're a tool just like any other tool. They're not going to get contaminated with negative energy because of taking them places with you any more than your hammer would if you took it out in public.

Besides, think of it this way. If a child were so sheltered that they never, ever encountered anything negative in their life, by adulthood they'd be so mentally and emotionally crippled that they'd have no skills to even recognize danger and negative energies much less have the skills to cope with any of it. Your deck has to impart wisdom to you, and if it's too sheltered and protected, how is it ever going to gain the experience to give you the wisdom you need about negative as well as positive aspects of life. That's an over-simplification, but valid, don't you think?
 

PAMUYA

Agree more or less with the preivous two posts: I would think that "you" would be more subjected to negitive energy/vibrations, not the cards. My belief is that you can only be effected if you allow yourself to be(both positive and negative energies), you give this power away. When reading you must try to remain neutral. The cards are just paper. The magic is within you, not the cards. A deck is always in my handbag, no matter where I go, been reading for over 40 years.
 

oddtarot

Thanks for all the replies, I was surprised to know that so many of you don't do deck cleansing. I like the idea of having my cards with me and I will take your advice and put them in my bag.
 

Grizabella

I actually kind of like thinking that there might be energy from all the people I've read for. There's for sure some DNA from them because we leave DNA on anything we touch. I never re-order the cards either. All my shuffles and my sitter's shuffles are in the decks I have if that's actually possible. It's kind of nice to think about.

I don't worry about negative energy. It can't hurt me and it surely can't hurt my deck, so I just proceed. I don't believe there's any such thing as an "energy vampire" or whatever they're called, for one thing. I'm strong enough in myself and my spiritual beliefs that it's just not possible for anyone to do that to me. Further, what I used to think was something on the order of being an "empath", for me turned out to be just purely codependency in the extreme. If it were possible to be terminally codependent, I was it.

I think the more you buy into the possibility of these fears and happenings, the weaker you become as a reader. You don't have to live your life shielding yourself and hiding your deck from the public and cleansing decks and all those other things if you're in right spiritual order. Being in the right order makes you very strong and capable and you have very, very little to fear or protect against.

All this is simply my opinion, but I believe I'm right. I'm not making any judgments about others who believe whatever they believe. I respect their beliefs.
 

Carla

It's very rare that I feel a deck needs cleansing. Usually it's with used decks that I get these feelings. I use various ways to cleanse decks, on the rare occasion I feel they need it. But I don't avoid taking decks places for fear they will pick up negative vibrations. Once the deck becomes 'mine' (you know what I mean), I feel that it is cleansed, or 'reset.' everytime I riffle them thoroughly. It's only before a deck has become mine that I have ever wanted to do some sort of ritual cleansing.
 
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