Tarot "Jokers" -- What do you do with them?

[firemaiden]

HA! When I first saw the thread title, before I clicked on it, I imagined you were asking what are we going to do with tarot jokesters - aka - people like Firemaiden and the Cosmic Toaster who keep playing with tarot in ways that are not entirely serious

 

[kerri28]

I usually leave them lying around on my desk until they magically vanish by themselves... I usually find out about the vanishing thing just after having thought of something they'd be really useful for.

Oh Gosh, that's what i do.lol I have two in the car atm and I think they get blown out of the car door at some point.

 

[Emily]

I keep them with the decks and use them to protect the top and bottom cards when I put the deck either back into the deck box or a bag.

 

[thinbuddha]

I keep everything so that if I ever want to trade or sell, I have the complete package. These cards are absolutly worthless...... unless the deck is 20 years out of print and "collectable"- then you might wish you had the extra cards for your big ebay auction.

 

[Nevermore]

I put one at each end of the deck before I put it away to protect the printing. If the deck doesn't have an extra card, I turn the bottom card over so that the faces of the cards are all protected from the inside of the box or bag.

I do the same thing. When I take out the cards and put aside the jokers, it feels like I'm "opening" the deck. When I put them away and close the box(with jokers at either end) it feels like I'm protecting the cards as well as "closing" them.

 

[frelkins]

So I was wandering around Google (http://books.google.com/books?id=Ml6y6LA4bJQC&printsec=frontcover) when found the "true" meaning of those "Jokers," supposedly:

The meanings of the two blank cards traditionally added to every deck are revealed, and two of the Major Arcana— Truth and Intuition—appear once again after centuries. These restorations make the Tarot complete, and more clearly reveal its structure.

-- Onno Docters Van Leeuwen

There you have it!

 

[Riverstone]

Many years ago I bought a copy of Morgan's Tarot. I hardly used the deck, but I did take out the "extra" cards and used them as bookmarks. I removed one that looked like it served the purpose of a title page. It did serve that purpose, but it was also a usable part of the deck. Now I have a collector's item with one card missing. I now keep a small box in a drawer where I place all the extra cards.

 

[Shade]

And here I thought I was creative for using them as bookmarks.

Either that or I just throw them out - I hate pulling one in a reading because it got shuffled into the deck.

 

[Knight of Wands]

I have two boxes, one with all my LWBS, and one with all spare cards, all in same, safe place.

That way, if I ever need/want to trade, the person will get the whole set

 

[miss_nikki]

I give them to my son! He always wants to do what Mommy is doing so I give him the joker cards and he does cards while I do too