Breaking in a New Deck - what are your habits?

[poopsie]

Hello Jes

In my case it was different. I bought a Liber T tarot card a few months back because i felt that when I saw it in a store, it sort of called to me. I ignored it at first and then at the last minute before going home, I opted to buy it. Usually, I have always been using my Rider-Waite cards and was ok with it.

The first time I shuffled and opened the Liber T, I did not feel a connection to it so I was thinking, maybe I wasn't ready for it. Anyway, it was just there and I continued to use my Rider.

Here's the interesting part -- I recently had a second kidney transplant and although I would cling to my Rider-Waite for guidance and help, I tended to dilly-dally. After I got out of the hospital, i went back to the Rider-Waite and noticed some cards were missing ...

Finally, I decided to keep the RW and use the Liber T -- lo and behold! The cards felt "different" -- they were suddenly easier to shuffle, and before I knew it, when I would study the cards one by one, I realized that it "spoke" to me!

Everyday, I decided that I would hold the cards, study them intently, do research for at least an hour or two, asking questions just to build a relationship! Now, Liber T and I are great friends ... I have found a wonderful guide, it has given me a chance to think things through in a totally different perspective ...

Just build a relationship with your deck -- talk to it as it talks to you -- you may eventually build your own rituals and discover that just like any other friend, the cards can be just quite as unconditional if you take care of them and build a healthy respect for the advice or answers you may get. Good luck! Enjoy.

 

[Dancing Bear]

To be honest i struggle breaking in new decks. Always feel disloyal LOL!
So now i buy the decks that appeal to me.
I play with them for a bit, get to know them, study them ( not for long though) this whole process is about a week or two and then put them down.
then i allow them to come to me when the timing is right.

recently my old trusty deck, just wasnt trusty anymore
I have a few decks , not many but a few. I had absolutely no idea what deck i should read with. Even searching on the net to purchase another one LOL!
I had an unbooked spur of the moment reading, the only deck in my bag, which was a bit freaky, coz only my trusty ever lives in that bag..
Trusty wasnt there but a New deck. it worked a dream.
It chose me!
Now i have a New trusty LOL!

 

[velvetina]

this is what i did with my 'understudy' Rider waite.

I had bought another RW on eBay, but waited until a significant date. This date coincided with the Full Moon.

I unwrapped my old RW and looked through each of the new cards. I placed the corresponding new card next to the old, in the random sequence the old deck was in (after many many years of shuffling).

Then I wrapped them both up together, a tarot sandwich, and placed them on the window sill under the Full Moon light.

The following evening I unwrapped the decks and divided them into new & old , the difference now that the new deck is shuffled by its lacement with the old deck.

Intention is everything.

In my mind, the two decks were synchronising, communicating, mind-melding like a couple of Vulcans!

The old deck whispered all its secrets to its sister and brought her up to speed!

I know this is fanciful to some, but I like a bit of ritual once in a while

 

[Jes]

To be honest i struggle breaking in new decks. Always feel disloyal LOL!
So now i buy the decks that appeal to me.

This is how I was feeling when I started this thread. Lol glad it's not just me

 

[Sar]

XD

Back on topic: I tend to go through them like others have done, checking they're all there and taking in the images, then I literally throw them across my floor and collect them in a random order - they end up thoroughly shuffled that way

Sound great.

 

[Lady Morgaine]

Velvetina, That makes perfect sense to me. It is an energy exchange.

When I buy a new deck
1. I cleanse them. I pass them through the smoke of sage several times. This will clean any energy from them. (Especially if it is a used deck) Then after playing with them for a few days. If I feel a connection I prepare a special blessing ritual by lighting a white candle and some incense. I have a small bowl of salt water, a knife and some earth.
2. I bless them.
I pass them through the incense and say: I bless you with the breath of air, winds blown cold and winds blown fair. I pass them over the flame and say: I bless you with the warmth of fire. Dancing flame and purifier. I hold them in my left hand and with my right hand I dip the knife in the salt water and then touch it to the cards and say: With water I bless and give you life. Babbling brook and surging knife. Then I take a small amount of the dry dirt and sprinkle it on them and say: I bless you with the depths of Earth, home of death and place of birth. Then I hold them upward and say: (name of Deity) I ask you add you blessing to these cards so they may work for me as I will so mote it be.
3. Then I put them in a cotton drawstring bag. (I like cotton because of the natural energy) I sleep with them under my pillow and I carry them with me for at least a week. I also shuffle them and play with them as much as I can so they can absorb my energy. After I feel confident they have my energy, sometimes I will put them in a special box. I have boxes throughout the house with different decks.

well, thats what works for me.

 

[Grizabella]

All I do is shuffle, shuffle, shuffle and then shuffle some more. Of course, I do look through the deck first, but then it's shuffle and shuffle and shuffle again, over and over and over.

 

[Jes]

I wonder how I will break in the Robin Wood I have coming? Different to the legacy I got a month ago, as i only plan on using this one to study.

Might just work with it a few times and see what happens.

legacy still comes with me everywhere, sleeps on my bedside table (more for conveience of me just grabbing it when I want to look through it than anything else) and looks more worn than the deck I worked with for 12 years, but still feels resonably new.

I am beginning to think that each deck has its own way of being broken in. and they definately choose you

 

[taylorkiteling]

I do three things, in order.

1) I put the deck in a small bowl of salt for an hour (or more). Call me weird, but in my magickal belief system, salt is a purifying agent and helps to cleanse the cards of random energy they've picked up on their journey to me.

2) I shuffle the cards six or seven times, sometimes more, until they're well shuffled. I don't like to have my cards in order unless I'm using them for reference for something.

3) I sleep with the cards under my pillow for one night. This almost always gives me weird dreams, however, so if you do it, be forewarned!

-StarCatcher

 

[Amanda]

I look through the cards, shuffle the hell out of it, and immediately jump into some readings with it.