What To Do With A New Tarot Deck

You can experience confusion and overload if this is your first experience with tarot and other woo-woo practices. You quickly shuffled your cards before flipping over each one one at a time. It’s not like you’ll be able to instantly remember what all the cards signify, and you still don’t feel ready to pick cards for yourself or others.

Breathe in deeply. Not all of us instantly become instant readers the moment we hold a deck of cards.

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Focus first on giving your new tarot deck a hefty break-in.

You need to play your cards a little bit, just like you would with a pair of running shoes, a hard pair of pants, or homemade pizza dough. Allow them to stretch a little. Let them help you exercise your tarot-reading skills.

Whether you’re a preternaturally woowoo person or a pragmatic person (like me), there are ways to use your new tarot deck a first time that will help you break them in.

You can get to know your deck on your own terms by using these exercises, which are suitable for both muggle-centric tarot aficionados and ritual-obsessed witchy individuals. Consistently using these methods can gradually pique your interest in learning the tarot within the parameters that your new deck establishes.

What should I do with my brand-new tarot deck?

2. Position your deck during the New or Full Moon. Imagine the moon’s beams touching and anointing your brand-new deck if you think in the power of the moon. But if you’re from a place like the Philippines, you need to be careful! Moisture and unexpected downpours of rain can harm your priceless new cards. I occasionally place my deck near my window so that it has a slight outdoor sensation without being dangerous.

After some extensive use, this is a great way to “clear your deck.” It feels excellent to let the moon refresh your deck symbolically. You can also encircle your deck with your favorite stones if you have a collection of crystals.

3. Commence utilizing it for noteworthy events. A fresh deck may spice up any celebration, whether you choose to use it exclusively for Beltane or Ostara in accordance with the pagan Wheel of the Year, or you want to infuse your birthday with extra charm.

You might even limit the times when you utilize your deck. You may, for instance, create a special tarot deck exclusively for readings about the moon cycle or readings that entail shadow work.

On the other hand, I could use my recently acquired OG Starchild Tarot to inspire an altar full of celestial-themed accessories, including twinkle lights, crystals in luminous yellows, dark, night-sky blacks, and cool blues, a cloth decorated with constellations, and perhaps putting The Star card out and on display.

5. Put your brand-new tarot deck beneath your pillow as you sleep. Absolute superstition, this The night before a huge exam, I used to do this to simulate the information seeping into my subconscious (lol, reassure me that I’m not the only one). You can truly, physically bond and spend time with your tarot deck by sleeping with it beneath your pillow. And why not try it if you believe all that woo woo about images actually penetrating your subconscious?

How can a fresh tarot deck be energized?

It’s time to program a deck with intention once it has been properly cleansed and is prepared for a reading.

Vanderveldt advises holding the deck in your hands while saying aloud your goal for it after spending a few minutes lighting a candle or making an intentional area.

Magdaleno enjoys verbally declaring his intentions when making them. She shuffles the deck and announces the purpose of the reading and what she will be drawing cards for aloud before each reading.

She explains that, for instance, she will state aloud as she shuffles her deck, “I’m performing a career reading for myself and will be choosing three cards that represent my career past, present, and future.

According to Vanderveldt, you can even use a tarot spread to assist you clarify your intention. She advises posing queries to your deck, such as, “How am I supposed to work with this deck in this season?” How can I help this deck’s goal in the greatest possible way? What strategy would be beneficial?

When you first open your tarot deck, what should you do?

What to Do First:

Get out your tarot deck.
The cards are in your hand.
“Knock or tap the pile of cards numerous times while holding them in your palm to disseminate your energy throughout the deck.
Shuffle the cards completely.
The cards are divided into three heaps, which are subsequently reassembled into one pile.

How is a fresh Tarot deck connected?

Advice on connecting with your tarot cards whether it’s your first time using them or you’ve owned your deck for a while.

Connecting or reconnecting to your deck can be a helpful activity, regardless of whether you haven’t picked up your deck in a long, are hesitant to conduct a reading for yourself, feel “wrong” with the readings you’ve been conducting, or have purchased a new deck.

Check out Reading Tarot for Beginners: How to Start Reading Tarot for Yourself for advice on how to pick your deck.

Being a competent reader requires you to connect with your tarot deck. But you must invest time, effort, and attention in a good relationship.

How can I tell if I’m not meant to work with a deck or I just need to reconnect?

The connection you have with the deck has to be strengthened, or it might not be the best fit for you at this time, if you’re having trouble getting a good reading from it or feel off with it.

It’s possible that you and your tarot deck aren’t intended to be in a serious long-term relationship if you don’t feel like you connect with it or if you don’t appear to speak the same language. There is a deck available for you if you want to learn, therefore this does not imply that you are not destined to be a reader.

However, there’s also a strong chance that you can establish the connection with a little time and effort. especially if you were initially drawn to your deck.

You can utilize some decks for specific purposes and not others. The majority of your magic will probably be performed with one main deck, although you may occasionally use other decks for fun, support, or clarity. Since decks are exquisite works of art, I love collecting them. And I adore using them when I want to switch things up or am performing a certain style of reading, but I only use my original ride or die deck for all of my professional readings and lectures.

All of this is to indicate that testing out a variety of decks is a wonderful idea. For your first deck, conduct some study, examine the imagery, and choose the one that sparks your interest.

Here are some methods for getting back on your deck. I’ve listed them in the sequence I’d perform them, but you should feel free to customize this exercise according to your own preferences.

How to connect with your tarot cards

You can accomplish this in a number of ways, including by shuffling, using crystals, moonlight, salt, or sacred incense. Click here to learn more about cleaning your deck.

Hold your cards firmly in your palms while taking a few deep breaths. After that, think about the intention you want to have for your practice with them. It could be a word, a sentence, or an emotion. You can use this time to ask any guides or spirits you enjoy working with for assistance or to help you open your channel to divine advice that is in your highest and best interests.

Cleaning the energy in the deck through shuffling. Additionally, it creates the random system that allows us to access the advice we need from the deck. We can gain a completely new viewpoint from the cards because of the randomness that shuffling creates; by doing so, we are deviating from logic and embracing the unknowable. Check out this article on card shuffling.

To get to know one another, gain some fresh perspectives, and, yes, bond, spend some time completing a tarot spread that is tailored to your deck.

What details about you do you want me to know?
Your restrictions?
What type of partnership are we capable of having?
What task are we supposed to complete jointly?
Which card can currently be my teacher?
How can I use this card to explore deeper?

Make putting your deck away a ceremony. You might keep it in a box, cover it in a special scarf, place a crystal on top of it, or place it on an altar while not in use. Choosing to follow this quick procedure at the conclusion of each session or day is a way to show your deck some love, gratitude, and appreciation.

Bonus Tarot bonding exercises:

the whole picture The Major Arcana numbers 0 to 22 should be arranged in lines of seven cards across. Next, arrange the Ace through King cards for each suit in the following order: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. Take a good look at the deck in this format. Then thoroughly jumble everything together.

Select a map. To serve as your anchor and guide for connecting with your deck and intuition, choose a card based on its look and/or its meaning. Write down all the thoughts, emotions, and queries this card triggers for you in a journal. Use it to meditate. Keep track of how it manifests in your daily life and tarot practice (and keep a notebook of your observations!). When not using your deck, place this card on your altar. You can carry out this for a week or a lunar cycle before selecting another.

Put your deck beneath your pillow while you sleep. You can connect with the cards in your unconscious time if you can make it comfy.

Also keep in mind that it takes time to establish a connection and relationship with your deck. Like any relationship, it evolves as you develop and gain new knowledge.

How are fresh tarot cards warmed up?

Begin reading aloud to them. Ask questions, use them for daily drawings, or use certain tarot spreads for inspiration. Try reading for friends, family, and clients as soon as you feel comfortable with your new deck. You might be shocked to learn that a deck you’ve had mixed feelings about can actually offer useful insights.

If you’re still getting used to reading for other people with your new deck, you might want to consider carrying the cards about all day so you can use them whenever you need an immediate response.

How can I greet the cards in my tarot deck?

What do you do right away after receiving a fresh tarot deck? remove the package, shuffle, and launch into a reading right away? hesitantly flip through each card one at a time, feeling the feel of the entire deck? choose your favorite cards and just sit with them? Perhaps you also do an unique ritual, such as purifying or “charging” your deck with crystals?

Before I’m ready to shuffle, I like to take my time with a new tarot deck and go through all 78 cards one by one numerous times. I like to take note of anything that stands out to me, any symbols that seem particularly pertinent to me at the time, or any characters who seem to be communicating directly to me. It could take this process anywhere from 20 minutes to many days.

However, when I am prepared to shuffle, I typically use the “tarot deck interview spread” to get to know my new cards. I have no idea where I got it. Despite the fact that several bloggers have given it to me, I did not create it. however I do use it quite a bit. I’ve posted a few tarot deck interviews on my blog throughout the years. Here are a couple of them.

A wonderfully cool method to get to know a new tarot deck and let it get to know you is to use the interview spread. In essence, it’s a discussion about your possible working relationship where you may learn how to approach and use these cards most effectively while also discussing the deck’s advantages and disadvantages. Some tarot decks, according to many people, are better suited for love readings, while others are better suited for queries about job or other practical problems, and yet others are the kind for “getting deep.” This interview spread is a useful tool for delving further into those concepts.

So, if you’ve just received a new deck and are eager to start using it, make some space for yourself, light a candle if you’d like, and try out this little spread. (This might also be a good approach to rekindle your relationship with an old deck you’ve been ignoring or with which you’ve never felt particularly connected.)

Do your new tarot cards need to be cleansed?

Therefore, it would appear that mastering the art of cleansing tarot cards is something you might wish to perform before purchasing a new deck, if you already own one, or if you’re giving a new or used deck to someone else. Actually, if the cards are a gift for someone else, it’s a good idea to cleanse, bless, or activate them. Tarot cards are typically offered as gifts, according to Tarra. Before giving the cards to a new owner, perform a protection ritual on them and clean them to remove any strange energies they may have picked up along the route.

There is a legend.

Myth: Purchasing your own deck of tarot cards brings bad luck. And I suppose giving my mother a cursed one would be extremely impolite of me. So Tarra gave me a royal blue mesh bag of goodies after dinner and wisely explained how to clean them, and I promptly forgot all about it until we spoke again this morning.

Without sage, how can a tarot deck be cleaned?

While rearranging the cards in the tarot deck is a good approach to purify and clear their energy, there are some circumstances in which you might wish to perform a more specialized ritual. If you’re just getting started with tarot, cleaning your deck can be an excellent place to start.

You might want to clean your tarot deck for a variety of reasons, including:

beginning with a fresh deck
readings for other people
You think you need to recharge.
Your card readings seem a touch “odd” or “disconnected”
Your deck hasn’t been used recently.
Your deck has been handled by others
You think you’ve been utilizing your deck a lot. A LOT, especially for books with strong emotional content

Why should you cleanse or clear your tarot deck?

Tarot deck cleansing helps keep the energy flowing between you and your deck. Consider it as a little spiritual hygiene to maintain a strong and clear connection. It’s not necessary, but if you have any of the aforementioned symptoms, try a few of the energetic cleansing techniques listed below and note which ones seem to work the best for you.

How often should you cleanse your tarot deck?

There are no hard and fast rules in this game, so use your intuition and don’t worry if you don’t feel like it would improve your deck. Alternately, if you like to cleanse them once per week or once per month, that’s great. If it feels appropriate to you, you can even place your favorite crystal on the balcony each night.

If you frequently place crystals on your deck and store it on an altar while not in use, you might not feel the need to cleanse it frequently because this quick ritual will likely be sufficient to keep your deck feeling nice.

There are numerous ways to cleanse your cards, just as there are numerous reasons why you might desire to do so.

Different ways to cleanse your tarot deck

Use holy smoke. Light a dried rosemary, lavender, cedar, sage, or palo santo cleansing wand until it begins to smoke. Hold the smoke a safe distance below the deck while holding the burning herbs in one hand and the deck in the other so that the smoke drifts upward onto the cards. Turn the deck so that the smoke covers it from all angles. Next, safely put your deck to the ground and put out the fire.

On the deck, set a selenite stone (or a black tourmaline or a transparent quartz). It works well to leave it like way for an hour, but I prefer to leave it overnight.

Set them on display during a new moon. The New Moon is energy of a blank slate; you can purify the deck by setting it on a window sill on a new moon night. At this moment, you can also make a brand-new intention for your deck.

Place the cards in a salty dish. A strong and stabilizing cleaner is salt. My preferred choice for a thorough cleansing is this. Allow it to sit anywhere from one to eight hours in a dry area.

Unorderly shuffle. Spread the cards out on the ground, then shuffle them around like a child playing in dirt. This method’s freedom and randomization serve as an excellent reset.

the shuffle and sort. Set up the deck in rows of seven cards across, commencing with the Major Arcana numbers 0 to 22. (see photo above). Next, arrange the cards, Ace through King, one for each suit, as follows: Swords, Pentacles, Cups, and Wands. View the deck in this configuration, then mix everything up (like the chaotic!) and shuffle it thoroughly.

Questions you don’t really want answered

Even though it might seem apparent, it’s advisable to refrain from asking the tarot cards questions that you aren’t prepared to hear the answers to. That’s because answers to these questions can reveal information you’re just not quite ready to hear.

“Tarot can definitely come off as offensive if you’re not willing to hear the truth or consider an opposing opinion. Tarot reading Nicole Fortunaso

According to tarot reader and life coach Nicole Fortunaso, “tarot may truly come out as offensive if you are not willing to hear the truth of the problem or look at an alternate viewpoint.” She advises analyzing why you’re reacting the way you are in order to reflect on how to effectively address the underlying problem if you ask the question and aren’t satisfied with the response.

How are tarot cards maintained?

Your tarot deck should be cleared, or cleansed, of any negative energies it may have absorbed from work, rest, or handling by others. Each of the four natural elements, as well as the fifth element of spirit, has a cleaning procedure associated with it. I have contemplated which element corresponds to which technique and have come to the following findings.

Under the name for each technique, I’ve listed the element I’ve given it, along with a brief justification of my decision. Although it may be too soon to say this, I’ll see you in the comments area if you disagree with my selections and would like to share which elements you would move around.

Visualisations

Spirit is associated with an element. We are attempting to incorporate or assimilate the essences and spirits of the heavens and the earth by drawing down or pulling up white light from them to blend with our own.

After a long day of work, using meditation-based practices is a terrific way to calm yourself while also clearing the energy from your playing cards. It’s also crucial to keep in mind that while pulling white light up via and from the earth is beneficial for grounding, pulling white light down through and into yourself or your cards can serve to purify. Once more, draw the white light up into your cards. If you are doing this for yourself, don’t forget to draw the light up through your feet and up through the rest of your body.

While really holding your tarot cards in your hands, you can extend that practice beautifully by seeing yourself holding them and then either bringing the light down or up through your cards and your body. You are connected to your cards when you are holding them. What better way to clean them than to do it simultaneously, in unison?

Nancy of Tarot Explorer describes how she asks her spirit guides to bless her deck after smudging it in the Smudging and Incense chapter below. It is a fantastic adaption to use that portion of her technique here, during a visualisation.

I always “clean the cards” before or right after a reading as part of my personal ritual. I do this by visualizing a beam of pure white light from above piercing the cards and instantly purging them of all prior energy. Tarot of Angels by Anton Rossi