Cleansing and Caring for Your Deck
How to store a deck, how to shuffle it, and when to give it a "clearing." These are habits with no binding rules behind them, so keep the ones that help you.
Storage
Cards fear only three things: light, damp and oil. Direct sunlight fades them, damp makes the edges stick and curl, and the oil on your hands wears down the card faces. So the principle for storing cards is simple: keep them out of the light, keep them dry, and wipe your hands before you use them.
The original box is good enough. If it falls apart, switch to a card bag or a hard case. Cloth bags are best; leather and plastic don't breathe. Many people like to wrap their cards in a silk cloth. It's an old tradition, said to shield the cards from outside "energy"; the practical benefit is protection from damp and scratches.
Keeping cards with crystals or salt is a widespread habit, said to cleanse them. It isn't necessary. A crystal in the box won't make your readings more accurate, and leaving it out won't make them worse. Use one if you like it; skip it if you don't. What does need attention is salt: it draws moisture, so don't let it touch the cards directly.
Ways to shuffle
There are three common methods, each with its own wear on the cards and its own character.
The riffle shuffle is the poker method of splitting the deck into two piles and interleaving them. It is fast and randomizes well, but it is the hardest on the cards. The edges curl easily, and before long a few cards become recognizable. Tarot cards are larger than playing cards, so riffling them is also hard on the hands.
The overhand shuffle means holding the deck in one hand and using the other to push small packets off the top into the other hand, several times over. It is the gentlest on the cards, and most tarot readers use it. Its drawback is slightly weaker randomness: a few cards tend to stay together. A few more rounds of shuffling fixes that.
The wash means spreading the cards face down on the table, stirring them around with both hands, and gathering them back up. It randomizes best and is also gentle on the cards. Its drawbacks are that it takes up space and needs a clean cloth on the table.
The way you shuffle directly decides where reversals come from. The overhand shuffle produces almost no reversals; the cards stay facing the way you put them in. The wash produces many, and when you gather the deck up, half the cards may have turned around. The riffle falls in between. So people who read reversals mostly use the wash, or deliberately turn part of the deck around during an overhand shuffle, while people who don't read reversals find the overhand shuffle easiest. For why there is still no settled view on reversals, see Reading Reversals.
Whichever method you use, keep the question in mind while you shuffle. There's nothing mystical about this step. It gives you a chance to go over the question once more before you act, and once the question is clear, the cards are easier to read.
When to cleanse a deck
At heart, cleansing is a marker you give yourself for a fresh start. The cards themselves don’t get dirty. What builds up is a vague awkwardness between you and the deck, so the timing depends on how you feel. Some common situations:
- The deck changed hands: someone else used it for a while, and now it's back with you.
- Several readings in a row came out muddled, the cards didn't match the questions, and you've started to wonder whether something is wrong with the deck.
- You haven't used it in a long time, and it feels unfamiliar when you pick it up again.
- After reading for someone in a heavy emotional state, you feel weighed down yourself.
The usual methods are all simple. Putting the deck in order: lay out all 78 cards in sequence, major cards first, then each suit from Ace to King, and then shuffle them again. This is the most practical method, and it also puts every card through your hands. Knocking three times: square up the deck and tap it on the table three times. Many tarot readers do this after every reading. Moonlight: leave the cards on a windowsill overnight when the moon is full. This is the most ritual-like method; take care that dew doesn't get them wet. Some people also smoke the cards with sage or set a crystal on them, and those work too.
Any of these will do, and the result is the same: you feel you can start again. That is all cleansing does.
When to get a new deck
There are two situations. The first is when the cards are worn enough that you can recognize certain ones: creases or stains on the backs, curled corners. When you shuffle, your hands will avoid or pick those cards without your meaning to, and the randomness is gone. The second is when you and the deck's art no longer get along. It looks wrong to you, and turning the cards over leaves you cold. At that point, switching to a deck whose art suits you will bring back your interest in reading.
Don't feel bad about replacing a deck. Cards are tools, and old tools get replaced. You can keep the old deck as a memento or give it away; just clear it first using one of the methods in the previous section.