Below are seven ways to cleanse, clear, and reset your Tarot deck. There are several reasons why you would want to do these exercises:
You acquired a used Tarot deck
The cards are repetitive no matter how much your shuffle
You feel energetic gunk when you use the deck
Try these out. Use your intuition to discern which methods work best for you and your deck. It’s possible that different decks will require different methods to cleanse, clear, and reset.
1.REORDER Re-organizing the deck in numerical order is a great way to cleanse and reset the deck. If you think about it, this is the order it comes in when you buy it, so it’s literally a factory reset. Bonus points if you can reorder the deck while under a trance with the intention to reset it flowing through your hands.
2. KNOCKING Knocking three times firmly is my favorite way to cleanse a deck between clients whenever I read at an event. You can knock the deck against the table, but I prefer to use my knuckles. That way, it’s my intension to cleanse making physical contact with the deck. For an extra oomph, visualize energy dispersing outward from the deck with every knock.
3. CRYSTALS Place a cleansing crystal on the deck and leave it overnight. My crystal of choice is selenite. I leave the tarot deck on a “bed” of tumbled selenite and leave the largest chunk of top of it.
4. MOON BATH If there’s a full moon, there’s hundreds of witchy types racing to place their crystals and other objects on a window sill. The moon has the added bonus of symbolizing intuition. Place the tarot deck in direct moonlight and leave overnight. You can also add your cleansing crystal on top of it. Think of this as the extra rinse cycle.
5. SMOKE CLEANSE This is not smudging. Avoid herbs that are sacred to indigenous cultures or closed practices (i.e. white sage). Two of my favorite herbs to burn to cleanse and purify my Tarot decks are rosemary and thyme. You can use a smoke wand, which is a bundle of herb tightly bound with twine. Loose herbs on a fire-safe container will also work fine. In order to add some of your life force into the cleansing, you can opt for a rolled herbal cigarette (double check the herbs you choose and if you have any allergies). Only one to two puffs will be necessary. And if none of these methods sound appealing, you can always use incense. Whatever you choose, shuffle the cards and pass the deck through the smoke.
6. SALT CLEANSE Technically, salt doesn’t cleanse, it neutralizes. Doing a salt cleanse will neutralize the energy on the cards (some people interpret this as “cleansing” the deck). I would follow this up with crystals and/or a moon bath. Fill a bowl with coarse salt and bury your Tarot deck in the bowl. Leave it overnight.
7. MEDITATION Your mind is powerful. One of the first exercises a young witch or diviner learns is the 4-step routine of grounding, cleansing, centering and shielding. We’re going to focus on cleansing. Once you’ve grounded yourself, imagine a bright white light shining over the deck you’re holding in your hands. Watch the light envelop the deck and the excess energy being blown away by its intensity. Meditate on this visual until you intuitively know that your deck is clear. These are just seven ideas for how you can cleanse, clear, and reset your deck. You won’t need to do these often unless you’re reading for strangers. If you’re reading for strangers, I recommend always using a cleansed deck.
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