keeping the cards hot

[katrinka]

I had a man tell me once that "You have to keep your cards hot"' meaning that you have to use them regularly. And I've found this to be true - not just with cards in general, in the sense of staying in practice, but with individual decks. Let me explain:

If I put surplus decks in a box, shelve them and forget them for a few years, then pull them out and use them, they don't seem to work as well as decks I use regularly. Neither do new decks. It's not a matter of being out of practice, I've found that this is the case with traditional Lenormand decks as well. The long-unused ones will work, but they don't seem as clear and on point as whatever deck I've been using. The images are essentially the same, with the biggest differences being things like the color of the dog or horse (which make no difference in Lenormand), so it's puzzling. 

It might be psychological. OTOH, a friend shared this link on facebook recently. It basically says that we vibrate, and stationary objects (like cards) vibrate, and the vibrations take a little time to sync up. It's just a theory at this point, but it's interesting. 
https://theconversation.com/could-consciousness-all-come-down-to-the-way-things-vibrate-103070

I don't know if this is really what's at play or not. I'm not going to climb on a soapbox and push the theory, and I don't want to see it parroted endlessly as fact - it can't be fact checked at this point in time. I found it interesting, though. 

Whatever the reason, IME the cards do need to be kept hot. 😉 Thoughts?

Edited February 4, 2021 by katrinka

[vulprix]

What a beautiful topic for discussion, @katrinka. I agree that generally speaking, “hot” cards are LIVELY cards and yield great reading results. 
 

My thinking is that we are all relational beings. I am also referring to “beings” as inanimate objects such as tarot cards. Interaction breeds familiarity, and then a development of understanding that will extend into nuance, and it really continues from there.

 

Of course, the “juice” can “run out” or something can jar the connection at some point, but such is life, right?

 

“After all it’s what we’ve done that makes us what we are.” -Jim Croce. I think that what we do and what we put efforts into will inevitably yield some kind of spark. It’s the journey that comes from the connectionthat develops the character of that spark 🙂 Thinking right now of the Two of Cups card.

[katrinka]

They've been saying that there's consciousness in all things in the East forever. I like that the author differentiates between rudimentary consciousness and the more complex forms, as we Westerners can get silly with the concept. 

Someone posted on a forum once that they were thinking of purchasing a certain crystal, but they weren't sure it was genuine. A friend suggested trying to scratch it using the Mohs scale. The OP was horrified at the possibility of "hurting" a rock, which he said was conscious. My friend replied, "Do you drive on gravel?"  

Consciousness does not equal nerve endings. 😁

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by katrinka

[TheFeeLion]

I agree with you @katrinka it's like the old adage "use it or lose it" (and applies to more than just the cards). If you don't use the knowledge you gain then it will eventually slip into the shady recesses of your mind and is much harder to pull up when you need that information again.

 

if you work with a deck everyday for years then put it aside for an extended period in favour of another, when you come back to the original deck you'll remember how to use it but not all the little naunces of that deck that made it different in the first place. You have to relearn it's subtleties all over again. By keeping the deck "hot" you are constantly using it and the knowledge of it's naunces become a bit like muscle memory. Sorry I don't know if I'm explaining myself very well!

[blue_crow_laura]

4 hours ago, katrinka said:

If I put surplus decks in a box, shelve them and forget them for a few years, then pull them out and use them, they don't seem to work as well as decks I use regularly. Neither do new decks. 

It might be psychological. OTOH, a friend shared this link on facebook recently. It basically says that we vibrate, and stationary objects (like cards) vibrate, and the vibrations take a little time to sync up. 

Whatever the reason, IME the cards do need to be kept hot. 😉 Thoughts?

 

I agree with you! And I'm also pretty much at a loss for explanation...at least a provable explanation. I still like to use my conversational metaphor: when we read cards, it's as if the cards are "speaking" with us, and we are "speaking" with them. It's a two-way exchange between, at the very least, the imagery and our own subliminal mental processes. (Of course, depending on your belief system, it could be seen as a conversation between you, the cards, and a spiritual being or force, too. The metaphor works either way, for me at least.)

 

So it's like picking up the phone to talk to an old friend you haven't seen in ages: it usually takes a little while to sync up with them. All those conversational quirks and nuances and meaningful silences...well, you're both out of practice in interpreting them. But give it a few minutes of back-and-forth, and you'll fall back into the old patter.

 

But that's just a metaphor; it doesn't actually explain much! I'm not big on needing an explanation for everything, so I'll leave that to others, and listen with interest. 🙂