Deck-Bonding/Maintenance Rituals?

[BradGad]

Noobie here, apologies as needed. I'm sure there are already threads about this, but when I searched I either got nothing or a bazillion not-really-related hits.

 

My question: How weird am I for following some not-scientifically-proven rituals to help feel bonded to my deck?

 

Half my brain says it's 78 pieces of cardboard (which can help you tap into creative thinking techniques that show you new things). The other half of my brain says, "But what about what happened that time, with your cards? And that time? And that time? You can still believe it's just cardboard? You don't think synchronicity is real? C'mon."

 

But either way, I do think rituals can have value for me (I am a person), regardless of the effect on the cards.

 

My rituals:
  

• I keep the deck wrapped in silk and/or enclosed in wood, or at least in a bag
• I charge it on the windowsill during the full moon
• I cleanse (smudge/selenite) during the new moon
• Like my tallit (Jewish prayer shawl), I don’t take it into the bathroom... that's disrespectful
• I keep it separate from technology 
• Yes, sometimes I sleep with my deck, tucked against my heart

 

I have other rituals for a sit-down session... these are just about maintaining my relationship with my deck(s). 

 

So, fellow tarot people... Am I total outlier/weirdo? If you have rituals for this, what are they and why?

 

Not asking for a friend.

[Nemia]

I wouldn't call it rituals but I treat my decks usually in a certain way that has crystallized over time. 

 

When I get a new deck, I go through it of course, maybe do a little getting-to-know-each-other reading and then create a bag or pouch for the deck. I add it to my lists and add it to the deck group box where it will fit in best. In these boxes, twelve of them, I also keep incense and sometimes crystals, stones or feathers. I like it when my decks smell good. I have additional boxes for oracle, Lenormand and playing cards. 

 

I keep my decks in order, i.e., when I have finished working with a deck for a time, I'll sort it and put it back in its place, in its bag. For decks that I work with, I have a basket where I keep them shuffled, kept together with a little string or piece of cloth, so that I can grab them easily. I keep a deck in my bag, too, always in its little pouch, and sometimes I add a zippered bag as additional protection, with some incense cones. I always treat my decks with care and love, and I journal every reading, no matter how small.

 

When I want to bond with a deck, I take it out, shuffle it and re-sort it. I may do that a number of times. I like the process. It feels to me as though they're warming up when I shuffle them. 

 

Over the course of a year, all my decks will appear on my tarot calendar board, and that's always a time where I bond with my decks. The rhythm is not according to the Moon (although I put up Moon phase cards, but that's only from one deck) but according to the decans. 

 

Thinking about it, order and being in  harmony with time are rituals for me. 

[stephanelli]

I don't think it's weird at all.

Personally, I don't do much in the way of rituals with my cards, but if it works for you then do it!

I think my main ritual is thanking the cards everytime I use them.  But I do that with things like my car and piano as well...

[Raggydoll]

I have a lot of practices that many people surely would consider as weird or stupid. But since these practices are valuable to me, I simply do not invite the opinions of others!
 

Life is short and I recommend that you do you! 
 

[DanielJUK]

Some people do a new deck interview spread with it, the first reading, to talk to it a little.

 

Here are some spreads from our old tarot forum, half way down this page -

https://www.tarotforum.net/threads/tarot-spreads-index.203788/#post-3704108

 

The FireRaven deck interview spread there is well used now, I see it around the net a lot.....

 

****** 5 ****** 6 ******
********** 4 **********
****** 3 ****** 2 ******
********** 1 **********

 

1. Tell me about yourself. What is your most important characteristic?
2. What are your strengths as a deck?
3. What are your limits as a deck?
4. What do you bring to the table -- what are you here to teach me?
5. How can I best learn from and collaborate with you?
6. What is the potential outcome of our working relationship?

 

Personally I just don't have the time and energy each time. I do spend the time with the deck the first time I use it. There isn't wining and dining 😂, but I shuffle it for a long time, look through the cards, get to know it. I think shuffling for ages until it's randomised forms a connection with me somehow.

 

The fun thing about rituals is you can make it work for you, however you like! We all have our own method and some people no method. There are no rights or wrongs, just whatever helps with your readings 😀

 

[Guest]

I leave my decks in their original  boxes. Those that I don't currently use that much, I store in a cool and dry place so the heat/humidity won't warp them. Protects them from dust too.

 

To bond with my decks, I just spend some time with them, admiring their art. I take note of all the little things I haven't noticed before - they may be useful in future readings. I pray before and after I use them. Since I only let family handle them, I also kiss them as a salutation and a farewell. And yeah, I also perform the occasional deck interview.

[Misterei]

On 1/13/2023 at 10:30 PM, Nemia said:

I wouldn't call it rituals but I treat my decks usually in a certain way that has crystallized over time. 

What a good way to put it. I think this is *most* readers. Some are really into rituals according to their spiritual beliefs ... but most of us develop our own little quirks and habits even if they're not formalized.

On 1/13/2023 at 10:30 PM, Nemia said:

Thinking about it, order and being in  harmony with time are rituals for me. 

Your practices are more elaborate than mine ... but this is the heart of it. Nicely said.

On 1/13/2023 at 9:28 PM, BradGad said:

My rituals: ...

... I keep it separate from technology

LOL I do so many on-line readings this would kill my business.

[akiva]

My personal maintenance ritual with my decks when they feel a bit stale energetically, is usually cho ku rei and the reiki master symbol 3 times. Sometimes with a good blast of palo santo incense prior.

 

I like to do this because its quick and effective at making any object (not just cards) feel "nicer". I'm not sure how to really describe the feeling. But there's definitely a difference, says the other half of my brain 😅

[catlover5201314]

my favorite way of bonding is putting my deck under my pillow while i sleep. if i feel like i dont understand a card i sleep with just that one under my pillow and i usually have a dream with the theme of the card. every nowand then i also reread the artist story behind each card´s illustration and really take my time to pay attention to the imagery

 

when i havent touched it in a while, i simply talk to it and explain why i´ve been away reminding them i havent forgotten/abandoned them..I also enjoy interviewing my deck!!

[trivialuvs]

I enjoy reordering the deck. I'm not sure if it's a form of my anxiety, but I do a spread, shuffle, reorder, and shuffle again. I imagine it cleaning off the previous energies and starting fresh each time. I've interviewed my decks twice each (weeks apart) and got the same answer on the type of information they give.  I feel I should do that every so often incase they change their minds.

[BradGad]

On 2/4/2023 at 3:22 PM, catlover5201314 said:

my favorite way of bonding is putting my deck under my pillow while i sleep. if i feel like i dont understand a card i sleep with just that one under my pillow and i usually have a dream with the theme of the card. every nowand then i also reread the artist story behind each card´s illustration and really take my time to pay attention to the imagery

 

when i havent touched it in a while, i simply talk to it and explain why i´ve been away reminding them i havent forgotten/abandoned them..I also enjoy interviewing my deck!!

 

Like that, but different…

 

I sleep on my side, rolled slightly forward/tummy-ward. I like to tuck the deck against my chest, against my heart. 

 

 

[gregory]

I open it, check the cards are all there and put them in the order I prefer - I disagree with many publishers about what order the suits should  go in, and I also like then going Ace to 10 and then courts; some sort the aces as courts - NO WAY.

 

That's it.

[Chariot]

My card-handling rituals are different from my reading rituals. My reading rituals (candles, salt lamps, music, etc) are to get my concentration going, and to eliminate distractions, etc.  How I handle and treat the cards themselves is separate from my pre-and post reading rituals.  (One of my post-reading rituals is thanking my deck, out loud, and being specific as to what it did for me just then.  I appreciate my decks, and want them to know it.)

I always obtain a new blank cardboard box for any deck that comes in a flip-top container or one of those large boxes meant to go on bookshelves.  I try to get these new boxes to fit the size of the deck as snugly as possible.  Then I either take a photocopy of one of the cards, or turn over one of those advertising cards that comes with the deck, and laminate these onto the lid of the box, so I know which deck I'm looking at without having to open the box each time.  I have 21 decks that I use for reading, and they all get more or less the same amount of use.

I periodically go through each deck and look carefully at the cards.  Today I did this with one of my newer decks, the mini Llewellyn Classic Tarot, then put the cards all back without doing a reading.   I have 21 decks that I use for reading, and they all get more or less the same amount of use.   (I have a few other decks that I keep just for interest—Sola Busca, Marseilles, Wirth, Wegmüller, Tarot for Kids, and a couple of others—but not many.  I keep these extras in a large shoe/boot box!  I'm not really a collector of decks.)  I keep my regular decks on a bookshelf, on top of some of the books.

After a reading, I always re-order the cards.  I like the idea of starting each new reading from the same place, and not as a leftover shuffle from the previous reading.  If I were doing multiple readings for a group of people, I would use several decks, and do the re-ordering after the sessions are over. Re-ordering is not a closing ritual for me, really ...it's more a pragmatic cleanup for next time. 

I do at least one deck interview with each new deck, just to get a feel for it and how we interact (and to discover how easy/difficult the cards are to handle in use.)  I keep a note in my journal of the results of these interviews. When I'm working with a specific concern or question, I can then choose the deck I think will be most helpful.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Chariot

[Ellyrose]

I have three Decks, One I use for special readings being it was a gift from a friend after he gone on. I keep that on a shelf and I only pull him down for important things. The other I use only for brand new people They are like a baby, and Then there is my Deck I trust She goes  with me in my purse in my back back pack, she is like an old friend or a cousin trusted reliable durable, I keep her also next to my Tehillim. 

[BradGad]

On 3/28/2023 at 7:50 PM, Ellyrose said:

I have three Decks, One I use for special readings being it was a gift from a friend after he gone on. I keep that on a shelf and I only pull him down for important things. The other I use only for brand new people They are like a baby, and Then there is my Deck I trust She goes  with me in my purse in my back back pack, she is like an old friend or a cousin trusted reliable durable, I keep her also next to my Tehillim. 

I too have "my Deck"... and like you (I gather), I see my tarot study as complementary to my torah study. 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by BradGad

[Ellyrose]

I think we have the same Tehillim, That artscroll they make a good product Nusach Sefard ?