What does it mean to “cleanse” or “charge” your Tarot deck? To start, your Tarot deck is connected to your personal energy. It helps guide you to answer questions by using your energy, since the theory is that you know the answers deep down within you. Tarot decks help you in finding the answer by having you reflect within yourself. Every time you do a Reading, you are leaving behind energy “debris” in both physical form by handling the cards and emotionally/spiritually when using them. As a result, many Tarot card users “cleanse” or clean off the past energy that lingers on the cards. To “charge” a Tarot deck is to basically “reboot” or “recharge” your deck so you can use it again with your upcoming intentions. Many people “charge” or renew the power of crystals. The same can be done with Tarot cards. By cleansing and charging your Tarot deck, many practitioners claim that you will have clearer and more accurate Readings.
When to Cleanse/Charge Your Cards
Of course, this is optional, and you should do what you want to do. That being said, if you feel like you need to cleanse, purify, or recharge your deck, then your intuition may be telling you that it is time to do so. There are many times when you may want to consider cleansing your deck:
When You Get a New Deck
I made a post a while ago about some ways to purify and connect with your new Tarot deck. Feel free to look back on that post for more details! Anyway, you can do some of the methods I’ll list below to help you bond with your new deck, too!
Before/After Every Reading
I admit, My student does not cleanse/recharge her deck before and after every use. She usually has a little ritual before Readings. But she does cleansings or recharges after Readings when she feels it is time to do so. But many Tarot practitioners are diligent to do so after every Reading. You do what your intuition guides you to do!
After Someone Else Uses Your Cards
Some Tarot card users do not let others touch or handle their decks. Others, like my student, do not mind so much. It completely depends on the Tarot practitioners. Some people go the extra mile in purifying not only their deck, but also their whole house after someone visits. If someone is genuinely curious about Tarot cards, I sometimes show them my student’s cleansing/recharging methods afterwards so they can learn, too!
After Traveling with Your Deck
This makes sense: If you take your deck outside of a purified or energy-familiar place, who knows what it may come across on your trip. An unfamiliar setting or a place with many people can provide many foreign energies, both good and bad ones. Therefore, it’s recommended to cleanse your deck when you return home.
If the Readings are Consistently Confusing
Every once in a while, you can do a Spread on a specific topic and the results do not flow, connect, or make sense. It can seem completely random! While sometimes the cards do this to reflect inner confusion or chaos, if it is happening consistently it can be a sign that your deck may need to be cleansed or recharged after being used a lot.
If the Connection with Your Deck Feels Imbalanced
Sometimes your intuition tells you that something is not quite right when doing a Reading. It’s like you can feel that your connection with your cards is a bit “off.” It can be time to charge your cards and/or purify them from old energy. Your deck connects with your energy, so it is important that your communication and connection line between you and your cards in clean and clear.
Ways to Cleanse & Charge Your Cards
Now that you know the concept of cleansing and charging your Tarot deck, let’s look at the many different ways that you can do so! Of course, this is not a comprehensive list and you may discover or do a different kind of ritual to achieve the same result:
Crystals
Place a small crystal on your deck or place your deck on a large crystal for a day or two. Selenite and clear quartz are popular choices. But you can use any crystal that speaks to you. Crystals help the deck “recharge” and connect with spirit guides.
Salt
Get a bowl of sea salt and place your deck in it overnight. Salt is super powerful and popular in the supernatural/magical world in warding off negative energies/spirits and clearing space for your energy.
Smoke
Hold the entire deck of cards in one hand and gently have smoke blow over them. Some people I know spread out their cards in your hand and move them over burning white sage, so its smoke spreads over the cards evenly. You can use incense of whatever scent that means something to you. The main idea is that the smoke will purify your cards from negative energies.
Knocking
Oftentimes before my student does a reading, she knocks on her deck 2-3 times. You can think of it as like blowing on your dice before rolling for good luck. But typically it represents you “knocking” out old or negative energies and physically replacing them with yours.
Blowing
This is similar to knocking on your deck. You can gently blow on your cards before using them. It also “blows” away old or negative energy.
Soft Sounds
Many Tarot practitioners using singing bowls or bells to “ring” in cleansing energy. Others play soft instrumental music in the background. Some people even sing or hum softly in a calming, relaxing, peaceful way.
Imagining
One method is to hold the deck in your hands or close to your chest. You can imagine a warm, white light encompassing your deck that is purifying old or negative energy. You can visualize any color or imagery that helps you feel connected with your deck and allows your decks to be purified with fresh, clean energy.
Sunlight
Fanning out your cards to soak in some natural sun can do great in recharging your deck. It won’t take long so you don’t have to worry about damaging the color/images of the cards by having them out in the sun for too much time.
Moonlight
Try to have your deck laid out on a windowsill or someplace where it can soak in the moonlight overnight. This is especially true for a full moon since that carries the most amount of energy out of all the moon phases. Overall, in the magical world, moonlight is known to be a great source of cleansing out old energy and recharging new, fresh energy.
So what do you think? Do or would you cleanse or charge your Tarot deck? If so, how? Are there any methods I did not list that you know/think would also work? Please let me know for I would love to learn! Thank you, friends, as always, for reading my posts! I hope you all have a splendid rest of your day.
“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”
– Walt Whitman
- Image Captions (in order of appearance):
- Tarot Cards, Crystals, and Cedar Smudge. Image courtesy of Unsplash user Edz Norton; not for commercial use. Signed property release on file with Unsplash Inc.
- Woman in White Dress Choosing Tarot Cards. Image courtesy of Pexels user cottonbro; not for commercial use. Signed property release on file with Pexels GmbH.
- A close up image of a burning white sage smudge stick used for energy clearing and healing. Image courtesy of Shutterstock user Pam Walker; not for commercial use. Signed property release on file with Shutterstock, Inc.
- Girl holding a gold Tibetan bowl during a holistic sound healing ritual. Image courtesy of Unsplash user Content Pixie; not for commercial use. Signed property release on file with Unsplash Inc.
- Flowers and books on windowsill. Image courtesy of Unsplash user Tuva Mathilde Løland; not for commercial use. Signed property release on file with Unsplash Inc.
- References (in alphabetical order):
- Buy indie and feminist tarot decks from two sides tarot in Australia. Two Sides Tarot. (2022, June 2). Retrieved 2022, from https://www.twosidestarot.com/
- Dean, L. (2015). The Ultimate Guide to Tarot: A beginner’s guide to the cards, spreads, and revealing the mystery of the tarot. Fair Winds Press.
- Frye, H. (n.d.). Mindbodygreen. mindbodygreen. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.mindbodygreen.com/