Tarot: Used Decks

 To my readers for the animals, an essay on Dire Wolf will be on-line soon.  In the meantime, I have several Tarot essays.

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I liken owning used Tarot decks to owning used cars.  I have brought several used cars, and have observed the following.  The ones from the car dealership have generally no problems, while the ones from a private owner usually do.  Before selling a used car, the dealership has to thoroughly check and clean out the car.  After cleaning, they detail the car for sale.  Because of their actions, there is generally no residue or sign of the previous owners in the used car for sale.

However, buying from a private owner is different.  I bought a Chevy eleven years ago from a “bus friend”.  Although I still have the Chevy and have not seen my friend for ten years, I still think of the car as his.  This is in spite of putting on thousands of miles on it, and naming the car “Pookie”.  I think that this happened because the Chevy was never fully cleared of his energy.

Since the only used Tarot decks that I know about are from private persons, I would not obtain one.  It would not be good for me, since I would always think of the deck as belonging to someone else.  It would be in the back of my mind that the deck is not my own but instead theirs.  Since a Tarot deck is a personal divination tool, I would not use a used deck.  I would consider it alien in some way.

If I did receive one, such as in winning it in a raffle, I would employ the dealership method to make it my own.  First I would clean it thoroughly.  I would do this by immersing the deck in salt, then saging each card.  Secondly, to bring in positive energies, I would apply sweetgrass to it.  Finally, to sweeten the cards, I would lay them out in the sun.  That to me would be “cleaning” the deck.

“Detailing” the deck would entail studying each individual card.  I would note each card and its peculiarities.  Also, I would try to obtain the manual, or at least find out more about the deck itself.  Afterwards, I would practice daily by shuffling and drawing from the deck.  By the end of a month, the deck and I would become bonded together.