How to Cleanse Tarot Cards – 4 Ways!

October 19, 2020

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What does it mean to cleanse your new tarot deck? It means to make sure it doesn’t have any lingering, residual energies from the manufacturer, bookstore, Amazon seller, or previous owner. Residual energy might distort your readings.

Like I’ve said in a previous post, your tarot deck is an extension of yourself. It isn’t an external source telling you what to do; it’s a medium through which you guide yourself to your highest good. So, you need to make sure that the signals between you and your cards are static-free.

Below are various tools you can use to cleanse the energy of your tarot cards, whether it’s a new deck or an old one you don’t seem to be connecting with lately. Select one or mix and match as you please.

1. Burn sage or incense.

Among its other benefits, burning dried sage is believed to dispel stale, negative, or toxic energies lingering in the air. Saging a tarot deck, or any object really, can similarly clear its energies.

All you do is burn a sage bundle, or wand, and move the tarot deck through its smoke. The fragrant smoke rising from the sage will purify your cards. Please don’t burn your tarot cards or rub the ashes on your cards or anything like that!

Many people don’t like working with sage for various reasons. If that’s you, feel free to use any incense or resin. Frankincense is one of my favorites.

2. Place a smoky quartz over your tarot deck.

The raw smoky quartz points pictured above are sold by One Infinity Shop on Etsy. You can use smoky quartz to cleanse your deck.

Smoky quartz is a powerful healing crystal used for its cleansing, detoxification, and protective powers. Many believe it to absorb negative and toxic energies in a room or from an object. You can remember this because of the smoky, dark color of smoky quartz. Think of it as a spiritual vacuum, sucking in all the dark energy around you so that it doesn’t mess with your aura or energy.

To cleanse your tarot deck with a smoky quartz, just place a smoky quartz crystal on top of your deck for as long as you feel is necessary. The smoky quartz will absorb any negative energies out of your deck, freeing it up for your use.

(Click here to check out all the crystals One Infinity Shop on Etsy has to offer.)

3. Ring a bell over your tarot deck.

The small brass hand bells pictured above are sold by Sacred Mists Shoppe on Etsy. You can use a bell to cleanse your deck.

Ringing a bell literally makes the surrounding air vibrate with new energy. As such, you can use it as a cleansing tool to clear stagnant or negative energies.

To cleanse your tarot deck with sound, hold your tarot deck in your non-dominant hand. Hold a small, handheld bell over the tarot deck with your dominant hand. Gently ring the bell a few times. The idea is that the sound waves will disperse any lingering or clogged energies away from your tarot deck, making it free and clear for your use.

If you don’t have a bell, I bet wind chimes would also do the trick.

(Click here to check out all the other witchy supplies Sacred Mists Shoppe on Etsy has to offer.)

4. Give your tarot deck a moon bath.

How else can you cleanse tarot cards? With a moon bath!

A moon bath doesn’t involve water, so please don’t wet your precious tarot cards! A moon bath refers to laying underneath the light of a moon, preferably a full moon.

If you can safely leave your tarot cards outside over night during a full moon, that would be ideal. That’s because the moon is most illuminated in the full phase and being outside allows the most direct contact with the moonlight.

If you are an apartment-dwelling city mouse like me, that may not be feasible though. An alternative is to leave your tarot cards on the clean sill of a window that looks out onto the moon.

The tarot cards will be cleansed of any lingering negative energies and ready to be used the next day.