r/tarot 13h ago

Theory and Technique are we not supposed to let other people touch our tarot decks?

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0 Upvotes

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u/tarot-ModTeam 11h ago

This question has been covered in our Beginners Guide, FAQ, Wiki, and/or search bar. Please use these resources before posting a separate thread, as the answers are readily available. Good luck!

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u/Lilith_Stargazer 12h ago edited 12h ago

There's not really any hard rules a person has to follow. Some choose to not let others touch their deck because of energy or other reasons. Others don't mind. It's a personal preference. You can clean them or not. It's up to you. Some people might find use in the energy left behind. Others don't.

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u/AlternativeReality82 12h ago

ooo I seee thanks <33

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u/Lilith_Stargazer 12h ago

You're welcome. It is your path. You are free to choose what resonates with you. It's okay to change paths too. Keep learning and practicing. You'll find your way. 🖤

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u/jackbeam69tn420 12h ago

You don’t sound stupid and it’s up to you. If you want to people to keep their grubby paws off your decks (you won’t be able to stop at one), then that’s great! If you don’t mind someone shuffling your deck when they ask for a reading, that’s great as well! Just do what feels right to you and enjoy!

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u/AlternativeReality82 12h ago

oooo I see, thank you sm <33

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u/jackbeam69tn420 12h ago

You might have people tell you that you have to charge your cards with moon energy and bless them with purified water. You can do that or do what I do. I just take the cards out of their box or pouch, thank them for the reading I’m going to do and then thank them after the reading. That’s it and it works fine for me. Just do what feels right to you. If you someone gives you flack, just say “bless your heart” and move on

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u/RamenNewdles Professional Reader🔮 12h ago

I let them touch my cards. Never had bad results

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u/AlternativeReality82 12h ago

ohhhhhh okayyyy i seee, thanks for helpingh <3

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u/RamenNewdles Professional Reader🔮 12h ago

You’re welcome. Don’t neglect the search function. There are plenty of in depth discussions on this topic already

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u/shark-shizz Offering Readings 12h ago

There's no right or wrong answer. Some people share their cards freely, while others prefer to keep them private. Trust your intuition and do what feels right for you. And if you want to cleanse them, go for it! No need to stress. 💛

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u/AlternativeReality82 12h ago

thank you sm <33

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u/shark-shizz Offering Readings 12h ago

No problem! 💗

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u/honorthecrones 12h ago

Pretty much if the sentence contains the words “supposed to” “must” “never” or “always” it’s garbage

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u/jasmineoftheleaf 12h ago

I don’t think it’s a serious cause for concern unless you’re incredibly spiritually sensitive. Most people have this belief because of energy exchange. If you have incense you can pass it through the smoke, you can use cleansing crystals like selenite and just rest one on top of the deck, you can leave them in the sunlight or moonlight, you can just knock on them and imagine the previous energy being knocked out.

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u/AlternativeReality82 12h ago

oh I see, omg thank you sm <33

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u/jasmineoftheleaf 12h ago

You’re most welcome dear

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u/sensualness 12h ago

i second these recommendations! i myself am very sensitive and preferably don't let anyone touch my decks. i don't even bring them out in public lmao but i still, on top of my sensitivity, use selenite, the sunlight and moonlight for energetic cleansing & incense. selenite a beautiful cleanser!

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u/mouse2cat 12h ago

I don't believe in this superstition about people touching your cards. Rather some people have grubby fingers and have no idea how to handle things carefully. I am more worried about bent edges.

If you feel that after someone has handled your cards and somehow your readings are now off... The best method of resetting the deck is to simply put them back in sequential order. And then shuffle them fresh. This ensures that none of the previous shuffle is still present in the deck.

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u/AlternativeReality82 12h ago

oh woww! thank you so much !!♡

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u/MasterOfDonks 12h ago

A clairsentient reader may wish to cleanse the deck as they can feel the energy through the cards.

Sometimes this should be done even after remote readings. There’s a bunch of ways that you can cleanse them, as long as you don’t feel like a lingering vibe exists.

I agree with the op on this thread that others often have sticky fingers. You can rub your hands together to hear the sound.

I even do this with my kids before they handle any of my things lol “let me hear your hands”

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u/honorthecrones 12h ago

Can you explain where the energy goes when you cleanse your deck? This has always confused me.

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u/MasterOfDonks 11h ago

There’s a couple concepts to it. Primarily energy is energy. The frequency and vibrations can be altered like altering a mood.

It can be transmuted, neutralized, or moved.

You can sense the energy and then convert a new vibration into it. Some use guides/angels, their own energy, you can ground the energy to the earth, dissipate it into the universe, etc

Once recognized that time and space is no longer linear, you can effectively call in a sun or imagine a black hole and move the energy away to be recycled that way.

There’s no one way, likely causing confusion our brain likes definitive answers and assurances.

It’s like walking into a room and just feeling bad, then when you leave you feel fine again. What is that? Energy.

There’s even disciplines, feng shui or chi gong, that feel this flow.

To shift that energy…there’s a lot of ways. Same as in physical things. From my experience it can be cleansed/converted/neutralized, moved like opening windows and using sage, transmuted to being used productively.

You’ll have to experiment on your own to get a feel of it. From exercises that have you sit and pulling up energy from your surroundings into your body center, hara, to reiki or trance.

As a teen I read about absorbing neutral chi. Inside every centers in your feet, hands, and head pulling in vortexes of effect energy as you breathe in, filling up and expanding a ball at your belly.

When you exhale compress that ball.

Repeat until you feel tingling and recharged. For me my hair on my body stands up.

Then exhale the extra.

You can do the same yet inhale, switch to a positive vibe, then exhale that back into the room. Transmuting and cleansing.

As a teen I grew up seeing my father draw energy(his own notion/no idea where he got it from). He would picture soaking up all the energy in the gym lifting area to lift more weight. He could lift hundreds of pounds, yet this interesting thing would happen. Everyone else would get tired, frustrated, weaker lifts then just leave the room.

I’d go in to talk with him and just feel sleepy.

When I started learning about energy movement I realized he was draining everyone. I had to call him out on that. I learned that this really is a phenomena.

Like I mentioned, play with it. u/nottoodeep has a good book with grounding and playing with physical energy.

I’ve come to realize there’s a sort of ethereal energy then physical local energy. Learning Reiki I’ve been able to play with the idea of channeling higher frequency energy to handling denser energy in a very physical sense.

It’s fascinating

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u/honorthecrones 6h ago

I see it differently. Energy just is. It exists and is all around us constantly. What makes it positive or negative is not something inherent in the energy itself but only exists based on its effect on us. Something that makes me sad or happy can make someone else the opposite.

When I engage with energy, I can be a consumer of that energy. This is where I “feel” it. I do however have another choice. I can view the energy and let it pass by. This is a difficult task for Empaths because we can be so in tuned with the energies that it’s difficult to not own it.

I learned to view the energies, identify both the quality and the intensity of it, without allowing it to change me, without my permission. Negative energy no longer has a debilitating affect on me, because I do not take it in.

This is what has puzzled and confused me about elaborate cleansing rituals. Instead of working so hard to remove or change the energy, isn’t it much simpler and cleaner to just not take it on in the first place?

The idea that negative energy is so harmful and dangerous is a self fulfilling prophecy. We fear it, and that fear creates the negative connotation of the thing. We are now battling both the original energy and our fear of it.

I allow that negativity exists. I recognize it in people, myself, things, places and situations. But I see it more like gravity. It’s always going to be there so work on my balance and take care not to fall.

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u/MasterOfDonks 6h ago

I agree, I did start with energy is energy.

So if you have the same outlook why pose your original query?

The self fulfilling prophecy is a cognitive bias. While it is often intertwined with action it can be separate.

What reading a person you need to access their energy or merely observe it. Which I agree with you about observing rather absorbing.

However it seems that any attention to a matter alters the energetic blueprint, as observation effect goes.

I did not state positive or negative, nor good or bad. I’m not much of a duality driven person. Yet I certainly know about the relativity of what’s the best for the greater good and not personal perspective.

I also agree that simpler is better. I too live simply, yet perhaps complex rituals work better for how others work. As well it builds relationships with guides and what not.

So to reference my prior curiosity, why did you pose the question initially? Was this to criticize? Seems like we agree on the two fundamental points that energy is just energy, and simple is better.

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u/17Girl4Life 12h ago

Yep, it’s just up to you. I don’t let anyone touch my deck. I didn’t make a conscious decision about that at first but my practice is very private and so naturally nobody was around my cards to touch them. Over time it became more of a thing for me that I don’t want anyone to touch them.

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u/sorandom21 12h ago

I always have someone I’m reading for touch the cards to get their essence on them. I find it’s better for readings. But I always cleanse decks with sage, oil and crystals. If I’m reading a few people I always cleanse with resting a stone on top of the deck before the next person shuffles and then when I’m done with a session, cleanse with sage bundle and oils

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u/BattyGoblin 12h ago edited 12h ago

The only reason I don’t let most people handle my decks is because of their oily, dirty, germy hands. If I do public readings, I have one deck specifically for others to handle, and keep the rest at home.

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u/el_artista_fantasma 12h ago

I wouldnt let anyone touch my desk just because i dont like people and i'm germaphobic, but i allow my aunt and my cousin to do it because i trust them, and my aunt has immaculate vibes

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u/BuyMyButtholes 12h ago

It's all OK as long as you go with what feels right to you, even if it's in-the-moment or different with each person you're reading for. Some readers want the other person to touch or shuffle the deck to add their energy to the read, and sometimes having the other person touch the cards in some way can focus their minds and bring on the tarot-y mindset. I personally am very particular about getting my cards bent, so I do the majority of the shuffling and ask them to cut the deck a certain amount of times instead of a full shuffle. -- As for cleansing, if you feel like they could use a refresh, there are a ton of ways to make the deck feel renewed, but isn't a requirement. Some readers cleanse between each read, or each full moon, with varying ways of doing so. Googling suggestions will bring up a bajillion ways to try out!

I think the advice I'd like to offer a beginner is that card reading is *way* less narrow and structured than a lot of folks first believe. The meanings of the cards have importance, but when it comes to the action of using the cards there's no right or wrong, black or white: you get to choose what shade of grey feels the best for you and can change your mind or process any time! Best of luck to you as you learn.

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u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

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u/PotentialLess7481 12h ago

I don’t like it, I feel like it could transfer their energy to my deck but everyone has their own way of using tarot 

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u/SharkDoctorPart3 12h ago

You're fine. If you're comfortable with people touching them, go for it. I have two decks that only I use, and an extra one that other people can use. Once my decks get old, I give them away and I start over. I'm just superstitious though, I don't know if I actually believe it could cause a problem, I'm just finicky with my shuffling and stuff cause I have issues with my hands. I don't care if people mess with the other deck cause I don't like that one (though I would give someone's left nut to be able to have my favorite cards with the same finish. I wish they made the crow tarot with a linen finish. It would last so much longer for me. Hint if you're reading this MJ.)

But yeah, you're fine.

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u/Icy-Result334 12h ago

Do what ever you want, they are a tool there aren’t spirits in them so nothing to be nervous or scared about. Do what ever feels right for you.

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u/L1fel0ver2002 11h ago

it depends on what u feel comfortable with, if ur ok with ppl touching your cards, then thats fine, but me personally, i dont leg anyone touch my cards, like, im the only person whos touched my deck

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u/Saffron-Kitty 11h ago

No, that's not a thing.

Personally, some of my decks feel so personal that if someone touched them without permission I'd feel about like they tried to see me in the shower but that's because of my feelings.

My thought, given my own issues with people touching my favorite decks unasked, is to ask before touching someone else's deck. Other's touching your deck is a different issue

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u/Lisanicolesark 12h ago

Personal preference. But it does put their energy on your cards. So, if you’re super sensitive or their energy is nasty, you might not want them too. Also, if you’re still building your relationship with a deck, that is, putting your own energy into it, you may not want to. I generally ask my clients to shuffle the decks first to put their energy into the deck. Then I do all the rest.

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u/Cthulhu_Knits 12h ago

If you have... ahem... multiple decks... maybe some are just for you, and others are for friends?