How Many Tarot Decks Should I Have

The amount of information you need to study and memorize to read tarot, though, can seem overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be that way, and that’s what we’re here to tell you. You’ll be an expert by the time your friends from college come around for drinks tonight if you just follow our quick-start tarot instruction.

Tarot reading has been practiced since the 14th or 15th century and may have started out as a card game, similar to poker, rather than a spiritual activity. Nevertheless, a spiritual component emerged, and tarot cards started to be employed for divination in the late 18th century. They have also been applied to psychological research. Even Carl Jung thought of the playing cards as a tool to depict the “archetypes of mankind.”

The majority of 78-card tarot decks follow the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition and make use of related archetypes and iconography.

Additionally, there are tarot decks from various traditions, such as Marseilles tarot decks, as well as oracle cards, which can have any quantity of cards with their own particular imagery. But chances are, if you’re new to tarot, your deck is a Rider-Waite-Smith one.

Each of the 78 cards in these tarot decks has a distinct meaning. You don’t have to keep all of that in your head, even though it is a lot to know about them. The following are the key facts to be aware of:

1. The Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana are the two categories of Tarot cards.

Similar to a standard deck of playing cards, the 56 Minor Arcana cards are divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. The total journey of your life is covered by the 22 Major Arcana.

In how many decks does a tarot reading take place?

These were the earliest type of tarot cards ever created; they were created in northern Italy in the 15th century. There are still three decks in this category that are used to play some games:

  • The 78 cards of the Tarocco Piemontese are divided into the four suits of swords, batons, cups, and coins, each of which is headed by a king, queen, cavalier, and jack. In most games, Trump 20 outranks Trump 21, and the Fool, although not being a trump, is numbered 0.
  • The Pope, Popess, and Angel are all replaced with Jupiter, Juno, and the Judgement, respectively, in the Swiss 1JJ Tarot. The Tower is referred to as the House of God, and the trumps are ranked numerically. In contrast to the Tarocco Piemontese, the cards are not reversible.
  • The Tarocco Bolognese contains somewhat different trumps, none of which are numbered and four of which are equal in rank. It also omits the numeral cards two through five in plain suits, leaving it with 62 cards. Since it wasn’t based on the Tarot of Marseilles, it has a different graphic style than the two cards mentioned above.

Tarot cards may I mix them?

For its intuitive strategy, this is one of Matassa’s favorites; you might want to try shuffled your cards in a pile. She instructs, “Drop them on the floor and scatter them all over like fingerpaint.” For a freshly shuffled deck, mix everything together and put it all back together.

Can you own more than one deck of tarot cards?

In case you missed them, I combined my series of Instagram Stories into another (poorly edited) low-fi YouTube video. In addition to this, I’ll list my steps in bullet points for anyone who would prefer to read about them rather than watch a complete film.

What tarot card has the most influence?

The Fool is typically seen as a card from the Major Arcana when performing a tarot reading. Contrary to popular belief, the Fool does not fall under either category in tarot card games. Instead, the Fool serves a function that is distinct from both the simple suit cards and the trump cards. As a result, the Fool has no number assigned to it in the majority of tarot decks that were initially created for playing games. Although Waite assigns the Fool the number 0, in his book, the Fool is discussed between Judgment (number 20) and The World (number 21). The Tarocco Piemontese is the only traditional game deck that numbers the Fool 0. Since the 1930s, the corner index for the Fool in Tarot Nouveau decks has frequently been a black inverted mullet. The Fool is one of the most expensive cards in practically all tarot games.

Does the tarot card order matter?

Because so many subsequent cards drew inspiration from its iconic artwork, the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is an excellent starting deck. The deck is referenced in practical tarot publications like 78 Degrees of Wisdom as well. Start with the Rider-Waite deck and then add more decks that speak to you to your collection. Although it is available online, you are welcome to visit your neighborhood occult shop to see what appeals to you there.

How should the tarot cards be arranged?

The primary arcana cards feature images that stand in for a variety of energies, people, virtues, and vices. The fool card is unnumbered, and the other 21 cards are numbered I through XXI. The major arcana tarot cards are listed below in alphabetical order: I the juggler, or magician; II the papess, or female pope; III the empress; IV the emperor; V the pope; VI the lovers; VII the chariot; VIII the justice; IX the hermit; X the wheel of fortune; X the strength, or fortitude; XI the hanged man; XIII the death; XIV the temperance; XV the devil; XVI the lightning-s

How should my tarot deck be cleaned?

While rearranging the cards in the tarot deck is a good approach to purify and clear their energy, there are some circumstances in which you might wish to perform a more specialized ritual. If you’re just getting started with tarot, cleaning your deck can be an excellent place to start.

You might want to clean your tarot deck for a variety of reasons, including:

  • beginning with a fresh deck
  • readings for other people
  • You think you need to recharge.
  • Your card readings seem a touch “odd” or “disconnected”
  • Your deck hasn’t been used recently.
  • Your deck has been handled by others
  • You think you’ve been utilizing your deck a lot. A LOT, especially for books with strong emotional content

Why should you cleanse or clear your tarot deck?

Tarot deck cleansing helps keep the energy flowing between you and your deck. Consider it as a little spiritual hygiene to maintain a strong and clear connection. It’s not necessary, but if you have any of the aforementioned symptoms, try a few of the energetic cleansing techniques listed below and note which ones seem to work the best for you.

How often should you cleanse your tarot deck?

This is another way of stating USE YOUR INTUITION: there are no hard and fast laws. Don’t stress if you don’t believe it is necessary for your deck. Alternately, if you like to cleanse them once per week or once per month, that’s great. If it feels appropriate to you, you can even place your favorite crystal on the balcony each night.

If you frequently place crystals on your deck and store it on an altar while not in use, you might not feel the need to cleanse it frequently because this quick ritual will likely be sufficient to keep your deck feeling nice.

There are numerous ways to cleanse your cards, just as there are numerous reasons why you might desire to do so.

Different ways to cleanse your tarot deck

Use holy smoke. Light a dried rosemary, lavender, cedar, sage, or palo santo cleansing wand until it begins to smoke. Hold the smoke a safe distance below the deck while holding the burning herbs in one hand and the deck in the other so that the smoke drifts upward onto the cards. Turn the deck so that the smoke covers it from all angles. Next, safely put your deck to the ground and put out the fire.

On the deck, set a selenite stone (or a black tourmaline or a transparent quartz). It works well to leave it like way for an hour, but I prefer to leave it overnight.

Set them on display during a new moon. The New Moon is energy of a blank slate; you can purify the deck by setting it on a window sill on a new moon night. At this moment, you can also make a brand-new intention for your deck.

Place the cards in a salty dish. A strong and stabilizing cleaner is salt. My preferred choice for a thorough cleansing is this. Allow it to sit anywhere from one to eight hours in a dry area.

Unorderly shuffle. Spread the cards out on the ground, then shuffle them around like a child playing in dirt. This method’s freedom and randomization serve as an excellent reset.

the shuffle and sort. Set up the deck in rows of seven cards across, commencing with the Major Arcana numbers 0 to 22. (see photo above). Next, arrange the cards, Ace through King, one for each suit, as follows: Swords, Pentacles, Cups, and Wands. View the deck in this configuration, then mix everything up (like the chaotic!) and shuffle it thoroughly.

Are tarot cards supposed to be shuffled?

Because the left side is connected to intuitive and receptive energy, traditional tarot readers used their left hand to shuffle the cards. For similar reasons, some people think you should deal and shuffle tarot cards with your nondominant hand. I’ve never done this, though, because I can’t shuffle with one hand!

Apparently, it takes seven precise shuffles to get a completely random tarot deck, although in all honesty, you don’t have to follow that rule. As they focus on their query, some people prefer to shuffle their tarot deck a few times, while others prefer to shuffle for at least a minute. Use a non-traditional shuffling technique if it works for you. The most crucial step is to simply shuffle the cards.