Incense is one of the most widely used techniques for purifying tarot decks.
For purifying rituals, incense is burned in many religious traditions. The most widely used purifying incenses in the West are white sage, sweet grass, or palo santo. My favorite aroma is that of palo santo, which is both bright and woodsy.
Stick, cone, or loose incense are more options. Pick an incense that is connected with blessing or purification.
Some readers clean their deck of cards one by one. However, if you want to use the entire deck in one attack, go ahead and do that.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to cleanse yourself or your reading area to remove any unwanted energy. Tarot readers frequently smudge themselves before and after readings (particularly when reading for someone else).
Use cleansing sprays produced from essential oils if you enjoy incense but suffer from severe allergies or are sensitive to smoke. Sprays for cleaning are excellent.
Sprays come in a range of base oils, including sage, palo santo, etc. Simply spray yourself and your surroundings for the aura-cleansing sweetness to take effect. Avoid directly spraying your cards or you run the risk of harming them.
As a side note, using incense to purify is known as smudging. You should read Asali Earthworks’ piece, “Language Has Power,” which discusses the problems with this term’s adoption.
In This Article...
Which incense purifies the Tarot?
Both Magdaleno and Vanderveldt enjoy using smoke as a purifying agent. Simply place your deck close to a dry wand or herbal incense and let the smoke wash all of the cards as it wafts over and around.
Lavender is Vanderveldt’s herb of choice because Mercury rules it, making it excellent for straightforward communication. Magdaleno adds that mugwort might also be a suitable option because of its purifying and intuitive qualities.
How can my tarot cards be purified?
Here are four simple steps to purifying tarot cards.
- Meditate. Simply unwind for a moment and get rid of all your thoughts.
- Pass each card through the smoke after burning sage.
- Place bay leaves within the deck of cards.
- And for protection, place a crystal on top.
How are fresh tarot cards blessed?
Your playing cards will inevitably take up on any unfavorable energy that gather around you as you employ them. On the other hand, the leftover energy of the people you’ve given readings to can also accumulate.
It’s a good idea to routinely cleanse your cards because of this. The goal is to realign the cards towards their receptive neutral default condition by clearing the opposing and adversarial energies surrounding them.
The full moon charge is a common practice for blessing playing cards. You can achieve this by setting your playing cards beside your window or somewhere else where they can get a lot of moonlight on a full moon night.
Filling your cards with the sun’s radiant energy is an alternative. The procedure is the same as a full moon charge, but you should exercise caution because heat and humidity might warp and harm your cards.
You can choose to bless and purify your cards with a crystal as well. When your cards are not in use, you can continuously purge them of any lingering outside energy and concentrate the cards’ inherent power by placing a piece of clear quartz on them.
Other well-liked gems include black tourmaline, which acts as a grounding agent and can absorb bad energy, and amethyst, which can enhance psychic insight.
How can I give my tarot cards more life?
“Knock or tap the pile of cards numerous times while holding them in your palm to disseminate your energy throughout the deck. Shuffle the cards completely. The cards are divided into three heaps, which are subsequently reassembled into one pile.
Should Tarot cards be smudged?
White sage is the most popular smudging plant, but others like desert sage, cedar, sweetgrass, or a combination of them, may also be employed. Even though sage is the traditional smudging substance, you are free to use your chosen incense. Sometimes herbs like copal, lavender, and others are added to invoke benevolent or protective energy.
These herbs are offered for sale in dried bundles known as “smudge sticks,” which when burnt smolder like incense. The object you want to cleanse is then covered with the smoke rising from the smudge stick.
How to Do It
The cleaning procedure is really straightforward. You can purify your entire house, just your tarot cards, your reading space, or any combination of these, as well as your entire household. If at all possible, the cleaning should occur during the daytime in both scenarios. Alternatively, simply the ones in the space where you are smearing can be opened. This will provide the bad energy a quick way out.
There are only five steps to smudging:
- Open all windows and doors
- Activate the smudge stick.
- Waft the smoke over your object or environment as you focus on cleansing and rebirth.
- Shut off the smudge stick.
- By (carefully) clinking a spoon on a glass, you can ring a bell or create a chiming noise.
Home Smudging Walkthrough
- Start with the front door of your house. Although not often the front door, this entrance gets the greatest traffic.
- Holding your smudge stick over a flame will light it; blow softly on the lit end to make it smolder. Keep a lighter nearby so you can restart the stick if needed.
- Concentrate your will on the notion of purification and rejuvenation. Some people like to say a quick prayer of appreciation or thank the herb for aiding them.
- To clear negative energy, smudge the door by sweeping smoke counterclockwise around the doorframe.
- Smudge the entrances just like you did at the front door, going counterclockwise through your home and each room. Many individuals only smear windows and doorways. Mirrors, reflective surfaces, and even electrical outlets are examples of additional objects that act as thresholds and, as a result, as energy entry sites.
- After you’ve completed your circuit, go back to your primary entry and re-smudge it. You might make an affirmation or a prayer here, or you can ask for good energy to enter your house.
- Put your smudge stick out in a heat-safe container like an ashtray or ceramic dish. The lit end should simply be stubbed out like a cigarette. The majority of smudge sticks burn out naturally, so you might opt to do the same.
- The last step is to chime a bell or click a spoon against a glass to create a sound. This harmonizes everything by spreading a vibration of sound energy throughout the area.
You may reset the energy in your house or your tarot cards using smudging, and you can do it as frequently as you wish. Smudging helps remove any negative energy from readings before you read them again because readings might disclose some truly unpleasant things. Between each reading, some tarot readers smudge their equipment and workspace, while others do it on a weekly or monthly basis.
Questions you don’t really want answered
Even though it might seem apparent, it’s advisable to refrain from asking the tarot cards questions that you aren’t prepared to hear the answers to. That’s because answers to these questions can reveal information you’re just not quite ready to hear.
“Tarot can definitely come off as offensive if you’re not willing to hear the truth or consider an opposing opinion. Tarot reading Nicole Fortunaso
According to tarot reader and life coach Nicole Fortunaso, “tarot may truly come out as offensive if you are not willing to hear the truth of the problem or look at an alternate viewpoint.” She advises analyzing why you’re reacting the way you are in order to reflect on how to effectively address the underlying problem if you ask the question and aren’t satisfied with the response.
Without sage, how can a tarot card be blessed?
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.
How is a fresh Tarot deck purified?
Tips for Purifying and Blessing Your Tarot Cards
- Incense/Smudging. Using Palo Santo incense to purify tarot cards
- During a full moon. Tarot cards are purified using the moon.
- Sun bathing. Tarot Deck Cleaning with the Sun.
- Reiki. Reiki cleansing of tarot cards.
- shuffling and rearranging the cards.
How do you use incense to clean crystals?
Sage is a revered herb with a wide range of therapeutic benefits. According to legend, smudging your stone will remove disruptive vibrations and restore its inherent vitality.
You’ll require
- matches or a lighter
- Sage in bundles or free form
Make sure you’re close to an open window if you can’t smudge outside. This will make it possible for the smoke and bad energy to go.
When you’re ready, light the flame and ignite the sage’s tip. Put the sage in your non-dominant hand, take a tight hold of your stone, and navigate the smoke while holding it there.
Give the smoke around 30 seconds to surround the stone. Consider smudging for an additional 30 seconds if it has been a long since your previous cleansing or you feel the stone is retaining a lot of energy.
If someone touches your tarot cards, what should you do?
If you have been reading Tarot for years without allowing anybody else to touch your cards and this is how you prefer it to be done, maintain reading in this manner. Do it if it works.
However, if you are new to tarot and unsure about whether you should allow others to touch your cards when reading for them, REST! Others are welcome to touch freely. In fact, I believe that doing this makes a reading seem more genuine. You simply need to believe in the strength of your intention to afterwards purge any negative energy from your Tarot deck.
What are your thoughts on this? I’m interested to know! Therefore, please share your thoughts regarding individuals touching your cards in the comments section below. Do you agree with it? Or do you strictly enforce a no-touch policy?