*** So You've Got A Deck Of Tarot Cards, Now What?, Part 1

Perhaps you purchased a deck of tarot cards for yourself, or maybe someone else gave them to you. Regardless of how you came by them, they are now in your hands. Now what? What do you do with them? Is there a ritual you’re supposed to perform before using them? Are you supposed to get a silk scarf or wooden box to store them in? AND how do you actually give a reading?

Within the tarot community you might find as many answers to these questions and ways of doing something as there are practitioners, or—as we would be more accurately called—cardomancers. Naturally, the guidance I provide is my own opinion, one based on over 40 years of owning tarot cards (my first deck was purchased at the ripe, young age of 8), and answers that are time-tested from being an active tarot card reader for more than 25 years.

Once you’ve got a new deck of tarot cards it is most important to spend some time getting to know them. What I mean by this is, spend time familiarizing yourself with the pictures on the cards, the various symbols found in them, and any words written on each card. As you spend time with each card you will begin to receive impressions, or rather, special messages from each card, as if it is telling you a story. This process actually opens you to your intuition and is an important step in learning to trust what you receive.

Next is the process of familiarizing yourself with the meaning of each card. Some decks, such as my FAERY WICCA TAROT, will provide two meanings for each card, the classical tarot meaning and the special meaning of the card. In the FAERY WICCA TAROT the special meaning of each card I give specifically ties-in to the Faery Realm and the bardic / druidic Faery-Faith tradition, which is an Irish spiritual earth tradition. Most tarot decks can be broadened to go beyond even the classical and special meanings as based on your intuitive process during a reading.

While to read tarot cards one need not be a psychic, there are important times when a tarot card reader may require a deeper connection then just that of the thinking mind. Such insights are gleamed via intuition or what some call the Spiritual Intelligence of the Gods. Bringing such insights through can be easily attained through usage of tarot.

Because I view the tarot as an important tool for spiritual transformation, I believe it is important to “season” a deck prior to actually performing a reading, thus, I created a Seasoning Ritual for my FAERY WICCA TAROT, which can be used on any tarot deck.

The purpose of seasoning your deck is two-fold:

1. It clears the cards of any energy connected to them in a simple purification process.

2. It energizes your tarot deck with the intention of being used as a tool of spiritual transformation, thereby placing the cards into a sacred alignment with Spirit. Here is the ritual.

When preparing to season your deck, such as the FAERY WICCA TAROT Cards, it will be important to decide how you intend to use the cards, e.g. for self only; for other people; for self and other people.

Gather together the following items: a special scarf, pouch, or wooden box in which the cards will be stored; a smudge stick or cleansing incense such as the one listed in Faery Wicca,Book Two, page 228; a white candle; and, crushed lepedolite for its spiritual vibration (optional).

When you’re ready, smudge your self and the cards, or burn the cleansing incense. Light the candle. Sprinkle lepedolite over your hands. Pick up your cards and begin shuffling them while chanting:

“Domhan (Earth), Aer Air), Tine (Fire), Uisce Water,” over and over, in any order. You are enacting the creation process itself: the mixing and ordering of the elements of the universe, while invoking the Elemental Spirits of which human’s themselves are comprised of: water creates the bloodstream, fire is our vital heat, earth is our flesh, and air is our breath.

When the cards feel right, bring them to your lips, while toning “Ma” -- the sound of
Creation. By doing this you are imposing order on primal chaos by forming the elements out of the Great Mother’s sacred syllables joined together by the Mother’s syllable of “intelligence.”

Hold the cards to your heart, and pray to your Deity, asking that the cards be blessed for use in the manner you’ve chosen as your intent above, as a tool for spiritual transformation.

Blow your breath of Spirit upon the cards and recite:

Thou art water,
Thou art earth,
Thou art fire,
Thou are air,
Thou art the void and
Thou art the Supreme Divinity.

Bring your cards once more to your lips and kiss them. Blessed Be! Your cards are now seasoned and ready for use.

As a cartomancer (diviner by cards) remember that each time you work with the cards you are enacting the oldest theory applied to them:

The mystic power of Great Weaver Goddess guides the shuffling and dealing of the cards so that the resulting layout will yield a meaningful message when properly interpreted.