Tarot Tales: Bonding & Forming a Friendship with Your Deck

Bienvenue! I hope you are doing splendid! I want discuss something I've been thinking about for awhile. You have a tarot deck, and now you want to start a successful relationship reading with the deck. So you really need to bond with your tarot deck, become friends with the cards. Sound silly? Sound weird? Well it isn't, not really. It may feel silly and it may feel weird, but trust me its going to be worth it.   You're excited, you're thrilled, you're jumping up and down because you just got your new tarot deck. You've pined after this deck forever...or you bought it on a whim, whatever the case you have it in your possession and the universe is alight.

  Now what to do, dive right in and start out with a complex 40 card spread right? Well you could do that, but it seems a tad rude to me. Why not say hello first, get to know the cards and what messages their imagery gives you. Take your time, let this first encounter be nothing but a sweet, innocent flirtation of energies. Look at all the cards, set them out before you or take them one at a time and just examine the imagery. Right away there are going to be some that you adore and some you don't, but that's OK. Just hold the cards, let your energy and the cards energy intermingle and intertwine in a slow dance.   

  You can also do a cleansing ritual to remove anything you feel that seems a little jumbled. This could be for any number of reasons, and its easy to get rid of these "off" vibes. Maybe you bought a used deck, maybe the deck has sat in the store a long time and needs some TLC, maybe the UPS driver who delivered your package was in a bad mood. Whatever the reason, you'll feel it if it needs it. Use some crystals like quartz or selenite or whatever good vibe stone you got (if that's you thing), wave the cards gently through some incense or smudging smoke, let the moonlight or sunlight bathe the cards in pure energies. Any of these should help.  

Healing Breath   My favorite way to clear my cards is to sit for a few minutes with  my eyes closed, running my fingers over the fanned out cards. Making sure to have good thoughts and such going on in my head. When I feel like I've sat long enough, I like to hold the fanned out cards up to my mouth and gently blow air over the cards. Using my own breath to clean the cards sort of integrates my vibes into them.   Sleep with your cards....place them under your pillow, under your bed or as close to your bed as you can. This will also help develop this bond. Make a nice little home for your cards, a pretty little bag or a place of honor on your shelf. Don't just throw them in the bottom of your underwear drawer and forget about them.   

  Go ahead and do some readings for yourself. Why not ask the deck a few questions about itself, each has their own personality. You're deck of rainbows and unicorns may work better for daily affirmations than say your dark, delightfully brooding deck more suitable for shadow work. Maybe this deck is full of flesh-eating zombies but you really get a loving, warm feeling when you use it and want to do some relationship spreads. All of these are great and part of getting to know your deck.    Really, just spending some time connecting with your deck will help create a bond. And what if you find things just aren't working out, you aren't really getting that relationship with your deck. That is OK too. Maybe set it aside for a little bit (again in a nice place, not hid away in the dark) and revisit in a few weeks or months. And if that isn't working, maybe you can re-home your deck with someone you think will align better with it. There is nothing wrong with finding out you just don't click with a deck. It can be disappointing, but maybe you look at it as you were an intermediary setting the deck on its path to the right owner.    Have any other ideas or tips? How do you bond with your new deck? Do you dance under the moonlight with it, sing it songs, give it an affectionate name? I'd love to hear them.   Until next time, Jenny