Bonding with Your Tarot Deck (5 Tips You Have to Try)

You’ve bought a brand-new deck. Congratulations! Now comes the fun part –– getting to know your tarot. For beginners, it can seem like a lot to learn. But bonding with your tarot deck is an easy part of the process, and a great way to jump into the journey of understanding the cards.

A tarot deck is just a tool. All of the intuition and connection that makes them work is supplied by the reader (and the person being read).

Like any tool, you need to get comfortable with it. Think of getting a new laptop or cooking in someone else’s kitchen –– it takes a little time to get adjusted to use the tools you have effectively, right?

You’re not going to do your best work until you feel comfortable with the playing field. So that’s one key reason, but there are a few others.

Why is bonding with your tarot deck important?

• To get to know the deck
• To imprint your energy
• To clear out negative energy

In this post, I’ll give you five tips to start bonding with your tarot deck. You’ll learn how to prepare your deck, what activating your deck means, and some odds and ends to help get to know your tarot faster.

I know, you just opened a brand-new shiny deck and you’re itching to get started. Stop by our Tarot Card Meanings Resource page for a one-stop reference you can use to start practice readings today.

5 Tips to Start Bonding with your Tarot Deck

You want to make your deck your own. Part of this is getting to know the cards and infusing them with your energy.

Inanimate objects pick up and carry energy. For a tool that helps you connect with your intuition and make sense of the things going on in your world (or the lives of people you’re reading), guarding that energy is super important.

Okay, on to the tips I promised:

1. Cleanse or clear
2. Charge your deck
3. Sleep with your cards
4. Study the symbolism and design
5. Activate your deck

There are different ways to accomplish all of the things on this list. I’m going to give you a few options so you can find the ones that work best for you.

How Do You Cleanse Your Tarot?

It’s not quite the same as scrubbing your house or doing your laundry, but cleansing the tools you use for divination is a must. You’re basically knocking out any negative energy that might interfere with a reading.

And here’s the thing, energy changes the way you perceive things. Think about walking into a room where two people are mad at each other. You can feel the tension. It makes the whole environment seem hostile and awkward.

Cleansing the deck, or your environment, resets the energy.

These are a few of my favorite methods:

1. Use incense or smudging.
2. Place crystals on top of the deck
3. Use salt to collect the negative energy (DON’T PUT YOUR CARDS IN THE SALT!)

Incense or smudging

Many people like smudging with sage, which is a fine choice. I personally prefer using incense. You can use sage incense, or you can choose one that speaks to your intention. I tend to like Dragons Blood and Patchouli.

Place clearing/cleansing crystals on the deck

Placing a crystal on top of or with your deck can help infuse the deck with the properties of the crystal. At the same time, some crystals can draw out or protect you from negative energy.

Some of my favorite crystals for clearing negative energy are hematite, quartz crystal, and snowflake obsidian. You can also use crystals for a specific intention. For instance, citrine is great for positivity or creativity.

Use salt to collect negative energy

Sorry for yelling in all-caps earlier. But seriously, don’t place your cards in a bowl of salt. I include this warning twice because I’ve seen people online recommend it, repeatedly. It’s bad advice because it can damage the cards and it’s not necessary.

Salt is excellent for protection, and it actually attracts negative energy. So, if you put a bowl of salt out in a room, it will draw all of the negative energy in, effectively clearing the room. Think of it as an energy filter.

To use it to cleanse your tarot deck, place a small bowl of salt next to the cards on your alter or a place they won’t be disturbed. You can also put your cards in the center of a circle of salt – I usually light a candle and combine this with a meditation, envisioning a circle of light around the cards.

Do you really need to cleanse your tarot?

In short –– yep.

As I said above, your possessions collect energy. That can include negative energy from people who’ve touched your cards. If you’ve ever done a reading for someone who was less than a ray of light, their negative vibes might cling to the cards.

Other people aren’t the only issue, either. Your own negative energy can stick to the cards and your environment. And we can’t be in a fantastic mood all the time.

So if you’ve had a run of bad luck, have been anxious or depressed, or otherwise in a negative mindset, it’s a good idea to clear the cards. You might also do some regular cleaning and smudging to make your space lighter and elevate your mood.

Think of cleansing your cards the same way you’d open the windows in springtime to let out the stale air.

I often call this “clearing the deck”. Because you’re clearing out the junk or toxic energy.

How to Charge Your Cards

Now that your deck is all sparkly clean, how do you charge the cards? And what does that even mean?

Charging anything is infusing energy into the thing. You can do this with crystals, good luck charms, and oils, to name a few things.

One of my favorite ways to charge the cards is under a full moon (some people prefer a new moon). You can put the cards in the window where they’ll catch the moon’s light but stay safe from the elements overnight.

You should also charge your cards through shuffling. To do this:

• Sit in a quiet or sacred space where you won’t be disturbed.
• Set your intention: This might be asking your cards to tell you what you need to know or asking for clarity.
• Shuffle the cards while concentrating on your intention.

If you’re looking for other resources, Llewellyn’s post on clearing and charging your deck offers some good tips.

Why You Should Take Your Deck to Bed

This sounds weird but it’s a good way to align with your deck. Sleep with the deck under your pillow for three consecutive nights.

You can journal when you wake up to capture any dreams or messages that might come up through the process, too.

I do this with new decks. But I will also sometimes do this again with a deck I haven’t used in a long time.

I have a favorite deck I use for regular readings and I really haven’t needed to sleep with it again because I shuffle and handle it regularly. But I have several other decks that I don’t use as often. And I find I’m more aligned and get better readings if I do this and a few other bonding activities before working with them.

Getting to Know Your Tarot Deck

The tarot has 78 cards, each bursting with symbolism.

That’s a lot to learn, but it also means you’ll find new dimensions and layers to your cards the longer you read. In short, it never gets old or mundane.

There are some amazing decks and designs. While I’m using the Rider-Waite deck for a basis here, there are other oracle cards and tarot decks by gifted artists. You’re not relegated to any particular deck. Most readers will tell you to choose the one that most speaks to you.

And there’s a reason for that: the tarot is just a tool. For you to really get everything you want out of tarot readings, you need the best tool for you. The design that makes you happy and resonates with you. The definitions and meanings that you find most compelling and true to the life experience you bring to your practice.

I do often recommend Rider-Waite for beginners because most resources use this design. If you’re using a completely different deck, it can be confusing to learn from any resources outside of the ones created for that deck. But again, it’s just a recommendation. If you want to start with a different deck, that’s totally up to you.

Getting to know each card, studying the design and why the artist chose to depict it a certain way will help you as you dive into readings.

If you’re using a deck that isn’t based on the Rider-Waite, it’s a good idea to buy resources that accompany the deck. Many have books with definitions and symbolism broken down to help you learn.

How Do You Activate Tarot Cards?

When you activate the cards, you’re signaling to the universe that you need information. There are four basic steps:

1. Ground yourself, by placing both feet flat on the ground.
2. Center your thoughts on the question you need answered.
3. Shuffle the cards, while concentrating on your question. Stay focused.
4. Then, with your left hand, cut the cards 3 times, to the left.

Some readers knock on the cards. This is a way to knock energy out of or into the cards. It’s not one of the things I do, but if you like it, add it to your routine.

I extend this “energizing” part of the reading to the layout of the cards. I continue concentrating on the question as I lay each card into position and ask for clarity.

Now That You’ve Mastered Bonding with Your Tarot Deck…

Ready to Dive In?

If you’re itching to get started, pick out a few of these methods to try with your cards. I’d love to hear about your own rituals and things that have worked for you.