what happens if you don't cleanse your tarot cards

Tarot cards have great spiritual meaning and possess their aura. It can take years to master the art of tarot reading. 

But what happens if you don’t cleanse your tarot cards? If you’re new to the game, you may find yourself confused about its maintenance. Fret not, as we’re here to help. 

Below you’ll find a detailed guide on the cleansing and maintenance of your tarot deck, ensuring you always get the best out of your cards. So dive right in to get ahead of your game!

Why Is It Important to Cleanse Tarot Cards?

As we know, tarot cards are a powerful tool. While you give out readings, they absorb all sorts of unwanted energies.

The purpose of cleansing your cards is to remove that extra energy. if you don’t do so, it may affect your tarot readings, and you’ll find yourself with some very confusing readings. The deck will display the energies of previous readings, thus giving you inaccurate results and hindering your intentions. 

Another reason to cleanse your tarot deck is that other people’s energies may radiate from the cards. This may negatively affect your mood. It will also cause you to have a mixed aura due to unknown energies dissipating in your work area. Cleansing cards can be much like cleansing crystals.

Should I Cleanse Tarot Cards Before or After a Reading?

What should you do after a psychic reading? Well, your best bet is to clean them after every reading. This way, you can be sure to have a pile of cards that has no previous negative energies. This will also set your intentions for the reading, so it’ll be a two-for-one situation. 

However, cleansing them before readings won’t harm either. This will remove unwanted energy from sitting around in your tarot deck and prevent it from projecting into your aura. 

How to Cleanse Tarot Cards 

There are many cleansing methods you could use to clean your tarot cards. Some are quicker than others. Others take time which will deep cleanse cards. 

Some are in correspondence with earthly events, as these end up cleansing your cards naturally. The most common and easiest ways to cleanse tarot cards are discussed below. 

Shuffling

Shuffling cards can be easy and fun at the same time. This is perhaps the easiest or simplest way to cleanse your cards. Just place your cards in order, start with the first card, the major arcana, and recall the meaning of the card, then carry on with the next card and shuffle them approximately 7 times. 

Breathing

Breathing on the cards projects your energy onto the cards. Take a deep breath and breathe out onto the deck, then out onto every single card. 

Breathing for cleansing is a good way to go as it removes others’ energy and imparts your positive energy onto the cards. 

Tapping

Sometimes energy gets trapped in the cards and doesn’t leave by simple methods. The stagnant energy must be removed via other methods, and one of these is tap on the cards. 

Tap or knock each card three times; this usually knocks the stagnant energy right out, cleansing your cards.

Mediating 

Mediating with your cards is also a great way to deeply cleanse your cards. Meditating with your deck can relax you and your cards at the same time. 

Just press each card between the palms of your hands and visualize white light cleaning the cards to release all external energy. 

Natural Crystals

Cleansing cards with crystals is another great way to go. Just place your deck under your favorite crystal overnight. Crystals impart their energy onto the deck, hence cleansing them. 

Different crystals have different energies. Some commonly used crystals include; rose quartz, black tourmaline, amethyst, or selenite. 

Moon Bath 

A great way to cleanse your cards without any external tools is to do so with moonlight. Just leave them overnight at a place where moonlight beams will hit. It is best to do this in coordination with the moon cycle when there is a full moon. 

Sun Bath 

Sunbathing the cards releases pent-up energy and imparts warmth onto the cards. However, don’t leave your cards in the sun for too long, as the illustrations may fade. 

Salt Bath

Cleansing with salt is another good way to go. The best type of salt to use for this is natural salts such as Himalayan salts. Just drown your cards in a container full of salt and leave them overnight. 

Incense Sticks

Incense sticks or white sage smudge sticks can also be used to cleanse cards. Just whiff the smoke around each card, and you’re good to go!

How Do I Know if My Tarot Cards Need Cleansing?

A general rule is to cleanse your cards first when you buy them. You should always clean a new tarot deck, even if you bought them new or second-hand. This gets rid of new or residual energy from the deck. 

Another good time to cleanse your deck of cards is in between readings. This is a great way to set an intention for your next reading while ridding energies of your previous card readings. Just give them a quick cleanse while you’re waiting for your next client. 

You can also clean your deck if you feel an imbalance of energy. You should probably give it a deep scrub every time you feel overwhelming previous energy emitting from your tarot deck. This usually happens after extremely personal or heavy readings. 

If someone else has handled or shuffled your deck even, you should probably opt to give your deck a refresh as someone else handling your deck will cause their energy to be mixed into the deck also. This will mean that your readings will be a little off and may feel inaccurate or vague. 

How Many Times Should You Cleanse Your Tarot Cards?

The number of times you should cleanse your pile of cards depends completely on the number of readings done. Before reading, if you’re doing it after a long period, or in between readings if you do them frequently. The number of times you do a reading should approximately be the number of times you cleanse your cards. It is important to establish a cleansing ritual for your deck.

Conclusion

In this article, we talked about the necessity of cleansing your tarot cards and the adverse effects that they would hold if not cleansed from time to time. Now you know what happens if you don’t cleanse your tarot cards!