Purifying a Tarot Deck

Here are some ways to purify a Tarot deck.

From Mary K Greer's book Tarot for your Self

1) Repeated, rhythmical shuffling of the cards. This is the most basic form of purification, an essential part of any reading, which does not make it any less evocative of focused consciousness- one of the results of purification. Purification means cleansing. Shuffling not only puts in new  energies but takes out old ones. It is good to shuffle at the end of a reading as well as at the beginning.

2) Smoking the cards with cedar, sage, pine or sweet grass. (I also use incense) It is especially efficacious to burn such dried herbs in an abalone or similar shell for it represents the element of water; the plant represents the element earth; the smoke the element air; and the fire is its own element. This bringing together of the four elements is an important part of ritual.

3) Filling the deck with Light To do this first close your eyes. At a position about eighteen inches above your deck, picture a tiny seed of pure radiant white light or the color of your choice. Imagine the seed of light growing into a crown which then pours a stream of light into your cards. Know that this stream of light is purifying your deck for your use. Use this technique in conjunction with the others.

4) Rubbing with a silk or cotton cloth- perhaps the one they are wrapped in.

5) Cleansing with sea-salt and water (for plastic-coated cards) Wipe each card with a sponge lightly dampened with sea-salt and fresh water.

6) Burying in earth. An especially strong unpleasant energy may require burying the deck in earth for seven days or for the period from full moon to the first sliver of the new moon. Visualize Mother Earth absorbing all negative energies. Rarely is it necessary to burn a Tarot deck, though I have known people to do so.

7) Ordering the deck after using it is an excellent way to know the cards in their archetypal order; it purifies them. A Tarot deck in its archetypal order is symbolic of the path to self-knowledge. You can place a card on which you have been working on top of the deck so it will be the first thing you see when returning to your deck. The order I use is: major arcana, then each suit in order wands, cups, swords and pentacles.   She also mentions in here that you can take advantage of the energy flow of the earth by facing east or north.  I find I always face north even if it is unconsciously, and this has always worked very well for me.