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Tarot cards often tend to ‘behave’ like us human beings – in that, that they get tired. It is not a mysterious thing. Many of us may have experienced this from time to time: as and when the cards become tired, they tend to give sluggish readings or readings that make no sense at all. Sometimes, such tired cards also end up tiring the reader and making the process of reading the cards an arduous task.

This is the perfect time to charge ’em! Charging them is like recharging their batteries – and what an effect such a charging process has on these cards! Suddenly, they are more sensible and are easy to read with.

Why Do The Cards Get Tired?

7 of CupsThere is no mystery or magic to this process. Tarot cards are the perfect mirror, I often say. They end up mirroring your inner psyche. They show you what you may not want to see, but they will always tell you the truth. And along those lines, they can show you that you are actually tired.

If you have been doing readings for a long period of time without taking a break, you might even have noticed that you tend to get worn down. And the ‘worn down’ is not from talking for a long time. It comes from within you – deep inside of you, in fact.

Reading Tarot cards can be a tiring process for some of us. For me, I can do up to 3 or 4 readings one after the other. Then, I get tired. And hungry and very, very thirsty. But one of my students can read cards for much longer, and for many more people than I can. I guess, it all depends on person to person.

The cards, being a reflection of you, will show this too!

Another reason the cards can get tired is because they interact with the different energies of the different people you read for. For each reading, therefore, shuffling the cards thoroughly is a must, so as to clear the energies of the last person you read for. This is why, some readers don’t allow anyone else to touch their cards.

How Do You Know When The Cards Are Tired?

There are many subtle ways in which the cards can tell us that they are tired and need to be charged.

As mentioned before, they behave sluggishly: not making sense in readings, not getting to the point and telling us what is going on in the reading. However, many a times, you as a reader will sense their tiredness. Its as if they don’t want to talk to you! And they ‘feel’ heavy when you hold them in your hands. Sometimes your cards will convey their tiredness in other ways.

It happened to me once when I was getting ready to sleep and I suddenly had a ‘feeling’ that I should charge my cards. Since I was already in my bed, I figured I might as well do it the next day in the morning. But hey! Guess what! The cards wouldn’t let me sleep till I put them for charging! For some reason, all I kept thinking was I must charge them, and so, I got out of bed and put them up for charging. And slept soundly after that!

So, what are the different ways in which you can charge your cards? Lets look at them:

Charging Your Cards: Method # 1

This is my most preferred method. I arrange the cards in their order, all of them upright. That’s it! From The Fool card to The World card, and then for each of the Suits, and then put the deck back in the order that it came in. And then I just put them back into their bag and keep it on my altar. It seems to do the trick for me!

The cards are all linked and connected to each other, and are like a family. After doing so many readings, the family gets separated and disconnected. So I reconnect every card by putting them in their order, and then they seem to be happy.

Charging Your Cards: Method # 2

The MoonAnother method preferred by some of my students is to place the deck on their window sill where it can catch the Moonlight. Apparently, the energies of the Moon can recharge the cards really well. And usually, they look for a Full Moon night to do this.

Sometimes, my students also prefer the New Moon nights to charge their cards.

The New Moon is associated with New Beginnings – because after that the Moon crescent grows till it becomes Full. And the Full Moon night is the culmination of all the work that went into the Moon’s growth and so the Full Moon represents Achievements and Culmination and Satisfaction. I guess, the choice of which Moon to go for depends on the ‘feel’ one gets from the cards.

Moon energy is Feminine, Intuitive, Creative energy. Hence they prefer to charge their cards in this energy.

Charging Your Cards: Method # 3

The SunIn this method, the cards are placed in direct Sunlight. Usually a couple of hours of being bathed in warm Sunlight does the trick for charging the cards!

In comparison to the Moon, the Sun represents Masculine, Logical, Clarity-filled energy. And if your cards ‘tell’ you to charge them in such energies, then by all means go for it! And with the Sun, there are no Phases to consider. You can charge your cards in a couple of hours and are pretty much good to go!

Charging Your Cards: Method # 4

SmudgingThis method is often called ‘Smudging’. You hold the cards in your hands and pass them through the fumes given off by the burning of some herbs like Sage or Lavender. Many Tarot cards readers prefer this method for Charging their cards.

Each herb has a certain quality associated with it. For example, Sage has a lot of healing properties, while Lavender is soothing and calming. Thus, the fumes given off by burning these herbs interact with the cards and work towards balancing their scattered energies and help recharge them.

Charging Your Cards: Method # 5

Bowl of Sea SaltAnother very popular method of charging a Tarot card deck is using Sea Salt. In this method, you spread your cards on your reading cloth, and then sprinkle Sea Salt on them.

Sea Salt has wonderful absorption qualities, and can absorb all the negative energies that the cards may have acquired over the period of time. You don’t have to sprinkle tons of Sea Salt on the cards – just a little bit will do. Let they cards lay there for a while till you ‘know’ that they are charged. Then just collect all the Sea Salt and throw it away. I usually wash it down the sink, when I use this method of charging.

My Experience

I have used all of these above mentioned methods at one point of time or the other. Each of these methods reinvigorated my Tarot card deck. But then again, each time, the cards got the message through to me and ‘told’ me which way I was supposed to cleanse them. More often than not, however, my cards seem to prefer the first method of charging.

Another thing I have noticed is that each time that the cards are charged, I seem to ‘know’ that too!

The Deck Images used in this blog post are from The Druidcraft Tarot Deck.


Your Turn

So, which method of charging the cards have you used? Do you have some other method of charging your cards? Please do share your thoughts and comments with me in the comments section below.