Show Love to Your Tarot Deck with a Winter Cleanse | New Year New Energy
The symbolic sleep of winter, the mark of a year ending and the hope of a new spring ahead is the perfect time to repair and cleanse your tarot deck. Everyone has their own special ways of doing this, and they are all correct. You have used your cards all year, for yourself and your friends, even for that one lady down the street who never really talks to anybody but somehow, she knew you had tools of divination and wanted a reading. Yeah, all of that. That energy stays with your cards until you give it a fond farewell into the ether. Here are some respectful repairs you can do to your favorite decks and how to release the old energy and charge with new. May they inspire you to care for your cards in a way that feels just right.
The Ideal Day to Cleanse Tools
If you are someone who finds yourself connected to the energy of the moon you may feel the need to clean and cleanse all the things on or near the new moon. This is a great time to send energy you do not need any more into the darkness. For example, we will use basic home cleaning, clean the clutter and sweep out what’s hiding behind the couch. It is the areas and things you clean during the dark of the moon that will show up differently as the light returns. The magic of this is having new light on freshened up spaces and tools. You could very easily use the existing energy of any new moon to tend to your cards seasonally.
Since we are focusing on winter, if you are in an area where you can expect snow fall, you get to take advantage of the pure white and silent energy that comes with a blanket of snow. If you are expecting an overnight snowfall on any day, this would be great. Fix a glass jar to your liking that has a good seal and close your deck inside the jar and set out where the snow can cover it. Bonus points if you focus on all the clean new energy your cards are soaking up while watching the snowfall cover your jar.
Sage is always your friend. Salt is always your friend. Your crystals are always your friend. If your cards feel like they just need a gentle seasonal cleansing, a smoke bath in a sunbeam with your favorite sparkly rock is just right. You can always use this simple method to shake off the funk on your cards if you feel a need. Especially after you read for that lady down the block. Ha, but for real, sprinkle some salt in the chair she sat in and set the deck on the windowsill for a bit. You’ll always know when it’s time to tidy up the energy.
For those who carry their cards wrapped in cloth or in a pouch or box of some kind, remember to welcome the new energy into those items during this time, too. You don’t ever want to come home to a dirty house after a day of pampering.
Repairs to Your Cards
Now that your cards have had a winter themed spa day, you might feel like doing a little extra to your most used decks. This is the time to make them uniquely yours. This also can involve a trip to a hobby shop and come on, who doesn’t need more of that in their life? There are cool things like corner cutters, they work like a hole punch on the corners of your cards. Think scrapbooking aisle.
Do you have a deck that you feel needs to sparkle a bit? Stamp ink pads come in every color under the sun as well as metallic shades. If you are going full glam with your tarot deck this winter, this is for you. After you have cleansed and trimmed your tarot deck, stack the deck together as perfectly as you can and gently wipe the edges over the stamp pad. Gentle is key, you can always do another pass if it’s not as vibrant as you want. And yes, you can absolutely use gold leaf if you are a crafty-crafty one.
Winter Blessings
Tarot decks and a desire to cleanse cards may not be part of everyone’s spiritual practice. That’s perfectly fine, not feeling a connection to a deck of cards is a for sure sign they are not your thing. But if you do find yourself drawn to shuffling and turning cards as a way to inspire and enrich your joyful decision making then winter is a great time to symbolically charge your cards with a whole new vibe. Find a way that feel right for you and just remember you can’t dunk your tarot cards into a bowl of salt water. I mean technically you can, but there are defiantly other ways to cleanse that don’t cause as much damage to your favorite tarot deck.
