Cleansing a deck

[Dawn]

I know you should always cleanse a deck when you buy it, but what are the various methods of doing this? And how often should it be done?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Silver_Alhena]

Hi Dawn, and welcome to MW :wave:

I generally sleep with mine under my pillow (but it can get lumpy!)

Other ways I have of cleansing my cards include 'charging' them on my altar, or passing them through incense smoke, although I am worried that doing this long-term may stain them slightly.

[Flaire-FireStar]

Well....there's smudging, laying the cards in sunlight or moonlight, burying them in the ground, laying them on a bed of crystals.. Those are all I can really think of right now. :dis:
Sometimes I pass them over a candle flame..(heat)




And how often should it be done?

Whenever you feel you need to do it. If you use your cards a lot, it's a good idea to do it often, but if you don't use the cards often, then maybe just laying them in the light of the full moon might be all the cleansing they need. :)

[Lavender]

Bury them in the ground? :eek:

I pass mine through the smoke of the incense and lay them out in the full moonlight (whenever possible).

I keep a tiny bag of cleansing herbs in the bag with my cards...kinda like an eraser to take out any negative energies after each reading.

[Flaire-FireStar]

Originally posted by Wildchild
Bury them in the ground? :eek:

Yep. :) I've heard of people doing that, but putting them in a water-proof container (like a tupperware thing or something) first.

[cherrywind]

I wave each one seperately through frankinsense and myrrh incense and visualize them becoming clean again. Takes a little longer than just doing the whole deck or laying them out over night, but it's what they seem to react to best :).

I think it really depends on you and your relationship with your cards. I know I had to try a few different techniques before I found one that really worked.

[Silver Venus]

There are loads of different methods, Id do the one that feels really right for you, incense, meditation, burying, sleeping...
Have you cleansed a magickal tool before? How did you do that? what images, words, feelings come to mind? Go with those and your deck will love it :)

[Witchy Cowgirl]

I have recently signed up for the B & N online course that MoonOwl posted. (BTW MoonOwl, thanks for letting us know about it.)
I'm going through post that might be useful to me before the course starts on the 9th.
I thought this might be useful to anyone elese who is a rank beginner like me so I'm bumping this up!:)

[Witchy Cowgirl]

It's been a long time since my cards have even been touched. My mama-in-law gave them to me on Memorial Day and I don't know how long she had them before that or where she stored them.
So, I'm thinking they need a major cleansing.
I plan on taking them to the altar in the woods and cleansing each one separtley. By passing each one through the smoke of insence and placing each card in cedar shavings till the whole deck is done.
A note here. The box should be cleansed too, right?

[Witchy Cowgirl]

bumped for Masamune
(and anyone elese who needs it!):)