Ways to Connect to Your Tarot Deck
Think of it this way - you meet a new person and you know without any doubt that they will help you become a better person and will be by your side no matter what. You would, of course, have to get to know them on a deeper level, and so would they with you. The same is for tarot and oracle decks. Some call is connecting with your energy, others call it forming a relationship with the deck - whatever term you use, the idea is the same. Below you will find a list of common ways to connect with a new deck and explanations for each of them. This is not an extensive list, if you are searching for more ways to connect with a deck, you can ask yourself how you would connect with a new friend and form a bond as well, as the same principle still applies.
Sleep or meditate with your deck: Sleeping with or meditating with another human would be quite intimate and bond forming, not to mention it benefits both people. The same applies to decks very heavily, in my opinion. In my personal experience with sleeping with and meditating with any deck, new or old, I have had the most vivid, realistic and healing and/or eye opening dreams while sleeping next to a deck. I have not quite figured it out in definite terms yet, but by using my best intuition and logical judgement, I believe this is the case for one or all of these reasons - reason #1 being that you are allowing the deck into your subconscious mind as you are in a trance or sleep-like state, reason #2 being that the deck is close to your energy while you have an empty mind, therefore making it easier for the energy of the deck to fuse with or send things through the energetic field to you, and reason #3 being the ideas that are on every card in the artwork are being awoken while your energy lays stagnant and calm, allowing them to take a manifested form in your thoughts and dreams. Since the majority of decks I have experience with have the ability to get into your subconscious (that’s a lot of the point of tarot), I think all of these theories could be true, and therefore love this method for how quick it forms a bond.
Keep your deck with you: This is the same theory as treating your deck like a new friend. To get to know someone new, you usually go places with them or have them around for a good amount of time. This allows both people to study each other’s quirks, expressions, routines, behaviors, emotions and everything else, forming a bond of understanding. If a brand new friend comes to you for advice, and you don’t know any of their behaviors, emotions or triggers, how can you give them sound and helpful advice? It would be very hard, and it’s hard for a lot of decks as well. You can put the cards, safely, in your purse or bag, in your car while you’re driving, on your desk while you’re working…. anywhere, as long as the cards won’t get bent or damaged and the deck is on or near you.
Study the art and symbolism: Everybody will say this, and I know a lot of people hate this tip (at least I did for a long time). Every deck is different and has different artwork, meaning that while every deck and individual card is tied to the same ideas, the idea or outcome may differ in polarity than others. One deck’s Tower might mean a sudden breakthrough or transformation, while another deck’s Tower might have a massive destruction, downfall, the end of all things type of energy - the same idea, different intensities. I do not advise actually studying each individual card in a textbook manner, this will be very stressful for many and will no doubt cause a headache if you are doing it for an extended period. If you have the capacity to study every card in a day, I say that’s awesome and you should go for it. However, I found the easiest way to do this is to begin doing daily one, two, three or five card pulls, even if you aren’t asking a question, get come cards out - clear your mind, look at each card one by one and listen to your abrupt inner thoughts and what they tell you (write them down no matter how crazy they sound) Once you have an intuitive idea about the card, use your logical mind to assess the symbolisms and things going on in the card.
Cleanse, bless, consecrate: Cleansing is easy enough, there’s so many resources on how to cleanse. My favorite method of cleansing a deck is to first go through and briefly glance at each card, make sure they’re in order, fan them out and smoke cleanse. You can also rub your hands together until they’re warm and move them in a hovering motion above the cards. I have also drawn a sigil meaning ‘to cleanse negative and stagnant energy,’ placed the deck on top of the sigil, smoke cleansed, placed them in a natural salt, let the sit in the sun/moon light, near a flame or placed a candle (a glass candle) on top of the deck and let the magic to its thing. You can bless the deck by saying a prayer, song or anything that thanks/communicates with a divine force (gods, goddesses, nature, whatever you see as divine) for or over the deck, or even writing a blessing and keeping it near the deck. This step can be skipped if you don’t see anything as divine, or you can substitute the term ‘divine’ for your higher self, subconscious power if you wanted. This will also consecrate the deck if you ‘declare it as sacred’ in the process.
The deck interview: This is the same as asking a new friend questions to get to know them. There are many deck interview spreads out there, but I say to ask questions that are respectful and that you would ask a new friend. This can also tie in with having your deck around you - you can have it sitting on your desk and ask a random question as if it were a person who was in the same room as you at the time, like a conversation, in a way.
Daily readings: This would be a step to begin once you have began doing above mentioned things. As I mentioned, a friend cannot give a friend advice if they don’t know the other persons attitude. A daily reading can be as simple as asking the deck if it has any messages or advice for the day, writing down the answer and revisiting it that night to assess the accuracy and progress. This can advance to asking “how am I doing today,” getting an answer, and asking another question “what advice or energy will help me further my soul purpose today,” and placing the second card on top of the first, leaving them out and assessing the outcome once the day is done.
Here is a sample deck interview spread that I have always found helpful - remember that you can pull clarification cards or, “this answer in regards to what?” cards for more information.
