How do you store your cards?

There was an old thread on this in which I remember seeing with some amusement, that
Teheuti (Mary K Greer) has a whole library full of Tarot decks (literally).
(Haven't made the effort to find the thread ) .

Here's how most of mine live - some are still in their box, some are not. Most are wrapped in a cloth or silk and then put in a bag:
I mostly remember who's in what, according to the pattern of the bag. I found the containers in a Japanese-style storage shop called 'Muji' and they fit just perfectly on the top of my bookcase.

(I can look at pictures of tarot collections and storage solutions FOREVER.)

I reorganized my deck storage so thought I would share here

Most of one side of this cabinet in the solarium area of our apartment contains decks. The rest of the cabinet is mostly candles and such- the wooden box in the middle keeps herbs I use to make incense. Some of the decks that came in large boxes I have kept in the original box. Others don't yet have a box or bag home as you can see. I keep the ones I use most regularly (at least at the moment!) in here, along with others that just fit best here.

Then I keep other decks, mostly smaller ones, in a basket next to the same cabinet. We mostly use the solarium as a meditation/yoga space, and I usually just sit on the floor in here when working with cards.

Then, when I'm not using my tarot journal, I just lay it on top of the basket.

I take them out of the little cardboard boxes and keep them in pouches. I like to keep the boxes pristine in case I want to sell or trade later, they are also collectors items for me! I keep them up on a bookshelf for display and the actual cards in their pouches in a chest of drawers.

This is an interesting question for a few reasons

OK I prefer the envelope-style cases that fold over and then tie with ribbon.

I recently ordered a deck and couldn't find a case for what I wanted to pay in the fabric I liked and got a bag instead. NOTHING wrong with bags, some are gorgeous, I just don't like cards moving around.

SO....I will put in a dress stretchy women's ankle sock or use two fabric-type elastic bands, one vertical, one horizontal (but too tight) to keep the cards together.

I know I could store the cards in the deck and put in the bag, but I just prefer them not in a box. Just my own preference.

Thankfully, I don't have a ton of decks because I wouldn't be able to properly clothe them all ;-). I like them ready to go to drop into my bag and the box they came in just doesn't do it aesthetically for me.

Currently I'm pretty boring and not very kind (not very smart?) in how I store my decks. I make them each an individual felt case, then put them in a worn-out old Amazon shipping box in my closet.

I'm thinking about making nicer bags for each of them and putting them at least in a drawer or something, surrounded by scarves and soft things. Honestly, when I wasn't reading (for about 5 years), I didn't believe they needed to be treated with respect.

I feel that regardless of what I believe/don't believe about how the cards work, at the very least, keeping them in a nice safe place makes my brain think of them as special, and the ritual of unwrapping them can be a part of getting your intuition into gear.

Custom-made flush boxes:

http://imgur.com/a/WyTD5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kPw50iZPm0

I'm actually going to start mass producing these somewhat soon, so if you guys like these, you'll hopefully be able to get a hold of these pretty soon for a low price. If anyone's interested, feel free to PM and I can provide more details.

Decks that sit on the bookshelf doing nothing, stay in their boxes. Decks I use are usually wrapped in scraps I find in the rag bag at work. I like red tartans mainly. Surprising how many tartans there are.

I usually keep my decks in homemade knitted or sewn pouches, unless the original box is very strong and sturdy (like the Wild Unknown box, or like the modern Baba boxes).
Often, when I keep the deck in its original strong box, I make a larger, thinner pouch that can contain the box itself. It prevents boxes from getting frayed at the corners, and, more important, it prevents boxes from opening up in your purse and spilling their cards everywhere (nightmare !)

When the box is strong and large, like some deck and book set that come in good sturdy boxes (I am thinking of the mass marketed Bonefire set, for example), then I take the book out to keep in my bookshelves, take the inside compartiments out, and usually replace the pouched deck inside the box with a couple other things like dried flowers, incence etc.

The boxed or pouched decks (all together, tarot, lenormand, oracle, playing cards...) I then store in big cardboard boxes stacked in my bedroom.
There are three :

The top one, almost always with its lid opened, contains my favourite and most used decks. It is pretty full, and actually I often have decks that lie around in the sitting room, and I am not sure they would all fit in the cardboard box if I tried to cramm them all in.

The second big box contains decks that I like a little less, and use less often. But, on the top of this boxes are also some favourite decks that simply did not have room enough in the first box.
Sometimes it is fun to dig a little deep in this second box, to reach a deck that I had "almost forgotten" and have another go at it.
That is how some decks live a cycle where they can go from the first box to the second, and then from the bottom of the second box, back to the top of the first box....

The third box contains the few incomplete decks that I own, plus the few "back-up copies" that I got for my favourites amongs favourite decks.
It also contains paraphernalia like some homemade pouches that were made the wrond size and that are awaiting to meet the perfect size of deck to match, and also all the tuckboxes flattened out and carefully stored, all the LWB and all the "extra cards" carefully stored.
If I decide to give a deck away, I will generaly be able to reunite it with its original tuckbox and advertizing cards and LWB.

Galahad said:

Custom-made flush boxes:

http://imgur.com/a/WyTD5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kPw50iZPm0

I'm actually going to start mass producing these somewhat soon, so if you guys like these, you'll hopefully be able to get a hold of these pretty soon for a low price. If anyone's interested, feel free to PM and I can provide more details.

Click to expand...

Beautiful box ! What is it made of ?

Carojulie said:

Beautiful box ! What is it made of ?

Click to expand...

Thank you!

The box is made from high quality plastic. Very light and durable. The final version will actually be better and will be available in different colors and we're working on offering different sizes too. Right now we're focusing on creating a finalized RWS standard size box, but we know people will want boxes for decks that are not RWS standard size.