How to clean a deck?

I did a search on how to clean a deck and the search engine only took the one word "clean" and I really didn't see what I was looking for.

So, I put my cards down for about a year and now I picked them back up. A year ago, the cards and I were one. For the last 10 days, I've been doing a simple daily 3-card spread and nothing is resonating. Every day, the messages are not there. Does my deck need to be cleaned? Do I need a new deck? When I first started reading Tarot, I bought a deck that did nothing for me and I gave it away. Now I am starting to feel that way about this deck. But I love this deck.

Please advise me. Thank you.

Give it time. I'm not one who believes in cleansing decks, I have to admit. But try just playing with it. Pull one card and tell a story. Find out what hobbies the court cards have. Think which card you would give to a friend for their birthday (if you are watching, Lynda Cowles, yes I pinched these from your excellent book...)

It takes time to rebuild a friendship that has been on hold.

Hi there! I'm using 2 methods for cleansing my decks:

1. Wrap it in a plastic bag as tightly as possible and bury it in salt in a glass jar for 3-5 days.
2. Cleanse it with incense. I really like this method and I'm planning to use it on the next full moon (which is on 11th). I'll light an incense stick, pass every single card through it and mentally welcome it and kiss it. That's what I do and I think it works really well

I do either 1 or 2. And after I do it, I make sure to connect with my cards by using them as much as I can and connecting with their energy.

Hope this helps! There are more ways you can do it but I find these 2 work well for me.

The best way to cleanse a deck is not to "cleanse" it in the way you think.....there's nothing wrong with your deck, its not dirty it doesn't need cleansing.

Your just not feeling the connection with it, your not reading and feeling the msgs from the cards properly.

All you need to do is spend time with your deck and get used to it and how its speaking to you.

Do one card daily readings and see how the cards speak to you personally...some cards/days can speak deeper than others.

For example one day you may get Judgement card....and this may just simply mean that you find it hard to get out of bed and wake up properly and feel sluggish all day, like you can't be bothered to do anything and want your bed.

Another day you may get a deeper meaning and get the 7 wands, this may be that you feel really overly confident, and whilst at work you come across to people as being really bossy etc, but your ego this day is on a real high.....so you can't help it.

You need to spend time with your deck and connect with it, like you would if you adopted a child.....you need to get used to each other and see how each others personality is and how you both speak to each other etc.

It takes time to connect with your cards and patience, this won't all come at once....you need to put the time and dedication into each other.

Agreeing that reconnecting is probably a matter of spending more time with your cards, like getting back in touch with an old friend.

If you want a ritual, though, incense and leaving the cards in moonlight are popular ones. Or if you do gemstones, quartz and amethyst are supposed to be good ones. Sleep with them by your pillow if you want. But really, spend time with your cards. Shuffle them a lot. Do one-card readings. Meditate on your favorite cards. Focus on the love and accuracy you had, not the frustration you're experiencing now. Write down your readings. Maybe you'll come back and find they were more resonant than you thought.

After two years, it is possible that you've 'outgrown' this deck, (I don't read with the first deck I ever bought anymore because years later, the images no longer resonate and I've found I prefer a different style of deck.) but honestly, spend some time reconnecting first.

I too have picked up decks I haven't used for a while only to find they're not resonating with me as strongly as they used to.

Like others here, I believe that rituals (including smudging with incense, etc.) are helpful in "cleansing" or recharging a deck - if by those terms one means forming some kind of renewed psychological and/or intuitive connection with the deck.

To that end, in addition to smudging a deck that feels out of tune with sage or palo santo, I will often also "reset" it by reordering it into its "original" state: Major Arcana from the Fool to the World, and then each of the four suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles in that order) in order from the Ace to King.

After that's done, I'll put it aside but nearby for a few days - on my desk while I work during the day, under my pillow or on my bedstand at night. And when it feels like it's 'ready" for me to begin using it again, I'll shuffle thoroughly and do anything from a single card pull to a full-on interview spread so that we can begin to reacquaint ourselves.

It's pretty much worked for me every time, and I'll even do that ritual with decks I use regularly as an occasional tune-up of sorts. Full moons are ideal times if you're into that sort of thing, but as it's the intention that counts most you can do whatever ritual works for you whenever you feel you need to.

I think the deck may not need cleansing but your frustration with the deck is showing in your relationship with it. Hold it close to your heart, listen to it, and forgive it, ask for its forgiveness for your impatience with it. You may want a second deck, sometimes you just don't feel like working with a specific deck for a time. I work with many decks because I don't connect with the same one well all the time

Maybe you could try doing readings every fortnight, or every month, instead of every day? Or do a quick one card reading, just at random, whenever you feel like it!

By waiting for a few weeks between readings, more events will have happened in your life, so you'll have more things to ruminate on and consider when you do your readings. Perhaps you'll be able to relate better to the cards if you come to them with more experiences?

I don't presume to know what your life is like, but there are some biiiig concepts and symbols in tarot and sometimes, they just won't apply to the day to day. It's OK! You'll get your groove back!

I don't know if cleansed is the way you want to go here.

Perhaps charging it would be better.
You can do that by letting the deck absorb the light of the full moon, or
Placing an amethyst or clear quartz crystal on it or in its bag.
I personally put my decks close to my mouth and talk to them breathing my essence onto the cards.

Good luck sweetie

A brief shuffle after every reading cleanses the deck. Anything else is just for your own peace-of-mind and doesn't change the deck itself much.

And in any case, the energy built up by months and years of reading enhances the energy of a deck - why on earth would anyone want a well-used deck to feel brand-new and not feel enriched-by-experience?