How do you store your collection?

Hi Jeseryn!

You asked such a good question. I guess the way you store your decks depends on your personality type.

I like to keep my decks in the original boxes with the LWB and extra cards. I put the LWB between the deck and extra cards to keep the deck separate.

For the two decks I use mostly, I wrap each deck in a rectangle of cotton fabric then keep it in its own bag. I use the piece of cotton as a spread cloth. It's very convenient that way. Just pick up the bag, and go. The deck is in the bag with its own spread cloth. The cloth also protects the box from wear and tear. I keep them in a dresser drawer dedicated to tarot.

I like to use the little Japanese draw string bags that come in various sizes. They are made well and usually have cheerful pictures of auspicious animals or plants. I keep the cards in their boxes because I feel it 'protects' the cards from energy that might seep through a bag. Also, I think I may be paranoid of a card accidentally falling out of a bag.

I don't have a large collection yet, but if I did (say over 50 or so)... I would store them in their boxes with the LWB and everything, with no cloth or bag. Just stack them side by side on a bookshelf or in a cabinet for easy reference.

Reading this thread has given me some wonderful ideas, I only have one deck though ~ but I'd really like to get a wooden box.

Before I put my cards away I shuffle them and I have a rectangular Rose Quartz palmstone that I place on top of them, I then wrap the cards and the crystal together in a square pink tie-dyed cotton scarf (that I use as a reading cloth).

Once my deck is wrapped, I then place them in an organza bag. I store them next to my bed in the top draw of my nightstand ~ with my tarot journal, the box and LWB and my books.


Juliette x

I guess we all have different ways for sure.

I tend to keep all of my tarots and rune stones in one large pine box under my bed. The box has had to be enlarged recently to take all the decks along with the cloths I use. All the spreads I use have been typed onto cards the same size as the Lo Scarebeo cards, and these are also in the box. Nice and handy for easy reference.

Otherwise I have a master folder of:
** my tarot creation but still searching for that artist
** reversed meanings used to date
** spreads
** more indepth details re court cards
** readings done to date along with feedback. This is from a forum I am a member of.

It's amazing how consuming this has become over the last year, even though I have been reading for 9 years. Something is driving me for sure!

I did have some lovely lindenwood boxes but they were outgrown recently.

Most of the cards are in the original boxes where appropriate. Otherwise they are in organza or embroidered bags.

Davina

WELL -

I keep them in their original boxes with the LWBs, unless they need bags - in which case I make them as the need arises (I have a stock of fabric that I collect when I see anything nice... as a result I also have the largest stock of odd coloured thread I have ever seen, but I don't count that as a collection in itself....)

It started out I kept them in a small suitcase.
Then I added a hardtop briefcase.
Then I saw a cheap chest of drawers and thought that was a good idea, as it would hold my collection for ever and ever.
Then I moved the chest into a very small room at the top of the stairs (we live in a very old farmhouse....) - it has a doorway that is only about 36 inches high - very painful at times.
Then I bought the second (essential at this point) chest of drawers.
Then I decanted some of the larger box sets into bookshelves.
Then I went on holiday, and when I got back, my beloved had installed a whole wall of drawers. (I do love him....) so I took all the ones off the bookshelves and...
Then I had to put them back on the bookshelves...
Now I almost need a new room.
This is BAD.

But hey - that's what tarot is all about - I can't POSSIBLY get rid of any. I did think about it once, as I do have 2 duplicates - but there are reasons for keeping both - with one the boxes are different, and the other, well, I just can't OK ?

I have put together a database in Access, to keep track and it sometimes helps me to find them in a hurry. Unless I moved one, and then, well, I meet old friends while searching..... Can keep me going for hours !

Wow gregory, that is some tarot collection you have

lark said:

I keep mine in no-ouch ponnytail holders in the Big Drawer O' Tarot in my tarot desk.
I also have a bag for each one for when they go out on the town.
Wouldn't want them to get the shivers.

Click to expand...

You've inspired me too...going to buy some no-ouch ponytail holders...I think they come in a varied designs to fit the "mood"...thank you for posting that...I'm sure others can benefit from that..*hugs*

As for mine..I bought a box from Walmart for aroundish 9ish dollars...that's counting the chocolate I bought on the side...lol

I have a wall unit with four shelves, two drawers, and an enclosed space below, with doors. On the top two shelves are decks in their boxes, four rows deep. The next shelf has my major arcana decks, with my favorites on display, such as the Minotarot, Enrico Prometti, Apocalisse, Genovesi, Follia, Caduceo di Volta, and Kardz. Next are the drawers, which hold the decks in bags, mainly privately published decks. The next shelf has my boxed sets. About half of them are Asian decks. In the enclosure below are porfolios, more boxed sets, and other decks. I'm at 578 decks now, and this location should hold for about another hundred decks. Then I will have to get more space.

WolfSpirit said:

Wow gregory, that is some tarot collection you have

Click to expand...

It IS a bit much isn't it - but it did start up in 1975 or so.... I dunno - the things are addictive, can't think why.

I mean - why would anyone want to sit on the floor (the treasure house has a very low ceiling too...) looking at pictures of weird symbols and comparing them one with the other; reading Kaplan Vols 1 - 3 (roll on 4) and wondering how to get all the ones he has that I haven't. There's no appeal to it at all, is there - time to close the whole of the Aeclectic forum down, you think ???

NO wait - I will go mad without them

Wait - I am mad. I remember now !

Bladeraven - how big is that box; it's rather fine !

Bump!

Individually, I keep my decks in their original boxes with the extra cards in (unless I have the companion book too, in which case the spares become bookmarks) and the LWBs. My first few decks I threw out the boxes, but now I keep them. Those without boxes (either I threw them out or they were part of a book/deck set) I keep in small bags. I sewed one, and it turned out so poorly I don't do that anymore. I've bought any number of things I don't need, like fancy hot chocolates, just because I liked the bag! Guess I should learn how to sew ...

As for the collection as a whole, mine started out with a small wooden box (unstained, unpatterned, I didn't want it to detract from the decks!). It held 2 decks, 3 if they were out of their boxes and held together with a ponytail elastic. Then as my collection grew some, this box stayed on my end table with a rotating collection of my 2 or 3 current favourites/new decks and the others went into a cardboard box (I think it held some stereo component or medical equipment once) shoved under my bedroom nightstand.

When we moved about six months ago, this cardboard box went into the computer room/2nd bedroom on the floor next to the computer table. The small wooden box went on the bookshelf on the opposite wall where all my Tarot books and notes were stored. When I got Le Tarot des Pauvres (which is a lot smaller than standard decks) I moved that one into a small decorative box that a friend had brought me from Turkey and that, alas, none of my other decks would fit into).

Now the cardboard box is too small, so I have moved my collection into a small cabinet that was in the house when we moved. It's like a nightstand - one drawer, with a cabinet under it that has no shelves and has a door that opens from the bottom like an oven door. All decks in bags I keep in the drawer, and the others are stacked in the cabinet. It's a bit awkward with bigger deck boxes like the Voyager and Cary-Yale, and the cabinet is already filled with ONE layer of stacking (so I can see the ends of the boxes and retrieve a deck at a moment's notice), so I'll either need to stack 2-deep or find a bigger cabinet! I have five decks in the mail that need homes!

QueenofPentacles

At the moment my deck stays in it's box next to the LWB and the two extra cards behind that. The box is kept in a red silk bag with gold lining and I keep it on top of my journal on my chest of drawers where I've set up a little area for focus.
When I get myself a spread cloth I may prefer to wrap my cards in that and the bag minus the box.