How to Clear a Vintage or Used Tarot Deck
5 Easy Steps

625 words / read time 3 minutes

The subject of psychic clearing often makes me laugh. Witness the folks who did elaborate mystic mumbo-jumbo to clear the reading room at a certain metaphysical store … while neglecting to vacuum, dust, or wash the musty drapes and stained tablecloth!

The best way to cleanse any item is to start with good ol’ soap & water. All the incantations in the world won’t remove unwanted entities if you don’t bother cleaning on the 3D physical plane. But what about Tarot Cards? You can’t wash those with water. Well you could … but … SOGGY!!! If you want to know how to psychicly “dry clean” your tarot cards, read on.

Recently one of my students wrote: Hi Anastasia! My husband gifted me with a Faustino Solesio Genova tarocchi deck from the early 1900s … what’s the best method to clear it? Lots of history and old energy …

Here’s the low-down on up-keep of that vintage or used tarot deck you just acquired.

1. INTENTION rules. Your focused intention to remove any unwanted or uninvited psychic critters from the deck is first and foremost. Go through the deck, wipe each card, and put it in order. As you do this, REBOOT the energetics of the deck to neutral with your intent.

2. SALT: Since you can’t use soap & water, salt is your friend. Sort of like a Tarot Card dry cleaning. Put the deck in a large bowl of salt and let it sit for three days. Then remove the salt and throw it in the ocean. OK, I live near a beach. If you don’t have an ocean nearby, throw the salt in a natural place like a park or woods where people won’t walk on it or be exposed to it. You may have to re-wipe the cards with a dry cloth to remove all the salt.

3. SMOKE: censing or smudging is the next step. My personal favorite is frankincense & myrrh. You might like sage. Any herb or incense with purifying qualities will do. Get a good billow of smoke going and pass the deck through the smoke repeatedly. Do it with INTENTION otherwise it’s just play-acting.

4. CRYSTALS: These are the big guns if you really need to cut an uninvited critter loose from a tarot deck. Black kyanite shards are my favorite psychic scalpels. Like a ginzu knife, black kyanite cuts through anything! Black tourmaline and smokey quartz are good stones to support transmutation and release. If you don’t feel confident, get help from reiki or other intuitive arts practitioner who can help.

5. POSITIVE ENERGY: nature abhors a vacuum (so do my cats). Once you’ve cleared your deck, put it on your altar and charge it up with positive vibes. Invite the deity or angel of your choice to bless it. Surround it with protective white or colored light.

Intention Statements:

You may be wondering how to word your intention for maximum effect. Be creative! The words you choose should be meaningful to you and resonate with your spiritual practice. That being said, here’s an example of what I say when clearing a deck:

Helpful spirits and guides, please assist me to remove any unwanted or uninvited entities from this deck. Uninvited entities residing on this deck, BE GONE! By the power of the Sun BE GONE! By the power of the Moon, BE GONE! By the power of my voice BE GONE! By the power of [deity of your choice] BE GONE!

It’s good to repeat your statement of intention three times and say it like you mean it. Loud & clear! If you have house-mates who would freak out, you can do it silently but imagine you’re saying the words forcefully.

Good luck with cleansing your tarot deck!

Interested in learning Tarot? Click here for information about the Yoga of Tarot Complete Tarot Course with Anastasia.

Love, Anastasia

Copyright 2019 and 2022 Anastasia Katsikaris. All rights reserved.

Anastasia Katsikaris is an intuitive arts professional living in Ventura California, USA
She reads tarot and practices vedic astrology.