This is just something I thought would be good as a topic here. No one specifically asked but Loretta at Stitching the Night Away got me thinking of it.

What do you mean you’re attuning to your cards? What does that involve?

This question came up when I was still operating “Look Beyond Mirrors” as my tarot business. At one point I took a week off to attune to my cards and then came back and did a three card reading special to ensure that I’d sorted everything out.

Rapport with your tarot deck is very important. It pays to spend a lot of time with your deck, even one you’ve had for a while. I’ll rotate out which deck I carry with me in my purse, and if I’m killing time waiting somewhere I’ll often pull them out and shuffle them a few times to keep the energy flowing. When I get a new deck I will devote my attention solely to that for at least a week.

The first thing I’ll do is cleanse them with sage and a quartz crystal as soon as I get them home. I’ll also sleep with the new deck under my pillow for a while. Then I’ll do some mini readings drawing cards and writing down what they appear to mean to me. I find that the meaning varies from deck to deck and reading to reading. The Three of Wands in the Cosmic Tarot means different things than Three of Wands in Shadowscape Deck, for example. The meanings will share a theme overall but often the new deck’s imagery is slightly different and that can change what the cards are saying. It helps to familiarize yourself with each new image in the deck and the initial impressions so that when you’re using them in a reading for someone there’s less of the “Um…um…uh…”. I’ll admit I still get that occasionally if the tune isn’t quite there, but the more comfortable you are with your deck and imagery the better the reading experience for you and your client.

When I was learning with my first deck it was recommended to me that when you get a newer deck you should pair each new card with it’s equivalent in the old deck and let them tune to each other that way, but as I’ve become more comfortable with the tarot I’ve found that’s less necessary, especially when each deck’s meanings tend to vary.

So, if I say I’m attuning to cards I’m getting used to the new imagery and what the universe can tell me through these new cards that is different from the previous deck.

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