From: Shawn Clayton Knight <knightster+@CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Handling Tarot Decks
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 1994 15:42:58 -0500

IMHO the whole thing about how to correctly handle a tarot deck, like
any other magical implement, is a personal matter.

I cite two examples which are fairly extreme: myself, and my SO.

Me: My tarot deck of preference (a Crowley Thoth) can be found in a
different place every few hours as I toss it around the room to keep
it out of my way.  I drop it on my desk as I flop onto my bed to read;
when I sit down to type, I move it to my altar; when I go to perform a
ritual, I toss it onto my dresser, where it stays until the next
morning, when I open the dresser to get out some socks and set down my
morning orange juice; to make space for the juice I throw the deck
onto the bed.  You get the idea.

The deck is sitting in the same thin cardboard box it was sold in.  I
keep the cards nice, because they're very beautiful, i.m.o., and
expensive, but I treat them with just sufficient respect to keep them
undamaged.

Anyone whom I think is fairly responsible is allowed to use the deck
whenever they're around, provided I don't get explicitly bad energy
from them.

My SO: Her deck (a Witches' Tarot, if I recall) is kept in a wooden
box, carved with lovely knotwork designs.  It moves around her room or
into her backpack like mine does, but is never tossed - rather, picked
up and gently carried from place to place.  Upon opening the box one
finds the cards wrapped in a fine silk cloth.  She kisses the pack
gently when removing it from the box, and audibly thanks the cards
when she is done using them and rewraps them.

No one is permitted to use the cards except her; even I, who share in
much of her magical experience, am only permitted to touch them to
look at them, but not to divine with them.

The point is: treat your deck as your instinct/intuition dictates is
best.

-shawn

Shawn C. Knight/knightster+@cmu.edu | "I have seen yesterday;
Box 2112, 1060 Morewood Avenue      |  I know tomorrow."
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 862-3015 |   -from the Egyptian Book of the Dead