* Placing your cards with cleansing crystals such as citrine overnight
* Passing the deck of cards through the smoke of a smudge or incense stick

It is recommended that you wrap your cards in a silk cloth to keep them clean and ward off negativity (as silk rejects negative vibrations).  This can double as a reading cloth (it is advisable to have two for when one needs to be washed).

When you receive your first deck, you may wish to use them right away or you may wish to spend time getting used to their energies and allowing them to get used to yours.  This is personal to each individual and can be done by either:

* Spending a month with them under your pillow

* Shuffling them while relaxing and carrying them around wherever you go

* Picking a card each day and paying attention to how it relates to the day as it unfolds

* Pulling out a card and studying the background, facial expressions, details and how it makes you feel

*Meditating on a card, putting it under your pillow and paying attention to what your dreams tell you about it.

Having gone through one of the above processes, your cards are now personal to you and some say should only be handled by others if you want a client to shuffle them for a reading, other readers may allow you to look at them only once you have received the owners permission.

There are many different spreads available but for a beginner a spread such as the three card layout or the Celtic cross may be the easiest to start with.  We will add this layout to our library soon.

The process before the actual reading is dependant on how you feel you want to do it.  You must decide how you want the cards cut and whether you or the client should shuffle them, while you or your client concentrates on a question or area the reading should focus on. 

If you have a couple of readings to do in one go, there is a technique used to clear the first client’s energies from the cards before the next reading.  Place your hands over the deck, with palms flat and hands crossed at the wrists, in a quick scissor like motion uncross your hands (cutting any ties that may have been).  After the reading it is a good idea to cleanse your tarot more thoroughly, with smudge or incense.

If you decide that tarot is for you, you will be continuously learning about it.  You will find lots of useful information in books, on the internet, or learning from others but personal experience is far more valuable.  Throughout every reading: pay attention to what the cards tell you; which objects, colours or expressions stand out and how and what you feel.  Tarot cards are your tool, your own book of stories which are always evolving.

The reader is not there to instruct how the client should lead their life, but to give information on what may or may not come forward or be present in a situation.

It is important to be very aware of how you say and express what you see during a reading.  Do not blurt out something that may upset or agitate someone.  Tact and diplomacy are a big part of what makes a good tarot reader.  Read the whole spread in your mind before starting so that you can grasp what the reading is telling you as a whole.  A card may have a completely different meaning in one reading to the next depending on its surrounding cards.  

Sometimes, tarot cards may appear as if they don’t want to be read.  This can be when you get a feeling that you don’t want to read for someone, or that it is not the right time.  Please pay attention to this as there is usually a reason behind it.  It may just be that a crucial decision has not yet been made in the client’s life, or that the situation has not changed since their last reading.  In these situations, there is no point in forcing a reading as more often than not, the reading just won’t make sense.

Enjoy working with your cards.  If you get to know them and trust your instinct, you won’t go far wrong.

The above is for information purposes only.