The Cleansing and Charging of a New Tarot Deck

The Cleansing and Charging of a New Tarot Deck

Often, with ritual, you 'feel' your way through it; following the paths
that
seem most correct. For me, magick is rarely done the same way twice;
improvisation seems necessary. This in mind, feel free to modify this
incantation to fit your own beliefs and path.

For visualization, gather a black votive candle and a white votive
candle,
and cast the spell sometime in the days following the full moon. Gather
a
green taper candle as well.

A bit of gingerroot (for potency/power) can be chewed during this ritual
and
peppermint leaves may also be helpful. If you have any incense (stick
incense is easiest and cheapest to come by), use a stick during the
ritual.
While your favorite incense (or one with which you identify with
cleansing)
is always a good idea; incenses with such properties to me seem to be
pine
or frankincense. Get a piece of silk to set your deck upon and wrap it
with
when you are done.

A pocket watch, hourglass, sundial or other time piece should finish
this
ritual.
1. Gather your herbs and implements. Get a stone or something that won't
burn on which you can set the leaves (if you decide to use them).

2. Set the three candles from left to right with the black votive on
your
left, green taper in the middle and the white votive to your right. Put
the
timepiece in front of the green candle. This symbolizes divination and
knowledge of the future.

3. Set the Tarot deck on the silk cloth before you.

4. Ground and Center.

5. Establish what protections/ requests to the Four Quarters you require.

6. Start by lighting the cleansing incense and breathing in deeply,
holding
the tarot deck to be cleansed in your lap. Feel it's contours with your
hands until you know it's shape in your mind. Overlay this image with
another image of the timepiece. Let the symbolism of the two merge to
become
one. (In other words, concentrate on the symbolic similarities of the
deck
and time piece and weave the raised energy through that concept.)

7. Light the green candle with the words,
"I light this candle in honor of your cleansing hands."

8. Chew the ginger root (if you like, it's pretty awful tasting) for
potency
and utilize the energy released from it to charge that which you have
already raised.

9. Take the peppermint leaves (if used) and light them in the green
candle
and let them burn on the stone or inflammable surface you have with the
words,
"I release the energy of life to drive off impurity."

10. Pass the tarot deck through the smoke of the leaves (if used) and
the
incense. Focus the image in your head on the energy and smoke moving
through
the deck and forcing impurity out.

11. Light the black candle from the green taper, imagining it to
represent
the impurities in the deck. As it burns, so too are the impurities
cleansed
away.

12. Inundate the shape in your mind (and project through the deck) with
the
energy you have raised.

13. Flip through the deck, one card at a time, and picture the
impurities
drifting up on the smoke away from the card. Be sure to channel the
actual
energy you've raised into this visualization. If it feels appropriate,
you
may want to use a chant (such as the Goddess Chant) to focus your
thoughts.
Place each card back, face-down, on the silk. You don't have to look at
each
card unless that feels right to you; this shouldn't have to be a very
difficult or a huge task ... Just a smooth cleansing. It occurs to me
that
you may want to pass each card once over the timepiece -in effect,
charging
the card with the 'future'. This is not required and has been added as
an
afterthought.

14. Once all the cards are face-down on the silk in a stack, snuff the
black
candle and light the white one with the words,
"by your healing and my will, So Mote It Be."

15. Wrap the cards in the silk for protection and Ground any extra
energy.

16. Snuff the candles.

17. Close any circle or protections you have raised.