As part of the assignment for this lesson, you will be carting your cards around with you everywhere you go. Unless you are extremely careful, others will see your tarot cards and will be naturally curious.

The symbols of the tarot have no boundaries and will attract all ages, all cultures, and all your neighbors!  Be prepared for this, or if you’d like to avoid this type of exposure, keep your cards literally under wraps.  Carry them in your purse, in a discrete pouch, a hip pack, or even a paper bag.  Whether you are discrete, or openly flaunting your tarot, be prepared for some of the scenarios you may encounter.

“Oh wow! You have a tarot deck, can I see them?”  You hear it, your heart skips a beat as if you’d sneezed. What do you say?  What if they give them icky vibes, what if they bend them, what if they ask for a reading, what if……….Take a breath, relax.

Most people have no understanding of how personal the tarot is, and telling them will only alienate them or reinforce their misconceptions that the tarot is dangerous.  Like a pregnant mother who has her belly touched by every friendly stranger, visibly carrying a tarot deck is an open invitation for people to invade.

Be prepared with what you will say and take it in stride.  This is one of the powers of the tarot, it breaks down all types of boundaries and brings people together.  If you don’t wish to answer questions or perform a reading for your new friend, let the curious know that you just got your cards and you are only now learning about them.

It is a simple matter to cleanse your cards after someone has handled them, and it is an important skill to learn.  Superstitiously guarding your cards against the hands of others only results in reinforcing the fear of the tarot, in yourself and in them.

A reader who feels they cannot sufficiently cleanse their cards has no business using them in the first place.  It is as easy to wash your cards as it is to wash your hands.  Like your hands, they can be filthy one minute, and after a thorough washing, you’ll eat pizza right out of them. (It is not recommended that you use your cards to eat pizza.)  Your cards are no different.  Nothing can permanently contaminate them.  Even if someone took them, performed an elaborate month-long ritual over them to charge them with their energy, a thorough cleaning will erase this programming.