Now that you are done choosing the tarot deck that will become your closest companion, it is important that you know how to take care of it.

In tarot, as in anything else, you will meet tons of peoples with different ideological and philosophical positions: conservatives, traditionalists, liberals, heretics…fanatics and extremists.  Depending on who you are listening to, the advice concerning care taking of your deck can dramatically vary:
Some will tell you that you should wrap your cards in a black cloth given that it is the color that concentrate all energies, it is the color of the night and its mysteries… Others will prefer white as it represents purity, clean energy, angels… For some, the ideal color is purple because it is the color of spirituality, while for others, red is more indicated as representing dynamism, hot energy… Then, the material of this cloth should be silk for some, cotton for others, and all of this while a totally different set of persons advocate wooden boxes!!!

Obviously, there is no consensus on that issue, which usually means that there is no absolute answer. What’s more, I personally think that argumenting on this is ridiculous: tarot cards are an intimate part of your life, and therefore, the choice of how to store it is a personal one. Nobody tells you what color your pants and bras should be or not be!?! Well, the same applies to your cards.

The point is to store the cards in a way that will allow effective protection from usual domestic damage such as little brothers, kids, cats tearing them off, coffee or nail-polish spilt over, or to prevent colors from fading away with time … It should also be a way that inspires respect for the cards, both from you and from the people that will approach them. Of course, they are not gods or persons to be worshipped, but they nevertheless are sacred tools and should be respected as such. It doesn’t give the same impression to wrap up your cards in an old sock rather than in a beautiful batik, bazin or piece of sari. Finally, the storage method should allow you cards to rest from previous readings, protect them from absorbing any energy hanging around, or keep the smell of your favorite incense.
In general, one would prefer to use natural materials such as wood, silk, cotton, linen… But again, it is absolutely not an obligation.

One of the best tarot readers I met, a Spanish young woman, doesn’t store her cards at all: she just keeps them together with an elastic in her office drawer.

I personally wrap my first reading deck in a red and gold piece of bazin that I also use as a layout cloth when I read with it. My other reading deck is wrapped in a navy blue and gold wax piece of fabric. My spell deck is in a blue and purple silk-like jewel bag. All of these, along with my cowrie shells and my pendulum are stored in a wooden box, finely carved that bought in a hippie furniture shop.

The choice of material or color of the fabric is entirely up to you. Choose whatever you prefer and appeals to you the most, and don’t worry about the rest.

Your cards and other people

Should you allow other people to touch your cards?
Tough question, that usually raises flames and passions. There are obviously two camps: those who think that “yes”, and those that think that “no”.
Those that think that “no”, are people that usually don’t want anybody to approach their card whatever be the circumstances. Although I find it a bit extremist, their argument holds: cards are very personal and allowing people to touch them would “profane” them, mess up all there energetic and magnetic relation they’ve been building with them.
On the other side, those that think “yes” are not a homogeneous group: while some will only allow the querent to cut the deck, others will allow shuffling and cutting, and this only in a consultation context. The argument is that for the reading to be accurate, the querent has to touch the cards at some point to input some of his or her energy. Some won’t mind people to browse through their decks out of curiosity, while others only allow other tarot readers, or close friends to touch their decks. In those cases, the deck owner is conscious of the risk of energy mix, but as the people allowed are usually reliable people, there is no problem. If not sure, some cleansing or clearing rituals can help purify the deck after manipulations.
However, I don’t know of anybody that would allow another person to read with his or her deck. Most tarot readers consider their cards as being a sacred tool, and thus are pretty exclusive about it.

Those allowing shuffling and/or cutting in a consultation are an overwhelming majority, which brings up wonders concerning the accuracy of readings performed without the querent touching the cards. From what I know, this is not a problem. Some of my friends do read this way with excellent results. I myself perform readings through mail and e-mail that so far have only given very accurate results.

A second issue brought about in the thread of touch/not touch, is the issue of second-hand decks. Are decks that have already been used less efficient than new ones?
Some people are dead against them, but imagine for a second that your dear grandaunt or your best friend, who have been reading cards all their life suddenly dies (Lord forbid!), and in their testament, they give you their tarot deck. Can you say that you cannot read with those cards? Of course, you had a close relation with them and their death left you knocked out. You can argue that this deck will always trigger in you sadness and nostalgia because of the way you acquired it. You could also consider that this deck as a reminder of that person and of all the good memories, feelings and moments you had together. It can be that you will feel honored by such a present, and for the sake of that person, you might want to start using their cards. It can also be that you feel like the spirit of your friend will inspire and guide you in the readings performed with their decks.
In this case the fact of the deck being second-hand is not really a problem. Therefore, we cannot automatically say that already-used cards are not good, but rather that it will depend on the context and on you.

However, to avoid many of the problems related to the issue of strangers touching your cards, a solution can be to have more than one deck (see choosing a deck). One deck for “public use”, that you will use either professionally if case be, or to read for your friends, parents…etc, and another deck just for yourself.