How To Cleanse Tarot Cards With Salt

Cleansing your tarot cards is an important practice to get accurate readings. One way is to cleanse it with salt. But if not cleansed in a correct way, you might damage your cards. In this article, you will learn everything you need to know to super-charge your cards.

As a general rule, place the tarot cards on top of a bed of sea salt. Protect the cards by wrapping them in a textile or paper cloth. Salt is a very potent spiritual cleanser and removes unwanted energies attached to the cards. Your readings will be on-point and accurate when appropriately cleansed.

Cleansing your cards is not a must. If you’re practicing tarot with divination, it might be essential to cleanse the cards as you work with energies. By cleansing your cards, you get rid of residual or external energies messing with your messages. One powerful method of cleaning your cards is using salt. 

HOW TO CLEANSE YOUR TAROT CARDS WITH SALT

Cleansing your tarot deck with salt is very straightforward. It’s a great practice to cleanse your cards once in a while. With a bit of practice, this will become second nature. I took some pictures of how I do it to make it easy to follow along.

HOW TO CLEANSE TAROT CARDS WITH SALT

1. Cleanse the salt from energies
2. Place the salt on a plate (not plastic)
3. Wrap a textile or paper cloth around your tarot cards
4. Place it on top of the salt
5. Place the plate and deck in sunlight
6. Wait for 2-4 hours
7. Remove the cloth
8. Your deck is cleared and cleansed
9. Store the salt in a glass jar.

Before you start cleansing your tarot cards with salt, you need to consecrate the salt. Consecration means that you prepare the salt for use in a cleansing ritual. With an intention prayer, you clear the salt of any energies. This is important as salt is a potent cleansing crystal – it will automatically absorb energies surrounding it, as it will with your deck. 

First, I place the salt in a container that’s not made of plastic. Often I use a regular ceramic plate. Plastic will prevent the salt from doing its thing. Plastic will cause the vibrations to be less effective.

I start cleaning the salt by holding my hand over the salt and imagining a bright warm light removing all energies stuck in the salt. You find pictures below of the process. It’s easy, I promise.

I place a napkin made out of paper or cloth underneath the deck and place it on top of the salt. I don’t use a plastic bag as plastic is not that great for getting the best juice out of salt. You lose a lot of the benefits from the salt if you wrap your cards in plastic. 

I usually don’t find it necessary to do a burial. If you think your deck has attached a dark evil spirit, then a burial might be in order. But this is very seldom the case. If you bury your cards in salt, be sure to wrap the napkin carefully. You might damage the deck otherwise. But if you have a negative entity attached to it in the first place, this might be a secondary concern…

Place the plate and the deck in the sun for an hour or two. That’s all it takes, really. Now your deck should be cleansed and ready to go. 

SALT HELPS YOU GET ACCURATE READINGS

Cleansing your tarot cards with salt is a very potent way of removing any residual or interfering energies that might otherwise mess with the accuracy of your reading. Your cards can absorb energies from your surroundings. If your cards are not properly cleansed, the readings can become off or mislead in the worst case. 

If you are not using divination in your tarot practice, there is no need for cleansing. As always, there are no rules when it comes to the tarot. 

Salt has powerful spiritual properties. This makes it perfect for cleansing. 

One thing I love about this method is that it’s potent. Sometimes clear quartz and sages don’t do the job. Sometimes when I have very emotional readings, energies are stubborn. Salt is the best way to get rid of them, in my opinion.

You don’t have to use salt every time, but it might be necessary once in a while if you do heavy readings. 

The great thing about cleansing with salt is that you can get it from your grocery shop; you don’t need access to a New Age store. As for me, living on a tiny island, I have to rely on online shopping for most of my “witchy stuff.” Salt, on the other hand, is always available. 

You can use all kinds of salt, but sea salt is the most powerful in my experience. Himalayan salt is trendy too. Table salt works ok; sometimes, you got to take what’s available to you. So don’t stress too much about what kind of salt you use. Most types are great and work fine. 

IN SUMMARY

Cleansing your tarot deck with salt is an excellent option if you don’t have any crystals (salt is a crystal, but you get what I mean). You can snatch a bag of sea salt from the grocery store. 

The cleansing properties of salt are potent. You might not need to do such a powerful cleansing between every reading. I recommend doing it after very heavy readings, or you feel something is “off.” 

The cleansing ritual is straightforward. The only thing you need to remember is to cleanse the salt before cleansing the cards. Salt is such a potent cleanser that it will soak all the energies surrounding it. You don’t want to add those to your already tainted deck. 

Remember to stay away from plastics if possible. Plastics will ruin the cleansing vibrations of the salt. If you’re afraid of damaging your deck, don’t bury it in the salt. This is often unnecessary. Just place the tarot deck on top of the salt, with a napkin or cloth protecting it.

Sandra Törnroth

Intuitive multi-modal tarot reader with a love for crystals and everything esoteric

THE DEFINITIONS IN THIS ARTICLE ARE BASED ON THE RIDER WAITE DECK AND SYSTEM.