A COMPLETE Guide To Knocking On Tarot Cards | Helpful Tarot Guide

Knocking on your tarot cards is a wonderful way to cleanse them using nothing but yourself and your well-intentioned energy. With just a few raps on your deck, you can disperse negative energy.

After many readings, especially readings that may have carried heavy or negative energy, you may notice that your deck doesn’t feel quite right. Its usual energetic aura may seem dampened, or the readings you perform with the deck may seem off.

Signs like these are big indications that your tarot deck needs to be cleansed. Unlike crystals, you can’t exactly wash the negative energy away in running water or smudge them with sage. So how exactly do you cleanse a delicate paper deck of tarot cards?

Knocking is a simple yet powerful form of tarot cleansing, but there are a few things you should know before you begin. 

What Does It Mean To Knock On Tarot Cards?

For anyone familiar with alternative healing methods, cleansing negative energies from their tools is second nature. Things like crystals require thorough cleansing after strenuous use, often being full of absorbed negativity.

 What you may not know is that your tarot cards, while not tailor-made to absorb negative energies, will still need to be cleansed from time to time. Tarot readings by nature encourage potent emotions, both good and bad, and these energies can hang around even when they aren’t wanted. 

Even good energies can be bothersome when you want your deck to be in a neutral state!

To cleanse these cards, you can incorporate a method of cleansing known as knocking. Knocking is just as simple as it sounds; just a few taps can set your deck straight! 

How Do You Knock On Tarot Cards?

Knocking on your tarot card deck sounds simple, but like many spiritual practices, the cleansing power of knocking is all linked to intent. If you knock on your cards with the wrong intent, the cleansing may not take. 

To correctly knock on your cards, you need to have a clear image in your mind of the negative energies being broken up and dispersed by your knocking. If you hold this intent firmly, then your cards will be cleansed in just a few seconds.

Along with clear intent, you also need to have pure energy to feed into your deck.

Knocking only requires 3 simple steps:

Take your cards in your non-dominant hand 

Knock on the cards like you would a door, 3 times, with your dominant hand

Imagine the negative or stagnant energy in your cards shattering and falling away, being replaced by the pure energy you feed in

Why Do You Knock With Your Dominant Hand?

Power and intent flow strongest through a person’s dominant hand. Using a non-dominant hand for a cleansing task can be unwieldy, making it hard to hold clear intent and remain successful.

Why Do You Knock 3 Times?

3 is a magic number. The number 3 holds immense power and has long been considered by ancient and modern civilizations to be the perfect number. Using repetitions of 3 during any ritual lends said ritual more power and stability. 

Do Tarot Card Decks Require Cleansing With Knocking?

There are numerous reasons a tarot deck may require cleansing, but how important is cleansing? 

In order to receive accurate readings, you want your tarot deck to have clear energy. If other energies are stuck to your cards, then they will absolutely need to be cleansed. 

Knocking is one of the most efficient methods of cleansing, perfect for dispelling stuck energies. 

What Can Cause A Tarot Deck To Need Knocked On?

One example of when a deck will always need to be cleansed is when it is first purchased or acquired. Tarot decks that are new in the box will have zero energy, meaning that they will need to be charged with your own energy. 

Pre-owned decks, on the other hand, will carry the energies of their previous owners. For a deck to perform accurate readings, it needs to carry your energy only.  

Some other lesser-known situations that may require a deck to be knocked on are: 

Personal strife or tragedies that cause high energies in the deck’s owner. These energies will be fed into the deck with every reading, which is why it’s important to only read the tarot when you are at peace. 

Your cards have fallen on the floor, been played with by an errant child, or have been stored disrespectfully.

You have undergone a dramatic change in your life that has altered your energy.

In any of these situations, just conduct the above knocking ritual and your deck’s energy will be crystal clear in no time. 

In Conclusion

Knocking on your tarot cards is an easy yet effective way to reset the energy of your cards so they are accurate time and time again.

As long as your energy and intent are pure, knocking is all you will need, as far as cleansing rituals go. Happy reading!