By Fred Walker
My Tarot deck addiction is rapidly growing as the energy of the wonderful artwork attracts and stirs my intuitive energies. After purchasing 70 decks so far enjoying the designs and energy, I found myself looking for ways to enhance the output of the cards. Personally having borders framing each card somehow closed off the flow of energy for me so when possible removing them seemed logical even though it is a lot of work. It is interesting to note that several decks are not enclosing their artwork with borders which means border-less decks are becoming easier to find.
Staying on this line of thought of enhancing energy and deck appeal, looking at fresh cut edges did very little to encourage the energies to expand beyond the cards even with the borders gone. It was interesting to note how decks took on a very different oneness when there was color on the edges. Again, some decks are now coming with edges colored and it is my opinion it really compliments the cards.
When shuffling and handling the decks having the edges colored somehow feels more connected.
The next consideration is what color to choose for a deck. If it is not complimentary it will work against the whole idea of enhancement. Is it personal, which color to use on a deck? To a degree, but if the color used for edging clashes with the base color of the back of the cards, one may very quickly wish they didn't touch them. There have been times I colored edges of a deck and when finished they were so much worse off so I ended up using black and went over the edges again to save a bad choice.
This is something to note that if you start with a light color, it can be done over darkening the new color more then once.
It really is an easy process, just a little time-consuming. Each card needs to be traced all four sides making sure no spots or corners are missed. If you do miss somewhere it will show very easily and you can touch it up. A regular marker felt laid on its side and draw it along the card and it is done.
Why bother? For me, it makes a difference. It is even exciting to see the deck comes to life that little bit more and if one is doing readings with the deck it does make a positive difference for me anyway and I think the sitter because I have them shuffle, spread and select cards for me as I set up the spread.
To each their own, but for me, no deck gets past me without colored edges.