There is nothing stopping you from using card sleeves on your tarot deck. If you’re worried about protecting an old deck or a deck that is especially rare, sleeves are a great way to protect against wear, tear, and grime.
Should You Use Sleeves on Tarot Cards?
There’s no major reason you can’t use protective card sleeves on your tarot cards. It’s an especially good idea to use sleeves on your tarot cards if you have a deck you’d like to preserve. This may be a rare or higher-priced deck that you don’t want to damage with consistent use.
Will Putting Sleeves on Your Tarot Cards Mess Up Your Reading?
Putting sleeves on your tarot cards is going to slightly alter the tactile experience you’re used to. Whether this is acceptable or not is up to your personal preference.
Putting sleeves on your tarot cards won’t necessarily mess up your reading. However, if you find the sleeves distracting, it could make your reading experience less enjoyable.
What Should You Consider Before Sleeving Your Tarot Deck?
There are a few things you should consider before you buy card sleeves for your tarot deck.
Will You Still Be Able to Easily Shuffle Your Cards?
You’ll want to try out the deck with the sleeves on. It’s hard to claim that the sleeves will prohibit you from shuffling as normal. This is one of those things you’ll need to test out yourself.
Will You Be Able to Store Your Deck?
Placing each card into its own protective sleeve will add a bit of thickness to every card. This adds up and can result in a much thicker deck than you began with. If this is the case, the original packaging for your deck may be unusable.
This means you’ll need to either:
- Not use protective card sleeves on your tarot deck
- Find a new tarot deck storage option (we have a few suggestions in our storage article)
Do You Provide Readings For Others?
If you provide readings for others, especially as a professional for a fee, then you may want to avoid using sleeves on your tarot cards. Older and worn cards will show that the deck has been used many times and can help build trust and rapport with your client.
Your clients will also likely have an idea of how tarot decks will look and using card sleeves is likely not in that preconceived idea.
What Cards Sleeves Work Best For Tarot Cards?
Most sleeves are made for trading card and baseball card sizes. Tarot is generally a larger size than this. This means you’ll need to look for sleeves that fit your tarot cards. What’s more, you should make sure to check the size of your specific tarot cards. Tarot cards don’t all come in one standard size. These days we have all different shapes and sizes.
Some card sleeves that may work for your tarot cards include:
- Ultra Pro Tarot Board Game Sleeve
- Card Sleeves: Tarot from Fantasy Flight Games
- Sleeve Kings WOTR-Tarot Card Sleeves
- Board Game Sleeves – Standard Tarot
