A Tarot Card Short of a Deck

One fine day you find yourself sorting out one of your tarot decks and you realize (horror of horrors!) that you’re missing a card.  Quickly you sort your deck into suits and majors vs minors to see which one it is.  But alas, it doesn’t matter!  If you’re like most of us, you’re not really comfortable working with a tarot deck that’s missing a card. 

So, what can you do?  That depends on several things.  First, how old is the deck?  If it’s relatively new, you may be able to go to the publisher to see if they will send you a spare card.  U.S. Games, for example, will replace lost or damaged cards for some decks.   https://www.usgamesinc.com/contact_us/  I have also seen sellers on eBay selling specific cards from older decks, although because some decks are OOP or HTF (Out of Print or Hard to Find) that can get pricey.

However, if you can’t obtain a replacement card you may want to consider other possibilities.  You can certainly read with a deck that’s missing a card.  You can also create a different kind of oracle with the remaining cards, depending on what card is missing.  Let’s say you’re missing a minor; you could just work with the majors as a majors-only deck. 

Other possibilities involve using the cards for other, non-divinatory projects.  You can create unusual greeting cards simply by pasting them to blank greeting card stock and embellishing them with scrapbooking materials.  They make great bookmarks for your tarot books.  Or you can use them as affirmation cards.  I love to set cards like the Star or the Empress on my altar, for example, when I’m working on a new project.  I’ve seen tarot cards decoupaged onto trinket boxes.  The possibilities are endless!

Maybe you have your own creative ideas about what to do with a deck that’s missing a card.  Whatever you  do, consider trying one of these ideas before recycling your deck.