Creating a deck for yourself

[Joan Marie]

I recently (finally!) received my copy of T. Susan Chang & Mel Meleen's new book, Tarot Deciphered. Decoding Esoteric Symbolism in Modern Tarot

These wonderful writers, each accomplished in their own right, coming together on this topic is really something special.

But what I want to talk about here is something in the Forward, by Lon Milo DuQuette. He writes:

One of the wisest educational assignments of the great 19th Century mystery school, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, was that the new initiate was required to create their own tarot deck.... By taking the time and effort to paint each card, the new magician was in effect reprogramming their magical "software," bringing it into closer approximation to the universal harmonies the cards exemplify. The hours and days and weeks and months the individual spent focusing on every unique symbolic detail of the cards became more than just an exercise in rote memorisation; it was a mutation process, a tinkering with one's spiritual DNA, a full upgrade of the operating system of the soul, a magical vaccine injected directly into the quantum of the psyche via the awesome delivery system of art. And like art and vaccines, the experience triggers a transformational response that is unique to every organism.

Making your own tarot deck requires you to give yourself a first-class liberal arts education in occultism, but it also does so much more. Almost by accident you simultaneously absorb the fundamental principles of the Hebrew Qabalah- the alphabet; the the numerical and mathematical characteristics. You see laid out before you the seamless associations of elements, planetary spheres, signs of the zodiac, astrological rulerships, exaltations, decan and degree assignments, vibratory colour scales and classic mythological archetypes. Without realising what's happening, the novice almost subconsciously metamorphizes into a well-lubricated adept... a magician.

I'm really interested in this.

The idea of creating a tarot deck solely for personal use with no intention of producing/marketing/selling it sounds like an amazing project to undertake.
What is also amazing is how easy, and affordable, it is to have the finished artwork actually produced into a deck of cards for yourself. Not to mention all the wonderful information we all have at out fingertips to inform our designs and decisions.

I can tell you that making Tarot decks is fun and rewarding. It's also kind of addictive. But the idea of removing the entire activity from any commercial purpose and using it solely for personal growth sounds just brilliant and I think this is something I will do.

I'm not sure exactly how to go about it, but I am thinking. For example, is there a theme or style or medium that needs to be adhered to? Should it be shared at all or kept entirely personal?

Has anyone here ever done it or thought about it? What do you think of this idea?

[Nemia]

I have often thought about it. My dream is to make a deck for myself in the rhythm of the year - creating the cards when their time is come, using many different materials. what a pity that I stopped making art. I re-started some time ago but I'm no longer good at it What a shame, I studied art.

[TheLoracular]

I have really vague memories of myself with magazines, cutting out pictures and trying to make cards the old fashioned collage way when I was an adorable teen witch/tarot reader and how frustrated I got at the process. The Voyager was my first tarot deck and I wanted something like it, but personalized. I think scrapbooking was really popular then?

I remember a decade later trying again with angels, archangels, demons, elementals and sigils using the Internet instead but I lost momentum. I think half my problem then was I frustrated the heck out of myself just doing the research and getting mad at the my own lack of artistic skill, even manipulating other people's graphics. Its funny how much my tastes have simplified and I'd rather have something really, really simple but good for contemplation like the Wild Unknown Archetypes deck I was recently given. That is more what I'd want to do now in some fashion. Maybe even round like it and the Motherpeace are! Maybe.

I've started taking notes on ideas and such. Thank goodness the physical process of getting a single deck of cards with custom images is pretty easy and affordable! Because that was the other problem back in those days: getting a personal deck made, affordably, that could withstand actual shuffling and use. My biggest problem now would be deciding what style, medium and getting over that Inner Critic in my head who thinks everything I draw, color by hand or assemble in paint.net looks wonky.

I am so looking forward to picking up a copy of Tarot Deciphered in the near future and excited that you are really enjoying it.

[Joan Marie]

I know that for those of us who have un/under-developed artistic skills, this may seem daunting.

But I feel like that would be the wrong thing to focus on. Like if you could just let go of that self-doubt about your skills, and move onto what LMQ was talking about, the learning part, the transformative part, you might surprise yourself. And isn't that really the soul of art, the inspiration behind it?

And since the deck would only ever be meant for yourself, what is there to lose?

BTW Nemia, I really beg to differ about your skills. You made 3 beautiful cards for the Star & Crown deck. I even featured one of them on the box itself.

That whole deck is so strange and amazing. There are some really skilled, polished pieces in there, and there are some that are real head-scratchers, but when you read the artist's statements in the booklet, suddenly the stranger ones become so deep.

I'm developing a real affection and appreciation for the less polished works. They are so free and expressive.

[Rose Lalonde]

I was inspired by the Robert Ellaby Tarot, because you can see him working out his own ideas in the motifs for the minors. He made it as an exercise, and although he's an artist, this deck is not as polished as his other work.

For this sort of project, I'm not worried much about the fact that I don't consider myself talented at art. But what does trip me up is option freeze! To distill everything down to one image, and by doing so highlight some aspects more than others... Of course, that's part of the point of doing it.