Creating Tarot: One Artist’s Journey

Tarot has been a life-long love of mine ever since I first discovered that Tarot cards existed, when I was about twelve years old. Being primarily an artist and visual person, I fell in love with this divinatory system of images, and always wanted to create my own deck. I took several stabs at it throughout the years and finally, in 2008, I created The Fellowship of the Fool, my first Tarot deck.

As much as I loved The Fellowship of the Fool and used it myself for many years, I soon found that sometimes it was hard for me to separate the images of the people on the cards from the meanings of the cards themselves. What I mean by this is that I had used people I knew as the models for my cards, and there were a number of cases where although a person may have been a great model for a particular card, my brain had a hard time separating the personality of the model from the actual meaning of the card. I knew at some point I would want to create a new deck.

As much as I wanted to create a new deck, I needed to find the energy reserves and enthusiasm for starting another seventy-eight Tarot images, not to mention a theme and/or inspiration for the deck that might distinguish it from other decks available, should I choose to publish it. In between beginning to create a new Tarot deck all together, and now, I actually worked with several other systems, and created an oracle for polyamorous people of all persuasions. Why do I do this?

I do this because I love it. It does feed my soul, and any oracular system is going to be full of symbols, cues, and secrets that are inspiring to an artist. It is much like having automatic art prompts. One image often leads to another. For inspiration for each card, I meditate on what the meaning(s) behind the images are, and dialogue with existing cards to find images that are original to me, but that have the desired meaning and will hopefully resonate with other people as well.

I find in creating the cards that I am very particular when working with Tarot.  A Tarot deck is a very specific kind of deck — it has seventy-eight cards, fifty-six of which are suited, and twenty-two that stand alone. Traditionally, the twenty-two cards are called the Major Arcana, and represent the journey of the Soul, as well as major archetypes. The fifty-six suited cards are intended to represent the trials and tribulations of everyday life.   Additionally, there are decks known as Lenormand and Kipper decks, which also have their own very specific systems, images, and meanings. These are all very different from the many oracle decks now available, which tend to be specific to the artists who create them. An oracle deck can offer you a bit more freedom because you can easily choose the sorts of images/experiences/ thoughts/feelings you wish to create.

If you choose to work with a system like Tarot, spend time getting to know the traditional meanings and symbols. Tarot people LOVE to buy decks, but they are also very particular about what they feel are “appropriate decks.” If you are creating decks for your own enjoyment, then do whatever you want, but if you plan on marketing the decks, do yourself a favor and immerse yourself in studying the Tarot so you can answer the inevitable questions that will arise from your Tarot fans. Why this particular color in this particular place? Why didn’t you include this thing or that thing? Make sure you can talk about what you are creating.

Once you know what kind of deck you want to create, think next about if there will be an overall theme. The market is FILLED with decks of all manner of styles and themes. There is a Cthulu/HP Lovecraft Tarot, a Viking Tarot, multiple Faerie-oriented Tarots, a Shakespeare Tarot. I mention this not so that you have a cliché to work with, but so that you have something that makes your deck unique to you. If you have a distinctive artistic style, weave that into your deck and determine how that amplifies or changes card meanings.

When I was designing my polyamory deck, it actually began not as a deck of any kind of all, but as a series of drawings I did for Inktober, the yearly October pen and ink sketch challenge on the Internet. A friend commented that they were beginning to look like they should belong to a Tarot deck. I had been noodling around with the Lenormand style of cards, one in which there is a man card or a woman card to represent the querent, but no transgender cards, or LGBTQIA cards, and nothing for polyamorous people for sure. And from there, my idea was born.

It may be that you want to try to create a deck using runes or oghams, neither of which began as actual cards. I created my own rune deck for selfish reasons — to begin to learn and understand the runes a great deal more than I had before I created the deck. I studied the stories and lore behind each rune, and crafted images to go along with them. The rune deck I created functions as a divinatory deck, but it was originally meant as a series of flash cards.

My newest deck is inspired by both my own experiences and my studies of the Qabala. I have long studied both Tarot and Qabala, finding that my knowledge of one enriches my knowledge of the other. I have actually taught several classes on this very topic: how the ten spheres on the glyph of the Tree of Life relate to the Minor Arcana, and how the 22 paths on the Tree of Life relate to the Major Arcana. After searching my brain for the best theme for my new deck, I settled on creating a deck that could accompany a book based on my research and classes.

I began this deck in August of 2021, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It seemed a good time for gestation. I began in much the same way I began The Fellowship of the Fool, starting with the Major Arcana, numbered 0 – 21, and then progressing through the Minor Arcana beginning with the Aces. With each card, I reviewed all of my previous notes and readings on the subject. Specifically, I have been heavily influenced by Robert Wang’s Qabalisiic Tarot and Isabel Radow Kliegman’s Tarot and the Tree of Life. I have also really enjoyed the work of Eli Serabeth and his website, The Tarot of Eli, LLC. I appreciated very much how both Wang’s work and Eli Serabeth’s included images from Tarot decks other than the Smith-Rider-Waite, and discussed the artwork and how it related to the meanings on the cards. Although I disagree with a few of Isabel Kleigman’s interpretations and placement of the Court cards, I have found her work on the Minor Arcana (which is so often ignored by many Qabalists) to be indispensable.

I meditated and researched a lot on each card. Where traditional symbolism (i.e. that of the Smith-Waite deck) worked for me, I kept the symbolism, and where I felt a more contemporary approach was needed, I created my own images and symbols. I used primarily colored pencils of two kinds for the deck: oil-based colored pencils and watercolor pencils, pen and ink, acrylic markers, and sometimes gouache. I enjoy using these materials as I find I can work anywhere with them, and indeed the cards came with me on many vacations and getaways — as much as COVID-19 restrictions would allow travel, in any case.

I am nearing the end of this particular journey in that I have created all but the Court cards for this deck. I haven’t completely settled on the names I will use, as yet, but as of now I believe I will use Explorers for Pages and Seekers for Knights. Queens will be Teachers, and Kings will be Leaders. I find these names much more descriptive of the meanings of these cards.

I wish that, as I near the end of my journey with this deck, we were nearing the end of the pandemic, but it still looks as though we have a way to go. As you contemplate the creation of your own deck, you may find yourself like me, wondering what to do with all of these images once you have completed the deck. After all, creating a deck seems to imply that you might also wish to use it. There are a number of options available now, which make Tarot deck creation not only exciting, but accessible to everyone.

There are many websites now that allow for self-publication, and specifically for the creations of Tarot decks. These sites offer several sizes to choose from, and also allow the artist to publish as many or few as they wish. I will include a list at the end of the article. The other option is to seek publication with a commercial publisher. There are a number of “vanity” presses out there right now which will require you to pay them for publication, and usually in exorbitant fees. Beware of these, and remember you might as well self-publish, and save all of your profits for yourself. If you decide to go the route of a commercial publisher, be sure to read their submission guidelines and follow them to the letter. Remember that if you go this route, although you will not be responsible for the printing costs, it will take at least a year for your deck to be seen by the public, given the editing process required at a publisher.

For myself, for the moment, I am most likely going to self-publish at first. I really want to see my images in print quickly, and that is the best way. I will most likely print one initial deck to see how it looks, and then print about 100 or so more. After that, I will absolutely go to publishers — self-publishing can be costly, and expensive. I also hate visiting my post office, and if you are self-publishing, you will most likely make lots of visits to mail out your decks to your waiting fans!

I hope this journey into the process of creating a deck has been informative and helpful, regardless of whether you are a deck creator, or a deck collector. I happen to be both. One thing I can say about Tarot — it is wildly addictive.