Making Tarot Cards

Creating Art and A Greater Understanding of Tarot

Making your own Tarot deck helps reinforce the commitment you have to learning Tarot as well as giving you an artistic outlet that is spiritual and fun. Creating a unique Tarot deck is a special experience that can be as easy or as complicated as you wish. How do you get started? Read on!

Decide your direction! One of the first -and most necessary- things to do is to determine the look you want your deck to have. What design periods appeal to you? What colour palettes excite or soothe you? What look what really inspire you when reading Tarot?

A great way of creating visual reinforcement is to make a tear sheet. Basically, you'll start looking for pictures and images, Tarot and not, that you love. This will be an inspiration source book to use when making Tarot cards of your own.

When you find something that strikes a chord with you, print or copy it and paste it onto a piece of cardboard or into a scrapbook. The object is to get as many visual references as possible to find the style that inspires you.

Don't be afraid to look at existing Tarot decks for inspiration. If you find a deck you love, what about it appeals to you? Try and be as specific as possible with the elements you like - it'll make your life easier when you start making Tarot cards of your own.

Divide your workload. Making Tarot cards, especially an entire deck, is a large project with big time commitments. To keep your momentum up and to stay focussed, why not divide it into sections. Look at the Major Arcana and each of the suits as little mini-projects to make the deck seem less daunting.

To keep your project on track, create realistic time-frames to work by. For those that are super organized, plot it on your calendar. Remember to balance making a personalized deck with enjoying the process: you want to finish and love your personal Tarot deck, not resent it.

Making Tarot cards is an incredible opportunity to heighten your relationship with Tarot as well as express yourself. If the whole deck seems a little daunting, why not start by making your own version of the Major Arcana?

If you can make your own Tarot cards, you have the chance to take what you've learned from the Tarot and create something beautiful and meaningful. Enjoy!